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Russia’s Food Assistance to Africa and the Situation on the Global Grain Market

Having chosen The Formation of New Centres of Growth as the Cornerstone of a Multipolar World as its main theme for 2024, the St Petersburg International Economic Forum featured discussions on a wide range of international development matters. The western sanctions against Russia placed food security among the challenges the world is facing today. The President of Russia announced the key objectives in terms of developing agriculture. The first one…

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Will AI Help or Hurt Sustainability? Yes

Topics Column Our expert columnists offer opinion and analysis on important issues facing modern businesses and managers. More in this series subscribe-icon Subscribe Share Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images The proverbial ship of artificial intelligence is moving ahead at warp speed, icebergs and societal risks be damned. The pace of change in what it can do is staggering. Breathless predictions say AI will add trillions of dollars to the…

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Enlist AI in your fight against email overload

Consider this: according to our 2024 Work Trend Index Annual Report, email overload remains a persistent issue for Microsoft 365 users—85 percent of emails are read in under 15 seconds, and the typical person reads four emails for every one they send. But users can’t simply declare email bankruptcy. For most people, emails still contain vital information and updates—but wow, do the messages pile up fast. What is the opportunity…

  • Post category:Microsoft
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Name Protection Rights: Toto, more than a stage name

By PI order of December 27, 2023, the IP Specialized Division of the Court of Rome provided some interesting remarks regarding the legitimacy of name protection rights when using a third-party stage name as a company name, insignia, and de facto trade mark. In particular, the Court has ordered an Italian pizzeria to remove all references to the name of the famous Italian actor. Totò (Antonio Griffo Focas Flavio Angelo…

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A low-tech, inexpensive way to convince politicians to debate

Debates can play an important role in democratic elections. They educate voters and give politicians a chance to set themselves apart from their opponents. Yet it’s not always easy to get candidates to agree to face off with each other. That poses a problem in countries like Sierra Leone, where voters do not have many sources of election information. In 2012, an NGO in the small West African nation ran…

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The Results of Foreign Policy Season: A Multipolar Whirlpool

On July 10, 2024, the Valdai Club hosted an expert discussion, titled “Russia in the World: Results of the Foreign Policy Season 2023-2024”. Moderator Ivan Timofeev called this season quite eventful. He highlighted the emergence of the concept of a Eurasian security structure in Russian foreign policy philosophy, the expansion of BRICS, Vladimir Putin’s visits to the DPRK and Vietnam, deepening interaction with Iran, joint exercises with China, Russia's presence…

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Bends in the East: Russian Policy in Asia Becomes More Flexible

It is now most promising for Russia in Asia to focus on dialogue with individual countries in the region, taking into account the interests of each of them and its own. But strengthening relations at the country level is a matter of painstaking work by diplomats and business, of little interest from the point of view of public policy and the media, writes Valdai Club Programme Director Timofei Bordachev. The…

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Helping boards manage geopolitical risk with Jon Huntsman Jr.

Assisting management in navigating today’s geopolitical complexity has become one of boards’ most important and difficult tasks. In this episode of the Inside the Strategy Room podcast, Ziad Haider, Celia Huber, and Jon Huntsman Jr. discuss how boards can address this challenge. Huntsman spent nearly two decades in US public service at the state, national, and international levels in roles including deputy assistant secretary of commerce for Asia and US ambassador…

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Cambridge experts bust myths about family, sex, marriage and work in English history

Sex before marriage was unusual in the past – Myth! In some periods, over half of all brides were already pregnant when they got married.The rich have always outlived the poor –Myth! Before the 20th century the evidence for a survival advantage of wealth is mixed. In England, babies of agricultural labourers (the poorest workers) had a better chance of reaching their first birthday than infants in wealthy families, and life expectancy…

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Don’t Sacrifice Employee Upskilling for Productivity

Intense monitoring of individual output doesn’t lead to more productive employees and can limit workers’ professional growth. Stacia Garr and Priyanka Mehrotra July 10, 2024 Reading Time: 4 min  Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images Reports that U.S. productivity was up 3% in the fourth quarter of 2023 were seen as good news for the economy. But to understand what’s really happening — and avoid the perils of misplaced confidence…

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In the long run: What leaders can learn from an Olympic gold medalist

Alistair Brownlee, two-time Olympic gold medalist, four-time triathlon world champion, three-time Ironman winner, and bestselling author, isn’t one to shy away from making a mantra his own: “If you want to achieve something no one has achieved before, you have to approach the challenge in a way no one has before.” In a keynote fireside chat at the Unleashing Disruptive Growth event in Barcelona, Alistair sat down with McKinsey’s Philipp…

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Should the Federal Reserve Reveal More about Its Stress Test Models?

