Quick Hits The Washington State minimum wage for nonexempt employees sixteen years of age and older will increase 2.8 percent over the 2025 rate to $17.13 per hour in 2026. In order to qualify as an overtime-exempt worker, an employee must be paid at least 2.25 times the minimum wage rate, or $80,168.40 annually, regardless of the size of the employer. Several localities, including Seattle, Bellingham, Burien, Everett, Renton, SeaTac,…
On November 27, 2025, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) published for comment proposed amendments to National Instrument 81-102 Investment Funds (NI 81-102) and its Companion Policy, and issued a related consultation paper. Why now? In 2020, the CSA issued CSA Staff Notice 81-333 Guidance on Effective Liquidity Risk Management for Investment Funds (LRM Guidance). In 2022, the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) published a report assessing how IOSCO’s member…
Russia’s prospective engagement with the Organisation of Turkic States cannot be treated as a linear policy option. It is, instead, a multidimensional issue shaped by institutional constraints, normative tensions, ethnic relations, geopolitical rivalries, and symbolic considerations, writes Lucas Leiroz de Almeida. The author is a participant of the Valdai – New Generation project. A growing discussion has recently emerged over how Russia could engage more systematically with the Organisation of…
Quick Hits The New York City Council enacted two new pay data reporting laws, requiring large employers to submit annual reports detailing pay data by race, ethnicity, and sex. The designated agency will collect demographic information modeled after the former federal EEO-1 Component 2 reports and will have the authority to modify reporting requirements, including options for different gender identities. Employers face penalties for noncompliance, including written warnings and fines,…
Further to our recent article discussing the Building Canada Act and the announcement by the federal government to launch the Major Projects Office (MPO) to facilitate the advancement of major infrastructure and energy projects that are of national interest, the federal government has announced the first and second tranches of nation-building projects that have been referred to the MPO. Per the federal government’s recent statement, the projects referred to the MPO…
Two new studies have found that people affected by the 2017 Manchester Arena terrorist attack showed improvement in mental health after engaging with dedicated support services.Led and funded by researchers at The University of Manchester and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration Greater Manchester (ARC-GM), and NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre (BRC). The papers, published in The British Journal of Psychiatry, examined adults and…
Howie and Harlan are joined by Basmah Safdar, a Yale School of Medicine emergency physician and an expert on sex-specific differences in cardiovascular and microvascular health, which have important implications for the understanding and treatment of heart attacks, long COVID, and other conditions. Harlan reports on Australia’s ban on social media for kids, and a Medicare pilot program that will pay providers based on improved outcomes in chronic conditions. Howie…
Quick Hits In its 2025–26 term, the Supreme Court of the United States will decide the constitutionality of President Trump’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship. Oral arguments are expected to take place in the spring of 2026; the Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling by summer 2026. Although the executive order is on hold pending the Supreme Court’s decision, USCIS has issued guidance outlining how the order would…
In November 2025, Alberta’s Superintendent of Insurance (the Superintendent) updated two important guidelines related to licencing and capital requirements for the captive insurance industry in Alberta: the Captive Insurance Company Licensing Guide and the Capital Guideline for Captive Insurance Companies. For those unfamiliar with captive insurance companies (Captives), these entities can be established as an alternative to traditional insurers, providing strategic insurance coverage for the organizations that create and own…
The paper, 'The Levers of Political Persuasion with Conversational AI', published in Science, examines how large language models (LLMs) influence political attitudes through conversation. Authored by a team from OII, AISI, the LSE, Stanford University and MIT, the research draws on nearly 77,000 UK participants and 91,000 AI dialogues, to provide the most comprehensive evidence to date on the mechanisms of AI persuasion and their implications for democracy and AI governance. Our results demonstrate the remarkable persuasive power of…
Quick Hits Technological advancements enable employees to work remotely for foreign companies without relocating, as illustrated by a recent ruling from a German regional labor court. The Rhineland-Palatinate Regional Labor Court ruled that the German Unfair Dismissal Protection Act does not apply to an employee working from home in Germany for a Spanish company, emphasizing the principle of territoriality. The decision highlights that exceptions to the territoriality principle in dismissal…
ISS Guidance (ISS) has published policy updates for its 2026 Global Proxy Voting Guidelines (Guidelines) which include key clarifications specifically for Canadian issuers with respect to (i) advance notice provisions (ANPs), (ii) amendments to equity-based compensation plans, and (iii) non-employee director (NED) deferred share unit (DSU) plans. The updated Guidelines also provide general policy updates applicable to all global issuers with respect to environmental and social-related (E&S) shareholder proposals and…
The NVIDIA accelerated computing platform is leading supercomputing benchmarks once dominated by CPUs, enabling AI, science, business and computing efficiency worldwide. Moore’s Law has run its course, and parallel processing is the way forward. With this evolution, NVIDIA GPU platforms are now uniquely positioned to deliver on the three scaling laws — pretraining, post-training and test-time compute — for everything from next-generation recommender systems and large language models (LLMs) to…
