The figure for the cost of violence against women in question is from a 2021 study by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE): The costs of gender-based violence in the European Union, available on the agency website.[1]
EIGE, the EU agency for gender equality, is governed by the rules set out in its founding regulation[2]. EIGE’s independent research is supported by an Experts’ Forum, the Institute’s advisory body, composed of members from relevant responsible bodies that deal with gender equality from all EU Member States.
A technical document accompanying the report, explains EIGE’s rigorous methodologies in depth. Costs were calculated based on available data on economic output loss, health system utilization, criminal justice system costs, and the emotional and physical impact on victims.
The methodologies ensure a comprehensive understanding and estimation of the economic costs related to gender-based and intimate partner violence.
[2] Regulation (EC) No 1922/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 on establishing a European Institute for Gender Equality, OJ L 403, 30.12.2006, p. 9-17.
overnor Kathy Hochul today announced that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Finance Committee approved the purchase of M-9A Passenger Railcars today, June 23. This order includes 316 M-9A cars — 160 cars will be allocated to the Long Island Rail Road’s (LIRR) fleet and 156 for Metro-North Railroad.
“New Yorkers deserve a fast, reliable and comfortable transit system. We are delivering that today through the purchase of modern railcars for the LIRR and Metro-North fleets,” Governor Hochul said. “The commuter rails are a lifeline for riders in one of the world’s largest and busiest transit systems — this is how we continue to achieve record on-time performance”
MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said, “We’re looking to buy almost 2,000 rail cars as part of the new Capital Plan — $10.9 billion worth — and this 300+ order gets us off to a strong start. I want to thank Governor Hochul for her work to secure the funding that made it possible.”
MTA Chief of Rolling Stock Program Tim Mulligansaid, “The MTA is the biggest railcar purchaser in North America, and we are using innovative methods to bring down costs and delivery time. By building on the reliable design of previous cars, we were able to work with the contractor to get things done better, faster, and cheaper.”
Long Island Rail Road President Rob Freesaid, “Thanks to record on-time performance and increased service with the opening of Grand Central Madison, LIRR ridership continues to explode. Our customers deserve modern railcars which will result in even more reliable service and improve the customer experience for years to come.”
Metro-North Railroad President Justin Vonasheksaid, I’m excited for our customers to experience even more reliable service when the M-9A railcars join our fleet. We are committed to providing the best customer experience every day on every ride on Metro-North.”
Pilot cars will be delivered by Alstom Transportation in 2029 and first enter LIRR passenger service in 2030. All cars will be delivered by 2032. The M-9A cars are needed to replace Metro-North’s M-3 cars that are beyond their service life, and allowing the LIRR to retire its M-3 cars whose service has been extended to support service with the opening of Grand Central Madison. These railcars will operate in LIRR electric territories and on the Metro-North Hudson and Harlem lines.
This approval builds on the MTA’s ongoing efforts to modernize its entire fleet of rolling stock. The M-9A cars feature glass windows, USB charging ports and accessibility improvements, including automatic doors for bathrooms.
Alberta Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides recently announced the province will move ahead to develop provincial standards “to ensure the age-appropriateness of materials available to students in school libraries.” This followed a public engagement survey related to what he said were concerns about “sexually explicit” books in Edmonton and Calgary schools.
Like Florida’s statute on K-12 instructional materials, Alberta’s proposal centres on age-appropriateness and increasing parental choice in learning materials.
Confusion and a climate of fear caused by the bill has led Florida teachers and librarians to self-censor. Florida’s Department of Education urged districts to “err on the side of caution” to avoid potential felony charges.
Such fear and surveillance lead to unnecessary restrictions on students’ rights.
However, as PEN Canada notes, the implications of the proposed policies raise alarm bells, with the government’s actions “paving the way to a new era of government-sponsored book banning.” Singling out books has the same effect as a ban, according to the CEO of the St. Albert Public Library.
Nicolaides also said the proposed policy is focused on sexual content, so themes and depictions of graphic violence are “probably not” an issue.
Rolling back trans, queer rights
Alberta has already rolled back the rights of trans and non-binary children and youth to use different pronouns, access gender-affirming care and participate in sports.
Queer and trans identities are also absent from all subjects in the K-12 program of studies, including recently updated K-6 curriculum. New sexual health resource guidelines prohibit the use of learning materials that primarily and explicitly address sexual orientation or gender identity unless they have been vetted and approved by Alberta Education (except for use in religion classes).
Survey amplifies moral panic
Through specific communication tactics, the minister’s public engagement works to exacerbate moral panics about sexuality as a threat to childhood innocence. This influences broader messages about 2SLGBTQIA+ inclusion.
The government-created survey shared illustrations and text excerpts on their own, without context or consideration of their narrative purpose in each book. Although the excerpts flagged by the minister make up between 0.1 to two per cent of the total page count in each book, the books as a whole are labelled “extremely graphic.”
Forty-nine per cent of parents of school-aged children were not at all or not very supportive of the creation of government guidelines, compared to 44 per cent of the same demographic who were somewhat or very supportive (eight per cent were unsure). Across each other demographic, most respondents expressed that they didn’t support the creation of new government standards. But the ministry plans to move ahead anyway.
Parental rights groups and far-right activists have long asserted that 2SLGBTQIA+ inclusion in schools “indoctrinates” and sexualizes children.
We’re concerned the Alberta government may be reinforcing this message to manufacture a greater public consensus in support of wider policies against 2SLGBTQIA+ rights.
Far-right activist groups like Take Back Alberta have shaped the UCP government’s policies alongside special interest groups like Action4Canada and Parents for Choice in Education.
Queer and trans identities are viewed as a social contagion threatening to change anyone exposed to them, and efforts for inclusion are labelled “gender ideology.”
These misconceptions, combined with political and religious biases, frame queerness and transness as “adult topics” that will confuse or harm children. However, research confirms ignoring these topics is of far greater concern when children may already experience discrimination about their gender expression by the age of five.
Earlier learning about diverse forms of gender expression and relationships can reduce victimization, and prevent young children from becoming perpetrators of, or bystanders to, anti-2SLGBTQIA+ harassment and violence.
Access to self-selected literature is important for all students, and can be a lifeline for 2SLGBTQIA+ students who don’t see themselves in the curriculum.
If Alberta Education will not prepare students for the world they live in — where we queer and trans people exist, flourish and are loved — then students should be able to seek out stories that reflect that world. It’s a matter of protecting their freedom of expression.
Jamie Anderson has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the University of Calgary.
Tonya D. Callaghan receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Killam Trusts.
Caitlin Campbell and Nicole Richard do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
REP. DAN GOLDMAN DEMANDS TRANSPARENCY AROUND IMMIGRATION PROCEEDINGS FOR UNACCOMPANIED MINORS
Trump’s March Attempt to Terminate Federally Funded Legal Aid for Unaccompanied Migrant Children Has Thrown System into Disarray
Juvenile Dockets Safeguard Unaccompanied Children from Trafficking, Exploitation, and Abuse
Read LetterHere
Washington D.C. – Congressman Dan Goldman (NY-10) led 77 of his colleagues in sending a bipartisan letter to the House Appropriations Subcommittee to direct the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) to submit a report to Congress detailing the status of unaccompanied children’s immigration proceedings. The letter also asks the Committee to include language in its FY2026 report encouraging EOIR to continue using specialized juvenile dockets to improve fairness, efficiency, and child protection in immigration court proceedings.
“The immigration courts have a critical role to play in administering justice efficiently while maintaining standards that ensure due process, which can be especially difficult in proceedings where children are the sole or principal respondent. Utilization of specialized juvenile dockets with robust anti-trafficking safeguards and child-appropriate accommodations can both help protect children from dangers and achieve much needed efficiency benefits for the backlogged immigration courts, all while improving due process in children’s cases,” the Members wrote.
Children as young as two are often left to navigate America’s complex and unforgiving immigration system entirely on their own, exposing them to serious risks of abuse, human trafficking, and long-term harm. Earlier this year, Donald Trump terminated the federal contract that provided critical legal assistance to these unaccompanied migrant children, stripping away one of their few remaining protections for over 26,000 unaccompanied migrants. The Members asked for the following language to be included in the FY26 federal budget:
“The Committee encourages EOIR to continue using specialized juvenile dockets across the immigration courts to improve the fairness and efficiency of immigration adjudications involving unaccompanied children, better protect those children against trafficking and exploitation, and connect children with legal assistance. The Committee directs EOIR to submit a report to the Committee, within 180 days of enactment of this act, detailing the status of unaccompanied children’s immigration proceedings.”