Since the Global Financial Crisis of 2008-09, the Federal Reserve has conducted stress tests of the largest banks to evaluate their capital and promote sound risk management, under a mandate Congress created in the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010. On June 26, a subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee held a hearing to consider a proposal to put the details of the Fed’s stress scenarios and models out for public…

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Brand protection in sport

Welcome to the latest episode of Gowling WLG's listen up podcast, where we look at a range of topics trending in the legal and commercial landscapes.  Khemi Salhan: Welcome to our podcast on brand protection and sport. This podcast is part of our sports sector podcast series. I'm Khemi Salhan, a Principal Associate in the Gowling IP team. Kate Hawkins: And, I'm Kate Hawkins, also a Principal Associate in the Gowling…

  • Post category:Gowling WLG
  • Reading time:17 mins read
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The geopolitics of green minerals

10 July 2024By Jakob Feveile Adolfsen, Danielle Kedan and Marie-Sophie LappeThe green transition will significantly increase demand for key minerals over the coming decades. The impact on energy prices will ultimately depend on how supply adjusts. The ECB Blog looks at the geopolitical risks involved. The green transition relies on certain key minerals, in particular lithium, copper, nickel, cobalt, manganese, and graphite. Assuming that the transition takes place in accordance…

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UK: Labour Returns to Power

The results of the parliamentary elections in the United Kingdom on July 4, 2024, were not something unexpected, writes Konstantin Khudoley, head of the Department of European Studies at the Faculty of International Relations at St. Petersburg State University. For many decades, the UK political system has worked like a pendulum, with the two largest parties taking turns in power. There was no doubt that after 14 years of Conservative rule,…

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Russia and India on the Eve of a Multipolar World

On July 9, 2024, the Valdai Club hosted an expert discussion about the results of the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Russia. Moderator Ivan Timofeev emphasised that this was the first international visit of the Indian leader since he was re-elected. There have been no direct Russian-Indian summits for a long time; during this time, many important issues have accumulated and the need for a kind of…

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Get the most out of any Teams Rooms meeting with speaker recognition and Copilot

AI-powered speaker recognition technology has now expanded to all Teams Rooms on Windows devices, regardless of the microphone type. This was previously only available with intelligent speaker equipment in the room. Now any Teams Room on Windows can enhance meeting experiences with precise speaker attribution and intelligent insights from Copilot. Everyone can be recognized and get the most from Copilot with our cloud technology, Teams Rooms devices such as Surface…

  • Post category:Microsoft
  • Reading time:5 mins read
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Chance Encounters: What’s at Stake in Return-to-Office Decisions

Late one day in the fall of 2021, as she was packing up to head home, Assistant Professor Maria Roche bumped into Andy Wu, a colleague in the Strategy Unit whose office is next to hers. Roche asked how his research was going, and in the conversation that followed the pair quickly realized the extent to which their work overlapped. If they could combine findings from across their assorted research…

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Louisiana Amends LWPA to Address Commissions, Incentive Payment Plans, and Bonuses to Give Greater Flexibility to Employers

Quick Hits Louisiana’s Act No. 556 allows employers to establish policies concerning when an employee earns a commission, incentive payment, or bonus. Examples include adjusting such compensation where the employer does not receive payment from a customer and adjusting commissions when there is a change order. Act No. 556 extends the time by which an employer must determine an employee’s eligibility for a bonus under a bonus plan that utilizes…

  • Post category:Ogletree Deakins
  • Reading time:4 mins read
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The Critical Computer Science Principles Every Strategic Leader Needs to Know

