Marine protected areas cover more than 8% of the world’s oceans today, but they can get a bad rap as being protected on paper only.
While the name invokes safe havens for fish, whales and other sea life, these areas can be hard to monitor. High-profile violations, such as recent fishing fleet incursions near the Galapagos Islands and ships that “go dark” by turning off their tracking devices, have fueled concerns about just how much poaching is going undetected.
But some protected areas are successfully keeping illegal fishing out.
In a new global study using satellite technology that can track large ships even if they turn off their tracking systems, my colleagues and I found that marine protected areas where industrial fishing is fully banned are largely succeeding at preventing poaching.
What marine protected areas aim to save
Picture a sea turtle gliding by as striped butterfly fish weave through coral branches. Or the deep blue of the open ocean, where tuna flash like silver and seabirds wheel overhead.
These habitats, where fish and other marine life breed and feed, are the treasures that marine protected areas aim to protect.
The value of marine protected areas for people and nature.
A major threat to these ecosystems is industrial fishing.
These vessels can operate worldwide and stay at sea for years at a time with visits from refrigerated cargo ships that ferry their catch to port. China has an extensive global fleet of ships that operate as far away as the coast of South America and other regions.
The global industrial fishing fleet – nearly half a million vessels – hauls in about 100 million metric tons of seafood each year. That’s about a fivefold increase since 1950, though it has been close to flat for the past 30 years. Today, more than one-third of commercial fish species are overfished, exceeding what population growth can replenish.
Large fleets of fishing boats, supported by refrigerator ships to ferry their catch to shore, can stay at sea for months at a time. VCG/VCG via Getty Images
Some marine protected areas ban industrial fishing. These are the gold standard for conservation, and research shows they can be effective ways to increase the amount of sea life and diversity of species.
The plentiful fish in better-protected areas can also attract poachers. In one high-profile case, a Chinese vessel was caught inside the Galápagos Marine Reserve with 300 tons of marine life, including 6,000 dead sharks, in 2017. This crew faced heavy fines and prison time. But how many others go unseen?
Shining a light on the ‘dark fleet’
Much of what the world knows about global industrial fishing comes from the automatic identification system, or AIS, which many ships are required to use. This system broadcasts their location every few seconds, primarily to reduce the risk of collisions at sea. Using artificial intelligence, researchers can analyze movement patterns in these messages to estimate when and where fishing is happening.
Synthetic aperture radar still has limits – primarily difficulty detecting small boats and less frequent coverage than AIS – but it’s still a leap forward. In one study of coastal areas using both technologies, we found in about 75% of instances fishing vessels detected by synthetic aperture radar were not being tracked by AIS.
New global analysis shows what really happens
Two studies published in the journal Science on July 24, 2025, use these satellite datasets to track industrial fishing activity in marine protected areas.
We combined AIS vessel tracking, synthetic aperture radar satellite imagery, official marine protected area rules, and implementation dates showing exactly when those bans took effect. The analysis covers nearly 1,400 marine protected areas spanning about 3 million square miles (7.9 million square kilometers) where industrial fishing is explicitly prohibited.
AIS transponder signals over 2017-2021 (top) and synthetic aperture radar data (bottom) both show industrial fishing activity (yellow) mostly avoiding Carrington Point State Marine Reserve, a protected area off California’s Santa Rosa Island. Jennifer Raynor, Sara Orofino and Gavin McDonald
The results were striking:
Most of these protected areas showed little to no signs of industrial fishing.
We detected about five fishing vessels per 100,000 square kilometers on average in these areas, compared to 42 on average in unprotected coastal areas.
96% had less than one day per year of alleged illegal fishing effort.
The second study uses the same AIS and synthetic aperture radar data to examine a broader set of marine protected areas – including many that explicitly allow fishing. They document substantial fishing activity in these areas, with about eight times more detections than in the protected areas that ban industrial fishing.
Combined, these two studies lead to a clear conclusion: Marine protected areas with weak regulations see substantial industrial fishing, but where bans are in place, they’re largely respected.
We can’t tell whether these fishing bans are effective because they’re well enforced or simply because they were placed where little fishing happened anyway. Still, when violations do occur, this system offers a way for enforcement agencies to detect them.
A reason for optimism
These technological advances in vessel tracking have the potential to reshape marine law enforcement by significantly reducing the costs of monitoring.
Agencies such as national navies and coast guards no longer need to rely solely on costly physical patrols over huge areas. With tools such as the Global Fishing Watch map, which makes vessel tracking data freely available to the public, they can monitor activity remotely and focus patrol efforts where they’re needed most.
A French navy officer documents a fishing boat’s location in February 2024. Satellites make it easier to monitor activity on the ocean. Loic Venance/AFP via Getty Images
Beyond marine protected areas, these technologies also have the potential to support tracking a broad range of human activities, such as oil slicks and deep-sea mining, making companies more accountable in how they use the ocean.
Jennifer Raynor receives funding from National Geographic Pristine Seas. She is a trustee at Global Fishing Watch, one of the primary data providers for this study.
overnor Kathy Hochul today announced six designations to the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, in the First and Second Departments. Under New York’s Constitution, the Governor designates Justices of the Appellate Divisions from among the elected Justices of the State Supreme Court. This class is composed of highly skilled jurists who come from diverse personal and professional backgrounds, underscoring Governor Hochul’s commitment to ensuring New York State’s judiciary reflects the wide array of people who call New York home. The slate consists of four designations to the Appellate Division, First Department and two designations to the Appellate Division, Second Department.
“These designations to the Appellate Division are part of my continued commitment to building a judiciary that embodies the highest standards of legal excellence and reflects the rich diversity of New York,” Governor Hochul said. “Each of these jurists brings a wealth of experience and perspective that will strengthen our courts and help ensure that justice is served fairly and equitably across our state.”
As Justices of the Appellate Division, First Department:
Honorable Troy Webber, Associate Justice
Justice Troy K. Webber was elected to the Civil Court, New York County, in 1993 and assigned to the county of her birth, Bronx County. In 2002, she was elected to the Supreme Court. In 2009, Justice Webber was appointed Acting Surrogate in New York County, where she served for almost 2 years and then returned to Supreme Court, Bronx County. In 2016, Justice Webber was appointed to the Appellate Division, First Department.
Justice Webber began her legal career as an Assistant District Attorney in New York County. She then served as a Law Assistant to a State Supreme Court Justice, Assistant New York State Attorney General and Deputy Bureau Chief at the New York City Law Department. Justice Webber was also a litigation associate at a law firm. Justice Webber is a graduate of New York University School of Law, where she serves on the Alumni Board of Directors.
Justice Webber serves as Co-Chair of the Franklin H. Williams Judicial Commission and is a member of the Metropolitan Black Bar Association, the Association of Women Judges, the Judicial Friends, and the New York County Lawyers Association. She serves on the New York State Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics, the Advisory Committee on Criminal Law and Procedure and is a member of the board of directors of JALBCA (Judges and Lawyers Breast Cancer Alert).
Justice Webber participates in the Scales of Justice Academy, a summer legal educational program for underserved female high school students, as well as the Legal Outreach Program. She mentors students who attend NYU Law School, the City University of New York, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and Fordham University School of Law and participates in moot court programs sponsored by NYU Law School and New York Law School. Justice Webber is also an adjunct professor in criminal justice at Monroe University.
Honorable Saliann Scarpulla, Associate Justice
Justice Saliann Scarpulla is a graduate of Boston University and Brooklyn Law School, cum laude. After law school, Justice Scarpulla clerked for the Hon. Alvin F. Klein in Supreme Court, New York County. When her clerkship concluded, Justice Scarpulla joined Proskauer Rose Goetz & Mendelsohn as a litigation associate. Justice Scarpulla later moved to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as Senior Counsel in the New York Legal Services Office. From the FDIC Justice Scarpulla became Senior Vice President and Bank Counsel to Hudson United Bank.
Justice Scarpulla returned to the New York State court system in 1999, as Principal Court Attorney to the Hon. Eileen Bransten. She was then elected to the New York City Civil Court in 2001, appointed to the New York State Supreme Court in 2009, and elected to the Supreme Court in 2012. From 2014 to 2020, Justice Scarpulla sat in the New York County Commercial Division, and she was responsible for all international commercial arbitration matters pending in the State Supreme Court. In 2020, Justice Scarpulla was appointed to the Appellate Division, First Department.
Justice Scarpulla is a contributing author to the Commercial Litigation in New York State Courts treatise and has authored numerous articles on technology and commercial litigation. She is a frequent lecturer for, among others, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the New York County Lawyers Association, the New York State Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the Practicing Law Institute, and the New York State Judicial Institute. Justice Scarpulla has received the Louis J. Capozzoli Gavel award and the Thurgood Marshall award from the New York County Lawyers Association, the Rapallo/Scalia award from the Columbian Lawyers Association, and service awards from the National Association of Italian American Women and the New York Women’s Bar Association.
Justice Scarpulla is active in several New York City and statewide bar associations and is a Business Court Representative to the American Bar Association and Co-Chair of the Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and Intellectual Property subcommittee. She is a member of New York’s Commercial Division Advisory Council, and the Co-Chair of the Council’s Subcommittee on Use of Technology in Commercial Division Cases. Justice Scarpulla also sits on the Chief Judge’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Advisory Committee, and, in October 2019, she was appointed for a term to the New York State Continuing Legal Education Board. Justice Scarpulla is a past Co-President and current Board member of Judges and Lawyers Breast Cancer Alert (JALBCA).
Honorable Shlomo Hagler, Additional Justice
Hon. Shlomo S. Hagler is the current Presiding Justice of the Appellate Term, First Department. He was appointed to the court in 2021. Justice Hagler began his judicial career in 1999, when he was appointed to New York City Housing Court. In 2003, he was elected to the New York City Civil Court, and in 2008, Justice Hagler was designated an Acting Justice of the Supreme Court, Civil Branch, New York County. As an Acting Justice, he established and presided over an “Innovative Guardianship Part” that combined the authority of the Supreme Court under the Mental Hygiene Law with that of the Housing Court. This initiative aimed to protect and empower vulnerable individuals within the community. In 2012, he was elected to the Supreme Court.
Justice Hagler earned his undergraduate degree from Yeshiva University in 1988, and a Juris Doctor from the City University of New York Law School in 1991. He started his legal career as an associate at Bartlett, Bartlett & Ziegler, P.C., before serving as Court Attorney to Hon. Martin Shulman, currently an Associate Justice of the Appellate Division, First Department.
Justice Hagler recently received an award celebrating his 25 years on the bench from the New York County Lawyers Association and in April 2025, received the Benjamin N. Cardozo award from the Jewish Lawyers Guild for excellence in the legal profession. He is also a member of the Board of Governors of the Jewish Lawyers Guild and the Gender Fairness Committee of the Supreme Court, New York County. Justice Hagler has given numerous lectures as a judicial panelist on various legal topics, including protecting tenants with disabilities in housing.
Honorable Margaret Anne Pui Yee Chan, Additional Justice
Justice Chan, elected in 2021 to the New York State Supreme Court, serves in the New York County Commercial Division resolving complex business disputes. Before her election, she was an Acting Justice from 2012, handling a wide range of cases from mass torts to constitutional litigation.
Born in Hong Kong, she immigrated to Canada at age seven and then, at fourteen, to Brooklyn. When she was elected to the New York City Civil Court in 2006, she became the first Asian immigrant woman to become a New York judge. Before ascending to the bench, Justice Chan had an immigration and appellate practice in Manhattan’s Chinatown. Her partner was Benjamin Gim, who co-founded the Asian American Legal Defense & Education Fund.
Justice Chan attended Brooklyn College full time, where she majored in economics while also working full-time. She later attended Touro Law Center on a scholarship and was the managing editor of the Law Review. She then completed five years as a senior court attorney at the Appellate Division, Second Department.
Justice Chan serves on various court committees, including the Committee on AI and the Courts and Committee on Pattern Jury Instructions (PJI) – Civil. She also served as a Fordham University School of Law adjunct professor from 2018-2024, teaching legal research and writing and the judicial-externship seminar.
As Justices of the Appellate Division, Second Department:
Honorable Elena Goldberg Velazquez, Additional Justice
Justice Elena Goldberg Velazquez was appointed to the Appellate Term, 9th and 10th Judicial Districts, in 2024, where she hears appeals from landlord-tenant court, small claims court, civil court and criminal court. Recently, Justice Goldberg Velazquez was elected as the President of the Latino Judges Association.
In 2022, Justice Goldberg Velazquez was elected to the New York State Supreme Court, 9th Judicial District. Presently, she is assigned to Westchester County where she has presided over a variety of civil hearings and trials. Since her ascension to Supreme Court, she has also been published in the New York Law Journal. Prior to becoming a Supreme Court Justice, Justice Goldberg Velazquez was a Yonkers City Court Judge, where she handled criminal matters from arraignment to disposition, landlord-tenant matters (both residential and commercial), small claims and civil matters. She also presided over trials and felony hearings. In addition, while in City Court she was appointed as an Acting Family Court Judge presiding over the Integrated Domestic Violence Court.
Prior to being elected to the bench, Justice Goldberg Velazquez worked at the Supreme Court, Appellate Division First Department for nearly a decade. Prior to working at the Appellate Division, Justice Goldberg Velazquez worked at private law firms handling primarily civil matters.
Justice Goldberg Velazquez is an active member of her community, having founded and served as president of her local neighborhood association. She has served as the President of the Puerto Rican Bar Association, Chair of the Women’s Committee and Chair of the Young Lawyers Committee. She is presently a member of the New York State Bar Association, Hudson Valley Hispanic Bar Association, Puerto Rican Bar Association, New York Women’s Judges Association, Westchester County Bar Association, Westchester Women’s Bar Association and the Yonkers Lawyers Association.
Justice Goldberg Velazquez is a graduate of CUNY School of Law, where she was the managing editor of the New York City Law Review and now serves on the Board of Visitors. She earned her Bachelors of Arts in Political Science and International Relations from Syracuse University where she graduated Pi Sigma Alpha. While at Syracuse, Justice Goldberg Velazquez was on the Dean’s List and a member of the nationally ranked Mock Trial Team.
Justice Goldberg Velazquez resides in Westchester with her husband and two young daughters.
Honorable Susan Quirk, Additional Justice
Hon. Susan Quirk was elected to the Civil Court Bench in Brooklyn in 2016, where she served until 2018. She was then assigned to Brooklyn Family Court in 2018 to augment the bench in response to the enactment and implementation of the Raise the Age legislation, where she presided until 2022 when she was elected to the Supreme Court in Brooklyn where she currently presides over all types of criminal matters.
Prior to becoming a judge, strongly attracted to both public service and the study of law, Judge Quirk began working as a paralegal in 1998 in the Kings County District Attorney’s Office while attending Brooklyn Law School in the evening. She graduated in 2004, receiving the distinction of being awarded the “Cali Excellence for the Future” Award for achieving the highest grade in Trial Advocacy. Upon being admitted to practice in 2005, Judge Quirk continued her career in public service by becoming an Assistant District Attorney in Brooklyn, where she served with distinction until 2013, when she was designated a Court Attorney Referee in Supreme Court, where she continued to serve the public as a Hearing Officer until her election to the bench.
Active in the legal community, Judge Quirk is a member of the Supreme Court Justices Association of the City of New York; the Puerto Rican Bar Association; the Brooklyn Bar Association; the Brooklyn Women’s Bar Association; the Columbian Lawyers Association; the Catholic Lawyers Guild, Kings County Chapter; the Richmond County Bar Association; the Staten Island Women’s Bar Association, where she previously served on the Administrative Board; and the New York City Civil Court Judges Association, where she previously served as the Vice President for Richmond County.
Judge Quirk is the proud mom of two young daughters, both of whom currently attend her alma mater, St. Joseph Hill Academy.
TORONTO, July 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — (TSX: BFIN, BFIN.U, BGIE, BMAX, CLSA, EDGF, TLF, TLF.U) – As a result of strong performance over the past year1, or NAV growth since launch in the case of CLSA, Brompton Funds is pleased to announce increased monthly distributions for record dates from July to September 2025 for each of the following exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”):
Ticker
Amount Per Unit
Annualized % Increase
Brompton North American Financials Dividend ETF
BFIN
Cdn$ 0.1300
8.3%
BFIN.U
US$ 0.1400
7.7%
Brompton Global Infrastructure ETF
BGIE
Cdn$ 0.1350
12.5%
Brompton Enhanced Multi-Asset Income ETF
BMAX
Cdn$ 0.1200
4.3%
Brompton Split Corp. Class A Share ETF
CLSA
Cdn$ 0.1150
15.0%
Brompton European Dividend Growth ETF
EDGF
Cdn$ 0.0575
9.5%
Brompton Tech Leaders Income ETF
TLF
Cdn$ 0.1450
16.0%
TLF.U
US$ 0.1550
19.2%
Record Dates and Payment Dates are as follows:
Record Date
Payment Date
July 31, 2025
August 15, 2025
August 29, 2025
September 15, 2025
September 30, 2025
October 15, 2025
About Brompton Funds Founded in 2000, Brompton is an experienced investment fund manager with income and growth focused investment solutions including exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and other TSX traded investment funds. For further information, please contact your investment advisor, call Brompton’s investor relations line at 416-642-6000 (toll-free at 1-866-642-6001), email info@bromptongroup.com or visit our website at www.bromptongroup.com.
1Annual Compound Returnsas at June 30,2025
1-year
3-year
5-year
10-year
Since Inception
Since Inception
Inception Date
BFIN
25.6%
16.5%
14.4%
–
9.2%
–
Oct. 17, 2018
BFIN.U
27.8%
17.0%
15.4%
–
–
11.4%
Aug. 8, 2019
BGIE
25.5%
15.4%
13.0%
–
13.4%
–
Apr. 30, 2020
BMAX
15.3%
–
–
–
17.1%
–
Oct. 18, 2022
EDGF
15.4%
14.2%
9.8%
–
7.6%
–
July 21, 2017
TLF
9.6%
25.4%
17.6%
17.0%
14.3%
–
May 20, 2011
TLF.U
12.0%
27.0%
19.0%
–
–
20.4%
Aug. 8, 2019
Returns are for the periods ended June 30, 2025 and are unaudited. Inception dates are noted in the table above. The table shows each ETF’s compound return for each period indicated. The performance information shown is based on net asset value per unit and assumes that cash distributions made by the ETFs on its units in the period shown were reinvested at net asset value per unit in additional units of the ETFs. Past performance does not necessarily indicate how the ETFs will perform in the future. Performance can only be provided for funds in existence for at least one year; therefore, the performance for Brompton Split Corp. Class A Share ETF is not available.
Commissions, trailing commissions, management fees and expenses all may be associated with exchange-traded fund investments. Please read the prospectus before investing. The indicated rates of return are the historical annual compounded total returns including changes in unit value and reinvestment of all distributions and do not take into account sales, redemption, distribution or optional charges or income taxes payable by any securityholder that would have reduced returns. Exchange-traded funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated.
Certain statements contained in this document constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information may relate to matters disclosed in this document and to other matters identified in public filings relating to the ETFs, to the future outlook of the ETFs and anticipated events or results and may include statements regarding the future financial performance of the ETFs. In some cases, forward-looking information can be identified by terms such as “may”, “will”, “should”, “expect”, “plan”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “intend”, “estimate”, “predict”, “potential”, “continue” or other similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. Actual results may vary from such forward-looking information. Investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and we assume no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances.
TORONTO, July 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — (TSX: BFIN, BFIN.U, BGIE, BMAX, CLSA, EDGF, TLF, TLF.U) – As a result of strong performance over the past year1, or NAV growth since launch in the case of CLSA, Brompton Funds is pleased to announce increased monthly distributions for record dates from July to September 2025 for each of the following exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”):
Ticker
Amount Per Unit
Annualized % Increase
Brompton North American Financials Dividend ETF
BFIN
Cdn$ 0.1300
8.3%
BFIN.U
US$ 0.1400
7.7%
Brompton Global Infrastructure ETF
BGIE
Cdn$ 0.1350
12.5%
Brompton Enhanced Multi-Asset Income ETF
BMAX
Cdn$ 0.1200
4.3%
Brompton Split Corp. Class A Share ETF
CLSA
Cdn$ 0.1150
15.0%
Brompton European Dividend Growth ETF
EDGF
Cdn$ 0.0575
9.5%
Brompton Tech Leaders Income ETF
TLF
Cdn$ 0.1450
16.0%
TLF.U
US$ 0.1550
19.2%
Record Dates and Payment Dates are as follows:
Record Date
Payment Date
July 31, 2025
August 15, 2025
August 29, 2025
September 15, 2025
September 30, 2025
October 15, 2025
About Brompton Funds Founded in 2000, Brompton is an experienced investment fund manager with income and growth focused investment solutions including exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and other TSX traded investment funds. For further information, please contact your investment advisor, call Brompton’s investor relations line at 416-642-6000 (toll-free at 1-866-642-6001), email info@bromptongroup.com or visit our website at www.bromptongroup.com.