Neutrinos are one of the most mysterious particles in the universe, often called “ghost particles” because they rarely interact with anything else. Trillions stream through our bodies every second, yet leave no trace. They are produced during nuclear reactions, including those that take place in the core of our Sun. Their tendency to not interact often makes detecting neutrinos notoriously difficult.Capturing this interaction is an extraordinary achievement. Despite the rarity…
The University of Oxford and UBS are proud to announce the launch of the Oxford-UBS Centre for Applied Artificial Intelligence (AI). The Centre will aim to deepen the understanding of the power of AI through cutting-edge research and promote its practical application. The Centre aims to be a ground-breaking interdisciplinary partnership involving UBS, the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School and the University’s Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences division (MPLS).…
Crucially, it shows that thorium-229 can be studied inside far more common materials than previously thought, removing one of the biggest obstacles to building practical nuclear clocks.The technique also offers new insight into how thorium-229 behaves and decays, which could one day inform new types of nuclear materials and future energy research.“We had always assumed that in order to excite and then observe the nuclear transition the thorium needed to…
Dr Alistair Farley. Credit: The IOI. On 10 December 1945, Alexander Fleming, Howard Florey, and Ernst Chain were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine ‘for the discovery of penicillin and its curative effect in various infectious diseases.’ The discovery of penicillin and its subsequent industrial production during World War Two is rightly hailed as one of the biggest medical breakthroughs of the 20th century. Penicillin played a…
Marking 75 years of the ECHR and 25 years since the Human Rights Act gave it effect in UK law, the research, ‘Examining 10 Reasons to Stay in the European Convention on Human Rights: Informing the Public Debate in the UK’, addresses a debate often dominated by claims about immigration control and widespread misunderstandings of what the ECHR does. Our analysis shows that the ECHR underpins everyday protections from digital privacy…
If Trumpism succeeds, the United States will not only adjust its foreign policy but could inaugurate a new post-Yalta international order – one bringing the West and Russia closer together. Trumpism affords a more compatible mechanism to resolve conflicts in the current bifurcated international system than the Western rules-based liberal international strategy, writes David Lane. Donald Trump’s two presidencies embody elements of both a personal leadership style and the emergence…
Today, Meesho, one of India's leading online retail and merchant tools companies, goes public. It is the second YC company to be listed in India.We met Meesho’s founders, Vidit and Sanjeev, three months into their journey. They applied to the Summer 2016 YC batch just after they launched their website. According to their application, they had 300 users at the time. As with most beginnings of great startups, they had…
How often do boycotts and other consumer protests change corporate behavior?Studies find boycott attempts are successful 25-40% of the time. However, boycott attempts only get analyzed after they’re getting some traction, and corporations don’t always follow through on their promises. So all we can say for certain is that boycotts lead to substantive changes often enough for activists, customers, and corporations to take them quite seriously.How should organizers frame their…
The study, ‘Effects of future climate extreme heat events and land use changes on land vertebrates’, published today in Global Change Biology, assessed nearly 30,000 species of amphibians, birds, mammals, and reptiles. It examined how future extreme heat events and projected land-use changes will affect species across their preferred habitats and thermal limits.Our research highlights the importance of considering the potential effects of multiple threats together to get a better estimation…
Consolidator Grants award around €2 million for projects typically lasting 5 years. Awardees must have 7-12 years of highly promising postdoctoral experience plus an excellent research proposal. With funding from the EU’s Horizon Europe programme, these grants will support cutting-edge research at universities and research centres in 25 EU Member States and associated countries. The ERC received 3,121 applications for this call, of which 11.2% were successful. Oxford received more grants…
9 December 2025By Piero Cipollone and Valdis DombrovskisThe ECB plans to prepare for the potential issuance of the digital euro by 2029, assuming the European co-legislators adopt the necessary regulation by 2026. Preparatory steps, including pilot exercises and initial transactions, could begin as early as mid-2027.From barter to coins to banknotes to cards, the payment systems Europeans have relied on have never stopped evolving. Throughout history, innovations have made these…
Many animals try to win a mate by displaying spectacular ornamentation – such as the famous tail of male peacocks. However, these impressive traits can have negative consequences, even hindering movement or making individuals easier for predators to find. New research has revealed a previously undocumented example of this: the feather ornamentation on the heads of male Chrysolophus pheasants restricts their field of view.We know surprisingly little about how birds…
Professor Edward Harcourt Recently, the BBC carried the tragic report of two teenagers, both of whom had seemingly taken their own lives thanks to their interactions with chatbots. How can further such tragedies be avoided?Specialist therapy chatbots may help, trained on expert advice rather than on whatever’s out there on the web. But arguably we need more: to educate users of this technology – especially young users – about what it is…