Congressman Dan Goldman has consistently fought to ensure unaccompanied minors receive support and proper legal representation when navigating the U.S. immigration system.
Congressman Goldman was instrumental in prompting the Biden Administration’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) to release new guidance for children’s immigration proceedings. This guidance established specialized children’s dockets in every immigration court, overseen by dedicated judges.
The Biden Administration’s Executive Order followed the introduction of Congressman Goldman’s Children’s Court Act, which intended to reduce the immigration court backlog and strengthen due process rights for children.
In March 2025, President Trump terminated federal funding for legal services that protected and provided legal aid to over 26,000 unaccompanied migrant children.
Read the letterhere or below:
Dear Chairman Rogers and Ranking Member Meng:
As your committee considers appropriations for Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026, we urge you to direct the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) to submit a report to Congress detailing the status of unaccompanied children’s immigration proceedings.
The immigration courts have a critical role to play in administering justice efficiently while maintaining standards that ensure due process, which can be especially difficult in proceedings where children are the sole or principal respondent. The immigration courts are also an important element of creating a system that ensures unaccompanied children are protected from dangers like human trafficking, exploitation, and abuse. Utilization of specialized juvenile dockets with robust anti-trafficking safeguards and child-appropriate accommodations can both help protect children from dangers and achieve much needed efficiency benefits for the backlogged immigration courts, all while improving due process in children’s cases.
In December 2023, EOIR clarified in the Director’s Memorandum on Children’s Cases in Immigration Court that each immigration court would have a specialized juvenile docket for cases where the sole or principal respondent was under 21 years old. These dockets would be held separately from adult cases and would be overseen by judges who receive specialized training. The Memorandum also outlined certain procedures and practices that immigration judges should follow to create a system where children could better comprehend their proceedings; where indicators of trafficking would be identified; and through which the courts could work towards streamlining benefits.
Unfortunately, EOIR rescinded the Director’s Memorandum this year and reinstated 2017 guidance that offers fewer trafficking safeguards, efficiency benefits, and pragmatic processes. This change threatens to create unnecessary delays which further exacerbate the severe immigration court backlog. It also diminishes critical safeguards designed to ensure that children can seek relief for which they may be eligible and that they comply with their immigration responsibilities, including updating their address with government agencies.
Given the important role of Congress in overseeing the immigration courts’ handling of juvenile proceedings, we ask the Committee to include the following language in its report:
The Committee encourages EOIR to continue using specialized juvenile dockets across the immigration courts to improve the fairness and efficiency of immigration adjudications involving unaccompanied children, better protect those children against trafficking and exploitation, and connect children with legal assistance. The Committee directs EOIR to submit a report to the Committee, within 180 days of enactment of this act, detailing the status of unaccompanied children’s immigration proceedings. This report shall address: the name and number of immigration courts implementing juvenile dockets; training that has been provided to juvenile docket judges; any restrictions imposed on judges’ ability to use docket management tools for children’s proceedings; methods that courts are using to facilitate legal representation for children; and other relevant matters, as appropriate.
We appreciate your consideration of this important issue.
Source: United States Senator for Connecticut – Chris Murphy
June 20, 2025
PARIS—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) delivered a major speech on the threats posed to the U.S. economy and spiritual health of Americans by unregulated artificial intelligence technology at the Paris Institute of Political Studies during a congressional delegation to Paris, France and Bucharest, Romania.
Murphy acknowledged the potential benefits of this transformational technology: “It will likely turn out to be one of the most socially and economically disruptive technologies ever. It’s probably going to be bigger than the printing press or advanced medicine or the internet. And there’s also no doubt that it has enormous practical upsides. Medical advances will come more quickly. Production will be cheaper. Administration will become more efficient. Complex societal problems will be solved more easily.”
But Murphy warned the Trump administration is downplaying the potential risks of unregulated AI technology, evidenced by a speech given earlier this year by Vice President J.D. Vance: “The current U.S. administration is right now fully captured by the AI industry, and they are focused only on driving up the industry’s profits at the expense of the American worker and the American family. The vice president said at that summit that the White House refuses to view AI as a purely disruptive technology that will inevitably automate away our labor force. But this is exactly what unregulated, unchecked AI will do. The vice president claimed that the White House wanted the AI driven internet to be a safe place, but refused to endorse a single rule or a single idea that would keep it safe, apparently believing the industry whitewash that they will just self-regulate and prioritize family and citizen safety above profits, something the tech industry has never done.”
He argued the industry leaders lobbying against AI regulation are prioritizing profit over the common good: “The leaders of these companies, brimming with dangerous hubris, rapacious in their desire to build wealth and power, and far too comfortable in shrugging off the destructive power of their product… They’re in a race to deploy and commercialize and profit, and they are paying mere lip service to the ways in which AI and AGI could destroy the already fraying fabric of our country…If we don’t decide collectively as a transatlantic community to protect ourselves from the most transformational technology of our lifetime. And as I said, perhaps in the history of the world, we won’t have democracies to be able to protect the values that we care so deeply about. We won’t be able to debate domestic and foreign policy.”
He pushed back on those who argue regulating AI in the U.S. will give China a strategic advantage in developing the technology: “Frankly, China is likely rooting for us to use American and European citizens as guinea pigs for the AI revolution because they aren’t doing that. China’s attempts at regulation have been lighter than the EU, but it’s just not true that China believes that the way to beat the United States towards AI prominence is by not regulating the industry. China would love for the United States economy to collapse, because we are less thoughtful than Beijing in controlling the job loss they would love for unchecked fake video and audio to turn our culture into chaos. They would love for our young people to become even further lost and isolated as robot friends replace real friends and real interaction. Regulating AI isn’t a gift to China – it’s a way to make sure that we manage the growth of AI in a way that makes sure that we beat the Chinese in this race.”
Jerusalem – As international focus shifts to the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, Israeli forces have ramped up their activities in the West Bank, Palestine. Increased military operations in Jenin, Nablus, and Tulkarem governorates, along with additional troop deployments, have led to heightened restrictions on Palestinians. Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) warns that these actions exacerbate the already dire situation for Palestinians in the West Bank, who face significant barriers to accessing healthcare and essential services, especially since October 2023. MSF urges an immediate halt to measures that contribute to forced displacement and a system of annexation, including prolonged military presence, movement restrictions, demolitions, excessive use of force, and denial of basic services.
“On 13 June the Israeli forces raided my village in Tulkarem,” says Karim,* an MSF staff member in the West Bank. “They took over two residential buildings and turned them into military barracks, displacing the people who were living there. Since then, they have been patrolling the village regularly, conducting investigations, interrogations, arrests, searches, and detentions.”
“Over the past week, West Bank communities have seen their lives further controlled by an occupying power while the world looks away,” says Simona Onidi, project coordinator Jenin and Tulkarem. “This cannot continue.”
On 13 June, the day the escalations started, the Israeli authorities blocked all major Israeli checkpoints and road gates entrances to Hebron for four days. This forced people seeking medical care to cross between areas on foot, pushing critically ill people to walk long distances, taking the risk of being shot at, or being prevented from crossing at all.
“On 14 June, I tried to take my brother from Bethlehem to a medical appointment in Hebron – a trip that should take 25 minutes,” says Oday Al-Shobaki, MSF communications officer in the West Bank. “But due to the new Israeli restrictions, all main entrances and exits were closed. It took us three hours, and in the end, despite being very ill, he had to walk through a closed checkpoint on foot, like many others, which is not safe.”
MSF has suspended mobile clinics in Hebron and Nablus that provide mental health, sexual reproductive care, and basic healthcare due to these checkpoint closures and security concerns from the intensified military operations. In Jenin and Tulkarem, mobile clinics had to adapt working hours, running on some days, not others, because of Israeli forces’ presence in nearby villages. This has forced patients to rely on phone consultations.
Military operations and violent raids by the Israeli army have been going on for years in the West Bank. 2022 saw a then-record number of Palestinian deaths due to violence by Israeli forces or settlers. Since October 2023, Israeli forces have increased the number of coercive measures and use of extreme physical violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including severe movement restrictions, military raids, and systemic barriers to essential services.
In January 2025, the Israeli forces began the ‘Iron Wall’ military operation in northern West Bank, which is still ongoing. Violently emptying well-established camps and preventing anyone from returning, more than 42,000 people have been forcibly displaced and left without stable homes, and with limited access to food, water, and medical care.
“This latest wave of restrictions and violence over the last week, seems to be an opportunity for Israeli forces to entrench control, deepen the fragmentation of Palestinian communities, and further the system that the International Court of Justice has described as amounting to racial segregation and apartheid,” says Onidi. “We urge third states to move beyond words of condemnation and put real pressure on Israeli authorities to end excessive force and lift movement restrictions blocking access to essential services and humanitarian aid, and scaling up support for displaced and isolated communities across the West Bank.”