1Annual Compound Returnsas at June 30,2025
1-year
3-year
5-year
10-year
Since Inception
Since Inception
Inception Date
BFIN
25.6%
16.5%
14.4%
–
9.2%
–
Oct. 17, 2018
BFIN.U
27.8%
17.0%
15.4%
–
–
11.4%
Aug. 8, 2019
BGIE
25.5%
15.4%
13.0%
–
13.4%
–
Apr. 30, 2020
BMAX
15.3%
–
–
–
17.1%
–
Oct. 18, 2022
EDGF
15.4%
14.2%
9.8%
–
7.6%
–
July 21, 2017
TLF
9.6%
25.4%
17.6%
17.0%
14.3%
–
May 20, 2011
TLF.U
12.0%
27.0%
19.0%
–
–
20.4%
Aug. 8, 2019
Returns are for the periods ended June 30, 2025 and are unaudited. Inception dates are noted in the table above. The table shows each ETF’s compound return for each period indicated. The performance information shown is based on net asset value per unit and assumes that cash distributions made by the ETFs on its units in the period shown were reinvested at net asset value per unit in additional units of the ETFs. Past performance does not necessarily indicate how the ETFs will perform in the future. Performance can only be provided for funds in existence for at least one year; therefore, the performance for Brompton Split Corp. Class A Share ETF is not available.
Commissions, trailing commissions, management fees and expenses all may be associated with exchange-traded fund investments. Please read the prospectus before investing. The indicated rates of return are the historical annual compounded total returns including changes in unit value and reinvestment of all distributions and do not take into account sales, redemption, distribution or optional charges or income taxes payable by any securityholder that would have reduced returns. Exchange-traded funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated.
Certain statements contained in this document constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information may relate to matters disclosed in this document and to other matters identified in public filings relating to the ETFs, to the future outlook of the ETFs and anticipated events or results and may include statements regarding the future financial performance of the ETFs. In some cases, forward-looking information can be identified by terms such as “may”, “will”, “should”, “expect”, “plan”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “intend”, “estimate”, “predict”, “potential”, “continue” or other similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. Actual results may vary from such forward-looking information. Investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and we assume no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, July 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Bitget, the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange and Web3 company, participated in Malaysia Blockchain Week 2025, to strengthen its ties with Southeast Asia’s fast-growing digital economy. The event, hosted at Kuala Lumpur’s World Trade Centre, drew 3,300+ attendees from 20 countries, with support from Malaysian agencies like MDEC, the Ministry of Digital, and Tourism Malaysia.
Bitget CEO Gracy Chen delivered a keynote address titled “Two Strategies to Thrive in a Volatile Market.” She spotlighted Bitget’s focus on real-world utility, from its $300M user Protection Fund to new tools like GetAgent (an AI trading helper) and xStocks for tokenized equities. Gracy pointed to her 2024 MYBW visit as the turning point. This year, she unveiled PayFi, Bitget’s bid to simplify cross-border crypto payments in emerging markets.
Bitget CEO Gracy Chen delivering her keynote on the mainstage of MYBW 2025.
“Malaysia Blockchain Week has become a key platform in this region,” saidGracy Chen, CEO of Bitget.“Bitget will continue building here, through partnerships, localization, and product innovation. Our goal is to show up meaningfully, through utility, education, and experiences that resonate.”
Bitget also teamed up with Pudgy Penguins (PENGU) to host Hype Drop: Kopi Rave, a side event held at Thong Kee Kopitiam in Kuala Lumpur. Blending wellness, streetwear, music, and collectibles, it drew over 400 attendees and generated strong social media buzz.
Bitget Trivia winners with their various merch including the much-coveted Bitget Labubu doll.
Malaysia Blockchain Week 2025 served as a timely stage for Bitget to reinforce its global leadership while celebrating Southeast Asia’s role in Web3 adoption. From shaping cross-border payment infrastructure to pioneering real-world asset trading, Bitget’s message at MYBW was clear: building in this space is about more than innovation.
About Bitget
Established in 2018, Bitget is the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange and Web3 company. Serving over 120 million users in 150+ countries and regions, the Bitget exchange is committed to helping users trade smarter with its pioneering copy trading feature and other trading solutions, while offering real-time access to Bitcoin price, Ethereum price, and other cryptocurrency prices. Formerly known as BitKeep, Bitget Wallet is a leading non-custodial crypto wallet supporting 130+ blockchains and millions of tokens. It offers multi-chain trading, staking, payments, and direct access to 20,000+ DApps, with advanced swaps and market insights built into a single platform.
Bitget is driving crypto adoption through strategic partnerships, such as its role as the Official Crypto Partner of the World’s Top Football League, LALIGA, in EASTERN, SEA and LATAM markets, as well as a global partner of Turkish National athletes Buse Tosun Çavuşoğlu (Wrestling world champion), Samet Gümüş (Boxing gold medalist) and İlkin Aydın (Volleyball national team), to inspire the global community to embrace the future of cryptocurrency.
Aligned with its global impact strategy, Bitget has joined hands with UNICEF to support blockchain education for 1.1 million people by 2027. In the world of motorsports, Bitget is the exclusive cryptocurrency exchange partner of MotoGP™, one of the world’s most thrilling championships.
Risk Warning:Digital asset prices are subject to fluctuation and may experience significant volatility. Investors are advised to only allocate funds they can afford to lose. The value of any investment may be impacted, and there is a possibility that financial objectives may not be met, nor the principal investment recovered. Independent financial advice should always be sought, and personal financial experience and standing carefully considered. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. Bitget accepts no liability for any potential losses incurred. Nothing contained herein should be construed as financial advice. For further information, please refer to ourTerms of Use.
Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, July 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Bitget, the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange and Web3 company, participated in Malaysia Blockchain Week 2025, to strengthen its ties with Southeast Asia’s fast-growing digital economy. The event, hosted at Kuala Lumpur’s World Trade Centre, drew 3,300+ attendees from 20 countries, with support from Malaysian agencies like MDEC, the Ministry of Digital, and Tourism Malaysia.
Bitget CEO Gracy Chen delivered a keynote address titled “Two Strategies to Thrive in a Volatile Market.” She spotlighted Bitget’s focus on real-world utility, from its $300M user Protection Fund to new tools like GetAgent (an AI trading helper) and xStocks for tokenized equities. Gracy pointed to her 2024 MYBW visit as the turning point. This year, she unveiled PayFi, Bitget’s bid to simplify cross-border crypto payments in emerging markets.
Bitget CEO Gracy Chen delivering her keynote on the mainstage of MYBW 2025.
“Malaysia Blockchain Week has become a key platform in this region,” saidGracy Chen, CEO of Bitget.“Bitget will continue building here, through partnerships, localization, and product innovation. Our goal is to show up meaningfully, through utility, education, and experiences that resonate.”
Bitget also teamed up with Pudgy Penguins (PENGU) to host Hype Drop: Kopi Rave, a side event held at Thong Kee Kopitiam in Kuala Lumpur. Blending wellness, streetwear, music, and collectibles, it drew over 400 attendees and generated strong social media buzz.
Bitget Trivia winners with their various merch including the much-coveted Bitget Labubu doll.
Malaysia Blockchain Week 2025 served as a timely stage for Bitget to reinforce its global leadership while celebrating Southeast Asia’s role in Web3 adoption. From shaping cross-border payment infrastructure to pioneering real-world asset trading, Bitget’s message at MYBW was clear: building in this space is about more than innovation.
About Bitget
Established in 2018, Bitget is the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange and Web3 company. Serving over 120 million users in 150+ countries and regions, the Bitget exchange is committed to helping users trade smarter with its pioneering copy trading feature and other trading solutions, while offering real-time access to Bitcoin price, Ethereum price, and other cryptocurrency prices. Formerly known as BitKeep, Bitget Wallet is a leading non-custodial crypto wallet supporting 130+ blockchains and millions of tokens. It offers multi-chain trading, staking, payments, and direct access to 20,000+ DApps, with advanced swaps and market insights built into a single platform.
Bitget is driving crypto adoption through strategic partnerships, such as its role as the Official Crypto Partner of the World’s Top Football League, LALIGA, in EASTERN, SEA and LATAM markets, as well as a global partner of Turkish National athletes Buse Tosun Çavuşoğlu (Wrestling world champion), Samet Gümüş (Boxing gold medalist) and İlkin Aydın (Volleyball national team), to inspire the global community to embrace the future of cryptocurrency.
Aligned with its global impact strategy, Bitget has joined hands with UNICEF to support blockchain education for 1.1 million people by 2027. In the world of motorsports, Bitget is the exclusive cryptocurrency exchange partner of MotoGP™, one of the world’s most thrilling championships.
Risk Warning:Digital asset prices are subject to fluctuation and may experience significant volatility. Investors are advised to only allocate funds they can afford to lose. The value of any investment may be impacted, and there is a possibility that financial objectives may not be met, nor the principal investment recovered. Independent financial advice should always be sought, and personal financial experience and standing carefully considered. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. Bitget accepts no liability for any potential losses incurred. Nothing contained herein should be construed as financial advice. For further information, please refer to ourTerms of Use.
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DELRAY BEACH, Fla., July 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Sunwave Health, a leading provider of healthcare software solutions, today announced that its all-in-one platform has earned the prestigious ONC Health IT Certification from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC).
Earning ONC Health IT Certification reinforces Sunwave’s long-standing commitment to privacy, data security, and interoperability. By meeting federally recognized standards, Sunwave affirms its role as an enterprise-grade partner for behavioral health providers managing complex and sensitive data environments. This milestone further strengthens Sunwave’s ability to support providers as they navigate value-based care initiatives, streamline CMS reporting, and ensure compliance with the 21st Century Cures Act.
“Achieving ONC Certification marks a major milestone for Sunwave. This rigorous validation underscores our unwavering commitment to building secure, interoperable software solutions that meet, and exceed, national standards,” said Tulasi Beesabathuni, Sunwave’s Chief Technology Officer.
Sunwave’s unified platform unites EMR (Electronic Medical Record), Revenue Cycle Management (RCM), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and AI capabilities to offer behavioral health organizations a comprehensive, certified system designed to streamline healthcare workflows and enhance patient care.
About Sunwave Health: Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Delray Beach, FL, Sunwave Health is the leading provider of behavioral health software. Combining CRM, EMR, RCM, and AI built for behavioral health facilities into one unified platform, Sunwave offers solutions that increase efficiency. For more information about Sunwave, visit www.sunwavehealth.com/.
Headline: Fabric Real-Time Intelligence can turn raw signals into actionable insights, without writing complex code
How Contoso uses MQTT sensors, public weather feeds and Fabric Real-Time Intelligence to monitor smart buildings.
Jointly authored by Alicia Li and Arindam Chatterjee
Why Real-Time Stream Processing Matters
In the age of AI, as organizations embrace intelligent systems and data-driven decision-making, the ability to act on data the moment it arrives is unlocking new levels of agility and insight. From anomaly detection and operational optimization to fraud prevention and personalized experiences, real-time insights are powering the next wave of innovation. For forward-looking businesses, real-time stream processing has become a foundational capability.
In this post, we’ll explore how Contoso, a smart building operator, uses Microsoft Fabric’s Real-Time Intelligence to build a streaming data platform that connects room sensors, weather feeds, and alerting systems.
Architecture Overview
Each Contoso-operated building is equipped with room sensors that stream temperature and occupancy data to an MQTT broker. To enrich this data, Contoso also ingests a public weather feed, enabling correlation between indoor and outdoor conditions. These real-time signals drive smarter energy use, improve occupant comfort, and enable timely responses to environmental changes.
Figure 1: (End to End Data Platform Architecture)
As demonstrated in Figure 1., these real-time signals flow through Microsoft Fabric’s Real-Time Intelligence stack — from ingestion to transformation, alerting, and visualization. The architecture includes:
Eventstream for ingesting MQTT and weather data.
No-code and SQL operators for shaping the data.
Data Activator for triggering alerts.
Eventhouse for storing and analyzing the time-series data.
Real-time Dashboards for monitoring up-to date-trends, anomalies etc.
In the following sections, we will walk through the implementation of each stage of the architecture.
Can’t wait to learn more? Check out the full walkthrough demo video.
Step 1: Ingest Data with Eventstream
Contoso’s real-time journey begins with data — lots of it. Each building streams temperature and occupancy readings from room sensors to an MQTT broker. To make smarter decisions, Contoso enriches these signals with real-time weather data from Azure Maps, enabling them to correlate indoor conditions with the outdoor environment. This combination helps optimize HVAC usage, detect anomalous readings, anticipate comfort issues, and respond proactively — not reactively.
Microsoft Fabric’s Real-Time Hub makes this easy. With built-in connectors for MQTT and Azure Maps Weather, Contoso can ingest diverse data streams in just a few clicks.
Open Real-Time hub and click ‘connect data source’.
Select MQTT connector and connect
Create a new connection and fill in the topic name.
Enter Eventstream Edit mode.
Select ‘Add Source’ and ‘Connect data sources.
Select Weather Data connector
Choose the Location (e.g. London)
Enable multiple schema inference feature from the Eventstreams Settings page.
Navigate to Data preview on Default Stream:
Select Multiple Schema drop down.
Each schema is automatically inferred from the incoming data. You can switch to different schemas to review the details.
Step 2: Process & Transform Streaming Data with No-Code and SQL Operators
Once data starts to flow into a Fabric Eventstream, the next step is to shape it into a usable format. Raw sensor and weather data often needs filtering, renaming, or enrichment before it’s ready for alerts or dashboards. For Contoso, this means extracting just the fields they care about and re-shaping the data to conform to a common data model e.g. temperatures reported in Celsius instead of Fahrenheit etc.
Fabric makes this easy with built-in transformation tools. You can use no-code operators for quick filtering and shaping, or switch to SQL for more advanced logic — all within the same Eventstream canvas.
Click + Add Transformation on the Eventstream canvas (Edit)
Use visual transformations to select fields, rename columns, and change data types.
Use SQL | Edit Query to author & test queries
Send results to a Eventhouse table by connecting the SQL operator with an Eventhouse destination and finishing the Eventhouse configuration.
Using the steps we covered, Contoso can quickly build and test a complex streaming data pipeline as demonstrated in Figure 2.
Figure 2 (Eventstream topology to process MQTT & Weather data)
Step 3: Act on Streaming Data – Alerts & Real-time Dashboards
Once the sensor and weather data are ingested, processed and transformed, the next step is to act on it. In some cases, that means triggering real-time alerts when conditions exceed thresholds—like a room temperature rising above 100°F or occupancy crossing 50 people. In others, it means visualizing trends across buildings to support operational decisions. Whether it’s automated responses or human-in-the-loop monitoring, the value of streaming data comes from how quickly and clearly it drives action.
Fabric Real-Time Intelligence supports both modes of action—event-driven automation with Data Activator and real-time observability using Eventhouse Real-Time Dashboards. With Data Activator, Contoso is able to define alert conditions directly on streaming data and trigger notifications or workflows without writing code. With Eventhouse and Real-Time Dashboards, they can build live dashboards that reflect current conditions across their buildings—in real-time.
Set Alerts or Trigger Actions by adding Data Activator as a destination for the Eventstream
Define alert conditions and configure actions (e.g., Teams notifications, Emails, Notebooks)
Send data to Eventhouse and build a Real-Time Dashboard.
Use visual queries and enable auto-refresh to keep insights live.
Conclusion
Contoso’s journey shows how Fabric Real-Time Intelligence can turn raw signals into actionable insights — without writing complex code or stitching together multiple tools. From ingesting MQTT and weather data to triggering alerts and powering live dashboards, Fabric offers a unified, low-friction path to building intelligent, event-driven applications.
This approach is not limited to smart buildings; the ingest, transform, act design pattern is applicable in various industries:
Manufacturing: Monitor equipment health and trigger maintenance alerts.
Retail: Track foot traffic and optimize staffing in real time.
Logistics: Combine GPS and weather data to reroute deliveries.
Finance: Detect fraud patterns as transactions stream in.
Whether you’re managing a factory floor, a logistics network, or a digital storefront, the formula is the same: Stream it. Shape it. Act on it.
Now it’s your turn — explore what’s possible when your streaming data becomes your co-pilot.
Please refer to the following links for detailed configuration guidance:
We’d Love Your Feedback!
Feel free to reach out via email at askeventstreams@microsoft.com. You can also submit feedback or feature request on Fabric Ideas, and join the conversation with fellow users in the Fabric Community
If you haven’t already, check out the video walkthrough for the full experience in action.
Yesterday, the White House unveiled the Trump Administration’s transformative strategy to propel the United States into a new era of artificial intelligence dominance. Under President Donald J. Trump’s leadership, this groundbreaking blueprint establishes core tenets to accelerate innovation, fortify essential infrastructure, and assert U.S. leadership in diplomacy and security — cementing our position as the global AI powerhouse.
As Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang put it: “America’s unique advantage that no country could possibly have is President Trump.”
TheAI Action Planwas immediately hailed across the technology industry:
AI Innovation Association President Steve Kinard: “President Trump’s AI Action Plan is a bold path to global American leadership. Every American citizen, company, university and institution has a role to play. By prioritizing American workers, free speech, and security, it positions the U.S. to win the AI race and usher in a new era of prosperity and strength. The AI Innovation Association stands ready to support this initiative.”
Alliance for the Future: “The White House just advanced a more unified national AI strategy. States with clear, effective AI policies will be better positioned for federal support. A strong step toward alignment, innovation, and leadership.”
Amazon: “Amazon supports & continues to work at the state and federal level to establish consistent standards that promote the secure, responsible development of AI. We look forward to continued collaboration to fully realize AI’s potential in driving economic growth & tech advancement.”
American Beverage: “We applaud President Trump’s action plan to ensure America’s continued leadership in the global pursuit of artificial intelligence innovation and infrastructure. Maintaining our edge in this technology is important to the growth of American manufacturing and the good-paying jobs manufacturers provide in communities across the country.”
Chevron Corporation Chairman and CEO Mike Wirth: “President Trump’s American AI Action Plan is a bold and necessary step to ensure the United States leads the next great technological revolution. As I’ve said before, America has triumphed in every industrial era—from steel to energy—and we have the power and leadership to do it again in artificial intelligence. This plan recognizes that AI innovation doesn’t happen in a vacuum—it demands reliable, scalable energy and infrastructure. By streamlining permitting, investing in data centers, and unleashing American energy, the President is laying the foundation for a future where AI strengthens our economy, our national security, and our global leadership. Chevron stands ready to help power this future.”
American Edge Project CEO Doug Kelly: “President Trump’s AI Action Plan is a giant leap forward in the race to secure American leadership in artificial intelligence. By prioritizing innovation, infrastructure, talent, and global reach, the plan confronts key barriers to American competitiveness, begins to fill long-standing gaps in our national strategy, and helps position the U.S. to beat China in this high-stakes tech race … Time is of the essence: China has had a national plan for global AI leadership since 2017, and is executing it relentlessly with talent, infrastructure, state-backed investment, and international influence. This is our moonshot moment. Now is the time for the country to rally together behind a shared, national mission to win the AI race. The stakes could not be higher.”
American Innovators Network: “The American Innovators Network (AIN), a national organization representing American Little Tech companies, commends President Trump and his administration for their bold and decisive action to counter China’s growing influence in the global AI landscape. The new guidelines and recommendations unveiled today mark a pivotal moment in securing America’s dominance in this critical technological race, and we are grateful for President Trump’s leadership in prioritizing policies that empower innovation and strengthen our national competitiveness.”
American Society of Association Executives President and CEO Michelle Mason: “President Trump’s Artificial Intelligence Action Plan strategically positions the United States as a global leader in the development and deployment of AI technology. ASAE applauds the focus on industry-driven training programs that equip workers with the skills they need to be successful in the workforce of tomorrow. ASAE’s members are eager to support efforts to create these training programs, and we encourage continued collaboration between the federal government and the association community.”
Americans for Prosperity Chief Government Affairs Officer Brent Gardner: “President Trump’s AI Action Plan will ensure America leads the world in innovation, economic freedom, and technological progress. By removing regulatory roadblocks, empowering innovative small business owners, and embracing open-source development, this plan puts the ingenuity of the American people—not bureaucrats—in the driver’s seat of the AI revolution. This move by the White House rightly course-corrects four years of Biden-era efforts to centrally control AI development and stifle American innovation. We applaud the administration’s commitment to protecting free speech and ensuring private-sector breakthroughs aren’t halted by burdensome regulation. It’s now time for Congress to work alongside the administration to codify these efforts in order to create generational change that will enable AI adoption across industries, remove permitting barriers to build infrastructure, and unleash innovation.”
Anthropic: “Today, the White House released ‘Winning the Race: America’s AI Action Plan’—a comprehensive strategy to maintain America’s advantage in AI development. We are encouraged by the plan’s focus on accelerating AI infrastructure and federal adoption, as well as strengthening safety testing and security coordination. Many of the plan’s recommendations reflect Anthropic’s response to the Office of Science and Technology Policy’s (OSTP) prior request for information … The alignment between many of our recommendations and the AI Action Plan demonstrates a shared understanding of AI’s transformative potential and the urgent actions needed to sustain American leadership. We look forward to working with the Administration to implement these initiatives while ensuring appropriate attention to catastrophic risks and maintaining strong export controls. Together, we can ensure that powerful AI systems are developed safely in America, by American companies, reflecting American values and interests.”