In an AI-world, leaders who speak technology’s language gain an edge. But that doesn’t mean every manager needs a computer science degree.A handle on a handful of basics goes a long way toward preparing strategic leaders for today’s reality: Almost all businesses now touch technology—some more so than others. “Every company today needs to think of themselves as a tech company,” says Andy Wu, the Arjun and Minoo Melwani Family…

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What a Labour government could mean for your finances

In a decisive and historic victory, the Labour Party won the 2024 UK general election with a significant majority and Keir Starmer has become the UK prime minister after 14 years of Conservative government. The new chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has already pledged to “fix the foundations” of the British economy in a bid to drive growth. Read on to find out what a Labour government could mean for your finances.…

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5 ways Family Office software can help you grow your wealth

In the intricate world of wealth management, Family Offices play a pivotal role in overseeing and growing the assets of High-Net-Worth Individuals (HNWI). As wealth and asset management become increasingly sophisticated, the adoption of cutting-edge technology is crucial for preserving and growing the family’s legacy. This article highlights the benefits of Family Office Software for Single and Multi-Family Offices, exploring how its advanced technology can significantly contribute to the growth…

  • Post category:Finance Malta
  • Reading time:4 mins read
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Tackling the Third Sales Transformation

Today’s uncertain and disrupted world has had a major impact on how firms do business. It has led to a gradual strategic shift from the era of “bigger is better” and a narrow fixation on increased sales growth to a more nuanced, broader vision of corporate value growth. In this podcast, Jean-Claude Larreche, an Emeritus Professor of Marketing and the Alfred H. Heineken Chaired Professor of Marketing, Emeritus, builds on the themes of…

  • Post category:INSEAD Knowledge
  • Reading time:3 mins read
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The evolution of customer care: AI and the Gen Z effect

With the coming of age of Gen Z—both as customers and new workforce entrants—customer demands are evolving. At the same time, generative AI (gen AI) is transforming how contact centers respond to these demands. Forward-thinking leaders must explore the latest trends, emphasize cohesive support strategies, and take actionable steps to enhance their customer care functions, addressing challenges such as service improvement, cost reduction, and sales function integration.In this episode of…

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Are Management Consulting Firms Failing to Manage Themselves?

After nearly a decade of uninterrupted growth, strategic consulting firms are now facing one of their most challenging periods in memory, prompting widespread cutbacks in staff and changes to recruiting. How did these firms get to this painful point? In response to unprecedented client demand before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, strategy firms initiated a growth-driven hiring spree. However, as economies slowed, these firms faced a significant imbalance between their…

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A data leader’s technical guide to scaling gen AI

Data and AI leaders have been working feverishly on generative AI (gen AI) use cases for more than a year. Their experience has provided promising glimpses of the considerable value at stake in gen AI but has also exposed a variety of challenges in getting to scale. Managing data remains one of the main barriers to value creation from gen AI. In fact, 70 percent of top performers in a…

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The Power of Positively Energizing Leadership

Etelle Higonnet (Yale College Class of 2000) is a human rights lawyer and environmental activist. She can be found doing investigations on deforestation and child labor in the jungles and forests of Africa and South America, often risking losing her life, as nearly happened on a mission in an African country where she was working to stop a rubber company from illegally cutting down trees. As Etelle was about to…

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5 City Ordinances Every Employer With Employees in Philadelphia Should Know

Quick Hits Employers doing business in Philadelphia will want to be aware of several key employment-specific ordinances—including laws governing fair criminal record screening standards (“ban the box”), sick leave benefits, predictive scheduling, pre-employment drug testing, and transit benefits—that provide rights and protections for employees and compliance responsibilities for employers in the city. Philadelphia’s “Promoting Healthy Families and Workplaces” ordinance, for example, requires that employers allow eligible employees to accrue sick…

  • Post category:Ogletree Deakins
  • Reading time:8 mins read
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AI able to identify drug-resistant typhoid-like infection from microscopy images in matter of hours