*name changed to protect our colleague’s identity.
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On 23 June 2025, during the the EU-Canada Summit, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will hold a press conference together with António Costa, President of the European Council, and Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada.
The summit is an opportunity to enhance the EU-Canada strategic partnership and for leaders to reinforce their cooperation at different levels, from trade to economic security, energy, crisis management, and justice and home affairs, in light of the rapidly changing geopolitical and economic context.
The EU-Canada Security and Defence Partnership is expected to be agreed. Leaders will also issue a joint statement.
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Headline: Reliable quantum computing requires progress across the full stack, from error correction to hardware. With new 4D codes reducing error rates 1,000x, and our co-designed quantum system with Atom Computing, we’re bringing utility-scale quantum closer than ever. Read more about the latest quantum advances we announced today.
Reliable quantum computing requires progress across the full stack, from error correction to hardware. With new 4D codes reducing error rates 1,000x, and our co-designed quantum system with Atom Computing, we’re bringing utility-scale quantum closer than ever. Read more about the latest quantum advances we announced today: https://lnkd.in/gGiG8QT6
Headline: Fred Smith shaped the world of commerce and logistics as we know it today. His vision, leadership and relentless drive to innovate won’t be forgotten. Rest in peace, Fred.
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Headline: New Mu language model powers the agent in Windows Settings
We are excited to introduce our newest on-device small language model, Mu. This model addresses scenarios that require inferring complex input-output relationships and has been designed to operate efficiently, delivering high performance while running locally. Specifically, this is the language model that powers the agent in Settings, available to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel with Copilot+ PCs, by mapping natural language input queries to Settings function calls.
Mu is fully offloaded onto the Neural Processing Unit (NPU) and responds at over 100 tokens per second, meeting the demanding UX requirements of the agent in Settings scenario. This blog will provide further details on Mu’s design and training and how it was fine-tuned to build the agent in Settings.
Model training Mu
Enabling Phi Silica to run on NPUs provided us with valuable insights about tuning models for optimal performance and efficiency. These informed the development of Mu, a micro-sized, task-specific language model designed from the ground up to run efficiently on NPUs and edge devices.
Encoder-Decoder Architecture compared to Decoder-only Architecture
Mu is an efficient 330M encoder–decoder language model optimized for small-scale deployment, particularly on the NPUs on Copilot+ PCs. It follows a transformer encoder–decoder architecture, meaning an encoder first converts the input into a fixed-length latent representation, and a decoder then generates output tokens based on that representation.
This design yields significant efficiency benefits. The figure above illustrates how an encoder-decoder reuses the input’s latent representation whereas a decoder-only must consider the full input + output sequence. By separating the input tokens from output tokens, Mu’s one-time encoding greatly reduces computation and memory overhead. In practice, this translates to lower latency and higher throughput on specialized hardware. For example, on a Qualcomm Hexagon NPU (a mobile AI accelerator), Mu’s encoder–decoder approach achieved about 47% lower first-token latency and 4.7× higher decoding speed compared to a decoder-only model of similar size. These gains are crucial for on-device and real-time applications.
Mu’s design was carefully tuned for the constraints and capabilities of NPUs. This involved adjusting model architecture and parameter shapes to better fit the hardware’s parallelism and memory limits. We chose layer dimensions (such as hidden sizes and feed-forward network widths) that align with the NPU’s preferred tensor sizes and vectorization units, ensuring that matrix multiplications and other operations run at peak efficiency. We also optimized the parameter distribution between the encoder and decoder – empirically favoring a 2/3–1/3 split (e.g. 32 encoder layers vs 12 decoder layers in one configuration) to maximize performance per parameter.
Additionally, Mu employs weight sharing in certain components to reduce the total parameter count. For instance, it ties the input token embeddings and output embeddings, so that one set of weights is used for both representing input tokens and generating output logits. This not only saves memory (important on memory-constrained NPUs) but can also improve consistency between encoding and decoding vocabularies.
Finally, Mu restricts its operations to those NPU-optimized operators supported by the deployment runtime. By avoiding any unsupported or inefficient ops, Mu fully utilizes the NPU’s acceleration capabilities. These hardware-aware optimizations collectively make Mu highly suited for fast, on-device inference.
Packing performance in a tenth the size
Mu adds three key transformer upgrades that squeeze more performance from a smaller model:
Dual LayerNorm (pre- and post-LN) – normalizing both before and after each sub-layer keeps activations well-scaled, stabilizing training with minimal overhead.
Rotary Positional Embeddings (RoPE) – complex-valued rotations embed relative positions directly in attention, improving long-context reasoning and allowing seamless extrapolation to sequences longer than those seen in training.
Grouped-Query Attention (GQA) – sharing keys / values across head groups slashes attention parameters and memory while preserving head diversity, cutting latency and power on NPUs.
Training techniques such as warmup-stable-decay schedules and the Muon optimizer were used to further refine its performance. Together, these choices deliver stronger accuracy and faster inference within Mu’s tight edge-device budget.
We trained Mu using A100 GPUs on Azure Machine Learning, taking place over several phases. Following the techniques pioneered first in the development of the Phi models, we began with pre-training on hundreds of billions of the highest-quality educational tokens, to learn language syntax, grammar, semantics and some world knowledge.
To continue to enhance accuracy, the next step was distillation from Microsoft’s Phi models. By capturing some of the Phi’s knowledge, Mu models achieve remarkable parameter efficiency. All of this yields a base model that is well-suited to a variety of tasks – but pairing with task-specific data along with additional fine-tuning through low-rank adaption (LoRA) methods, can dramatically improve the performance of the model.
We evaluated Mu’s accuracy by fine-tuning on several tasks, including SQUAD, CodeXGlue and Windows Settings agent (which we will talk more about later in this blog). For many tasks, the task-specific Mu achieves remarkable performance despite its micro-size of a few hundred million parameters.
When comparing Mu to a similarly fine-tuned Phi-3.5-mini, we found that Mu is nearly comparable in performance despite being one-tenth of the size, capable of handling tens of thousands of input context lengths and over a hundred output tokens per second.
Task Model
Fine-tuned Mu
Fine-tuned Phi
SQUAD
0.692
0.846
CodeXGlue
0.934
0.930
Settings Agent
0.738
0.815
Model quantization and model optimization
To enable the Mu model to run efficiently on-device, we applied advanced model quantization techniques tailored to NPUs on Copilot+ PCs.
We used Post-Training Quantization (PTQ) to convert the model weights and activations from floating point to integer representations – primarily 8-bit and 16-bit. PTQ allowed us to take a fully trained model and quantize it without requiring retraining, significantly accelerating our deployment timeline and optimizing for efficiently running on Copilot+ devices. Ultimately, this approach preserved model accuracy while drastically reducing memory footprint and compute requirements without impacting the user experience.
Quantization was just one part of the optimization pipeline. We also collaborated closely with our silicon partners at AMD, Intel and Qualcomm to ensure that the quantized operations when running Mu were fully optimized for the target NPUs. This included tuning mathematical operators, aligning with hardware-specific execution patterns and validating performance across different silicon. The optimization steps result in highly efficient inferences on edge devices, producing outputs at more than 200 tokens/second on a Surface Laptop 7.
Mu running a question-answering task on an edge device, using context sourced from Wikipedia: (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft)
Notice the fast token throughputs and ultra-fast time to first token responses despite the large amount of input context provided to the model.
By pairing state-of-the-art quantization techniques with hardware-specific optimizations, we ensured that Mu is highly effective for real-world deployments on resource-constrained applications. In the next section, we go into detail on how Mu was fine-tuned and applied to build the new Windows agent in Settings on Copilot+ PCs.
Model tuning the agent in Settings
To improve Windows’ ease of use, we focused on addressing the challenge of changing hundreds of system settings. Our goal was to create an AI-powered agent within Settings that understands natural language and changes relevant undoable settings seamlessly. We aimed to integrate this agent into the existing search box for a smooth user experience, requiring ultra-low latency for numerous possible settings. After testing various models, Phi LoRA initially met precision goals but was too large to meet latency targets. Mu, with the right characteristics, required task-specific tuning for optimal performance in Windows Settings.