Arm: “We commend the Administration’s actions to unleash investment in AI, semiconductors, and the energy to power it. Arm, together with our partners, is working rapidly to bring AI to all forms of computing. Today’s announcements will accelerate AI data center and cloud infrastructure deployment in particular, while advancing plans to promote exports of the U.S. AI stack and ensuring American technology innovation. We look forward to continuing to work with the Administration as it enacts and builds on today’s actions.”
Box CEO Aaron Levie: “America’s AI Action Plan is quite strong. It has a clear a mission to win the AI race and accelerate the development and use of AI by removing roadblocks or aiding adoption. Importantly, it focuses on the positive benefits of AI, which we’re all seeing every day.”
Business Roundtable: “BRT supports the @WhiteHouse AI Action Plan’s efforts to strengthen infrastructure, advance permitting reform, invest in workforce development and develop clear frameworks that empower US businesses to accelerate AI innovation and adoption.”
Business Software Alliance CEO Victoria Espinel: “The White House AI Action Plan offers a roadmap for the United States’ AI future anchored on the adoption of technology. The Business Software Alliance welcomes ‘America’s AI Action Plan’ for addressing a range of issues including talent and workforce development, infrastructure and data, and AI governance that serve as pillars for successful AI adoption and US competitiveness. BSA appreciates the Action Plan’s commitment to creating the essential conditions for widespread AI adoption. The Action Plan advances key BSA recommendations for AI talent, including developing an AI skills curriculum, improving access to training resources, and leveraging real-time workforce data. It emphasizes the development of critical infrastructure and reliable energy resources necessary to scale AI deployment. The Action Plan also reinforces the roles of the Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI) and NIST in the development of standards and evaluation tools, a foundation for both domestic AI governance and in promoting international collaboration on AI. Additionally, the Action Plan streamlines government procurement processes, enabling public-sector agencies to more effectively access and adopt cutting-edge commercial AI solutions.”
Center for Data Innovation Senior Policy Manager Hodan Omaar: “The AI Action Plan shows the Trump administration is serious about winning the global AI race. It marks a clear evolution from the President’s 2019 AI initiative and reflects just how dramatically the global AI landscape has shifted over the past six years. The plan rightly recognizes that beating China demands a comprehensive effort—unleashing infrastructure to fuel model development, removing regulatory frictions that slow development and deployment, and promoting the export of American AI technology. These steps put the United States on a path not only to benefit from AI today, but to remain the global leader in the future.”
Connected Nation Chairman and CEO Tom Ferree: “This marks a transformational moment for American innovation. The release of the National AI Action Plan signals to the world that the United States intends not only to compete—but to lead—in the global race for artificial intelligence. We applaud the Trump Administration’s bold and comprehensive strategy, which rightly prioritizes accelerating innovation, unleashing infrastructure investment, and ensuring our nation’s AI capabilities are second to none. Connected Nation enthusiastically supports the plan’s focus on building out data center capacity, fast-tracking permitting, and expanding our skilled workforce. These are critical steps toward positioning the U.S. as the undisputed hub of next-generation computing.”
Consumer Choice Center Head of Emerging Technology Policy James Czerniawski: “The AI Action Plan is a bold vision for the future of ensuring AI leadership by the Trump administration. The Golden Age of America is made possible when we position our innovators to be as successful as possible, ensuring American consumers can benefit from the AI revolution happening on our shores. The economy of tomorrow starts with the building blocks laid out in this action plan. The provision which reviews rulemaking of the Federal Trade Commission is especially encouraging, quashing legal theories that would complicate or slow American consumers gaining access to AI technologies. This is a world of difference from the hostile regulatory approach of the Biden Administration, and a welcome breath of fresh air for consumers who want cutting-edge tech.”
Consumer Technology Association CEO Gary Shapiro: “Congratulations to @POTUS and the @WhiteHouse team on an AI Action Plan recognizing the U.S. must win the global AI race. The plan cuts red tape for innovators, boosts AI adoption across sectors, supports a future-focused AI workforce, and advances the American AI tech stack as the foundation for global tech growth.”
Data Center Coalition President Josh Levi: “The Data Center Coalition thanks President Trump for releasing Winning the AI Race: America’s AI Action Plan—a bold framework to ensure the United States remains the undisputed global leader in artificial intelligence. The administration’s plan recognizes that developing a robust domestic data center industry is vital to promoting U.S. national security, global economic competitiveness, and continued American AI dominance … Today’s announcement is a major step forward, and we look forward to continuing to work with the administration and lawmakers to ensure the U.S. remains at the forefront of global innovation and digital resilience.”
Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell: “Proud to see the White House AI Action Plan accelerating innovation, building home‑grown AI infrastructure, and strengthening America’s security. 🇺🇸 Dell Technologies is all‑in—ready to power U.S. ingenuity, create jobs, and keep us leading the future. 🚀”
Gecko Robotics: “Gecko Robotics welcomes the AI action plan published by the White House today. The United States must win the global AI race and will only do so by using artificial intelligence to supercharge energy production itself. At the same time, it is critical that we collect and use high-fidelity data to feed AI models, and we remain at the forefront of leading this charge.”
General Catalyst Institute President Teresa Carlson: “Today, the Trump Administration unveiled their widely-anticipated AI Action Plan. Upon review, I am encouraged by their pro-growth approach that prioritizes American innovation, national security, and federal leadership over bureaucratic barriers. This policy was not crafted in a vacuum. It was part of an inclusive process, where earlier this year the General Catalyst Institute submitted views on behalf of startups as to how best deepen America’s AI leadership through transformative technologies.”
Heritage Foundation Center for Technology and the Human Person Acting Director Wesley Hodges: “The AI Action Plan is a call for a new industrial renaissance, an ambitious strategy that the Administration should be commended for leading. It charts the course for building significant domestic compute infrastructure—from expanding energy capacity, to constructing data centers and increasing domestic advanced semiconductor manufacturing. At the same time, the plan also emphasizes that American AI technology must be developed free of ideological bias, and ensure working families are benefited and not left behind. We look forward to supporting the administration’s work to align this technology with human flourishing.”
IBM Chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna: “IBM applauds the White House for its bold and timely AI Action Plan, which prioritizes open innovation, strengthens U.S. technological leadership, and proposes a supportive regulatory environment for AI development and deployment. The plan is a critical step towards harnessing AI for sustained economic growth and national competitiveness.”
Information Technology Industry Council President and CEO Jason Oxman: “President Trump’s AI Action Plan presents a blueprint to usher in a new era of U.S. AI dominance. The administration’s vision takes essential steps to ensure the U.S. can win the global AI race by prioritizing U.S. energy production and infrastructure development to power AI’s growth, promoting U.S. AI leadership internationally by supporting the export of the full stack of American AI technologies to partners and allies, and accelerating adoption of AI across the public and private sectors. Importantly, the President’s Plan includes key directives for agencies and communicates clear U.S. policy objectives that will encourage widespread adoption and fuel U.S. technological and economic competitiveness. As agencies begin implementing the President’s plan, we encourage policymakers to invest in modernizing government technology and to leverage industry’s deep expertise to maintain America’s AI leadership.”
Internet Works Executive Director Peter Chandler: “As the AI race accelerates globally, it’s encouraging to see policymakers recognize the need for bold investment in innovation, adoption, and infrastructure. Middle Tech companies, many of whom are deployers and integrators of AI tools, are essential to ensuring that AI benefits reach small businesses, everyday users, and communities across the country. We welcome the Trump Administration’s emphasis on modernizing our digital and energy infrastructure and expanding support for open, responsible AI development and adoption. To win the AI race, we need policy frameworks that are risk-based and right-sized—supporting trust, safety, and competition across the full tech ecosystem. Internet Works stands ready to partner with leaders at every level to shape an AI future that’s secure, innovative, and built for everyone.”
Lightspeed Venture Partners Founder Ravi Mhatre: “In AI, you either own the frontier or get commoditized. The AI Action Plan helps ensure that America continues to build by streamlining regulation, identifying opportunities for AI to scale, and getting more energy online. It will help ensure America owns the future of AI while others still try to catch up to what we built yesterday.”
Lumen Technologies: “Lumen Technologies supports the Administration’s AI Action Plan and its call for a unified framework to accelerate AI innovation and next-generation fiber infrastructure deployment across the U.S. As a leading networking services company building the digital backbone for AI, Lumen is investing heavily to meet the demands of AI-driven enterprises and public-sector modernization and understands the criticality of secure, high-performance networks. We applaud the efforts included in the plan by the FCC, OMB and OSTP that aim to reduce regulatory barriers to innovation, modernize permitting, and streamline the NEPA review process for critical fiber and data center infrastructure. Winning the AI future requires clear, consistent policies that accelerate nationwide deployment of network infrastructure and public-private partnerships that turn this plan into reality. Lumen stands ready to work with federal and state agencies to ensure America leads the AI revolution.”
Meta Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan: “The AI race is about the future of US economic power & national security. President Trump’s strong leadership on AI will help us keep our foot on the gas. We’re in the middle of a fierce competition with China for AI leadership. The White House’s AI Action Plan is a bold step to create the right regulatory environment for companies like ours to invest in America. @Meta is proud to be investing hundreds of billions of dollars in job-creating infrastructure across the US, including state-of-the-art data centers, creating American jobs in the process.”
Micron Technology President and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra: “We support the White House’s AI Action Plan, which underscores the strategic importance of U.S. semiconductor manufacturing as critical infrastructure for the global AI economy. Memory is foundational to AI — powering technologies across data centers, automotive, telecommunications, defense, and consumer electronics. As the only U.S.-based memory manufacturer and a technology leader, Micron is investing $200 billion in manufacturing and R&D to create 90,000 American jobs and help ensure U.S. leadership in the AI era through a resilient and secure supply chain.”
National Association of Manufacturers President and CEO Jay Timmons: “Reflecting President Trump’s vision for the United States to lead on artificial intelligence, the White House’s AI Action Plan underscores what manufacturers across the country already know: AI is no longer a future ambition—it is already central to modern manufacturing. For years, manufacturers have been developing and deploying AI-driven technologies—machine vision, digital twins, robotics and more—to make shop floors safer, strengthen supply chains and drive growth.”
National Association of Realtors EVP and Chief Advocacy Officer Shannon McGahn: “We applaud the administration’s release of Winning the AI Race: America’s AI Action Plan, which reinforces the U.S. as a global leader in this transformative technology. It’s especially encouraging to see real estate infrastructure recognized as a cornerstone of America’s future. Housing is essential to economic strength and innovation, and we urge policymakers to apply the plan’s smart permitting strategies to help tackle today’s housing supply crisis.”
National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors: “The National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW) applauds President Trump’s newly released AI Action Plan, which outlines a comprehensive and forward-looking approach to federal artificial intelligence (AI) policy. We are particularly encouraged to see several of NAW’s recommendations—submitted during the Administration’s Request for Information process in March—reflected in the plan … NAW looks forward to continuing to work with the Administration to ensure the outcomes from the Action Plan support further AI deployment and adoption across the wholesale distribution industry.”
National Mining Association President and CEO Rich Nolan: “The administration’s recognition of the importance of existing power plants and prioritization of safeguarding them is clear acknowledgement that the coal fleet is essential to U.S. AI leadership. For the U.S. to guide and shape the AI revolution – and seize this tremendous opportunity – we need a grid and energy resources capable of shouldering the enormous new electricity demand now on our doorstep. Prioritizing the ongoing operation of essential coal plants – with the capacity to meet increased demand – combined with reforming our power markets around the goal of grid stability articulated in this action plan puts us firmly on the path for success.”
NetChoice Director of Policy Patrick Hedger: “NetChoice applauds the White House’s AI Action Plan overall and is encouraged to see the focus on red tape reduction and investment in America’s future. From unleashing energy to embracing regulatory humility and ensuring our AI systems are adopted around the world, we look forward to working with the President to usher in the Golden Age of American innovation. The difference between the Trump administration and Biden’s is effectively night and day. The Biden administration did everything it could to command and control the fledgling but critical sector. That is a failed model, evident in the lack of a serious tech sector of any kind in the European Union and its tendency to rush to regulate anything that moves. The Trump AI Action Plan, by contrast, is focused on asking where the government can help the private sector, but otherwise, get out of the way.”
Oil and Gas Workers Association: “President Trump’s EO for rapid buildout of data centers means more demand for reliable, affordable natural gas. Demand = Drilling … Drilling = Jobs … Thank you, @POTUS!”
Palantir: “AI is the birthright of the country that harnessed the atom and put a man on the moon. With today’s AI Action Plan, the Trump Administration has written the source code for the next American century. Palantir is proud to support it.”
QTS Co-CEO Tag Greason: “The Trump Administration’s AI Action Plan will advance efforts to ensure the United States maintains leadership in AI, including both technology development and critical digital infrastructure. As the digital infrastructure leader, QTS is focused on responsibly and sustainably building the future of our country and economy. We continue to listen and engage with the communities we call home with a steadfast commitment to providing job opportunities, fostering economic growth, working with local suppliers, and operating as trusted neighbors. This historic action and investment will directly benefit communities where we are developing data centers for AI.”
Salesforce Inc. President and Chief Legal Officer Sabastian Niles: “We welcome the Administration’s strong emphasis on AI adoption, workforce readiness, and government modernization in today’s AI Action Plan. Trusted AI will be a cornerstone of national competitiveness, security, and continued American innovation. Salesforce is committed to helping the public and private sectors harness its full potential.”
Siemens USA President and CEO Barbara Humpton: “Excited to join business leaders today for the launch of The White House’s #AIActionPlan boosting American leadership in #AI and innovation to greater heights. Every day, Siemens USA is using #IndustrialAI to revitalize U.S. #manufacturing, build critical #infrastructure, and expand what’s humanly possible for American workers. We’re creating a new industrial tech sector that combines the real and digital worlds, thanks to Industrial AI, digital twins, software-defined automation, and more. Of course, no company can truly lead in AI without a solid foundation of trust. That’s why I was so pleased to see a framework for accelerating innovation while maintaining security included in the AI Action Plan. By focusing on secure infrastructure, industrial R&D, digital transformation, and workforce development, we can help manufacturers of all sizes join the next AI-driven industrial revolution. It’s an exciting time for Industrial AI, and I can’t wait to see where Siemens, our customers, and our partners will go next with this industry-changing technology.”
Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council President and CEO Karen Kerrigan: “America’s AI future is a powerful and positive one that expands opportunities and unlocks new possibilities and industries. U.S. entrepreneurs are the driving force behind AI innovation, and small business owners are already benefitting from transformative AI tools. The possibilities and opportunities are boundless, but the U.S. must continue to lead and win the AI race. ‘America’s AI Action Plan’ lays out a strategy to make that happen. The plan embraces America’s innovative potential and addresses the incentives and hurdles to fully harness innovation, including the human and physical infrastructure required to cement U.S. leadership. SBE Council congratulates President Trump and the White House team for developing an extraordinary AI Action Plan, and we look forward to working with the Administration and Congress on its implementation.”
Society for Human Resource Management: “The President’s plan is not just about technology—but about people. The emphasis is on a worker-first approach that addresses American competitiveness in an AI-driven workforce. The plan reflects a fundamental truth that SHRM has long championed: technology alone does not move the workplace forward—people do.”
Software & Information Industry Association SVP for Global Public Policy Paul Lekas: “The AI Action Plan represents a meaningful strategy to support innovation and security, strengthen U.S. competitiveness, and ensure the benefits of AI are broadly shared. This plan provides the roadmap to cement the United States as the global leader in AI by supporting innovation and security, strengthening U.S. competitiveness, and ensuring the benefits of AI are broadly shared. We’re especially encouraged by the plan’s focus on workforce development and AI literacy as core elements of AI infrastructure. These are key components for building trust and ensuring all communities can participate in and benefit from AI’s potential.”
Special Competitive Studies Project President Ylli Bajraktari: “Building on the foundational work of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI), SCSP has consistently advocated for a comprehensive national strategy to secure America’s technological future. This AI Action Plan provides a critical component for winning the techno-economic competition of the 21st century. It correctly identifies that our national security and economic prosperity, as well as America’s global leadership position, are now intertwined with leadership in AI. We are committed to helping transform this strategic vision into enduring national policy.”
TechNet CEO Linda Moore: “TechNet strongly supports the administration’s AI Action Plan and is especially grateful for their willingness to work with industry to establish best practices. This policy framework takes critical steps towards developing a strong domestic workforce, building critical AI infrastructure, launching public-private partnerships, removing regulatory barriers to innovation, strengthening the domestic AI stack, and enhancing U.S. global AI diplomacy. The AI Action Plan makes clear that countering Chinese influence and securing America’s leadership in the AI race are top priorities for the United States. We look forward to continuing to work closely with the administration on policies that advance AI innovation while safeguarding the public interest and ensuring America’s global AI dominance.”
U.S. Chamber of Commerce EVP and Chief Policy Officer Neil Bradley: “We applaud President Trump and his administration for issuing the AI Action Plan to strengthen U.S. global leadership in artificial intelligence. This forward-looking plan takes steps to accelerate innovation by fixing a regulatory landscape hobbled by conflicting state-level laws and activist-driven overreach, streamlining permitting for critical AI infrastructure, ensuring reliable and affordable energy for consumers and businesses, and advancing U.S. leadership in AI diplomacy. These proposed actions will position the United States to tackle our most pressing challenges and lead the global AI race by setting the gold standard for the development and deployment of responsible, transformative technologies. America is counting on this crucial technology to propel economic growth for all sectors, from small business to energy and health care, and the AI Action Plan presents a roadmap to unlock AI’s full potential. We will work with the administration to help implement this plan and foster a competitive, open, and innovation-driven AI ecosystem.”
USTelecom President and CEO Jonathan Spalter: “The Trump Administration’s AI action plan is a turbo boost for American innovation. From clearing regulatory roadblocks to reforming outdated permitting to doubling down on security, this is the kind of bold leadership we need to win the AI race. But even the best-engineered AI needs a track built for speed—and that’s where fiber comes in. Fiber broadband is the fast lane for America’s AI future: powerful, secure, scalable, and built to go the distance, whether you’re in a big city or a heartland town. Broadband providers are tuned up, fully fueled, and ready to work with the Administration to help America stay a lap ahead in the competition for AI leadership.”
Workday VP of Corporate Affairs Chandler Morse: “Workday has long advocated for federal action that drives critical AI innovation and builds trust. The Administration’s AI Action Plan, announced today, seeks to avoid excessive regulatory hurdles, elevate human potential through targeted and timely reskilling, and accelerate AI adoption at the federal level. This sends a strong message to federal agencies, the U.S. economy, and global stakeholders on the benefits of driving AI competitiveness.”
xAI: “Today’s announcement by the White House is a positive step toward removing regulatory barriers and enabling even faster innovation for the benefit of Americans and for humanity as a whole. We are pleased to see the White House prioritize AI innovation.”
Zoom Chief Global Affairs Officer Josh Kallmer: “Just got back from an inspiring day where I had the opportunity to be part of the conversation around the President’s #AI Action Plan. It was energizing to see so many leaders across industries coming together to talk about the future of AI in the U.S.”
Technology platforms operating in the UK now have a legal duty to protect young people from some of the more dangerous forms of online content. This includes pornography, content that encourages, promotes, or provides instructions for violence, promotion of self-harm and eating disorders. Those failing to comply face hefty fines.
Until now, parents have had the unenviable role of navigating web content filters and app activity management to guard their children from harmful content. As of 25 July 2025, the Online Safety Actputs greater responsibility on platforms and content creators themselves.
In theory, this duty requires tech organisations to curb some of the features that make social media so popular. These include changing the configuration of the algorithms that analyse a user’s typical behaviour and offer content that other people like them usually engage with.
This is because the echo chambers that these algorithms create can push young people towards unwanted (and crucially, unsolicited) content, such as incel-related material.
The Online Safety Act directly acknowledges the impact of algorithms in targeting content to young people. It forms a key part of Ofcom’s proposed solutions. The act requires platforms to adjust their algorithms to filter out content likely to be harmful to young people.
It’s yet to become clear exactly how tech companies will respond. There has been pushback over negative attitudes to algorithms, though. A response from Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, to Ofcom’s 2024 consultation on protecting children from harms online counters the idea that “recommender systems are inherently harmful”.
It states: “Algorithms help to sort information and to create better experiences online and are designed to help recommend content that might be interesting, timely or entertaining. Algorithms also help to personalise a user’s experience, and help connect a user with their friends, family and interests. Most importantly, we use algorithms to help young people have age-appropriate experiences on our apps.”
Age verification
A further safety measure is the use of age checks. Here, Ofcom is enforcing platforms to make “robust age checks” and, in the case of the most serious of content creation sites, these must be “highly effective”.
Users will need to prove their age. Traditionally, age-verification checks involve the submission of government-issued documents – often accompanied by a short video to verify the accuracy of the submission. There have been technological advances which some platforms are embracing. Age-estimation services involve uploading a short video or photo selfie which is analysed by AI.
If enforced, the Online Safety Act may not only restrict access to pornography and other recognised extreme content, but it could also help stem the flow of knife sales.