Antimicrobial resistance is an increasing global health issue that means many infections are becoming difficult to treat, with fewer treatment options available. It even raises the spectre of some infections becoming untreatable in the near future.One of the challenges facing healthcare workers is the ability to distinguish rapidly between organisms that can be treated with first-line drugs and those that are resistant to treatment. Conventional testing can take several days,…

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Russia – Africa: Strategy for Cooperation in a Multipolar World. The Second African Conference of the Valdai Discussion Club

On July 24, 2024, the Valdai Discussion Club will hold its second Russian-African conference, titled “Russia – Africa: A strategy for cooperation in a multipolar world.” It will be held in Africa for the first time - in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania at the Johari Rotana Dar es Salaam hotel at 14909 Mansfield Street. The Valdai Club's partners in organising the conference are the Embassy of the Russian Federation in…

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Imagining better futures with ‘Assembling Tomorrow’

How can we create things in the world without causing harm, and instead, create with healing in mind? This question is at the heart of Assembling Tomorrow (Penguin Random House, 2024), the new book by Carissa Carter and Scott Doorley, directors at Stanford University’s d.school. With the rapid growth of AI and other emerging technologies, how we create and what we create profoundly influence our lives. The challenge is to…

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Featured in American Recycler: The Ebb & Flow Of The U.S. Auto Recycling Market

So what are the biggest factors currently affecting the auto recycling industry? Inflation is having a big impact on the market. As Delaney explained, inflation impacts the auto industry in the same way it does many other industries. The cost of labor, fuel and materials has continued to rise. In addition, he pointed out that the expected adoption of electric vehicles has slowed, but the continued use of Advanced Driver-Assistance…

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  • Reading time:9 mins read
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Redesigning Design Patent Validity

  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit sitting en banc recently overruled the long-standing test for determining obviousness of design patents in LKQ Corporation, Keystone Automotive Industries, Inc. v. GM Global Technology Operations, LLC. Almost immediately after the Federal Circuit handed down its opinion, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (the USPTO) issued new guidelines for the examination of design patent applications. Under the “old” test for…

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Preliminary Analysis on the Ryan Court’s Order Enjoining the FTC’s Ban on Non-Competes

Commentary:  The Court ruled on Wednesday, July 3, what most of the legal community already believed: that the FTC lacked the substantive rulemaking authority to issue a nationwide ban on non-competes between employers and workers. Nevertheless, the  ruling itself is not likely one that anyone expected.    On the one hand, the Court enjoined the FTC Rule, holding that “the text, structure, and history of the FTC Act reveal that…

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WEBINAR – Time Well Spent Session 7: Compensable Work Time

About the Program: Much has happened in the ten years since our national Wage and Hour Litigation Practice Group wrote ALM’s authoritative Wage & Hour Collective and Class Litigation treatise. We are excited to continue our informative webinar series to discuss—in bite-sized increments—the past decade’s most important changes to the federal and state employee pay litigation landscape. The final installment of our “Time Well Spent” webinar series will focus on…

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Build your own copilot with Microsoft Azure AI Studio

 No matter your use case, Microsoft Azure AI Studio accelerates the generative AI development lifecycle, empowering organizations to build and shape the future with AI.   In the rapidly evolving world of AI technology, Microsoft Azure AI Studio, now generally available, is empowering organizations to create their own AI copilots. With AI Studio, organizations can customize and build their own copilot to meet their unique needs.   We’re excited to see organizations…

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Do shareholder activists create lasting value?

A shareholder activist tends to improve a company’s stock price during its campaigns—and sustains those gains for three years after the campaign is announced. But when one considers the period after an activist has exited its position, the picture becomes murkier. We examined almost 170 shareholder activist campaigns worldwide over the past ten years and found that after an activist had exited its position, three-year excess total shareholder returns (TSR) were…

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At Least One Reason to Look Up: Celebrating 4th of July with Drone Light Shows

This 4th of July, look up and you might notice something spectacularly different lighting up the night sky. The days of stunning displays that relied solely on the crackle and pop of fireworks are numbered. In a remarkable twist of technology, drone light shows are offering a breathtaking alternative. Imagine a fleet of hundreds, even thousands, of drones, each equipped with vibrant LEDs, dancing in perfect harmony. They swoop, swirl,…

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