While baseline Mu in this scenario excelled in terms of performance and power footprint, it incurred a 2x precision drop using the same data without any fine-tuning. To close the gap, we scaled training to 3.6M samples (1300x) and expanded from roughly 50 settings to hundreds of settings. By employing synthetic approaches for automated labelling, prompt tuning with metadata, diverse phrasing, noise injection and smart sampling, the Mu fine-tune used for Settings Agent successfully met our quality objectives. The Mu model fine-tune achieved response times of under 500 milliseconds, aligning with our goals for a responsive and reliable agent in Settings that scaled to hundreds of settings. The below image shows how the experience is integrated with an example showing the mapping from a natural use language query to a Settings action being surfaced by the UI.
Screenshot demonstrating the agent in Settings
To further address the challenge of short and ambiguous user queries, we curated a diverse evaluation set combining real user inputs, synthetic queries and common settings, ensuring the model could handle a wide range of scenarios effectively. We observed that the model performed best on multi-word queries that conveyed clear intent, as opposed to short or partial-word inputs, which often lack sufficient context for accurate interpretation. To address this gap, the agent in Settings is integrated into the Settings search box, enabling short queries that don’t meet the multi-word threshold to continue to surface lexical and semantic search results in the search box, while allowing multi-word queries to surface the agent to return high precision actionable responses.
Managing the extensive array of Windows settings posed its own challenges, particularly with overlapping functionalities. For instance, even a simple query like “Increase brightness” could refer to multiple settings changes – if a user has dual monitors, does that mean increasing brightness to the primary monitor or a secondary monitor?
To address this, we refined our training data to prioritize the most used settings as we continue to refine the experience for more complex tasks.
What’s ahead
We welcome feedback from users in the Windows Insiders program as we continue to refine the experience for the agent in Settings.
As we’ve shared in our previous blogs, these breakthroughs wouldn’t be possible without the support of efforts from the Applied Science Group and our partner teams in WAIIA and WinData that contributed to this work, including: Adrian Bazaga, Archana Ramesh, Carol Ke, Chad Voegele, Cong Li, Daniel Rings, David Kolb, Eric Carter, Eric Sommerlade, Ivan Razumenic, Jana Shen, John Jansen, Joshua Elsdon, Karthik Sudandraprakash, Karthik Vijayan, Kevin Zhang, Leon Xu, Madhvi Mishra, Mathew Salvaris, Milos Petkovic, Patrick Derks, Prateek Punj, Rui Liu, Sunando Sengupta, Tamara Turnadzic, Teo Sarkic, Tingyuan Cui, Xiaoyan Hu, Yuchao Dai.
Headline: AI at Work: Harvard’s Karim Lakhani on how AI is shifting from tool to ‘teammate’
Harvard Business School Professor Karim Lakhani doesn’t just have theories about AI transforming work—he studies how it’s actually happening.
In a groundbreaking paper called “The Cybernetic Teammate,” he and his co-authors showed how individuals working with AI can be as effective as entire teams working without it. He is also rapidly evolving Harvard’s MBA program for the age of AI, which includes the launch of a new required course called Data Science and AI for Leaders.
When I hosted Karim for a conversation at the Microsoft 365 Community Conference last month in Las Vegas, he raised a provocative question: will AI drive the marginal cost of expertise down toward zero? As AI democratizes access to specialized knowledge across domains, it follows that expertise will shift from being rare and costly to abundant and accessible. “This will dramatically impact the nature of our organizations and strategy,” he told me, “because what are companies but bundles of expertise? And all of us invest to become deep experts in a domain.”
Here’s our conversation about organizations and leadership in the AI era (edited and condensed for clarity).
It’s a pleasure to talk with one of my friends about where AI is going and what it means for leaders. Karim, I want to start with that “Cybernetic Teammate” study, done with Procter & Gamble. Could you give us the backstory?
KARIM LAKHANI: The institute I run at Harvard, the Digital Data Design Institute, is looking at generative AI like a new “drug” in the economy. We don’t know its efficacy, the right doses, the side effects, or the right diet to follow while using it. We don’t know how actual work will transform with the introduction of this technology, so we run the equivalent of “clinical trials”—randomized controlled trials.
Victor Aguilar, head of research and development for Procter & Gamble, wanted to understand how generative AI could radically transform the innovation process at P&G. In innovation, there’s often this interaction between R&D and commercial people: R&D comes up with the technical ideas, but the commercial team asks, “is there a market for this or not?” The best practice is to have them collaborate in a team.
We designed this study of 758 professionals as what we call a two-by-two design: We had commercial and marketing folks work on challenges given by their business leaders—one group working without AI and one with AI. We also tested individuals under the same conditions. Then we randomized who was in which treatment and had them solve their problems with those tools.
Let’s talk about the results. This is the study that showed an individual equipped with AI could perform at least as well as—and sometimes outperform—entire teams of people without AI. It’s a landmark finding. Can you tell us about that?
LAKHANI: What does a teammate provide? They provide you with functional expertise, help you with coordination, and give you a sense of camaraderie. We measured these three elements remotely using Microsoft Teams as the platform.
The first finding was that when you look at pure performance, the quality of the ideas being created, individuals with AI were as good as a team without AI—and often as good as a team with AI. That was remarkable from our perspective.
The other interesting thing we saw was that individuals without AI tended to veer toward their functional expertise: marketing people gave marketing-based solutions, R&D people offered R&D-based solutions. But individuals with AI produced balanced solutions—comparable to the balanced solutions we saw from teams. That was a big moment for us.
Were there any other surprises in how people used AI, reframed their work, or wanted to use it going forward?
LAKHANI: We had done various studies before showing the productivity effects of AI, in terms of both quality and time. The time compression was actually quite remarkable. Teams normally experience a time penalty [because coordination takes time]. But with AI, that time penalty disappeared.
That was a big surprise. Another surprise was how people felt while using AI. They reported more positive emotions and fewer negative ones as they were doing the work.
The big aha for us was that AI shifted from being a tool to a teammate. This is unprecedented. We now have intelligence and expertise on tap.
I imagine what’s on people’s minds is, “I get it. I understand where the technology is…but what does this mean for me? What do I do as a leader?” What advice might you have for the group?
LAKHANI: Do you remember debates about whether we should have Wi-Fi in our offices? I’m sure some of you participated in them. The question maybe went up to your boards. Or remember the question, “Should employees have browsers? Access to global information?”
Those things didn’t fundamentally change the nature of work. But intelligence on demand, expertise on demand—these technologies are about work itself. You need to drive as much organizational transformation as technical transformation. We often say it’s 30% tech, 70% organization. Staple yourselves to your HR teams. Or have Copilot teach you the things about HR that you should know. It creates great tutorials, as you know. That’s the first thing.
Second: People are worried—really worried—about these technologies. That’s part of the conversation you need to have. How do we have an abundance mindset around this? What are the capability unlocks? Again, these are things that technology leaders have not typically been asked about. But you need to own it and engage in a conversation with your leaders and teammates about it.
Third: This type of change has to come from the top. I came up in the era of Wired magazine and Fast Company in the 1990s, when the internet came to workplaces. Fast Company was all about change agents. But change agents get massacred in most corporations. Why? Because if there’s no top-down buy-in, the change agents die on the vine. The key for us here is to make sure our top leaders understand this and see AI as a work and business technology, not as an information technology. Leaders in companies need to “do AI” (use Copilot as a thought partner all the time, build their own agents) as much as they “talk AI.”
Is there any last concept or idea that you feel has been left unsaid?
LAKHANI: Well, if I was good at predicting the future, I would be in the stock market, not academia. I tend to be very much an empiricist: I’ll come in with a discovery mindset, we’ll run the experiment, and then we’ll get the facts. But I’d love to offer a framing around this intelligence view.
I decided to become an academic in the 1990s when I discovered open-source software. We’re at the same juncture now. This stuff works in practice, but our management theories or economic theories don’t know how to handle this kind of technology.
Think back to the ‘90s again, when the browser became available. What did the browser and the internet really do? Essentially, they lowered the marginal cost of information transmission. If you go on a Teams call today with a global or national team, you don’t think twice about all the videos that are coming in. Thirty years ago, every one of us would have needed a camera operator, a sound operator, a satellite truck uplink, and a downlink. This would be prohibitively expensive. But today, the marginal cost of information transmission has gone down to zero, and we can seamlessly connect with anyone or any device globally.
In this moment, we’re predicting the same thing for expertise: the marginal cost of expertise is going to zero.
The clinical trials with our collaborative partners (Boston Consulting Group and P&G) are pointing in this direction, and this will dramatically impact the nature of our organizations and strategies. Because what are companies but bundles of expertise? We have finance, marketing, sales, R&D, and brand. You have all this expertise. As that cost of expertise drops, what a company does—what all of our roles are—is all up for invention and reinvention.