Research shows exposure to knife crime news on social media is linked to symptoms similar to PTSD. Research by one of us (Charlotte Coleman) and colleagues has previously shown that negative effects of seeing knife imagery may be more severe for girls and those who already feel unsafe.
Even on strongly regulated platforms, though, some harmful material can seep through the algorithm and age checks net. Active moderation is therefore a further requirement of the act. This means platforms need to have processes in place to look at user-generated content, assess the potential harm and remove it if appropriate to ensure swift action is taken against content harmful to children.
This may be through proactive moderation (assessing content before it is published), reactive moderation based on user reports, or more likely, a combination of the two.
Even with these changes, invisible online spaces remain. A host of private, encrypted end-to-end messaging services, such as messages on Whatsapp and snaps on Snapchat, are impenetrable to Ofcom and the platform managers, and rightly so. It is a vital fundamental right that people are free to communicate with their friends and family privately without fear of monitoring or moderation.
However, that right may also be abused. Negative content, bullying and threats may also be circulated through these services. This remains a significant problem to be addressed and one that is not currently solved by the Online Safety Act.
These invisible online spaces may be an area that, for now, will remain in the hands of parents and carers to monitor and protect. It is clear that there are still many challenges ahead.
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Charlotte Coleman has previously received funding from UKRI to understand the negative online experiences of UK police staff.
Jess Scott-Lewis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Marc Fullman, Docotoral Researcher in Organisational Behaviour, University of Sussex Business School, University of Sussex
If your first task of the day is triaging a bulging inbox at 6am, you are not alone. A recent Microsoft report headlined “Breaking down the infinite workday” found that 40% of Microsoft 365 users online at this hour are already scanning their emails – and that an average worker will receive 117 emails before the clock rolls around to midnight.
But that’s not all. By 8am, Microsoft Teams notifications outstrip email for most workers, and the typical employee is hit with 153 chat messages during the day.
The report states that, while meetings swallow the prime 9am–11am focus window, interruptions arrive every two minutes throughout the day. This perpetual work overload means a third of professionals reopen their inbox to answer more emails at 10pm.
In short, Microsoft’s telemetry of this “triple-peak” day (first thing, mid-morning and late at night) paints a vivid picture of a work rhythm that never stops.
From an occupational psychology perspective, these statistics are more than curious trivia. They signal a cluster of psychosocial hazards.
Boundary Theory holds that recovery depends on clear and solid boundaries – both psychologically and in terms of time – between work and the rest of life. Microsoft’s findings show those limits dissolving. This includes 29% of users checking email after 10pm.
Similarly, a four-day diary study of Dutch professionals found that heavier after-hours smartphone use predicted poorer psychological detachment and exhaustion the next day.
This can have wider consequences. When people are busy, rushed or harried, one of the first things to suffer is their regulation of online behaviour. Large-scale survey research shows that ambiguous or curt digital messages occur when we are depleted. These can obviously sap wellbeing in recipients.
In a 2024 study of workers in the UK and Italy, incivility in emails between colleagues predicted work-life conflict and exhaustion via “techno-invasion”, as workers reported being exposed to an ongoing torrent of unpleasant messaging.
So-called ‘techno-invasion’ could lead to work-life conflict and emotional exhaustion. fizkes/Shutterstock
My ongoing doctoral research examines how workers respond to messages they receive, and exposes the nuance on different communication platforms. Among the 300 UK workers involved, identical messages were rated as more uncivil on email than on Teams, particularly when they were informal. Frustration on the part of a recipient (in terms of how they interpret a message) accounted for nearly 50% of perceived incivility on email, but only 30% on Teams.
These findings suggest that choice of platform significantly influences how messages are received and interpreted. Using these insights, organisations can make informed decisions about communication channels, and potentially reduce workplace stress and improve employee wellbeing in the process.
Microsoft suggests that AI “agent bosses” will rescue workers. These tools could summarise inboxes, draft replies and free up humans for higher-order work.
The data, however, exposes a cultural contradiction. Managers tell staff to switch off, yet their appraisal spreadsheets tell a different story. In one set of experiments, the same bosses who praised weekend digital detoxing also ranked the detoxers as less promotable than colleagues who were glued to their inboxes.
Little wonder Microsoft’s own data shows the same late-night peak, despite widespread wellbeing guidance to switch off after hours. Without changing how commitment is signalled and rewarded, faster tools risk accelerating the treadmill rather than dismantling it.
What organisations can do
1. Individual level – let people feel they have control
Encourage “quiet hours” and teach employees to disable non-urgent notifications. Boundary-control research shows that when workers feel they have control over connectivity, it creates a buffer against fatigue caused by after-hours email.
2. Team level – communication charters
Teams should agree explicit norms for communication. This could include capping the numbers invited to meetings and insisting on agendas. Simple charters along these lines restore predictability for workers and cut “decision fatigue”.
3. Organisational level – redesign metrics
Organisations could shift from visibility (green dots and instant replies) to outcome-based metrics for productivity. This removes the incentive for workers to stay online and aligns with evidence that autonomy is a key resource.
4. Technological level – AI for elimination, not acceleration
Workplaces should deploy AI assistants to remove low-value tasks (for example, sorting email or drafting minutes), not just speed them up. Then they should conduct workload audits to ensure the time saved is reinvested in deep work, not simply swallowed up by extra meetings.
The Microsoft dataset is enormous, but there are two important points to note. First, European jurisdictions with “right to disconnect” laws may be missing from the figures. Second, some metrics (for example, interruptions) are calculated on the most active fifth of users, potentially overstating a typical experience.
But if the numbers in Microsoft’s report feel familiar, that is precisely the point. The technology designed to liberate workers is now scripting their day minute-by-minute. Occupational psychology researchers warn that without deliberate boundary setting, rising digital job demands will continue to tax wellbeing and dull performance.
AI can be a circuit breaker, but only if it is accompanied by cultural and structural change that gives employees permission to disconnect.
The infinite workday is not a law of nature, it is a design flaw. Fixing it will take more than faster software – it will demand a collective decision to prize focus, recovery and civility as fiercely as workers currently prize availability.
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Marc Fullman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Travis Van Isacker, Senior Research Associate, School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies, University of Bristol
On a cold, wet November evening, Issa Mohamed Omar and more than 30 other men, women and children set off from their informal camp near the northern French port city of Dunkirk. They walked through the darkness in near-silence for around two hours, until they reached the beach from where they hoped to start a new and better life.
As they arrived, five men were busy pumping up an inflatable dinghy and attaching an outboard engine. These people smugglers had charged each of their customers more than a thousand euros for a trip that costs someone with the right passport less than a hundred.
The travellers were given life-vests, arranged into rows and counted. “There are 33 of you,” one of the smugglers said. For many on board, this was not their first attempt at reaching England.
Most came from Iraqi Kurdistan, including Kazhal Ahmed Khidir Al-Jammoor from Erbil, who was travelling with her three children: Hadiya, Mubin and Hasti Rizghar Hussein, respectively aged 22, 16 and seven.
A father and son from Egypt were shown how the engine worked and provided a GPS device and directions to Dover, around 35 miles (60km) to the west across the Channel. Mohamed Omar would later recall:
The Egyptian man was put in charge of steering the boat by the smugglers. He was travelling with his son, who looked like he was in his late teens or maybe early 20s. I do not know how they came to be the driver and navigator.
There were also at least three Ethiopian nationals – one of whom, father-of-two Fikiru Shiferaw from Addis Ababa, sent his wife Emebet at home in Ethiopia a final WhatsApp voice message:
We have already boarded the boat. We are on the way. I will turn off my phone now. Goodnight, I will call you tomorrow morning.
These were the last words she would ever receive from her husband.
What happened to Fikiru Shiferaw and the other passengers on the night of November 23-24 2021 has been the subject of the UK’s Cranston Inquiry which, during March 2025, heard from 22 witnesses to the disaster, including officers involved in the UK’s search-and-rescue (SAR) response. Chaired by former High Court judge Sir Ross Cranston, the independent inquiry also heard from Mohamed Omar from Somalia – one of only two survivors – as well as family members of many of the dead and missing.
These hearings not only shed light on the actions of UK Border Force and His Majesty’s Coastguard officers during the failed rescue operation – designated Incident Charlie – in the early hours of November 24, but the agencies’ approach to “small boat crossings” in general dating back to 2017.
According to the testimonies, officers had been operating under extreme pressure in the months leading up to the disaster. Kevin Toy, master of the Border Force ship Valiant which was sent out to search for the missing dinghy that night, explained that in the run-up to the incident, “night after night” he could see his crew were “utterly exhausted” by the end of their shifts.
The evidence shows the British government was aware of the growing risk that Border Force and HM Coastguard could be overwhelmed by the rising number of small boat crossings – and that people might die as a result. In May 2020, a document produced by the Department for Transport acknowledged that “SAR resources can be overwhelmed if current incident numbers persist”. At least three senior HM Coastguard officers identified the same risk in August 2021.
Multiple communication failures have also been exposed by the inquiry – among British officers, with their opposite numbers in France, and between both countries’ emergency services and the increasingly desperate people aboard the sinking dinghy.
Despite numerous distress calls and GPS coordinates being shared via WhatsApp, a rescue boat failed to reach the travellers in time. Amid the confusion, when their calls stopped, the coastguard assumed Charlie’s passengers had been picked up and were safe. In fact, they were perishing in the cold waters of the Channel over more than ten hours.
The Insights section is committed to high-quality longform journalism. Our editors work with academics from many different backgrounds who are tackling a wide range of societal and scientific challenges.
As part of my research into the digital transformation of the UK-France border, I attended the inquiry and have studied the many statements, call transcripts, operational logs, emails and meeting minutes it has made public. Initially, I wanted to understand how the November 2021 disaster became a watershed moment in the UK government’s response to people trying to cross the Channel by small boat or dinghy, catalysing the transformation of the UK’s maritime border into the hyper-surveilled space it is today.
But, after speaking to representatives for Mohamed Omar and the bereaved families as well as migrant rights organisations, larger questions have emerged. In particular, given the inquiry’s singular focus on this one catastrophic event in November 2021, those I spoke to are concerned that its recommendations will be unable to prevent further deaths from occurring in the Channel, which have risen dramatically over the last 18 months.
How ‘small boat crossings’ began
Since the UK and France began operating “juxtaposed” border controls in the early 1990s (meaning border checks occur before departure), asylum seekers trying to reach England have had to make irregular journeys across the Channel. Until 2018, these were typically aboard trains and ferries – after sneaking on to a lorry or through a French port’s perimeter security.
At the time of the “Jungle” camp near Calais in 2015-16, media coverage of collective attempts by its residents to enter French ports spiked UK government investment in the border. Between 2014 and 2018, it gave its French counterpart at least £123 million to “strengthen the border and maintain juxtaposed controls”. These funds paid for French police to patrol the ports and border cities, regularly evict migrants’ living sites, and finance detention and relocation centres.
As admitted by then-home secretary Sajid Javid in 2019, this increased security led people to find other ways across the Channel. Beginning in the winter of 2018, smugglers organised journeys in small, seaworthy vessels they had stolen from marinas along the French coast. These “small boats” continue to lend their name to this migration phenomenon – yet the unseaworthy inflatable dinghies used today, with no keel or rigid hull, are not worthy of the name.
Even in the context of the usual sensationalism surrounding irregular migration to the UK, small boat journeys were met with an especially intense response, both politically and in the media.
When 101 people crossed between Christmas and New Year in 2018, Javid declared it a major incident. Ever since, “stopping the boats” has been one of the UK government’s highest priorities. Despite small boat arrivals making up only 29% of UK asylum claimants in 2018-24, billions of pounds have been spent to try and control the route.
Frosty relations and the ‘pushback’ plan
As Channel crossings rose sharply over 2020-21, worsening relations between France and the UK due to Brexit complicated how the two governments worked together to respond. In his testimony, former clandestine Channel threat commander Dan O’Mahoney – appointed by Javid’s successor, Priti Patel, to “make small boat crossings unviable” – described relations between the two countries as already “very frosty” when he began in August 2020.
After France’s then-interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, axed a plan for UK vessels to take rescued migrants back to Dunkirk, O’Mahoney was tasked by senior ministers to come up with an alternative. The resulting “pushback” plan, called Operation Sommen, involved Border Force officers on jet skis driving into migrant dinghies to turn them back as they crossed the border line into UK waters. When France learned of the plan, O’Mahoney recalled:
They thought it went counter to their and our obligations around safety of life at sea … They objected to it very strongly, and it affected our already quite strained relationship with them further.
Operation Sommen was abandoned in April 2022 before having ever been used in anger. However, preparations were said to have taken up “a very considerable amount of time and resource” at both the Home Office and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency – and had “a detrimental effect” on the UK’s overall SAR response to small boat crossings.
At a meeting of senior officials in June 2021 to discuss Operation Sommen, ministers had made clear that the “numbers of people crossing [was] a political problem” – and that improving SAR capabilities did not “fit with [the] narrative of taking back control of borders”.
Although senior HM Coastguard officers recognised “it is extremely difficult to locate small boats or communicate with those onboard”, the inquiry heard that officers did not recall receiving “any small boat training before November 2021”, other than in the procedure to allow Border Force to push them back to French waters.
The head of Border Force’s Maritime Command, Stephen Whitton, told the inquiry he was under “a huge amount of pressure” to prevent small boat crossings, while also “providing the bulk of the support to search and rescue”. Despite carrying out 90% of all small boat rescues in the Channel and “regularly being overwhelmed”, Border Force Maritime Command received “no additional assets to manage the search and rescue response” before November 2021.
‘The pressure we were under’
When the decision was taken for Border Force – a law enforcement rather than search-and-rescue organisation – to be the primary responders to small boat crossings in 2018, only around 100 people were crossing each month. Yet by the time of the disaster three years later, according to an internal Home Office document, the total for 2021 was “already more than 25,000”.
At the inquiry, O’Mahoney stated: “As 2021 went on, it became much clearer that … frankly, we just needed more [rescue] boats.” Whitton admitted that before the disaster, Border Force, HM Coastguard, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and other support organisations were all “on our knees in terms of the pressure we were under, and it was getting hugely challenging”.
The evidence shows this pressure was acutely felt inside Dover’s Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre, which sits atop the port’s famous white cliffs offering a commanding view of the Channel. Inside, Coastguard officers coordinate SAR operations and control vessel traffic in the Dover Strait – one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
On the night of November 23-24, three coastguard officers were on search-and-rescue duty: team leader Neal Gibson, maritime operations officer Stuart Downs, and a trainee – unnamed by the inquiry – who was officially only present as an observer.
HM Coastguard’s Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre at Dover overlooking the Channel. Travis Van Isacker, CC BY-NC-SA
Staffing appears to have been a longstanding issue at the Dover coastguard station where, according to divisional commander Mike Bill, there was “poor retention of staff” and “experience and competence weren’t the best”. Only the day before the disaster, during a migrant red days meeting – convened when, due to good weather, the probability of Channel crossers is considered “highly likely” – chief coastguard Peter Mizen had warned that only having two qualified officers at Dover on nights “isn’t enough”.
Over recent months, as the station had become busier responding to small boat crossings and in the wake of an unsuccessful recruitment drive, staff were having to work flat-out throughout their shifts, and were being asked to come in on scheduled days off.
On the night of November 23-24, owing to staff shortages, team leader Gibson told the inquiry he had to cover traffic control duties for three hours from 10.30pm. This meant he was away from the SAR desk at 00.41am, when a message arrived from the national rescue coordination centre along the coast in Fareham, stating that the Coastguard’s scheduled surveillance aeroplanes would not be flying over the Channel that night due to fog.
The officers were told they would be “effectively blind” – and should not allow themselves “to be drawn into relaxing and expecting a normal migrant crossing night”. The message warned: “This has the potential to be very dangerous.”
‘Their boat – there’s nothing left’
According to Mohamed Omar, the sea was calm when he and the other passengers departed the French beach around 9pm UK time. Giving his evidence to the Cranston Inquiry from Paris – he still cannot travel to the UK – a ship approached them around an hour into their voyage:
They came up to us to see what we were doing, and shone a light on us. I remember seeing a French flag on the boat. It was a big boat and I am certain it was the French coastguard. I had heard from people I met in the camp in Dunkirk that this happened sometimes, and that the French boat would follow until you reached English waters.
In fact, Mohamed Omar said, the French ship left the travellers again after about an hour. Shortly after this, the problems began.
A French warship patrols the shore of Mardyck in northern France, close to where Charlie is thought to have departed. Travis Van Isacker, CC BY-NC-SA
Around 1am, seawater began entering the dinghy. By now, it was in the vicinity of the Sandettie lightvessel, around 20 miles north-east of Dover. At first, passengers managed to bail out the 13°C water – but soon the flooding became uncontrollable. The dinghy’s inflatable tube began losing pressure, and a couple of the Kurdish men used air pumps to try to keep it inflated. Others tried to prevent panic spreading among the passengers.
Many onboard began to make frantic calls for rescue. What were reported to be leaked transcripts of some of these calls were published by French newspaper Le Monde a year after the sinking. They showed the first distress call from the dinghy was received by the French coastguard at 12.48am. Speaking in English, the caller said there were 33 people on board a “broken” boat.
According to Le Monde, three minutes later, another call was transferred to the French maritime rescue coordination centre at Cap Gris-Nez by an emergency operator who reported: “Apparently their boat – there’s nothing left.” Following procedure, the French coastguard officer asked the caller to send a GPS position by WhatsApp so she could “send a rescue boat as soon as possible”. At 1.05am UK time, the GPS position arrived.
Rather than send a French boat, Le Monde reported that the officer phoned her counterparts in Dover to warn them a dinghy 0.6 nautical miles from the border line would soon be crossing into UK waters. On the other end of the line was the trainee officer, who was handling routine calls that night despite officially only being an observer.
After the call finished, according to Downs’s evidence to the inquiry, the trainee mistakenly told him the dinghy was thought to be “in good condition” – information he recorded in the log for Incident Charlie. This miscommunication may have affected the urgency of the UK’s SAR response, preventing HM Coastguard and Border Force from appreciating the severe distress the “broken” dinghy was in.
Just before 1am, the French coastguard had sent its migrant tracker spreadsheet, containing information on all small boat crossings that night, to HM Coastguard for the first time. It showed four migrant dinghies at sea – which Gris-Nez had been aware of “for many hours”, according to Gibson.
The issue of the French coastguard appearing to withhold information about active small boat crossings had been raised by HM Coastguard’s clandestine operations liaison officer during a July 2021 review. And earlier that very evening, Gibson told one of his colleagues:
Sometimes they just seem to keep it quiet. Like we’ll not get anything – then we’ll get a tracker at three in the morning with 15 incidents, and they go: ‘Mostly these are in your search-and-rescue region.’ Wonderful.
At 1.20am, Downs phoned Border Force Maritime Command in Portsmouth to request a Border Force vessel search for the dinghy Charlie. He provided the GPS position received from his French counterpart and the number of people onboard – but also the incorrect information that “they think it’s in good condition”.
Ten minutes later, the Valiant, Border Force’s 42-metre patrol ship stationed at Dover, was tasked to proceed towards the Sandettie lightvessel. At the same time, the first direct call to the Dover rescue coordination centre came in from Charlie. The distressed caller said they were “in the water” and that “everything [was] finished”.
Around 15 minutes later, at 1.48am, Gibson took a call from 16-year-old Mubin Rizghar Hussein, who spoke good English. Despite the noise and commotion, he managed to provide Gibson with a WhatsApp number – in order to share their GPS position. The transcript of this call records voices shouting in the background: “It’s finished. Finished. Brother, it’s finished.”
A ‘grave and imminent threat to life’
Gibson told the inquiry that after his call with Rizghar Hussein, he had a “gut feeling that this doesn’t feel quite as usual”. By “usual” he meant what was, according to maritime operations officer Downs, a commonly held belief at the Dover coastguard station that with “nine out of ten”“ callers from small boats: “It would generally be overstated that the boat … was sinking, people were drowning … Whatever was going on would be overstated.”
Acting on his gut feeling, at 2.27am Gibson took the unprecedented decision to broadcast a Mayday Relay – denoting a “grave and imminent threat to life”. By maritime law, this alert required other vessels to offer their assistance.
Gibson told the inquiry he did this to get the French warship Flamant to respond. He could see on his radar screen that Flamant was closest to Charlie’s position and was the best vessel to rescue the people if the dinghy really was sinking.
Why the Flamant did not respond is at the centre of an ongoing criminal investigation in France into two of the warship’s officers and five coastguards from Gris-Nez, for “non-assistance of persons in distress”. This investigation’s strict confidentiality obligation means the inquiry was unable to access any information from the French side about their operations that night.
At 2.01 and again at 2.14am, HM Coastguard had received new GPS positions via WhatsApp showing the dinghy to be more than a mile inside UK waters.
Valiant, having been tasked at 1.30am, only exited the port of Dover at 2.22am and would need at least another hour to reach the Sandettie. Despite this, no other vessel was sent to join the search. At 3.11am, when asked during a call by Border Force Maritime Command whether Charlie was “still a Mayday situation”, Gibson replied: “Well, they’ve told me it’s full of water.”