This commentary originally appeared in the Hartford Courant. The views expressed are the authors’ own.Recently, a controversial New York developer was shot down by Bethel, Connecticut, in its plan to build attainably priced apartments, following failed efforts in Granby and Manchester, as well as success in Avon, Cheshire and New London—with appeals underway in Rocky Hill, Simsbury, and West Hartford.For several decades, Connecticut municipalities have admirably strived to solve the…
Transcript Harlan Krumholz: Welcome to Health & Veritas. I’m Harlan Krumholz.Howard Forman: And I’m Howie Forman. We’re physicians and professors at Yale University, and we’re trying to get closer to the truth about health and healthcare.Our guest today is Dr. Sudhakar Nuti, but first, we like to check in on current or hot topics in health and healthcare. Harlan, what are you going to tell us about today?Harlan Krumholz: Today…
The UK is far from being food self-sufficient, importing between 40-50% of the food it consumes each year. For decades, globalised and highly industrialised supply chains have largely insulated consumers from shocks. But as the effects of climate change and environmental damage begin to hit, the cracks in this system are widening. Professor Paul Behrens speaking at the National Emergency Briefing. Credit: National Emergency Briefing. For generations, a stable climate…
Cosmic filaments are the largest known structures in the Universe: vast, thread-like formations of galaxies and dark matter that form a cosmic scaffolding. They also act as ‘highways’ along which matter and momentum flow into galaxies. Nearby filaments containing many galaxies spinning in the same direction- and where the whole structure appears to be rotating – are ideal systems to explore how galaxies gained the spin and gas they have…
The trial, conducted by the Oxford Vaccine Group, and funded by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), will assess the safety and immune response of the ChAdOx1 Lassa vaccine. 31 people aged 18-55 will participate in the trial in total.Lassa fever is caused by the Lassa virus, which is primarily spread by rodents and can result in serious illness including deafness, severe bleeding and even death. First discovered in…
In 2022, contaminated medicinal syrups caused the deaths of more than 300 children across Indonesia, The Gambia, Uzbekistan and Cameroon. Only two months ago, at least a further 24 deaths were reported in India. In response, Oxford’s DEG-EG team is developing novel tests to identify these lethal contaminants in both medicinal syrups and their raw materials.The team has successfully repurposed commercially available rapid tests, each costing less than £1:Alcohol test…
Professor Stephen Smartt. The award recognises the achievements of the ENGRAVE (Electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave sources at the Very Large Telescope) collaboration in tracing the origins of the Universe’s heaviest elements, forged in the aftermath of supernova explosions. In doing so, it has helped uncover the very building blocks of our existence. The award celebrates ENGRAVE as a model of scientific excellence and collaboration, particularly for its joint European…
Trade fog The third type of fog is the fog surrounding trade talks. Despite Narendra Modi’s boasts about having a special and even a friendly relationship with Donald Trump, India is the only major country not to have struck a trade deal with the US. The blackmail tactics deployed by the US administration (with “reciprocal” US tariffs doubled from 25% to 50% to punish India for buying Russian oil) remain…
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany visited the University of Oxford on Friday 5 December as part of his three-day State Visit to the United Kingdom, hosted by Their Majesties The King and Queen. The President was accompanied in Oxford by the First Lady, Ms Elke Büdenbender. Oxford formed the final stop on the President’s visit, and provided an opportunity to celebrate long-standing academic partnerships between the University and Germany,…
The UK is facing a national emergency not only because the climate is changing, but because the living systems that regulate that climate, protect our homes, and feed our people are breaking down. This is exposing our country to escalating risks: floods, fires, heatwaves, food insecurity, and economic instability. Professor Nathalie Seddon speaking at the National Emergency Briefing. Credit: National Emergency Briefing. The facts are sobering: the UK is one…
Quick Hits The demand for hybrid and remote work arrangements remains strong among employees. Paying remote workers less than in-person workers for performing the same work could increase the risk of discrimination claims. Reducing pay for exempt employees who work remotely could jeopardize their exempt status in certain situations. Five years after the COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed a wave of telework, this type of arrangement remains very popular among many workers.…
Executive Overview On 26 November 2025 the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) published its first ever guidance on Evaluating Corporate Compliance Programmes. The document provides organisations with greater visibility into how the SFO assesses the effectiveness of compliance programmes and how those assessments influence decisions on prosecution, Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPAs), statutory defences and sentencing. The central message is that compliance must operate effectively in practice rather than exist solely as…
The OSHA Form 301 Incident Report captures the who, what, where, when, and how for each recordable case. Employers typically assemble the required information from supervisor reports, employee statements, timekeeping records, medical work‑status notes, workers’ compensation first reports of injury, equipment logs, and job descriptions. Quick Hits The OSHA Form 301 Incident Report requires detailed documentation of each recordable case, including the sequence and mechanism of injury or illness, and…
Professor Yuval Shany, Institute for Ethics in AI Human rights such as equality and privacy are under considerable pressure due to practices such as profiling and mass surveillance associated with certain AI systems; plus new AI systems also invite consideration of extending human rights protections to capture new human needs and interests implicated by their use.Not only can these systems generate new benefits in areas such as health, education and work,…