The direction of this change is up to all of us. We can’t just be the receivers of it; we have to understand what’s happening and then set the direction for ourselves and our companies.
Listen to Karim Lakhani’s recent appearance on the WorkLab podcast. For more insights about AI and the future of work, subscribe to this newsletter
Today marks a historic milestone as we, the leaders of the European Union and Canada, met to renew our enduring commitment and take a pivotal step to further reinforce the strategic partnership between the European Union and Canada. Our strong partnership is deeply rooted in trust and common values and shaped by a shared history of human connection and robust economic ties. Most importantly, our partnership is grounded in the core values we share: democracy, human rights, the rule of law, and open, rules-based markets. In a rapidly changing world marked by geopolitical uncertainty, shifting economic dynamics, and the accelerating impacts of climate change, this partnership is more important than ever.
We stand united in our objective to forge a new ambitious and comprehensive partnership that responds to the needs of today and will evolve to meet the challenges and opportunities of the future. This marks the beginning of a long-term effort that will help us promote shared prosperity, democratic values, peace and security. To do this, we have decided to further build on existing ties and launch a process that will move Canada and the EU closer together and that lays out immediate and long-term actions outlined in an ambitious agenda at the end of this document. We also agreed today on an EU-Canada Security and Defence Partnership.
Our citizens are looking for responses to the unprecedented challenges we face. This is why it is more important than ever to work together to promote our shared values and the rules-based international order. We will also pursue our common interests, while continuing to promote and deepen our vibrant trade and investment relationship, and our strong people-to-people contacts. We will stand together even more firmly in support of peace, stability, and prosperity in the world, including in Ukraine, the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific.
We confirm our unwavering commitment to the rules-based international order with the United Nations and its charter at its core. The EU and Canada will continue to cooperate closely in promoting international peace and security. Our commitment to sustainable development remains a key pillar of our relationship. We will continue to be key partners in promoting democracy, human rights and fundamental freedoms, gender equality and the rule of law globally. We will take further action to ensure respect for the rights of women and girls, and to end to all forms of discrimination, including against LGBTI persons. We will continue supporting the implementation of the UN Pact for the Future and the ambitious reforms sought under the UN80 Initiative. We reaffirm our steadfast support for the independent functioning of the international criminal justice system, particularly the International Criminal Court. We condemn threats to the independent functioning of the ICC, including measures against individual officials.
We are determined to continue working together in responding to the growing challenges to the international economic and trade order. We reiterate our mutual commitment to sustainable, fair and open trade, grounded in the rule of law and in respect for internationally agreed trade rules, as embodied by the World Trade Organization. This is essential to maintain global economic stability and to safeguard our supply chain resilience.
We reaffirm our resolute condemnation of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, which constitutes a manifest violation of the UN Charter and international law. Our commitment to ensuring a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine that respects Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders is unshakeable. We reaffirm our unwavering commitment to providing continued political, financial, economic, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support to Ukraine and its people for as long as it takes and as intensely as needed, in full respect of the security and defence policy of certain EU Member States and taking into account the security and defence interests of all EU Member States. We support the conclusion of a just and lasting peace agreement, in full compliance with the principles of the UN Charter and international law, and join the call for a full, unconditional ceasefire of at least 30 days, which Ukraine has unilaterally committed to. We will continue to support the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children co-chaired by Ukraine and Canada, and we reiterate our urgent call on Russia and Belarus to immediately ensure the safe return of all unlawfully deported and transferred Ukrainian children. We will continue our close coordination of efforts to provide military equipment and training to the Ukrainian Armed Forces —including through the work of the EU Military Assistance Mission (EUMAM Ukraine) and Operation UNIFIER.
We will increase pressure on Russia, including through further sanctions and taking measures to prevent their circumvention, and by ensuring that Russian sovereign assets remain immobilized until Russia ceases its war of aggression against Ukraine and compensates it for the damage caused by this war. We are committed to ensuring full accountability for war crimes and other serious crimes committed in connection with Russia’s war of aggression, including by the establishment of a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine. We also remain committed to supporting Ukraine’s repair, recovery and reconstruction including through the Ukraine Donor Platform and in-country coordination mechanisms. We welcome Canada’s continued support, through the extension of an expert deployment to the Ukraine Donor Platform. The Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome in July 2025 will be particularly relevant in that context.[1]
We also reaffirm our continued support for the Republic of Moldova’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, enhancing the country’s resilience in dealing with the consequences of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and the hybrid activities by Russia to undermine Moldova, in particular in the run-up to the Parliamentary elections.
In relation to the situation and latest developments in the Middle East, we reaffirm our commitment to an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages, and the resumption of unimpeded humanitarian aid at scale into Gaza in line with humanitarian principles, in order to address the catastrophic humanitarian situation on the ground. We reiterate our strong condemnation of the escalation in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, following increased settler violence, the expansion of settlements, which are illegal under international law, and Israel’s military operation. We emphasize the importance of pursuing a lasting and sustainable peace based on the implementation of the two-state solution. We see no role for Hamas in the future governance of Gaza.
We express our deepest concern at the dangerous escalation following Israeli strikes on Iran, and Iran’s response. We reiterate our strong commitment to peace and stability in the Middle East, including the security of Israel, and call on all sides to show restraint and abide by international law. We have been consistently clear that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. A diplomatic solution remains the best way to address concerns over Iran’s nuclear program. The EU and Canada stand ready to contribute to a negotiated deal, which imposes verifiable constraints on Iran’s nuclear program, with the International Atomic Energy Agency in charge of monitoring and verification. We also remain committed to addressing Iran’s destabilizing behaviour, including its nuclear proliferation risks, military support for Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, backing of regional armed groups, transnational repression, and systematic human rights violations.
Security in the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific regions is increasingly interconnected. We reaffirm our shared interest in maintaining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific, including in the East and South China Seas and across the Taiwan Strait. We will continue working with regional partners, including ASEAN, to uphold a free, open and secure Indo-Pacific region based on international law. We continue to be deeply concerned by DPRK’s ongoing nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs and condemn Russia-DPRK military cooperation, which violates UN Security Council resolutions and undermines international security.
We will continue deepening our cooperation and dialogue, together with partners from around the world, to address key regional issues, in particular in relation to the broader Middle East – notably Lebanon and Syria. We will also continue engaging with each other on issues related to Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean, including Haiti. We will stay engaged in fragile and conflict-affected countries, facing instability or in complex settings, to support populations, in particular the most vulnerable.
The Arctic will remain an area of close collaboration to foster peace and security, stability, and sustainable economic development, in particular of the blue economy, in full respect of the interests, priorities and rights of Indigenous Peoples in line with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The EU and Canada will continue to be reliable and responsible partners. We reiterate our steadfast commitment to advancing global sustainable development, working with partners across the globe. We are determined to deliver on the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals, together with international partners and in multilateral fora. We look forward to the upcoming 4th International Conference on financing for Development (FfD4), which will take place in Seville from 30 June to 3 July 2025. We will continue to deepen our cooperation and dialogue on humanitarian aid, including on respect for International Humanitarian Law and response to humanitarian crises.
We recognize the existential threat of the interdependent crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, land degradation and pollution. The EU-Canada Green Alliance is our steadfast, joint commitment to ambitious environment and climate action on the global stage. Carbon pricing, carbon removal and industrial decarbonization are key to reaching net-zero and decarbonization goals, while a high integrity carbon market can contribute to enhancing the global ambition. The EU is a dedicated participant in Canada’s Global Carbon Pricing Challenge (GCPC). At COP30, the EU and Canada aim to further promote carbon pricing as a tool to combat climate change, foster innovation and to modernize our industries. COP30 will also be an opportunity to highlight the importance of decarbonizing the transport sector and to promote sustainable transportation solutions. We reiterate our commitment to the swift and full implementation of the goals and targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, including through the Nature Champions Network.
We agree that the Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) and the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) are at the core of the EU-Canada relationship. Through these agreements we are developing and deepening our partnership continuously in response to an evolving global context. We will continue to ensure their effective implementation and remain committed to achieving their full ratification. The SPA and CETA have allowed us to boost our cooperation over the past eight years.
We are committed to further enhancing our EU-Canada trade and investment relationship, to advance and diversify our trade, promote our economic security and resilience, create investment opportunities and ensure our long-term security and prosperity. Our relationship is underpinned by CETA and its benefits are clear: bilateral trade has increased by over 65% compared to pre-CETA levels. We welcome the efforts being made to remove barriers to interprovincial trade in Canada and reduce barriers within the EU Single Market as they will further ease trading and doing business for our companies.