With a total of four small boats being shown in the Channel that night by the French tracker spreadsheet, Gibson suggested there could be as many as 110 people on board these dinghies – beyond Valiant’s capacity for taking on survivors. Nevertheless, Border Force and HM Coastguard opted to “wait and see what the numbers are, and whether Valiant can deal with that … We don’t want to call any other assets out just yet.”
In a call with Christopher Trubshaw, captain of the Coastguard rescue helicopter stationed at Lydd on the Kent coast, aviation tactical commander Dominic Golden explained that Border Force was “not prepared to bring in their crews who are pretty knackered” unless “we can convince them there are people in real danger”. He then asked Trubshaw to search the Channel for the small boats shown in the French tracker, as the surveillance aeroplanes had been unable to take off.
In her closing submission to the inquiry, Sonali Naik, a legal representative of the survivors and bereaved families, highlighted Golden’s “dismissive attitude” towards Charlie’s distress when he gave Trubshaw the reason for the request, which included the following:
As usual, the catalogue of phone calls is beginning to trickle in … You know, the classic ‘I am lost, I am sinking, my mother’s wheelchair is falling over the side’ etc. ‘Sharks with lasers surrounding boat’ and ‘we are all dying’ type of thing.
Nevertheless, Golden asked the helicopter crew to pack a liferaft. “I can’t imagine we’re going to need it but … potentially you get to play with one of your new toys.”
While Golden described his words as “unwise” or “flippant”, Naik said they were “more than that” – suggesting they revealed rescuers’ general perceptions of the occupants of small boats and the widely held scepticism towards their distress calls.
‘We are dying. Where is the boat?’
With the water inside rising fast and their dinghy collapsing, Charlie’s increasingly desperate passengers kept trying to get rescuers to appreciate how dire their situation was.
At 2.31am in the Dover rescue coordination centre, Gibson received a second call from Mubin Rizghar Hussein, who pleaded: “We are dying, where is the boat?”
Gibson replied: “The boat is on its way but it has to get …” only to be interrupted by Rizghar Hussein saying: “We all die. We all die.”
“I get that,” Gibson told the terrified teenager, “but unfortunately, you’re going to be patient and all stay together, because I can’t make the boat come any quicker.” He ended the call saying:
You need to stop making calls because every time you make a call, we think there’s another boat out there – and we don’t want to accidentally go chasing for another boat when it’s actually your boat we’re looking for.
Gibson broke down briefly when recounting this second call during his evidence to the inquiry, explaining:
If you don’t understand what’s fully going on and you’re getting ‘we’re all going to die’, it’s quite a distressing situation to find yourself in, sitting at the end of a phone – effectively helpless. You know where they are, you want to get a boat to them, and you can’t.
Call records also show that coastguards on both sides of the Channel passed responsibility for rescuing the sinking dinghy off to one another. According to Le Monde, during one call a passenger told the French coastguard officer he was “in the water” – to which she replied: “Yes, but you are in English waters.”
The transcript of the last call before Charlie capsized, made at 3.12am, reveals that Downs asked “where are you?” 17 times – despite the caller being unable to answer anything beyond “English waters”. The maritime operations officer finished by instructing the caller to hang up and dial 999: “If it won’t connect on 999, then you’re probably still in French waters.”
In her closing submission, Naik pointed to “discriminatory stereotypes and attitudes towards migrants on small boats which fatally affected the SAR response” for Charlie – as rescuers, in her words, “jumped to premature conclusions”. According to survivor Mohamed Omar:
Because we have been seen as refugees … that’s the reason why I believe the rescue, they did not come at all. We feel like we were … treated like animals.
Fatal assumptions
At 3.27am, Border Force’s ship Valiant arrived at Charlie’s last recorded GPS position (from 2.14am) – but found nothing. Its master, Kevin Toy, decided to head north-easterly towards the Sandettie lightvessel, the way the tide was flowing.
En route, Valiant spotted two other dinghies in the darkness using its night vision – one still making its way towards the English coast, the other stopped in the water. The stationary dinghy was in greater danger from the Channel’s shipping traffic, so Valiant went to it and began rescuing those onboard – radioing back that it had “engaged unlit migrant crafts stopped in the water” with approximately 40 people onboard.
In the Dover rescue coordination centre, Gibson assumed this dinghy could be Charlie and gave Mubin Rizghar Hussein’s name and telephone number so Valiant’s crew could verify whether he was on board. At 4.16am, Gibson himself tried calling the WhatsApp number that Rizghar Hussein had shared, but the call failed.
At 4.20am, Valiant completed its first rescue of the morning. Two more followed after the Coastguard helicopter spotted two other dinghies in the Sandettie area – but nobody in the water. A near-capacity Valiant then returned to Dover just after 8am with 98 survivors on board.
None of the three rescued dinghies matched the description of Charlie. All were in good condition, differently coloured, and with disparate numbers of people onboard – yet the misplaced assumption Charlie had been rescued persisted amid the night’s murky information environment. Gibson stated that, while he had soon received additional information matching Valiant’s first rescue to a different dinghy, he was still “fairly certain Charlie had been picked up”.
“Once Valiant had picked up these [three] boats,” he explained, “we no longer received calls from Charlie, and a call to a known phone number on Charlie failed.” As a result, neither Valiant nor the Coastguard helicopter were sent back out to continue searching for the stricken dinghy.
In fact, Gibson’s call to Rizghar Hussein’s WhatsApp number did not fail because Charlie’s passengers had been rescued – nor because they had thrown their phones into the sea when Border Force arrived. Rather, it was because the dinghy had capsized and everyone had fallen into the Channel’s freezing waters.
‘No one came to our rescue’
In harrowing evidence to the inquiry, Mohamed Omar explained how, as one side of the dinghy deflated, the passengers – “hysterical and crying” – panicked and moved to the opposite side. This shift in weight caused the dinghy to capsize:
The screaming when the boat tipped and people fell in the water was deafening. I have never heard anything as desperate as this. I was not thinking about whether we were going to be rescued any more; it was all about how to stay alive.
As the passengers were thrown into the water, the dinghy flipped on top of them. Mohamed Omar described having to swim out from underneath to catch a breath: “It was dark and I could not really see. It was extremely cold and the sea was rough.”
As he surfaced, he saw Halima Mohammed Shikh, a mother of three also from Somalia and travelling alone, struggling as she couldn’t swim. She screamed his name for help, and he tried to get her back to what was left of the dinghy – but couldn’t. “I think she was one of the first people to drown,” he told the inquiry.
Others managed to cling to the broken inflatable, hoping rescue was on its way – but “no one came to our rescue”. Pushed and pulled by the waves, some lost their grip and drifted away before dawn. Mohamed Omar recalled:
All night, I was holding on to what remained of the boat. In the morning, I could hear the people were screaming and everything. It’s something I cannot forget in my mind.
By the time the sun finally rose at 7.26am, he estimated that no more than 15 people were left clinging to the broken dinghy – adrift on the tide in a busy shipping lane:
I do not recall speaking with anyone in the water. Those who were alive were half-dead. There was nothing we could do any more. I could see bodies floating all around us in the water. I presume most people were either already dead or were unconscious.
Shortly afterwards, Mohamed Omar said he let go of the dinghy and began to swim, thinking to himself: “I am going to die [but] I don’t want to die here. At least if I die whilst swimming, I won’t feel it.”
He swam towards a boat he could see in the distance and, as he got closer, began to wave his life jacket for attention. A French woman, out fishing with her family, saw him and jumped in the water to save him.
As he finished telling his story, Mohamed Omar told the inquiry: “I’m a voice for those people who passed away.”
Bodies are found
Around 1pm on the afternoon of November 24, 12 hours after the first distress calls from Charlie, a French commercial fishing vessel began finding bodies in the sea nine miles north-west of Calais. But as the news came in, no one at HM Coastguard or Border Force appears to have made the connection with Incident Charlie.
Days later, when the accounts of Mohamed Omar’s fellow survivor, Mohammed Shekha Ahmad from Iraqi Kurdistan, and a relative of two of the deceased emerged, the Home Office refuted their claims that the dinghy had sunk in UK waters as “completely untrue”.
However, five days after the disaster, Gibson contacted the small boats tactical commander to share his concerns that the reported deaths could be from Charlie. He had read a news article in which “the survivor states a male called Mubin called the emergency services, which could possibly be the ‘Moomin’ [sic] I spoke to”.
On December 1, clandestine Channel threat commander O’Mahoney responded to a question from the UK’s Joint Committee on Human Rights, as to whether the migrants whose bodies had been found in French waters had made distress calls to the UK authorities. O’Mahoney told the committee:
We are looking into that. To manage your expectation, though, it may never be possible to say with absolute accuracy whether that boat was in UK waters [and] I cannot tell you with any certainty that the people on that particular boat called the UK authorities.
Thanks largely to their grieving families tireless pursuit of the truth, however, it is now possible to say definitively that Charlie had been in UK waters – and that a number of its passengers spoke to HM Coastguard officers.
It was only after these families raised concerns that the disaster had involved the UK authorities that the Department for Transport commissioned a safety investigation into the incident in January 2022. A lawyer for the bereaved families suggested to me that without the threat of legal action, the Department for Transport “would likely not have done anything” – despite this being Britain’s worst maritime disaster for decades. Meanwhile, according to inquiry evidence, the Home Office is understood not to have conducted an internal review or investigation into its role in the disaster.
After a frustrating two years of waiting for the survivors and bereaved families, the Marine Accidents Investigations Branch published its report – which both confirmed most of their accounts and substantiated their criticisms of the SAR response.
Soon afterwards, the Cranston Inquiry was announced. Despite no bodies having been recovered in UK waters, it has been run almost like an inquest. In his final report – to be published by the end of 2025 – Sir Ross Cranston has promised to “consider what lessons can be learned and, if appropriate, make recommendations to reduce the risk of a similar event occurring”.
A ‘crucial and unique opportunity’
HM Coastguard and Border Force officers have repeatedly told the inquiry how the UK’s approach to small boat search-and-rescue has changed since the November 2021 disaster. More officers have been hired, Border Force has contracted additional boats to conduct rescues, information sharing has improved, and cooperation with French colleagues is better. Today, there are significantly more rescue ships on both sides of the Channel which can intervene faster when dinghies come to be in distress, and have undoubtedly saved many lives.
There has also been massive investment in drones, aeroplanes and powerful shore-based cameras to reduce the risk that HM Coastguard loses “maritime domain awareness” again if some of its surveillance aircraft are unable to fly. New technology automatically translates coastguard officers’ messages into different languages and extracts live GPS locations and images from travellers’ mobile devices.
Such investments make it unlikely that another dinghy could be lost in the middle of the Channel after its passengers call for help, in the way Charlie so catastrophically was.
Nevertheless, people continue dying while attempting to cross the Channel – with 2024 having been by far the deadliest year yet. At least 69 people lost their lives, according to the Refugee Council. So far in 2025, 24 people are documented as dead or missing at the UK-France border by Calais Migrant Solidarity, amid a record number of attempted crossings for the first half of the year.
Some migrants’ rights NGOs have suggested the UK’s “stop the boats” policies, and European efforts to disrupt the supply chain of dinghies and other equipment used in crossings, has driven such deadly overcrowding.
But it is also unlikely that the circumstances surrounding more recent deaths in the Channel will ever be investigated as thoroughly as Incident Charlie, if at all. Lawyers for the bereaved families have therefore been keen to highlight the Cranston Inquiry’s “crucial and unique opportunity” not only to look back and offer answers about one of Britain’s worst maritime disasters in recent decades – but to look forwards and “prevent the further loss of life at sea”.
The survivors, families and migrants’ rights organisations who contributed their evidence thus hope the inquiry’s recommendations go beyond purely operational and administrative improvements to search-and-rescue, to address the fundamental role that UK, France and European border policies play in why more people are dying in the Channel, despite the improvements to search-and-rescue strategies and resources.
Above all, they ask why only some people are able to travel to the UK in comfort and safety while others must make the journey in precarious, overcrowded inflatable dinghies – and thus entrust their lives to the search-and-rescue services whose success can never be guaranteed. As Halima Mohammed Shikh’s cousin, Ali Areef, told the inquiry:
It makes me feel sick to think about crossing the Channel in a ferry where others including a member of my family lost their lives because there was no other way to cross. I will never take a ferry across the Channel again.
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Travis Van Isacker gratefully acknowledges the support of the Economic and Social Research Council
(UK) (Grant Ref: ES/W002639/1).
DALLAS, July 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Mark Cuban Foundation today announced significant updates and a nationwide expansion of its free AI Bootcamps, designed to bring advanced artificial intelligence education to underserved high school students and educators. The program will operate in 29 cities across the U.S. this fall, reinforcing the foundation’s commitment to closing the digital divide and nurturing future innovators.
Applications are now open for high school students (grades 9–12) and educators interested in the Teacher Bootcamp, a year-long, free professional development initiative. The AI Bootcamps are open to all high school students, and prioritize accepting girls, students of color, first-generation college-goers, and students from low-income backgrounds. Applications will be accepted through September 30, 2025.
“As AI becomes an integral part of daily life, it’s essential that all young people have access to this powerful technology,” said Mark Cuban, Founder of the Mark Cuban Foundation. “Our goal is to ensure that every interested student, regardless of background or resources, can explore AI and its limitless possibilities.”
The updated curriculum includes hands-on experience with generative AI tools, modules on ethical AI, and specialized tracks covering healthcare, arts and entertainment, business and entrepreneurship, computer science, sports science, and future readiness. Participants will complete capstone projects under mentorship from industry professionals. Additionally, each location will now have a dedicated Teacher Fellow to further enhance educational outcomes and community involvement. Applications for the Teacher Fellowship program open in January.
All student bootcamps will take place over three Saturdays (November 1, 8, and 15, 2025, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.), with meals, transportation assistance, and technology provided at no cost.
Charlotte Dungan, Chief Learning Officer at the Mark Cuban Foundation, emphasized, “By equipping underserved students and educators with practical AI skills and ethical insights, we’re actively working toward equity in education and preparing young people for the future.”
Confirmed 2025 Bootcamp Locations:
Arizona: Tempe
California: Mountain View
Colorado: Denver
Connecticut: Hartford
Florida: Melbourne, Miami
Georgia: Atlanta
Illinois: Chicago
Indiana: Fort Wayne, Indianapolis
Iowa: Johnston (Des Moines area)
Kansas: Hutchinson
Michigan: Pontiac
Minnesota: Minneapolis
Missouri: St. Louis
Nebraska: Omaha
New York: New York City
North Carolina: Charlotte, Raleigh
Ohio: Cleveland
Pennsylvania: Philadelphia, Pittsburgh
Rhode Island: Providence
Texas: Houston, Richardson, San Antonio, Plano
Utah: Salt Lake City
Virginia: Richmond
Key local partnerships include Girls Inc. in San Antonio, Miami Dade College in Florida, Electric Works in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Perficient in St. Louis, Minneapolis, and Plano, TX.
Since 2019, the Mark Cuban Foundation AI Bootcamp has successfully provided AI education to thousands of students in over 30 cities nationwide. The Teacher Fellowship, which began in March 2025 and runs through May 2026, supports 30 selected educators with stipends, mentorship, and national opportunities to showcase their achievements. Teacher Bootcamps have participants in 48 states and impact over 100,000 students.
Interested students and educators can apply for bootcamps now at markcubanai.org.
Companies interested in hosting a future bootcamp can complete our interest form.
Watch Mark Cuban’s message about Mark Cuban Foundation’s AI bootcamps and access the full media kit here.
This bootcamp is facilitated with support from Mark Cuban Foundation AI Bootcamp Program’s media partner, Notified, a globally trusted technology partner for investor relations, public relations and marketing professionals.
About Mark Cuban Foundation’s AI Bootcamp Initiative The Mark Cuban Foundation is a 501(c)(3) private non-profit led by entrepreneur and investor Mark Cuban. The AI Bootcamps Program at MCF seeks to inspire young people with emerging technology so that they can create more equitable futures for themselves and their communities. Over 3 consecutive Saturdays, underserved 9th – 12th grade students learn what AI is and isn’t, where they already interact with AI in their own lives, the ethical implications of AI systems, and much more. Learn more about the no-cost AI Bootcamp program at markcubanai.org.
Zug, Switzerland, July 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Stormrock, a Swiss e-commerce group that generated €24 million in revenue in 2024 through its portfolio of high-recurrence consumer brands, is now expanding its impact in the tech and retail space. Its founders, Lucas Nova and Fabien Dumas, have announced the launch of Nemesis: a Swiss-based incubator for high-potential e-commerce brands, along with a proprietary AI-powered SaaS platform built to industrialize the systems and methods behind their growth. The goal: provide other founders access to the operational playbooks and AI agents that turned Stormrock into a category leader.
Fabien Dumas, Co-Founder of Nemesis
Why is this launch strategic?
Nemesis is designed to help founders scale fast and sustainably through:
A favorable Swiss legal and tax environment
Direct access to Stormrock’s full operating ecosystem
Internal tools, automation frameworks, and AI capabilities
Strategic support with minority equity participation (20–30%)
How does their model work?
Nova and Dumas built their method on complete control of the customer lifecycle. Their operational model includes:
Hyper-personalized user journeys through large-scale A/B testing
Automated behavioral segmentation engines
An internal AI stack spanning Ads, CRM, Product, CRO, Finance
Processes tested across multiple high-growth DTC brands
What does the SaaS include?
The upcoming software platform replicates the systems that powered Stormrock’s growth:
Predictive segmentation algorithms
AI-driven CRO optimization modules
Autonomous AI agents for Ads, CRM, Product and Finance
Collaborative dashboards focused on founder-led decision making
The goal: provide a repeatable, intelligent, and scalable growth system to high-potential founders.
Key Metrics and Data
€24M in revenue reached in 2024 through Stormrock
€60M projected by 2027
30+ brands scaled using the same methodology
AI stack deployed across 6 core departments
Thousands of ad variants tested each quarter
Customer retention rates above industry benchmarks
Official Statements
“Nemesis was built to structure everything we’ve tested, proven, and refined over the years. It’s a realistic acceleration platform for founders aiming for operational excellence.” — Fabien Dumas, Co-Founder
“Our goal is clear: to help ambitious founders grow faster without rebuilding the wheel or repeating mistakes we’ve already solved.” — Lucas Nova, Co-Founder
About
Stormrock is a high-recurrence e-commerce brand launched by Lucas Nova and Fabien Dumas. After reaching €24M in revenue, the founders structured their methods into Nemesis, a Swiss incubator for direct-to-consumer businesses, and a SaaS platform designed to replicate their AI-driven, high-efficiency growth engine at scale.
Zug, Switzerland, July 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Stormrock, a Swiss e-commerce group that generated €24 million in revenue in 2024 through its portfolio of high-recurrence consumer brands, is now expanding its impact in the tech and retail space. Its founders, Lucas Nova and Fabien Dumas, have announced the launch of Nemesis: a Swiss-based incubator for high-potential e-commerce brands, along with a proprietary AI-powered SaaS platform built to industrialize the systems and methods behind their growth. The goal: provide other founders access to the operational playbooks and AI agents that turned Stormrock into a category leader.
Fabien Dumas, Co-Founder of Nemesis
Why is this launch strategic?
Nemesis is designed to help founders scale fast and sustainably through:
A favorable Swiss legal and tax environment
Direct access to Stormrock’s full operating ecosystem
Internal tools, automation frameworks, and AI capabilities
Strategic support with minority equity participation (20–30%)
How does their model work?
Nova and Dumas built their method on complete control of the customer lifecycle. Their operational model includes:
Hyper-personalized user journeys through large-scale A/B testing
Automated behavioral segmentation engines
An internal AI stack spanning Ads, CRM, Product, CRO, Finance
Processes tested across multiple high-growth DTC brands
What does the SaaS include?
The upcoming software platform replicates the systems that powered Stormrock’s growth:
Predictive segmentation algorithms
AI-driven CRO optimization modules
Autonomous AI agents for Ads, CRM, Product and Finance
Collaborative dashboards focused on founder-led decision making
The goal: provide a repeatable, intelligent, and scalable growth system to high-potential founders.
Key Metrics and Data
€24M in revenue reached in 2024 through Stormrock
€60M projected by 2027
30+ brands scaled using the same methodology
AI stack deployed across 6 core departments
Thousands of ad variants tested each quarter
Customer retention rates above industry benchmarks
Official Statements
“Nemesis was built to structure everything we’ve tested, proven, and refined over the years. It’s a realistic acceleration platform for founders aiming for operational excellence.” — Fabien Dumas, Co-Founder
“Our goal is clear: to help ambitious founders grow faster without rebuilding the wheel or repeating mistakes we’ve already solved.” — Lucas Nova, Co-Founder
About
Stormrock is a high-recurrence e-commerce brand launched by Lucas Nova and Fabien Dumas. After reaching €24M in revenue, the founders structured their methods into Nemesis, a Swiss incubator for direct-to-consumer businesses, and a SaaS platform designed to replicate their AI-driven, high-efficiency growth engine at scale.