Ensuring reliable and sustainable supply chains is a mutual priority and we have a shared interest in diversifying our supply chains and strategic investment. We will foster a closer cooperation on targeted industrial matters driving global competitiveness and strategic autonomy, such as artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, space, cyberspace, aeronautics, biotechnologies, new energies, minerals and critical metals, advanced manufacturing and cleantech. We intend to maintain a secure transatlantic supply chain on key technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), supercomputers and semiconductors. We welcome the recent announcement of a Canadian strategic nickel project under the EU Critical Raw Materials Act and will work to identify opportunities for co-investment in projects of mutual interest. We welcome the G7 Global Critical Minerals Action Plan agreed under Canada’s Presidency.
We also remain committed to pursuing mutually beneficial collaboration on digital and tech policy issues and bolstering the bilateral digital trade relationship. Through the Canada-EU Digital Partnership, we are already working hand in hand on concrete projects in crucial areas for a robust digital economy, such as research in cutting-edge technologies, and we look forward to Canada hosting the first EU-Canada Digital Partnership Council later this year. We intend to enhance cooperation on AI innovation, including collaboration on AI Factories, to link our high-performance computing infrastructure and to deepen research cooperation in strategic technology areas such as AI and quantum. We also intend to align our frameworks and standards in the regulatory field, to make online platforms safer and more inclusive, to develop trustworthy AI systems and to establish interoperable digital identities and digital credentials to facilitate interactions between our citizens and our businesses.
We have agreed today an EU-Canada Security and Defence Partnership, which provides a coherent, high-level political framework for our joint efforts in this field and will strengthen and widen the scope of cooperation and dialogue between the EU and Canada. We remain committed to continuing our strong cooperation, notably through Canada’s contributions to EU missions and operations, and welcome possible further collaboration on crisis management in the future. Canada will strengthen its defence relationship with the EU by posting a defence representative to the EU. We underscore the value of Canada’s participation in the EU’s Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) projects and look forward to pursuing additional initiatives within this framework. In line with our shared security interests, we attach particular importance to collaboration on defence. For Canada and those EU Member States who are NATO Allies, NATO remains the cornerstone of their collective defence. Our aim will be to help deliver on our capability targets, including through our defence industries, more quickly and economically and with enhanced interoperability in ways that deliver mutual benefit and reinforce the European contribution to NATO. All of the above is without prejudice to the specific character of the security and defence policy of certain EU Member States, and taking into account the security and defence interests of all Member States, in accordance with the EU Treaties. We appreciate Canada’s continued commitment to European security, which includes the largest deployment of Canadian Armed Forces overseas.
Recognizing the importance of the Women, Peace and Security as well as the Youth, Peace and Security agendas, we will continue supporting the full, equal and meaningful participation of women and youth in conflict prevention, mediation, resolution, peacekeeping, peacebuilding, and post-conflict reconstruction. We recognize that an enabling environment, is fundamental to ensuring the safe participation of women, and remain committed to fostering such environments. We will ensure that Women, Peace and Security is integrated in all aspects of cooperation on security and defence. Gender equality is a shared political and security priority, and we will collaborate to counter setbacks against gender equality and the rights of women and girls.
To ensure comprehensive and sustainable progress, Canada and EU senior officials will meet at regular intervals to review progress and identify opportunities to deepen cooperation, in line with existing CETA and SPA consultation mechanisms, and in view of the next EU-Canada Summit.
Annex – The New EU-Canada Strategic Partnership of the Future
Together, we will:
Increase trade flows and promote economic security
Support businesses to grow and diversify markets by fully and effectively implementing CETA.
Modernize our approach to trade by launching work towards a Digital Trade Agreement that would complement CETA.
Create tools for businesses to better support trade diversification, such as facilitating B2B matchmaking, cluster-to-cluster cooperation, and supporting the internationalization of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Advance our collaboration in the EU-Canada Economic Security Dialogue. Political and technical exchanges will allow us to identify trends and risks of mutual concern that could affect our economic security, and cooperation on possible policy responses.
Reduce barriers and strengthen agriculture and agrifood trade.
Prepare ourselves for the energy needs of the future, by cooperating more closely and exploring options to work together on more resilient, diversified, reliable energy supply chains, including clean tech value chains, LNG, renewables, safe and sustainable low-carbon hydrogen and other safe and sustainable low-carbon technologies, in view of increasing bilateral trade and strengthening energy security.
Continue the existing cooperation on nuclear technologies, including fuels and fuel cycle services, through the negotiation of a modernized and comprehensive Canada-Euratom Nuclear Cooperation Agreement.
Strengthen labour mobility by facilitating the movement of highly skilled workers, and explore shared interests in exchanging information about immigration partnerships.
Foster competitiveness and resilience through strengthened cooperation in strategic value chains
Launch a new EU-Canada Industrial Policy Dialogue to boost industrial and supply chain cooperation in strategic sectors.
Promote projects and investments that reduce supply chain risks and foster resilience and the competitiveness of our industries and critical goods (e.g. semiconductors), including by promoting projects that abide by environmental, social and governance standards.
Work together closely to ensure security and diversity in the supply of minerals and metals critical to our mutual security and the green and digital transitions, including by exploring new opportunities to facilitate the two-way flow of investment, materials and expertise through the EU-Canada Strategic Partnership on Raw Materials.
Complete the negotiations for a renewed Canada-EU Competition Cooperation Agreement, providing a legal framework to coordinate enforcement activities and share information obtained through investigative powers in full respect of data privacy guarantees in both jurisdictions, as soon as possible.
Deepen regulatory alignment
Identify opportunities for increased regulatory alignment between Canada and the EU, including through advancing work under CETA’s Protocol on the Mutual Acceptance of the Results of Conformity Assessment.
Bolster formal consultative mechanisms on EU and Canadian legislation and regulations, including CETA’s Regulatory Cooperation Forum.
Increase transatlantic security through a new era of EU-Canada security and defence cooperation, including the full implementation of the EU-Canada Security and Defence Partnership
Bolster our bilateral dialogue and operational cooperation in all areas of joint interest in support of peace, security and defence – such as maritime security, cyber issues and hybrid threats.
Advance cooperation on the climate-security nexus and expand joint efforts in maritime security by identifying opportunities for coordinated naval activities.
Expand cooperation on defence capabilities, in particular by creating opportunities for increased defence industrial cooperation.
Secure and protect our democratic institutions by preventing and countering foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI) through increased cooperation through relevant EU, Canadian and multilateral initiatives, such as the Canada-hosted G7 Rapid Response Mechanism.
Consider Canada’s further participation in EU Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) projects, with an aim towards joint development of capabilities and greater interoperability.
Increase defence procurement cooperation through Canadian collaboration with ReArm Europe/Readiness 2030:
launch work towards a bilateral agreement related to the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) instrument
explore the possibility of establishing an administrative arrangement between Canada and the European Defence Agency
Shape the digital transition and promote exchanges in education and on innovation for technologies of the future
Deepen cooperation in the framework of the EU-Canada Digital Partnership, and hold the first EU-Canada Digital Partnership Council later this year to drive this process forward.
Advance cooperation on AI, cybersecurity, secure digital communication and advanced connectivity, secure and trusted communications infrastructure (including 5G and subsea cables), the transparency and resilience of global tech supply chains, digital identity, quantum science, data spaces, online platforms and fighting FIMI.
Advance regulatory cooperation under the Digital Partnership, notably in AI and cybersecurity, so as to work towards the mutual recognition of AI and cybersecurity product certification including under the CETA Protocol on Conformity Assessment.
Deepen collaboration by leveraging Canada’s association to Horizon Europe, including on high priority topics, and exploring its potential participation in EU’s 10th Framework Programme.
Expand cooperation for access to world-class high-performance computing infrastructure through Horizon Europe.
Support research and industrial collaboration in research security, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, quantum sciences, cyber security, climate change, oceans, circular economy, polar research and researcher mobility and training, including through the Canada-EU Digital Partnership and under the EU-Canada Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement.
Promote and defend the freedom of academic and scientific research and the protection of scientists.
Increase people to people ties, improve mobility and recognition, including in higher education and research through Erasmus+, the European Research Council and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions.
Fight climate change and environmental degradation and facilitate the transition to climate neutrality
Support for carbon pricing and industrial decarbonization as priority cooperation areas to combat climate change.
Bolster competitiveness through cooperation on carbon pricing systems and carbon border measures.
Work with international partners to promote the full, swift and effective implementation of the goals and targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
Collaborate to achieve an internationally legally binding instrument on plastic pollution covering the full lifecycle of plastics at INC 5.2.
Collaborate on the implementation of the Just Energy Transition Partnerships.