New York City, NY, July 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — In the evolving landscape of online gaming, Free Spins No Deposit Casino Bonus offers have become a staple for platforms seeking to attract new users. These promotions — which grant free spins or small starting balances without requiring an upfront deposit — are gaining prominence across US-facing online casinos.
For players, such offers represent an opportunity to explore slot titles, test platform features, and potentially win real money, all without committing personal funds at the outset. For operators, they provide a low-friction onboarding method to build trust and drive engagement.
A Free Spins No Deposit Casino Bonus is a new player incentive where a casino grants free spins on selected slot games after account registration. Unlike traditional welcome packages, these offers do not require players to make an initial deposit.
Optional bonus cash, such as $200 no deposit bonus 200 free spins real money, usable for gameplay with withdrawal conditions.
Standard wagering requirements, dictating how many times winnings must be played through before cash-out.
This format enables first-time users to experience casino content and mechanics risk-free, while still offering the potential to earn withdrawable funds under defined terms.
The Appeal for US Players
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Real Money Potential
Promotions like $100 no deposit bonus 200 free spins real money or $200 no deposit bonus 200 free spins real money extend beyond trial play. While winnings are typically capped and subject to wagering rules, they allow players to build balances that can be withdrawn after meeting requirements.
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These bonuses frequently apply to no deposit slots, allowing users to sample popular or exclusive titles before deciding to commit funds. Many operators use new or trending slot releases as the centerpiece of such offers to showcase their portfolios.
Crypto and Bitcoin Casino Options
With the rise of digital currencies in online gambling, some platforms now extend crypto casino no deposit bonus promotions. These incentives mirror traditional offers but allow users to engage using cryptocurrency wallets instead of fiat accounts.
In parallel, bitcoin casino no deposit bonus packages are attracting interest from tech-savvy players who prefer faster transactions, enhanced privacy, and lower fees. These bonuses may involve free spins or small crypto balances credited upon signup, usable on blockchain-integrated slot titles.
Best Online Casino Real Money No Deposit Offers
The US market is diverse, with several licensed and offshore operators competing for attention. Best online casino real money no deposit offers often stand out by combining:
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Flexible wagering rules, allowing players a realistic chance to convert bonus play into withdrawable funds.
While the value of such offers varies, they have become a defining feature in how players evaluate platforms — often influencing sign-up decisions.
Regulatory and Compliance Considerations
In the US, availability of no deposit bonus casino promotions depends on jurisdiction. Fully regulated states like New Jersey, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia allow licensed platforms to issue such bonuses under local gaming laws. Offshore platforms, meanwhile, operate internationally but must adhere to fair gaming standards and responsible play guidelines to maintain credibility.
Key compliance practices include:
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Responsible Gaming Tools: Self-exclusion options, deposit limits, and playtime reminders.
Transparency: Clear display of wagering requirements, max withdrawal caps, and eligible games.
How These Bonuses Work in Practice
Here’s how a typical Free Spins No Deposit Casino Bonus functions:
Player registers an account with a participating casino.
The casino grants bonus credits or spins, such as 200 free spins tied to specific titles.
Winnings from these spins are credited as bonus funds, subject to wagering (e.g., 20x).
Players who meet the requirements can withdraw winnings as cash or cryptocurrency.
Some casinos also combine multiple incentives, such as $100 no deposit bonus 200 free spins real money packages, offering both spins and a small cash balance.
The Role of No Deposit Slots
No deposit slots are a central feature of these promotions. Operators typically curate a selection of popular or new titles for these bonuses, including:
High-volatility slots with larger jackpot potential.
Branded or themed titles designed to showcase graphics and bonus mechanics.
Games with accessible betting ranges to extend the value of free spins.
By focusing on slots, casinos create a straightforward, low-barrier entry point for new players, many of whom are engaging with online gaming for the first time.
Why Operators Use These Promotions
From a business perspective, no deposit casino bonuses serve as a powerful marketing tool. They:
Reduce sign-up friction by removing initial payment barriers.
Give players a taste of the platform’s slot selection and interface.
Convert trial users into depositors by building trust and familiarity.
Platforms offering no deposit bonus casino deals also benefit from word-of-mouth marketing, as players often share their experiences — especially when free spins lead to notable wins.
Responsible Gaming and Player Awareness
While these bonuses offer genuine opportunities for risk-free play, responsible gaming remains crucial. Players are advised to:
Review terms carefully, including wagering requirements and withdrawal limits.
Use bonuses as a way to test platforms rather than as a primary income source.
Engage with casinos that are licensed or maintain independent RNG (random number generator) certifications.
For operators, integrating session limits, easy-to-access self-exclusion tools, and clear disclosures helps maintain trust while encouraging sustainable engagement.
The Future of No Deposit Casino Bonuses in the US
Analysts predict that free spins no deposit and related offers will continue to expand as the US online casino market grows. As competition intensifies, players may see:
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Hybrid incentives, such as crypto casino no deposit bonus options for digital asset users.
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While regulations will continue to shape availability, these offers are poised to remain a cornerstone of user acquisition strategies in regulated and offshore markets alike.
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The rise of Free Spins No Deposit Casino Bonus offers reflects a larger trend in the US online gaming industry: making casino experiences accessible, risk-free, and appealing to a wide audience. Whether through $200 no deposit bonus 200 free spins real money packages, bitcoin casino no deposit bonus options, or simple no deposit slots trials, these promotions provide both players and operators with a mutually beneficial entry point.
As the market continues to mature, expect to see more diverse and innovative approaches to these bonuses — from crypto-integrated rewards to expanded free spin events — ensuring they remain a defining feature of the modern online casino experience.
Los Angeles, USA , July 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) —
In July 2025, the global compliant digital asset trading platform MSBFUND officially announced a large-scale increase in its holdings of Solana ecosystem token SOL, surpassing 2.5 million tokens and becoming a focal point in the industry. According to on-chain data, MSBFUND has recently completed multiple transactions to accumulate SOL, with a single-day net purchase exceeding 300,000 SOL. This move not only strengthens the platform’s foresight in mainstream public chain asset allocation but also sends a strong signal of ecological support to the market.
MSBFUND stated that this strategic increase in SOL holdings is based on its high recognition and long-term confidence in the future development of the Solana ecosystem. As one of the most promising high-performance blockchains today, Solana continues to demonstrate strong developer attraction and application expansion capabilities in fields such as DeFi, GameFi, and NFTs, thanks to its ultra-high TPS and extremely low gas fees. Especially as competition within Layer 1 ecosystems becomes clearer, SOL’s value is undergoing a systematic reassessment.
MSBFUND’s actions are not merely about asset allocation; the platform has initiated a three-pronged strategic deployment model that includes “SOL staking + DeFi custody + ecological investment.” By smart-staking its SOL holdings to obtain on-chain yields and leveraging professional custody mechanisms in the DeFi space, the platform is investing part of its funds into early Solana projects and infrastructure development. For instance, MSBFUND has partnered with well-known blockchain foundations such as StarBridge Foundation and MetaChain Growth Fund to establish a “SOL Ecosystem Incubation Fund,” with an initial scale of $30 million, focusing on emerging decentralized protocols and foundational components for blockchain games within the Solana network.
Liam Carter, Chief Strategy Officer of MSBFUND, stated, “We not only see the appreciation potential of SOL as a main chain asset but also value the developer activity and technical scalability behind its ecosystem. This large-scale acquisition is part of MSBFUND’s long-term value allocation strategy, aimed at injecting sustained capital and confidence into the SOL ecosystem.”
Several industry research institutions have noted that MSBFUND’s actions have boosted the market price of SOL to some extent. Data shows that within 48 hours of this announcement, SOL’s price increased by nearly 9%, trading volume doubled, and the market capitalization of several Solana ecosystem projects also rose, creating an on-chain “capital demonstration effect.”
This round of accumulation by MSBFUND not only reflects its keen insight in asset allocation but also showcases the platform’s strategic foresight and ecological empowerment in the global digital financial landscape. As a globally compliant platform registered with the U.S. MSB (Money Services Business), MSBFUND has long served high-net-worth clients, family offices, and professional investment institutions.
Adhering to the three core principles of “compliance, security, and professionalism,” MSBFUND continuously expands its R&D investments in technologies such as AI risk control, on-chain auditing, and intelligent trading, gradually building a leading global digital asset financial platform system. This firm increase in SOL holdings is not only a judgment on the future of the market but also a deep belief in and commitment to the long-term value of digital assets.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this press release is not a solicitation for investment, nor is it intended as investment advice, financial advice, or trading advice. It is strongly recommended you practice due diligence, including consultation with a professional financial advisor, before investing in or trading cryptocurrency and securities.
New York City, NY, July 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — For investors who hold a large amount of XRP, HJTCrypto provides a safe, compliant and scalable way to convert their assets into a high-yield passive income source. Users do not need to sell their positions or bear the risk of currency price fluctuations. They only need to top up and purchase computing power contracts to automatically obtain stable income every day. Traditional cryptocurrency acquisition requires high hardware investment, complex technical configuration and continuous power consumption, but now, HJTCrypto has completely changed all of this. Users only need to rent remote computing power through the online platform to get XRP rewards.
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About HJTCrypto Representing a new kind of digital asset platform – data-driven, results-oriented, and globally trusted. Since its founding in 2020, the UK-based company has become one of the most promising cryptocurrency platforms for investors seeking consistent, real returns. HJTCrypto makes it easier than ever to earn daily rewards, making financial freedom a dream. With premium applications, green cloud infrastructure, and global support, HJTCrypto is accessible to everyone, not just the tech elite, and is especially suitable for investors who seek sustainable long-term returns rather than speculative gains. For full details and participation options please visit: https://hjtcrypto.com Disclaimer: The information provided in this press release does not constitute an investment solicitation, nor does it constitute investment advice, financial advice, or a trading recommendation. Cryptocurrencies involve risks and may result in the loss of funds. You are strongly advised to perform due diligence before investing or trading in cryptocurrencies and securities, including consulting a professional financial advisor.
New York City, NY, July 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — For investors who hold a large amount of XRP, HJTCrypto provides a safe, compliant and scalable way to convert their assets into a high-yield passive income source. Users do not need to sell their positions or bear the risk of currency price fluctuations. They only need to top up and purchase computing power contracts to automatically obtain stable income every day. Traditional cryptocurrency acquisition requires high hardware investment, complex technical configuration and continuous power consumption, but now, HJTCrypto has completely changed all of this. Users only need to rent remote computing power through the online platform to get XRP rewards.
XRP Contracts Now Live — Simple, Highly Profitable XRP has long been recognized for its role in cross-border payments and institutional financing, and now HJTCrypto’s latest innovation – a user-friendly platform, takes XRP to the next level. Users can acquire XRP directly or take advantage of HJTCrypto’s intelligent AI engine, which automatically transfers cryptocurrency computing power to the highest-yielding assets, including XRP, BTC, ETH, DOGE, SOL, USDC, and more. Earnings will be paid daily in the cryptocurrency of your choice, providing a reliable source of income regardless of market fluctuations. HJTCrypto platform unique advantages – Available to Everyone: No technical skills, no hardware, no complications — just click to earn money. – XRP Native: Handle XRP from deposits to withdrawals in one ecosystem. – Global Instant Access: Start securely from anywhere in the world via a browser or app. Start earning income in just three easy steps: 1.Register – Create an account and receive a $12 welcome bonus. 2. Choose a plan – Select a short-term or long-term contract (1-50 days available). 3. Start earning – Track your daily rewards and withdraw them in your preferred token.
Flexible contracts to suit both beginners and experienced traders HJTCrypto offers a variety of XRP-based contracts designed to enable flexibility, predictable income, and effective risk management: $10 contract – 1 day – $0.60 profit per day; $100 contract – 2 days – $3.5 profit per day; $500 contract – 5 days – $6.25 profit per day; $1000 contract – 10 days – $13 profit per day; $5000 contract – 30 days – $75 profit per day; Click here to learn more about the contract.
About HJTCrypto Representing a new kind of digital asset platform – data-driven, results-oriented, and globally trusted. Since its founding in 2020, the UK-based company has become one of the most promising cryptocurrency platforms for investors seeking consistent, real returns. HJTCrypto makes it easier than ever to earn daily rewards, making financial freedom a dream. With premium applications, green cloud infrastructure, and global support, HJTCrypto is accessible to everyone, not just the tech elite, and is especially suitable for investors who seek sustainable long-term returns rather than speculative gains. For full details and participation options please visit: https://hjtcrypto.com Disclaimer: The information provided in this press release does not constitute an investment solicitation, nor does it constitute investment advice, financial advice, or a trading recommendation. Cryptocurrencies involve risks and may result in the loss of funds. You are strongly advised to perform due diligence before investing or trading in cryptocurrencies and securities, including consulting a professional financial advisor.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held wide-ranging talks with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer during his official visit to the United Kingdom from July 23-24. The meeting, held at the British Prime Minister’s country residence, Chequers in Buckinghamshire.
The two leaders held a one-on-one meeting followed by delegation-level talks, covering the full spectrum of bilateral cooperation.
During the talks, the two sides welcomed the signing of the historic India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). The agreement is expected to boost trade, investment, economic collaboration, and job creation in both countries, taking the strategic partnership to a new level.
In a key development, the two countries also agreed to negotiate a Double Contribution Convention, which will support professionals and service industries by reducing operational costs and promoting competitiveness. Prime Minister Modi also proposed deeper cooperation between India’s GIFT City-India’s first international financial services centre-and the UK’s financial ecosystem.
The two leaders adopted the India-UK Vision 2035, a roadmap for the next decade that aims to enhance cooperation in the areas of economy, technology, innovation, research, education, defence, climate action, health, and people-to-people ties.
The finalisation of a Defence Industrial Roadmap was also welcomed. It aims to promote joint design, development, and production of defence products for domestic use and global markets. Both leaders expressed satisfaction with the growing defence partnership and regular engagement between the armed forces.
Underlining the importance of emerging technologies, the Prime Ministers agreed to accelerate the implementation of the Technology and Security Initiative (TSI). The TSI, which completed one year, focuses on areas such as telecom, critical minerals, AI, biotechnology, semiconductors, health technology, advanced materials, and quantum research.
In the education sector, the leaders hailed the growing collaboration under India’s New Education Policy (NEP). Notably, Southampton University became the first foreign university to open a campus in India, in Gurugram, on June 16. Several other UK universities are expected to follow suit.
The two Prime Ministers also acknowledged the significant contribution of the Indian diaspora in the UK across various fields, calling them a “living bridge” between the two countries.
Prime Minister Modi thanked Prime Minister Starmer for his support and solidarity following the Pahalgam terror attack. Both leaders reiterated their commitment to combat terrorism and agreed to intensify bilateral cooperation to counter extremism and radicalisation. PM Modi also sought the UK’s assistance in bringing economic offenders and fugitives to justice.
The leaders also exchanged views on key regional and global developments, including in the Indo-Pacific, West Asia, and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Prime Minister Modi extended an invitation to Prime Minister Starmer to visit India at a mutually convenient time and thanked him for the warm hospitality.
The following documents were signed/adopted by the two sides during the visit:
● Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement [CETA]
● India-UK Vision 2035
● Defence Industrial Roadmap
● Statement on Technology and Security Initiative
● MoU between Central Bureau of Investigation, India and National Crime Agency of UK
Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Don Beyer (D-VA)
Congressional Artificial Intelligence (AI) Caucus Chair Don Beyer (D-VA), Vice Chair Doris Matsui (D-CA), and Democratic Members of the Caucus Reps. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), Valerie Foushee (D-NC), Hank Johnson (D-GA), Sarah McBride (D-DE), Jim McGovern (D-MA), and Rob Menendez (D-NJ) today issued the following statement on the Trump Administration’s AI Action Plan and executive orders on AI:
“We are deeply concerned about the impacts of President Trump’s AI Action Plan and the executive orders announced yesterday.
“The President’s Executive Order on “Preventing Woke AI in the Federal Government” and policies on ‘AI neutrality’ are counterproductive to responsible AI development and use, and potentially dangerous. To be clear, we support true AI neutrality—AI models trained on facts and science—but the administration’s fixation on ‘anti-woke’ inputs is definitionally not neutral. This sends a clear message to AI developers: align with Trump’s ideology or pay the price. We have already seen private technology companies rewarded for catering to the Administration, including the Administration awarding a wildly inappropriate $200 million Pentagon contract for Elon Musk’s Grok AI despite that platform’s recent history of racist misinformation, antisemitism, and support for Adolf Hitler – which were prompted by the very ‘anti-woke’ training this order envisions.
“We are also alarmed by the absence of regulatory structure in this AI Action Plan to ensure the responsible development, deployment, or use of AI models, and the apparent targeting of state-level regulations. As AI is integrated with daily life and tech leaders develop more powerful models, such as Artificial General Intelligence, responsible innovation must go hand in hand with appropriate safety guardrails. In the absence of any meaningful federal alternative, our states are taking the lead in embracing common-sense safeguards to protect the public, build consumer trust, and ensure innovation and competition can continue to thrive. We are deeply concerned that the AI Action Plan would open the door to forcing states to forfeit their ability to protect the public from the escalating risks of AI, by jeopardizing states’ ability to access critical federal funding. And instead of providing a sorely needed federal regulatory framework that promotes safe model development, deployment, and use, Trump’s plan simultaneously limits states and creates a ‘wild west’ for tech companies, giving them free rein to develop and deploy models with no accountability.
“Finally, we are concerned about the implications of the Executive Order on ‘Accelerating Federal Permitting of Data Center Infrastructure’ for energy costs, demand on the grid, and the environment. AI training and inferencing have already driven up energy demand in the U.S, with ratepayers seeing higher utility prices due to the development of data centers. Trump recently signed partisan legislation that will significantly undercut clean energy projects, driving up costs and leaving us more reliant on dirty, polluting energy sources – trends which this plan will worsen considerably. At a time when Trump himself has increased the need for energy efficiency in AI development and deployment, this plan will do the opposite while increasing harm on the environment.
“While there are policies in the Action Plan that we agree with, including support for AI-driven science, improving AI evaluations and providing testing resources, and putting our American workforce first, we are deeply concerned about the partisan policies included in the Action Plan and Executive Orders that poison what should have been a good-faith, non-partisan effort. We will closely monitor the implementation of these policies, and will continue to advocate for the responsible development, deployment, and use of AI.”
Second Quarter and First Half 2025 financial report available
Paris, July 24, 2025 – Lectra informs its shareholders, in compliance with Article 221-4-IV of the General Regulation of the Autorité des marchés financiers, that the Management Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations for the Second Quarter and First Half of 2025 is available on the company’s website: www.lectra.com
It is also available, upon request, at the company’s headquarters 16-18 rue Chalgrin, 75016 Paris (email: investor.relations@lectra.com ).
Copy of this document was filed with the AMF.
About Lectra :
At the forefront of innovation since its founding in 1973, Lectra provides industrial intelligence technology solutions—combining software in SaaS mode, cutting equipment, data, and associated services—to players in the fashion, automotive and furniture industries. With boldness and passion, Lectra accelerates the transformation and success of its customers in a world in perpetual motion thanks to the key technologies of Industry 4.0: AI, big data, cloud and the Internet of Things.
The Group is present in more than one hundred countries. It operates three production sites for its cutting equipment, located in France, China and the United States. Lectra’s 3,000 employees are driven by three core values: being open-minded thinkers, trusted partners and passionate innovators. They all share the same concern for social responsibility, which is one of the pillars of Lectra’s strategy to ensure its sustainable growth and that of its customers.
Lectra reported revenues of €527 million in 2024, including €77 million coming from its SaaS offerings. The company is listed on Euronext, and is included in the CAC All Shares, CAC Technology, EN Tech Leaders and ENT PEA-PME 150 indices.
Lectra – World Headquarters et siège social : 16–18, rue Chalgrin • 75016 Paris • France Tél. +33 (0)1 53 64 42 00 – lectra.com Société anonyme au capital de 37 966 274 €. RCS Paris B 300 702 305
Volta Finance Limited (VTA / VTAS) June 2025 monthly report
NOT FOR RELEASE, DISTRIBUTION, OR PUBLICATION, IN WHOLE OR PART, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES
Guernsey, July 24, 2025
AXA IM has published the Volta Finance Limited (the “Company” or “Volta Finance” or “Volta”) monthly report for June 2025. The full report is attached to this release and will be available on Volta’s websiteshortly (www.voltafinance.com).
Performance and Portfolio Activity
Dear Investors,
In June, Volta Finance achieved a net performance of +0.4% bringing the cumulative performance from August 2024 to date to +11.2%. Both the CLO Debt and CLO Equity assets of the Volta Finance portfolio delivered positive returns, in the context of a positive momentum across credit markets after the volatility induced by tariffs.
June marked a return to a “risk on” environment, with strong gains in U.S. equity markets amid significant weakening of the US Dollar. This shift was fuelled by easing trade tensions and moderating inflation. Despite inflation levels being close to target, the Fed decided to keep interest rates unchanged at 4.25%-4.50% during their June meeting while elaborating on the unpredictable effects of Trump’s tariffs. In Europe, sentiment was mixed, with major indices ending the month flat. The ECB cut rates by 25 basis points while Christine Lagarde signalled a likely pause in future rate cuts. This easing comes as the eurozone inflation has returned to the central bank’s target of 2%.
However, significant uncertainties still loom as we enter summer. Only a handful of countries reached agreements with their U.S. counterparts and the approaching deadline could trigger further disruptions notably in supply chains. The sudden escalation of the Iran/Israel situation, culminating in the U.S. bombings of Iranian nuclear facilities, also raised concerns regarding the stability of the region and added disruptions to oil supplies. This led to a spike in crude oil prices and increased interest in traditional safe-haven assets although they retraced by the end of the month due to a temporary resolution of the conflict.
Credit markets shrugged those worries off and hedged close to the tightest levels experienced over the last year. For instance, the European High Yield index (Xover) settled at 283bps (from 300bps), close to the 280bps resistance level. On the Loan side, Euro Loans closed roughly unchanged at 97.70px (Morningstar European Leveraged Loan Index) while US Loans closed c. 40c up at 97.00px. Primary CLO levels moved sideways across all rated tranches, providing stability and the right environment for CLO formation. In terms of performance, US High Yield returned +1.9% over the month while Euro Loans were up +0.13% and US Loans +0.80%.
The median CCC assets exposure in CLO portfolios remained stable at 4.5% in the US, slightly above the exposure of European CLOs to CCCs (4.1%). Loan maturity walls continued to transition towards 2030 and beyond, with the next significant refinancing deadlines in 2028 and 2031 in the US, while loan recoveries remained significantly higher than bonds at approximately 62% vs 48%.
In terms of activity, the month was particularly busy as we faced some CLO debt redemptions (€4.8m) and actively replaced risk to maintain overall risk exposure unchanged. We purchased BB (600bps context), single-B (up to 900bps) and Equity risk from both the Primary and Secondary markets. Cash stood at 11% at the end of the month. Volta Finance’s cashflow generation was slightly up at €28.3m equivalent in interests and coupons over the last six months, representing close to 21% of June’s NAV on an annualized basis.
Over the month, Volta’s CLO Equity tranches returned +1.6%** while CLO Debt tranches returned +1.0% performance**. The EUR/USD move to 1.18 had an impact on our long dollar exposure in terms of performance (0.4%).
As of end of June 2025, Volta’s NAV was €273.0m, i.e. €7.46 per share.
*It should be noted that approximately 0.14% of Volta’s GAV comprises investments for which the relevant NAVs as at the month-end date are normally available only after Volta’s NAV has already been published. Volta’s policy is to publish its NAV on as timely a basis as possible to provide shareholders with Volta’s appropriately up-to-date NAV information. Consequently, such investments are valued using the most recently available NAV for each fund or quoted price for such subordinated notes. The most recently available fund NAV or quoted price was 0.07% as at 30 May 2025, 0.07% as at 31 March 2025.
** “performances” of asset classes are calculated as the Dietz-performance of the assets in each bucket, taking into account the Mark-to-Market of the assets at period ends, payments received from the assets over the period, and ignoring changes in cross-currency rates. Nevertheless, some residual currency effects could impact the aggregate value of the portfolio when aggregating each bucket.
CONTACTS
For the Investment Manager AXA Investment Managers Paris François Touati francois.touati@axa-im.com +33 (0) 1 44 45 80 22
Corporate Broker Cavendish Securities plc Andrew Worne Daniel Balabanoff +44 (0) 20 7397 8900
***** ABOUT VOLTA FINANCE LIMITED
Volta Finance Limited is incorporated in Guernsey under The Companies (Guernsey) Law, 2008 (as amended) and listed on Euronext Amsterdam and the London Stock Exchange’s Main Market for listed securities. Volta’s home member state for the purposes of the EU Transparency Directive is the Netherlands. As such, Volta is subject to regulation and supervision by the AFM, being the regulator for financial markets in the Netherlands.
Volta’s Investment objectives are to preserve its capital across the credit cycle and to provide a stable stream of income to its Shareholders through dividends that it expects to distribute on a quarterly basis. The Company currently seeks to achieve its investment objectives by pursuing exposure predominantly to CLO’s and similar asset classes. A more diversified investment strategy across structured finance assets may be pursued opportunistically. The Company has appointed AXA Investment Managers Paris an investment management company with a division specialised in structured credit, for the investment management of all its assets.
*****
ABOUT AXA INVESTMENT MANAGERS AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) is a multi-expert asset management company within the BNP Group, a global leader in financial protection and wealth management. AXA IM is one of the largest European-based asset managers with 2,800 professionals and €859 billion in assets under management as of the end of June 2024.
*****
This press release is published by AXA Investment Managers Paris (“AXA IM”), in its capacity as alternative investment fund manager (within the meaning of Directive 2011/61/EU, the “AIFM Directive”) of Volta Finance Limited (the “Volta Finance”) whose portfolio is managed by AXA IM.
This press release is for information only and does not constitute an invitation or inducement to acquire shares in Volta Finance. Its circulation may be prohibited in certain jurisdictions and no recipient may circulate copies of this document in breach of such limitations or restrictions. This document is not an offer for sale of the securities referred to herein in the United States or to persons who are “U.S. persons” for purposes of Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), or otherwise in circumstances where such offer would be restricted by applicable law. Such securities may not be sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration from the Securities Act. Volta Finance does not intend to register any portion of the offer of such securities in the United States or to conduct a public offering of such securities in the United States.
*****
This communication is only being distributed to and is only directed at (i) persons who are outside the United Kingdom or (ii) investment professionals falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (the “Order”) or (iii) high net worth companies, and other persons to whom it may lawfully be communicated, falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order (all such persons together being referred to as “relevant persons”). The securities referred to herein are only available to, and any invitation, offer or agreement to subscribe, purchase or otherwise acquire such securities will be engaged in only with, relevant persons. Any person who is not a relevant person should not act or rely on this document or any of its contents. Past performance cannot be relied on as a guide to future performance.
***** This press release contains statements that are, or may deemed to be, “forward-looking statements”. These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the terms “believes”, “anticipated”, “expects”, “intends”, “is/are expected”, “may”, “will” or “should”. They include the statements regarding the level of the dividend, the current market context and its impact on the long-term return of Volta Finance’s investments. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and readers are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. Volta Finance’s actual results, portfolio composition and performance may differ materially from the impression created by the forward-looking statements. AXA IM does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking statements.
Any target information is based on certain assumptions as to future events which may not prove to be realised. Due to the uncertainty surrounding these future events, the targets are not intended to be and should not be regarded as profits or earnings or any other type of forecasts. There can be no assurance that any of these targets will be achieved. In addition, no assurance can be given that the investment objective will be achieved.
The figures provided that relate to past months or years and past performance cannot be relied on as a guide to future performance or construed as a reliable indicator as to future performance. Throughout this review, the citation of specific trades or strategies is intended to illustrate some of the investment methodologies and philosophies of Volta Finance, as implemented by AXA IM. The historical success or AXA IM’s belief in the future success, of any of these trades or strategies is not indicative of, and has no bearing on, future results.
The valuation of financial assets can vary significantly from the prices that the AXA IM could obtain if it sought to liquidate the positions on behalf of the Volta Finance due to market conditions and general economic environment. Such valuations do not constitute a fairness or similar opinion and should not be regarded as such.
Editor: AXA INVESTMENT MANAGERS PARIS, a company incorporated under the laws of France, having its registered office located at Tour Majunga, 6, Place de la Pyramide – 92800 Puteaux. AXA IMP is authorized by theAutorité des Marchés Financiersunder registration number GP92008 as an alternative investment fund manager within the meaning of the AIFM Directive.
Volta Finance Limited (VTA / VTAS) June 2025 monthly report
NOT FOR RELEASE, DISTRIBUTION, OR PUBLICATION, IN WHOLE OR PART, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES
Guernsey, July 24, 2025
AXA IM has published the Volta Finance Limited (the “Company” or “Volta Finance” or “Volta”) monthly report for June 2025. The full report is attached to this release and will be available on Volta’s websiteshortly (www.voltafinance.com).
Performance and Portfolio Activity
Dear Investors,
In June, Volta Finance achieved a net performance of +0.4% bringing the cumulative performance from August 2024 to date to +11.2%. Both the CLO Debt and CLO Equity assets of the Volta Finance portfolio delivered positive returns, in the context of a positive momentum across credit markets after the volatility induced by tariffs.
June marked a return to a “risk on” environment, with strong gains in U.S. equity markets amid significant weakening of the US Dollar. This shift was fuelled by easing trade tensions and moderating inflation. Despite inflation levels being close to target, the Fed decided to keep interest rates unchanged at 4.25%-4.50% during their June meeting while elaborating on the unpredictable effects of Trump’s tariffs. In Europe, sentiment was mixed, with major indices ending the month flat. The ECB cut rates by 25 basis points while Christine Lagarde signalled a likely pause in future rate cuts. This easing comes as the eurozone inflation has returned to the central bank’s target of 2%.
However, significant uncertainties still loom as we enter summer. Only a handful of countries reached agreements with their U.S. counterparts and the approaching deadline could trigger further disruptions notably in supply chains. The sudden escalation of the Iran/Israel situation, culminating in the U.S. bombings of Iranian nuclear facilities, also raised concerns regarding the stability of the region and added disruptions to oil supplies. This led to a spike in crude oil prices and increased interest in traditional safe-haven assets although they retraced by the end of the month due to a temporary resolution of the conflict.
Credit markets shrugged those worries off and hedged close to the tightest levels experienced over the last year. For instance, the European High Yield index (Xover) settled at 283bps (from 300bps), close to the 280bps resistance level. On the Loan side, Euro Loans closed roughly unchanged at 97.70px (Morningstar European Leveraged Loan Index) while US Loans closed c. 40c up at 97.00px. Primary CLO levels moved sideways across all rated tranches, providing stability and the right environment for CLO formation. In terms of performance, US High Yield returned +1.9% over the month while Euro Loans were up +0.13% and US Loans +0.80%.
The median CCC assets exposure in CLO portfolios remained stable at 4.5% in the US, slightly above the exposure of European CLOs to CCCs (4.1%). Loan maturity walls continued to transition towards 2030 and beyond, with the next significant refinancing deadlines in 2028 and 2031 in the US, while loan recoveries remained significantly higher than bonds at approximately 62% vs 48%.
In terms of activity, the month was particularly busy as we faced some CLO debt redemptions (€4.8m) and actively replaced risk to maintain overall risk exposure unchanged. We purchased BB (600bps context), single-B (up to 900bps) and Equity risk from both the Primary and Secondary markets. Cash stood at 11% at the end of the month. Volta Finance’s cashflow generation was slightly up at €28.3m equivalent in interests and coupons over the last six months, representing close to 21% of June’s NAV on an annualized basis.
Over the month, Volta’s CLO Equity tranches returned +1.6%** while CLO Debt tranches returned +1.0% performance**. The EUR/USD move to 1.18 had an impact on our long dollar exposure in terms of performance (0.4%).
As of end of June 2025, Volta’s NAV was €273.0m, i.e. €7.46 per share.
*It should be noted that approximately 0.14% of Volta’s GAV comprises investments for which the relevant NAVs as at the month-end date are normally available only after Volta’s NAV has already been published. Volta’s policy is to publish its NAV on as timely a basis as possible to provide shareholders with Volta’s appropriately up-to-date NAV information. Consequently, such investments are valued using the most recently available NAV for each fund or quoted price for such subordinated notes. The most recently available fund NAV or quoted price was 0.07% as at 30 May 2025, 0.07% as at 31 March 2025.
** “performances” of asset classes are calculated as the Dietz-performance of the assets in each bucket, taking into account the Mark-to-Market of the assets at period ends, payments received from the assets over the period, and ignoring changes in cross-currency rates. Nevertheless, some residual currency effects could impact the aggregate value of the portfolio when aggregating each bucket.
CONTACTS
For the Investment Manager AXA Investment Managers Paris François Touati francois.touati@axa-im.com +33 (0) 1 44 45 80 22
Corporate Broker Cavendish Securities plc Andrew Worne Daniel Balabanoff +44 (0) 20 7397 8900
***** ABOUT VOLTA FINANCE LIMITED
Volta Finance Limited is incorporated in Guernsey under The Companies (Guernsey) Law, 2008 (as amended) and listed on Euronext Amsterdam and the London Stock Exchange’s Main Market for listed securities. Volta’s home member state for the purposes of the EU Transparency Directive is the Netherlands. As such, Volta is subject to regulation and supervision by the AFM, being the regulator for financial markets in the Netherlands.
Volta’s Investment objectives are to preserve its capital across the credit cycle and to provide a stable stream of income to its Shareholders through dividends that it expects to distribute on a quarterly basis. The Company currently seeks to achieve its investment objectives by pursuing exposure predominantly to CLO’s and similar asset classes. A more diversified investment strategy across structured finance assets may be pursued opportunistically. The Company has appointed AXA Investment Managers Paris an investment management company with a division specialised in structured credit, for the investment management of all its assets.
*****
ABOUT AXA INVESTMENT MANAGERS AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) is a multi-expert asset management company within the BNP Group, a global leader in financial protection and wealth management. AXA IM is one of the largest European-based asset managers with 2,800 professionals and €859 billion in assets under management as of the end of June 2024.
*****
This press release is published by AXA Investment Managers Paris (“AXA IM”), in its capacity as alternative investment fund manager (within the meaning of Directive 2011/61/EU, the “AIFM Directive”) of Volta Finance Limited (the “Volta Finance”) whose portfolio is managed by AXA IM.
This press release is for information only and does not constitute an invitation or inducement to acquire shares in Volta Finance. Its circulation may be prohibited in certain jurisdictions and no recipient may circulate copies of this document in breach of such limitations or restrictions. This document is not an offer for sale of the securities referred to herein in the United States or to persons who are “U.S. persons” for purposes of Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), or otherwise in circumstances where such offer would be restricted by applicable law. Such securities may not be sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration from the Securities Act. Volta Finance does not intend to register any portion of the offer of such securities in the United States or to conduct a public offering of such securities in the United States.
*****
This communication is only being distributed to and is only directed at (i) persons who are outside the United Kingdom or (ii) investment professionals falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (the “Order”) or (iii) high net worth companies, and other persons to whom it may lawfully be communicated, falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order (all such persons together being referred to as “relevant persons”). The securities referred to herein are only available to, and any invitation, offer or agreement to subscribe, purchase or otherwise acquire such securities will be engaged in only with, relevant persons. Any person who is not a relevant person should not act or rely on this document or any of its contents. Past performance cannot be relied on as a guide to future performance.
***** This press release contains statements that are, or may deemed to be, “forward-looking statements”. These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the terms “believes”, “anticipated”, “expects”, “intends”, “is/are expected”, “may”, “will” or “should”. They include the statements regarding the level of the dividend, the current market context and its impact on the long-term return of Volta Finance’s investments. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and readers are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. Volta Finance’s actual results, portfolio composition and performance may differ materially from the impression created by the forward-looking statements. AXA IM does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking statements.
Any target information is based on certain assumptions as to future events which may not prove to be realised. Due to the uncertainty surrounding these future events, the targets are not intended to be and should not be regarded as profits or earnings or any other type of forecasts. There can be no assurance that any of these targets will be achieved. In addition, no assurance can be given that the investment objective will be achieved.
The figures provided that relate to past months or years and past performance cannot be relied on as a guide to future performance or construed as a reliable indicator as to future performance. Throughout this review, the citation of specific trades or strategies is intended to illustrate some of the investment methodologies and philosophies of Volta Finance, as implemented by AXA IM. The historical success or AXA IM’s belief in the future success, of any of these trades or strategies is not indicative of, and has no bearing on, future results.
The valuation of financial assets can vary significantly from the prices that the AXA IM could obtain if it sought to liquidate the positions on behalf of the Volta Finance due to market conditions and general economic environment. Such valuations do not constitute a fairness or similar opinion and should not be regarded as such.
Editor: AXA INVESTMENT MANAGERS PARIS, a company incorporated under the laws of France, having its registered office located at Tour Majunga, 6, Place de la Pyramide – 92800 Puteaux. AXA IMP is authorized by theAutorité des Marchés Financiersunder registration number GP92008 as an alternative investment fund manager within the meaning of the AIFM Directive.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, July 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Capital Market Authority (CMA) announces the completion of compensation for investors affected by the violations committed in the shares of Watani Iron Steel Co., which occurred before and after the company’s direct listing on the Parallel Market (Nomu). These violations were committed by five individuals convicted under the decision issued by the Appeal Committee for Resolution of Securities Disputes (ACRSD), published on the websites of the CMA and the GS-CRSD on April 4, 2024. The decision, resulting from the penal lawsuit filed by the Public Prosecution and referred by the Capital Market Authority, obligated them to pay SAR 41.4 million in illegal gains resulting from these violations.
The compensations were deposited into the accounts of the affected investors through the Compensation Fund, which was established pursuant to a resolution of the CMA’s Board to compensate affected parties in accordance with the distribution plan approved by the CRSD. This facilitates the compensation process and ensures that entitlements are delivered to their rightful owners with minimal effort.
Since the publication of the ACRSD’s decision, the CMA has worked on assessing the appropriateness of activating Article (59) of the Capital Market Law, which grants the CMA the power to organize compensation procedures for individuals affected by violations and to establish dedicated compensation funds sourced from illegally obtained gains. Compensation for affected individuals is carried out in accordance with a distribution plan approved by the Committee. This led to the establishment of this fund to compensate eligible parties under a distribution plan approved by a decision of the CRSD, in line with the rules, procedures, and legal provisions to enhance the efficiency of these funds.
The approved distribution plan was designed in proportion to the scale of the violations committed, the value of the illegal gains realized from those violations, and the extent of harm suffered by investors who traded the company’s shares during the violation period. Compensation amounts for some investors reached more than one million Saudi Riyals, representing the highest compensation approved by the CRSD. In this context, the CMA affirms that the distribution plan approved by the CRSD included all individuals proven to have suffered harm, based on the technical records. This does not preclude the right of any individual who believes they have been harmed but was not included in the distribution plan to file an individual claim with the CRSD to seek compensation.
Compensation funds complement the mechanisms that facilitate compensating investors affected by violations committed in the capital market. They add to the available avenues for compensation, such as individual lawsuits and class actions. The CMA adopts a set of criteria to determine the appropriateness of establishing a compensation fund using illegal obtained gains from violators whenever the facts and circumstances of a case indicate the existence of actual harmed parties and when the CMA deems that creating such a fund would be more effective and practical than other available means of compensation for damages sustained by market participants as a result of violations of the Capital Market Law and its implementing regulations. The CMA clarified that it employs a range of analytical tools to reach a systematic assessment regarding the suitability of establishing a compensation fund based on final decisions issued by the CRSD. This assessment relies on several criteria that help determine the most suitable compensation mechanism, whether through direct compensation via these funds or through class actions to claim compensation. These criteria include aspects related to the execution and collection of illegally obtained gains, the nature and number of violations committed, their impact, and the extent to which the Committees can adopt and practically apply the principle of compensation to all affected parties in the case under review.
The CMA affirms that, in the context of enhancing compensation opportunities, it has carefully studied global best practices applied in capital markets and adopted what aligns with the nature of the Saudi capital market. This contributes to improving the efficiency of compensation mechanisms, strengthening investor confidence in the market, and protecting their rights. These efforts form part of a broader package of strategic initiatives launched by the CMA to advance the development of a more sophisticated and competitive financial ecosystem.
Capital Market Authority Communication & Investor Protection Division +966114906009 +966557666932 Media@cma.org.sa www.cma.org.sa
First half 2025: stable revenues and limited decline in EBITDA in a context of increased volatility in Q2
Revenues: 261.3 million euros (stable)*
EBITDA before non-recurring items: 40.4 million euros (-4%)*
Annual objectives are no more relevant, in the absence of visibility
(*) At actual exchange rates
April 1 – June 30
January 1 – June 30
2025
2024
Variation 2025/2024
2025
2024
Variation 2025/2024
(in millions of euros)
Actual exchange rates
Like-for-like(1)
Actual exchange rates
Like-for-like(1)
Revenues
126.8
132.7
-4%
-2%
261.3
262.3
0%
-1%
ARR (2)(3)
–
–
–
–
90.9
88.9
+2%
+6%
EBITDA before non-recurring items (3)
19.2
21.2
-9%
-3%
40.4
42.2
-4%
-4%
EBITDA margin before non-recurring items
15.2%
15.9%
-0.7 point
-0.2 point
15.4%
16.1%
-0.7 point
-0.7 point
Net income
5.3
4.4
20%
–
11.1
11.1
0%
–
Consolidated Shareholders’ Equity (2)
–
–
–
–
343.8
374.4
–
–
Net cash (+) / Net debt (-) (2)
–
–
–
–
-34.1
-20.6
–
–
(1) At constant exchange rates and comparable scope (2) As of June 30, 2025 and December 31, 2024 (3) The definition of performance indicators is included in the Financial report as of 30 June 2025
Paris, July 24, 2025. Today, Lectra’s Board of Directors, chaired by Daniel Harari, reviewed the consolidated financial statements for the first half of 2025, which have been subject to a limited review by the Statutory Auditors.