Jointly call for ambitious action to implement the Paris Agreement, in line with efforts to keep the 1.5°C warming goal within reach.
Continue working with other international partners to promote relevant international instruments to combatting climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution.
Welcome Canada joining the Global Energy Transition Forum launched by the European Commission to deliver on the goals of tripling the world’s renewable energy capacity and doubling the global annual rate of energy efficiency improvement by 2030 in parallel to a transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems.
Work together as co-conveners of the Global Methane Pledge to deliver on the goal of reducing global methane emissions by at least 30% from 2020 levels by 2030.
Advance cooperation on the climate–security nexus by exploring a Climate-Security Dialogue.
Crisis management
Advance public and private investments, notably in sustainable, inclusive, resilient and quality infrastructure, including through our shared G7 commitment under the Partnership for Global Infrastructure Investment and the EU’s Global Gateway strategy. At the same time, we recognize that investments in human development are a key enabling factor for just and sustainable digital and green transitions.
Strengthen cooperation on international crisis response and enhance cooperation on emergency management with the signing of an Administrative Arrangement between the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development of Canada and the European External Action Service on international cooperation in emergency planning and crisis response.
Respond more effectively to humanitarian crises and explore the possibility of a humanitarian administrative arrangement to align priorities and facilitate coordination.
Build health security and resilience through enhanced partnerships, including an administrative arrangement on medical countermeasures.
Building on the sale of 22 Canadian-built DHC-515 water bombers to the EU and Member States, explore further opportunities to share mutually beneficial technology and expertise in combating disasters.
Justice and Home Affairs
Explore cooperation between Eurojust, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Canadian authorities in the field of criminal justice.
Advance the implementation, ratification and entry into force of the-EU-Canada Passenger Name Record Agreement.
[1]We note the reservations of one Member State regarding the strategic direction of certain EU policies towards Ukraine.
Austin, TX , June 23, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Pocket Knife Software, Inc. has announced the public launch of ANNIE, its proprietary AI-powered stock trading platform, after nearly a decade of private development and real-world testing. The system, originally built for personal use, is now available to independent investors via subscription at AI-StockTrading.com.
Rick Cockerham, Founder of Pocket Knife Software
Unlike traditional predictive models, ANNIE employs a hybrid of neural networks and genetic algorithms to evolve trading strategies based solely on real-world performance, leveraging real-world trading data since April 2024. The AI reviews over 1,200 U.S. equities daily and generates trade recommendations designed for consistency rather than speculation. Recent iterations of ANNIE have demonstrated performance levels approximately twice as strong as earlier versions, according to Pocket Knife Software’s internal data.
“ANNIE isn’t trying to guess where the market is going tomorrow,” said Rick Cockerham, creator of ANNIE and founder of Pocket Knife Software. “It’s designed to make sound trading decisions based on what works, using evolved strategies that continuously adapt to changing market conditions”.
And when ANNIE gives out recommendations, they’re exactly that. Because ANNIE delivers trade ideas – not automated trades – users stay in control of their money, their account, and their decisions.
Originally conceived while Cockerham was studying AI at Iowa State University in the 1990s, ANNIE has undergone years of iteration. These iterations led him to make ANNIE available to other independent investors seeking an alternative to traditional financial services.
The subscription service delivers daily buy and sell signals through email or text message approximately one hour before market close. Subscribers maintain full control over their investment accounts, allowing them to manually execute trades based on ANNIE’s recommendations. The platform also includes portfolio tracking and risk management signals such as stop-loss alerts.
“Most AI stock pickers rely on predictive models that can’t consistently outperform the market,” said Rick. “ANNIE is different because it evolves – discarding what doesn’t work and refining what does through live market results. That evolutionary engine is what sets ANNIE apart”.
ANNIE’s public release comes at a time when individual investors face mounting challenges competing against institutional capital and increasingly complex markets. Cockerham emphasizes that the platform is designed for serious, self-directed investors seeking a transparent and disciplined system that complements their own trading decisions.
About Pocket Knife Software
Founded by Rick Cockerham, Pocket Knife Software develops AI-powered financial tools for independent investors. The company’s flagship product, ANNIE, combines neural networks and genetic algorithms to evolve trading strategies based on real-world market performance. Operating from Austin, Texas, Pocket Knife Software is committed to making hedge-fund-grade technology accessible to self-directed investors. Learn more at AI-StockTrading.com.
Source: United States Senator for Massachusetts Ed Markey
State/DHS Letter Text (PDF) | GAO Letter Text (PDF)
Washington (June 20, 2025) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, and Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) today led their colleagues in two letters about the government’s use of artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies to determine whether an individual poses a national security risk.
The lawmakers write to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, urging the Trump administration to reverse its decision to expand its social media screening of visa applicants. Those policy changes appear intended to chill dissent, discriminate against particular viewpoints, and punish individuals for speech the Administration finds objectionable. In another letter, the lawmakers wrote to the Government Accountability Office, requesting that it investigate how the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice are using AI technologies to label individuals as potential threats to the public, including automated analysis of content people post online. The letters were also signed by Senators Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.).
In their letter to Secretaries Rubio and Noem, the lawmakers write, “Although the national security benefits of social media screening may be unproven, the costs are very real. The wide-scale collection of social media information violates the free expression rights of foreigners and American citizens, infringes on applicants’ personal privacy, creates unnecessary processing delays, and creates risks of abuse and discrimination…Even in an administration intending to conduct social media screening in a fair and unbiased manner, the risks of mistakes are high. In an administration with malign intentions, these social media screening tools guarantee abuse.”
The lawmakers continued, “We are deeply concerned that State and DHS’s respective new policies around social media screening are a thinly veiled effort to discriminate against visa applicants and other noncitizens seeking to pursue their studies or obtain asylum or lawful residence in the United States.”
The lawmakers request answers by July 9, 2025, to questions including:
Please provide any studies, analyses, audits, or other examination of the social media collection, screening, and vetting programs at State or DHS conducted between December 15, 2015, and the date of this letter.
Is the State Department or DHS using artificial intelligence (AI) or any other automated system to collect, process, analyze, or otherwise review information collected from social media accounts of visa applicants and applicants for an immigration benefit?
How many visa applicants or individuals seeking an immigration benefit have had their application denied solely or primarily due to the social media screening and vetting process, including those denied for failing to provide a social media identifier?
Please provide any State Department and DHS memos, guidance documents, or other written policies intended to guide career staff in interpreting social media indicia for a visa applicant or applicant for an immigration benefit.
Has the State Department, DHS, or any other agency or component conducted any legal analysis or First Amendment review of the March 25 State Department memo or the April 9 DHS announcement?
What safeguards, if any, are in place to ensure that personal bias, political viewpoints, or cultural misunderstandings do not influence visa adjudications or immigration benefit decisions based on social media content?
Did the State Department’s Office of Civil Rights or DHS’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties or Privacy Office review the respective policies before their implementation?
In their letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the lawmakers raise serious concerns about DHS and DOJ’s use of “technologies that make dubious automated inferences about individuals’ emotions, attitudes, and intentions,” including the administration’s deployment of “AI to scan the social media accounts of tens of thousands of student visa holders and flag some as supposedly supporting terrorist organizations.”
The GAO letter is also cosigned by Representatives Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash).
The lawmakers write: “It is particularly dangerous to use AI for inferring mental states in law enforcement contexts, where false positives can subject individuals to baseless investigation and detention. Furthermore, since many criminal statutes require proof of intent or other state of mind, using AI in this way could lead prosecutors to bring more severe charges against individuals on the basis of pseudoscientific evidence. This technology is also ripe for deliberate abuse, providing a pretext for government officials to target groups they disfavor.”
The lawmakers request that GAO produce a report that addresses questions including the following:
How many people have been the subject of an automated analysis conducted by DOJ or DHS personnel using AI technologies that infer people’s emotions, attitudes, or intentions?
What kinds of law enforcement actions have been guided by DOJ and DHS personnel’s use of these technologies?
What tests of these technologies did DOJ and DHS conduct before using them for law enforcement purposes?
What DOJ and DHS policies govern the uses of these AI technologies to prevent violations of due process, freedom of expression, equal protection, and other constitutional rights?
Tensions in the Middle East have reached a critical point following a direct strike by the United States on three of Iran’s major nuclear facilities. Explosions rocked Tehran, including a reported Israeli missile strike on the entrance to the capital’s notorious Evin Prison, in what officials are calling a coordinated Israeli campaign targeting both military and governmental sites across Iran.