A PARADIGM SHIFT AT THE GLOBAL LEVEL
The deterioration in the global economic situation since early March continued throughout the second quarter, extending to all geographical areas and all sectors of activity. The US tariff announcements on April 2 came as a shock that increased the uncertainty weighing on the business climate, particularly for the Group’s customers, who are highly exposed to international trade.
While the direct impact of these measures is limited for Lectra, the indirect impacts, linked to the reactions of the customers concerned, together with the lack of visibility, have led to a pause in their investment decisions. The Group’s customers — brands and subcontractors alike — must adapt to this new economic situation, whether in terms of pricing policy, production, investment or future strategy, and are waiting for negotiations to be concluded before choosing their options.
The 90-day suspension of reciprocal tariffs, announced on April 9 and due to end on July 9 was followed by further announcements. The frequent changes in the decisions of the US administration and the negotiations still underway have contributed to persistent uncertainty.
The direct impacts of tariffs remain limited, and are under control
European and Chinese exports to the United States account for less than 10% of Lectra’s sales. Starting in April, Lectra has taken several measures to deal with the new commercial situation: the Group has reflected the full impact of customs tariffs on price lists in the United States for equipment, consumables and parts and maintenance contracts. It also rerouted some shipments to Mexico to avoid customs formalities and removed several products from the Chinese and American catalogs.
Indirect impacts are characterized by high customer wait-and-see position
Lectra’s three strategic markets are highly exposed to tariffs.
Particularly in the fashion and automotive sectors, the United States’ dependence on imports is very strong. Whatever the outcome of the negotiations, the need to diversify sources of supply and their countries of origin seems clear and will require additional production capacities and relocations.
In the Group’s three strategic markets, the turbulence of the last few months represents medium- and long-term development opportunities for Lectra, irrespective of the tariff rates ultimately decided, and will necessarily lead to structural changes in the industrial landscape and supply chains.
2. Q2 2025
The slowdown that affected the Americas and Automotive from mid-March onwards spread to all geographies and sectors. Indeed, the successive announcements, then the shock of “Liberation Day” on April 2, have led to a strong wait-and-see attitude from customers. New systems orders were accordingly 27% lower in the second quarter.
Q2 2025 revenues were down 4% on an actual basis and 2% on a like-for-like basis, reflecting the continued slowdown that began in mid-March.
EBITDA before non-recurring items (€19.2 million) declined 3%, resulting in a recurring EBITDA margin before non-recurring items of 15.2%, down 0.7 percentage point on an actual basis (0.2 percentage point like-for-like).
Considering the amortization of intangible assets (€5.7 million), income from operations before non-recurring items was down 6% on a like-to-like basis, to €8.9 million. Net income reached €5.3 million, up 20% on an actual basis, driven by a reduction in tax expense.
3. FIRST HALF 2025
To facilitate analysis of the Group’s results, the financial statements are compared to those published in 2024 that consolidated Launchmetrics as of January 23 (“actual”) and, for the analysis of variations, to the 2024 Proforma statements that consolidate Launchmetrics as of January 1, expressed at 2024 exchange rates (like-for-like”). Proforma revenues and EBITDA increased by €2.5 million and €0.3 million respectively compared to the reported financial statements.
H1 2025 revenues amounted to €261.3 million, down 1%. This breaks down into €69.3 million in non-recurring revenues, down 7%, and €192.0 million in recurring revenues (73% of revenues), up 2%, including €43.6 million in revenues from SaaS subscription contracts (17% of revenues, +13%).
The ARR at June 30, 2025 was €90.9 million, up 6% on a like-for-like basis (+2% on an actual basis) compared to the level at the end of 2024, confirming the relevance of Lectra’s strategy.
In a context of declining revenues, the gross margin reached €190.0 million, up 1%, and the gross margin rate stood at 72.7%, up 1 point, thanks to the favorable sales mix and strengthened cost control.
EBITDA before non-recurring items reached €40.4 million, down 4%, with an EBITDA margin before non-recurring items of 15.4%, down 0.6 point.
Income from operations before non-recurring items amounted to €19.2 million, down 9%.
Net income, following a tax expense of 3.6 million euros, was stable at 11.1 million euros.
Free cash flow before non-recurring items remained high in the first half of 2025 at € 33.0 million, reflecting good management of the working capital requirement, which was negative by €41.6 million, benefiting from lower receivables and a further reduction in inventories.
As of June 30, 2025, the Group’s balance sheet remained very strong: shareholders’ equity stood at €343.8 million and net debt at €34.1 million after disbursement of the second tranche of Launchmetrics’ share capital (€20.5 million), the acquisition of Glengo Turkey (€1.7 million), and dividend payments (€15.2 million). Net debt consisted in financial debt of €94.6 million and cash of €60.6 million, reflecting the continued deleveraging of the company.
4. OUTLOOK
In the Annual Financial Report 2024 published February 12, 2025, Lectra reiterated its long-term vision, as well as the objectives of its 2023-2025 strategic roadmap. The Group then underlined, in a deteriorating environment, its resilient nature, the quality of its fundamentals, and the pursuit of its strategy with a focus on the development of its SaaS business.
Following the series of announcements on tariffs, the 2025 outlook had not been updated when the first quarter 2025 results were published on April 24, 2025.
At the end of the second quarter, there were still no signs of significant improvement that would point to an upturn in activity. The economic and political context remains uncertain and continues to lead to a strong wait-and-see attitude on the part of the Group’s customers. In this context, the annual objectives announced by the Group in February 2025 are no more relevant.
The Company remains attentive to the evolution of the situation and relies on its solid fundamentals, notably its low net debt and high free cash flow generation, to pursue its strategy.
The 2024 Annual Financial Report, as well as the Management Discussion and Analysis of Financial Conditions and Results of Operations and the financial statements for H1 2025 are available on lectra.com. Q3 and the first nine months of 2025 earnings will be published on October 29, 2025 after market.
About Lectra
At the forefront of innovation since its founding in 1973, Lectra provides industrial intelligence technology solutions—combining software in SaaS mode, cutting equipment, data, and associated services—to players in the fashion, automotive and furniture industries. With boldness and passion, Lectra accelerates the transformation and success of its customers in a world in perpetual motion thanks to the key technologies of Industry 4.0: AI, big data, cloud and the internet of things.
The Group is present in more than one hundred countries. It operates three production sites for its cutting equipment, located in France, China and the United States. Lectra’s 3,000 employees are driven by three core values: being open-minded thinkers, trusted partners and passionate innovators. They all share the same concern for social responsibility, which is one of the pillars of Lectra’s strategy to ensure its sustainable growth and that of its customers.
Lectra reported revenues of €527 million in 2024, including €77 million coming from its SaaS offerings. The company is listed on Euronext, and is included in the CAC All Shares, CAC Technology, EN Tech Leaders and ENT PEA-PME 150 indices.
Lectra – World Headquarters et siège social: 16–18, rue Chalgrin • 75016 Paris • France Tel. +33 (0)1 53 64 42 00 – lectra.com A French Société Anonyme with capital of € 37,966,274. RCS Paris B 300 702 305
Over 100 exciting talks are free for the Bay Area tech community to attend
SAN FRANCISCO, July 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Odoo, the leading provider of enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) open-source business management software, announced Google Cloud as a key technology partner for Odoo Connect 2025, taking place September 4–5 at Pier 27 on the Embarcadero in San Francisco. Google Cloud joins other partners including Avalara and the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce.
“Google Cloud’s sponsorship is a testament to the growing momentum behind Odoo and the value of open-source solutions in today’s business landscape,” said Wilfried Juncker, Managing Director of Americas at Odoo. “We’re excited to welcome the Bay Area tech community to join a broader conversation on how technology can better serve businesses of all sizes.”
Attendees can expect more than 100 talks led by Odoo experts, partners, and community members, covering a wide spectrum of topics from AI and automation to operations, marketing, and finance. The event will also feature over 40 exhibitors, creating space for collaboration, discovery, and meaningful networking. For those looking to deepen their skills, SmartClasses offer immersive, hands-on training with direct guidance from Odoo experts.
The event will also showcase real-world case studies that highlight Odoo’s impact. For instance, Bay Alarm Medical, a medical alert company, integrated all functions including accounting, reporting, eCommerce, billing and payments, into Odoo to provide a complete and transparent view of all ongoing business processes. With Odoo as a central platform, Bay Alarm transformed its internal operations, improving visibility and efficiency to better serve customers, support informed decision-making, and position the company for long-term growth.
Premium ticket holders will have access to exclusive benefits, including a private networking lounge, an invite-only dinner, and an after-party featuring a DJ and live band.
About Odoo Since its creation in 2002, Odoo has emerged as among the fastest growing integrated business solutions providers with more than 15 million users worldwide. With its range of integrated, scalable and functional applications, Odoo offers a comprehensive, modular suite that meets the specific needs of every business, making it a suitable solution for organizations of all sizes and sectors, from start-ups to large corporations.
Odoo employs more than 6,000 people worldwide, and has built a partner network of over 8,000 organizations. Headquartered in Belgium, Odoo serves a global community of 13 million users. For more information, visit www.odoo.com.
Media Contact Valeria Carrillo Public Relations for Odoo Odoo@upraisepr.com 415-397-7600
ING completes acquisition of Van Lanschot Kempen stake
ING announced today that it has completed the acquisition of a 17.6% stake in Van Lanschot Kempen N.V., bringing the total interest in the company to 20.3%. The agreement to acquire the stake from Reggeborgh Groep B.V. was announced on 3 March 2025.
Under the terms of the agreement, ING directly acquired a stake of 7.2% in March 2025, bringing its stake in Van Lanschot Kempen to 9.9%. After receiving regulatory approval, the remaining 10.4% was transferred, bringing ING’s stake to 20.3%. The transaction has a minimal impact on ING’s CET1 ratio.
Note for editors For further information on ING, please visit www.ing.com. Frequent news updates can be found in the Newsroom. Photos of ING operations, buildings and its executives are available for download at Flickr.
ING PROFILE ING is a global financial institution with a strong European base, offering banking services through its operating company ING Bank. The purpose of ING Bank is: empowering people to stay a step ahead in life and in business. ING Bank’s more than 60,000 employees offer retail and wholesale banking services to customers in over 100 countries.
ING Group shares are listed on the exchanges of Amsterdam (INGA NA, INGA.AS), Brussels and on the New York Stock Exchange (ADRs: ING US, ING.N).
ING aims to put sustainability at the heart of what we do. Our policies and actions are assessed by independent research and ratings providers, which give updates on them annually. ING’s ESG rating by MSCI was reconfirmed by MSCI as ‘AA’ in August 2024 for the fifth year. As of June 2025, in Sustainalytics’ view, ING’s management of ESG material risk is ‘Strong’ with an ESG risk rating of 18.0 (low risk). ING Group shares are also included in major sustainability and ESG index products of leading providers. Here are some examples: Euronext, STOXX, Morningstar and FTSE Russell. Society is transitioning to a low-carbon economy. So are our clients, and so is ING. We finance a lot of sustainable activities, but we still finance more that’s not. Follow our progress on ing.com/climate.
IMPORTANT LEGAL INFORMATION Elements of this press release contain or may contain information about ING Groep N.V. and/ or ING Bank N.V. within the meaning of Article 7(1) to (4) of EU Regulation No 596/2014 (‘Market Abuse Regulation’).
ING Group’s annual accounts are prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the European Union (‘IFRS- EU’). In preparing the financial information in this document, except as described otherwise, the same accounting principles are applied as in the 2024 ING Group consolidated annual accounts. All figures in this document are unaudited. Small differences are possible in the tables due to rounding.
Certain of the statements contained herein are not historical facts, including, without limitation, certain statements made of future expectations and other forward-looking statements that are based on management’s current views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Actual results, performance or events may differ materially from those in such statements due to a number of factors, including, without limitation: (1) changes in general economic conditions and customer behaviour, in particular economic conditions in ING’s core markets, including changes affecting currency exchange rates and the regional and global economic impact of the invasion of Russia into Ukraine and related international response measures (2) changes affecting interest rate levels (3) any default of a major market participant and related market disruption (4) changes in performance of financial markets, including in Europe and developing markets (5) fiscal uncertainty in Europe and the United States (6) discontinuation of or changes in ‘benchmark’ indices (7) inflation and deflation in our principal markets (8) changes in conditions in the credit and capital markets generally, including changes in borrower and counterparty creditworthiness (9) failures of banks falling under the scope of state compensation schemes (10) non- compliance with or changes in laws and regulations, including those concerning financial services, financial economic crimes and tax laws, and the interpretation and application thereof (11) geopolitical risks, political instabilities and policies and actions of governmental and regulatory authorities, including in connection with the invasion of Russia into Ukraine and the related international response measures (12) legal and regulatory risks in certain countries with less developed legal and regulatory frameworks (13) prudential supervision and regulations, including in relation to stress tests and regulatory restrictions on dividends and distributions (also among members of the group) (14) ING’s ability to meet minimum capital and other prudential regulatory requirements (15) changes in regulation of US commodities and derivatives businesses of ING and its customers (16) application of bank recovery and resolution regimes, including write down and conversion powers in relation to our securities (17) outcome of current and future litigation, enforcement proceedings, investigations or other regulatory actions, including claims by customers or stakeholders who feel misled or treated unfairly, and other conduct issues (18) changes in tax laws and regulations and risks of non-compliance or investigation in connection with tax laws, including FATCA (19) operational and IT risks, such as system disruptions or failures, breaches of security, cyber-attacks, human error, changes in operational practices or inadequate controls including in respect of third parties with which we do business and including any risks as a result of incomplete, inaccurate, or otherwise flawed outputs from the algorithms and data sets utilized in artificial intelligence (20) risks and challenges related to cybercrime including the effects of cyberattacks and changes in legislation and regulation related to cybersecurity and data privacy, including such risks and challenges as a consequence of the use of emerging technologies, such as advanced forms of artificial intelligence and quantum computing (21) changes in general competitive factors, including ability to increase or maintain market share (22) inability to protect our intellectual property and infringement claims by third parties (23) inability of counterparties to meet financial obligations or ability to enforce rights against such counterparties (24) changes in credit ratings (25) business, operational, regulatory, reputation, transition and other risks and challenges in connection with climate change, diversity, equity and inclusion and other ESG-related matters, including data gathering and reporting and also including managing the conflicting laws and requirements of governments, regulators and authorities with respect to these topics (26) inability to attract and retain key personnel (27) future liabilities under defined benefit retirement plans (28) failure to manage business risks, including in connection with use of models, use of derivatives, or maintaining appropriate policies and guidelines (29) changes in capital and credit markets, including interbank funding, as well as customer deposits, which provide the liquidity and capital required to fund our operations, and (30) the other risks and uncertainties detailed in the most recent annual report of ING Groep N.V. (including the Risk Factors contained therein) and ING’s more recent disclosures, including press releases, which are available on www.ING.com.
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As we celebrate Africa Day within this High-Level Political Forum, we gather not only to take stock, but to bear witness to something extraordinary: a continent that refuses to be defined by its starting point but instead chooses to measure itself by how far it has traveled.
Make no mistake: Africa began its sustainable development journey on the back foot.
Colonial legacies that took wealth and left behind fractured institutions.
Climate catastrophes that wash away decades of progress in a single season.
Conflicts that force entire populations to abandon everything they have built.
These are daily realities that test the resolve of every African nation.
Yet here we stand, with ten countries presenting their Voluntary National Reviews this year as testaments to resilience.
Angola achieving its strongest economic growth in a decade while building over twelve thousand new schools.
Ethiopia sustaining remarkable growth while powering its entire electrical grid from renewable sources.
The Gambia driving robust development across agriculture, tourism, and services.
These efforts are part of a broader continental push to realize the vision of Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda in the VNRs we see that vision coming to life.
More than 100 other VNRs have been prepared in the last decade since the SDGs were adopted and tell promising stories of progress across the Continent.
But let us be clear on the full scale of the challenges facing Africa.
When a country like Sudan facing conflict sees the vast majority of its factories destroyed with unemployment soaring to crushing levels.
We are reminded that progress is neither linear nor guaranteed. When young people across our continent still struggle to find decent work, we know that our most precious resource – our youth – still faces barriers that deny them their rightful place in building tomorrow’s Africa.
When Africa gets the fundamentals right, like quality education for every child, the path to higher ground becomes clearer.
Digital transformation, climate resilience, economic justice: these are no longer distant summits, but peaks within reach, and Africa has always been a continent of climbers.
Consider the women breaking barriers across our continent.
In parliaments from Rwanda to Eswatini to Ghana, women are claiming seats of power once denied to them.
Across Lesotho, widows now possess rights over family property that previous generations could never imagine.
Each a seismic shift in how African societies recognize the power and potential of half their population.
Our youth, too, are not passive recipients of change – they are its architects.
From Nigeria’s digital revolution to technology driven governance in Seychelles to Morocco’s role in advancing AI research, young Africans are coding and designing the future every step of the way.
That said, we should not romanticize the road ahead.
At this moment, at this rate, the SDGs are beyond reach in Africa.
We have five years to 2030.
Five years to transform systems that took decades to build.
Five years to close gaps and the widest gap remains finance.
Finance is the engine of progress.
Without it, schools don’t get built, clinics stay empty, and peace remains out of reach.
The global financial system is not working for Africa.
Borrowing costs are too high, debt burdens are too heavy, and the money that could change lives is tied up in systems that are too slow, too narrow, and too risk averse.
The Sevilla Commitment is a step forward, a promise to get resources flowing faster, fairer, and at the scale we need.
The next five years will test not only our ambition, but our ability to deliver on the most basic promises of dignity and justice – especially in the areas where progress remains most elusive.
Many women still face gender-based violence that steals their safety, their dignity, and their dreams.
We must dismantle the structural barriers that persist like shadows, following women from childhood through their adult lives.
Our young people deserve more than we have given them. We must invest urgently in skills development, particularly in the digital and green sectors where Africa can lead the world.
The bigger picture also betrays an all-too-present imbalance: too often, African countries are absent from the tables where global decisions are made, yet they are first to feel the impact.
The Pact for the Future is working to change that.
It calls for more inclusive, representative global governance that reflects today’s realities, not a snapshot of yesterday.
It recognizes that sustainable development cannot be built on a foundation of exclusion, and by adopting the Pact, countries committed to ensuring Africa is where it belongs: at the table, shaping the decisions that shape our world.
And we are taking the necessary steps to ensure that countries have the UN support and capacity needed to do just that.
The Secretary-General’s UN80 Initiative also builds on the existing reforms and plots an ambitious path forward to ensure that those we serve have the optimal level and type of capacity in country.
Excellencies,
Africa’s journey toward 2030, 2063 and beyond is not a sprint, it’s a relay race, where each nation, each community, each individual, carries the baton forward.
The Africa Sustainable Development Report that we are launching today represents both the progress, and the challenges, from a continent still writing its greatest chapter.
It is a declaration that future generations will inherit not the limitations we face, but the possibilities we create.
Above all, they speak to a refusal to accept that history determines destiny.
I want to thank the African Union, the Economic Commission of Africa, the African Development Bank and the UNDP for preparing this crucial piece of work.
Let it be our map for the road ahead.
Let us build on the foundation of commitment it represents.
The relay baton is in our hands.
The finish line is in sight, and from what I have seen, African nations – resilient, determined, unstoppable – are ready to run.
SAN FRANCISCO, July 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Mintlify announced today the acquisition of Trieve, a provider of retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) infrastructure. The move reinforces Mintlify’s modernization of how product knowledge is accessed—particularly as AI changes user expectations around support and documentation.
Historically, searching for help within software products required sifting through long-form documentation or relying on brittle search tools. But with the rise of generative AI, users now expect faster, conversational, contextual answers grounded in reliable sources.
Mintlify has been pushing toward this future, powering documentation for companies like Anthropic, Cursor, and Zapier. Its AI assistant, released earlier this year, allows users to answer questions from docs with a conversational, agentic flow. Behind the scenes, Mintlify also pioneered llms-full.txt, a now-widely adopted format that makes documentation easier for LLMs to parse and index.
Trieve’s infrastructure complements this strategy, giving Mintlify better scale and deeper control over how information is retrieved and ranked for users, whether by search or conversation.
“This acquisition is an investment in our vision for transforming knowledge retrieval,” said Han Wang, CEO of Mintlify. “Our mission is to empower builders, which starts with providing knowledge at their fingertips. The Trieve team brings deep expertise and a shared belief in building tools that get people from question to answer faster.”
“From the beginning, Trieve has been focused on helping developers go from zero to one with ease,” said Nick Khami, CEO and Co-founder of Trieve. “Mintlify’s commitment to developer experience and pushing the boundaries of AI-native workflows makes this a natural fit for our team.”
The Trieve team will join Mintlify to continue building the infrastructure that powers fast, accurate, and context-rich answers across all types of documentation.
For more information about the acquisition, learn more at Mintlify’s blog.
About Mintlify
Mintlify helps teams create and manage beautiful, AI-native documentation with minimal engineering effort. Built for developers and collaborators alike, it offers both a docs-as-code and visual editing workflow, AI-powered writing, and a conversational assistant grounded in your content. Trusted by leaders like Anthropic, Cursor, and Zapier.