The attacks on the Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear facilities, described by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as involving ground-penetrating munitions and cruise missiles, have escalated into a broader regional conflict. Iran retaliated with waves of missiles and drones, striking multiple cities in Israel. While the full extent of the damage remains unclear, the strikes mark a dramatic escalation of hostilities and a direct confrontation among Iran, Israel, and the United States.
In a rare move that signals a widening of military objectives, the Israeli Defense Forces targeted Evin Prison, a high-security facility housing political prisoners, dual nationals, and government critics. The operation marks a shift in Israeli strategy, extending beyond purely military targets to the symbolic and institutional pillars of the Iranian regime.
Amid the spiraling crisis, Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf announced that the legislature is weighing legislation to suspend all cooperation with the IAEA. Qalibaf insisted that Iran has no intention of pursuing non-peaceful nuclear activity but accused the UN nuclear watchdog of failing to maintain its neutrality and professionalism, alleging it had become politicized.
In Vienna, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi convened an emergency session of the agency’s Board of Governors. Grossi confirmed that key Iranian nuclear sites had been significantly damaged, though off-site radiation levels remained unchanged. He warned that the conflict presents a grave threat to the global non-proliferation regime and called for the immediate restoration of IAEA access to Iranian facilities, including those housing uranium enriched to 60 percent purity. Grossi also revealed that inspectors remain in Iran and are ready to resume oversight operations.
“The current trajectory is deeply concerning for international security,” Grossi told the assembled board members. “We must prioritize diplomacy and the technical role of the IAEA, not allow it to be undermined by geopolitical agendas.”
The regional impact has already begun to ripple outward. Major energy companies, including Eni, BP, and Total Energies, began emergency evacuations of foreign staff from Iraqi oilfields. Iraq’s state-run Basra Oil Company confirmed the move amid fears of broader conflict. Meanwhile, the U.S. Embassy in Qatar issued an urgent advisory instructing American citizens to remain indoors due to the volatile security situation.
In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, expressing strong support for Tehran and condemning the strikes by the U.S. and Israel as an “unprovoked act of aggression.” Putin reaffirmed Russia’s commitment to its strategic alliance with Iran, while noting that he had held recent consultations with U.S. President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, UAE President Mohammed Al Nahyan, and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Araghchi, in turn, thanked Russia for its support and denounced the attacks as illegal violations of international law. He emphasized Iran’s right to defend its sovereignty and stated that Tehran would continue to work closely with Moscow amid the growing crisis.
Tensions in the Middle East have reached a critical point following a direct strike by the United States on three of Iran’s major nuclear facilities. Explosions rocked Tehran, including a reported Israeli missile strike on the entrance to the capital’s notorious Evin Prison, in what officials are calling a coordinated Israeli campaign targeting both military and governmental sites across Iran.
The attacks on the Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear facilities, described by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as involving ground-penetrating munitions and cruise missiles, have escalated into a broader regional conflict. Iran retaliated with waves of missiles and drones, striking multiple cities in Israel. While the full extent of the damage remains unclear, the strikes mark a dramatic escalation of hostilities and a direct confrontation among Iran, Israel, and the United States.
In a rare move that signals a widening of military objectives, the Israeli Defense Forces targeted Evin Prison, a high-security facility housing political prisoners, dual nationals, and government critics. The operation marks a shift in Israeli strategy, extending beyond purely military targets to the symbolic and institutional pillars of the Iranian regime.
Amid the spiraling crisis, Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf announced that the legislature is weighing legislation to suspend all cooperation with the IAEA. Qalibaf insisted that Iran has no intention of pursuing non-peaceful nuclear activity but accused the UN nuclear watchdog of failing to maintain its neutrality and professionalism, alleging it had become politicized.
In Vienna, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi convened an emergency session of the agency’s Board of Governors. Grossi confirmed that key Iranian nuclear sites had been significantly damaged, though off-site radiation levels remained unchanged. He warned that the conflict presents a grave threat to the global non-proliferation regime and called for the immediate restoration of IAEA access to Iranian facilities, including those housing uranium enriched to 60 percent purity. Grossi also revealed that inspectors remain in Iran and are ready to resume oversight operations.
“The current trajectory is deeply concerning for international security,” Grossi told the assembled board members. “We must prioritize diplomacy and the technical role of the IAEA, not allow it to be undermined by geopolitical agendas.”
The regional impact has already begun to ripple outward. Major energy companies, including Eni, BP, and Total Energies, began emergency evacuations of foreign staff from Iraqi oilfields. Iraq’s state-run Basra Oil Company confirmed the move amid fears of broader conflict. Meanwhile, the U.S. Embassy in Qatar issued an urgent advisory instructing American citizens to remain indoors due to the volatile security situation.
In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, expressing strong support for Tehran and condemning the strikes by the U.S. and Israel as an “unprovoked act of aggression.” Putin reaffirmed Russia’s commitment to its strategic alliance with Iran, while noting that he had held recent consultations with U.S. President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, UAE President Mohammed Al Nahyan, and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Araghchi, in turn, thanked Russia for its support and denounced the attacks as illegal violations of international law. He emphasized Iran’s right to defend its sovereignty and stated that Tehran would continue to work closely with Moscow amid the growing crisis.
nited Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, following consultation with the United Nations University (UNU), announced today the appointment of Aya Suzuki of Japan as the next UNU Senior Vice-Rector. She succeeds Sawako Shirahase of Japan, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for her dedication and service. Ms. Suzuki is a distinguished Japanese development economist whose main research interest is examining how developing countries can reduce poverty levels, with a particular focus on agricultural and industrial development.
She is a Professor in the Department of International Studies, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, at the University of Tokyo, Japan. She also serves as Special Adviser to the President of the University of Tokyo and as Deputy Director General of the Division of University Corporate Relations. In these leadership capacities, she has championed initiatives to promote social entrepreneurship, foster international collaboration and enhance support for students from the Global South.
Ms. Suzuki serves as an Auditor for the Japanese Association for Development Economics, an Editorial Board Member for the Asian Development Review, and an Honorary Professor in the School of Accounting, Finance and Economics, the Division of Management, the University of Waikato (New Zealand). She was a Founding Board Member of the Japanese Association for Development Economics. Her previous positions include Associate/Assistant Professor and Head of the Department of International Studies, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, the University of Tokyo; Assistant Professor, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (Japan); Visiting Scholar, School of Accounting, Finance and Economics, the Division of Management, the University of Waikato (New Zealand); Visiting Scholar at the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Research Institute; and policy advisory work with the Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development.
Ms. Suzuki has published extensively on topics related to agricultural marketing and development economics. She holds a PhD in Development and Agricultural Economics from the University of California, Davis, United States; a Master of International Development Studies from the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Japan; and a Bachelor of Arts in Literature from Waseda University, Japan. She is fluent in English, Japanese, and speaks basic Chinese (Mandarin).
New York, NY, June 23, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — After proving its AI tutoring platform with impressive MCAT results, averaging 2.9 hours of daily student engagement and an 11.2-point score improvement among retakers that outperformed all industry benchmarks, Studyverse is now taking its technology to tutoring firms nationwide.
Prynce Karki, CEO of Studyverse
“We had so many parents come up to us like, ‘Hey, can I get this for my other kid who’s not going into medicine?’” said Prynce Karki, CEO of Studyverse. The edtech startup behind MyMCAT.ai is positioning itself as the infrastructure layer for the tutoring industry, offering what Karki describes as “Palantir for tutoring firms, Duolingo for students.”
Originally built to tackle inefficiencies in standardized test prep, Studyverse guided pre-med students through gamified learning experiences with an AI cat named Kalypso, dramatically boosting both engagement and scores. Now, the company is licensing this proven technology to tutoring firms looking to modernize their operations and provide smarter student support, whether in sessions or between them.
“Most tutors just don’t have the time to understand their students,” said Karki. “But this gives students a learning companion who understands what they’re weak in, which allows tutors to spend their time more efficiently, and helps firms have the insight to deliver on the promises they sell.”
Prynce graduated from Rice University as a premed and helped dozens of students get into medical school as a tutor and leader within multiple firms. He created the platform to address the frustrations he faced with firms overcharging and underdelivering to the students that need it most. Diagnosed as a child, Karki spent much of his early education battling illness in and out of hospitals. With his family unable to afford private tutors due to medical expenses, he fell behind academically. “I needed something like this growing up,” he said. “So do millions of students across the United States.”
Pictured: MyMCAT’s digital studyverse to create a gamified immersive experience
MyMCAT.ai became a proof-of-concept: a gamified AI tutor that not only held students’ attention but also drove statistically significant results. “I spent so much money on a formal post baccalaureate degree and expensive prep course just to fail my MCAT,” Kaya said. “But I succeeded with MyMCAT.ai.”
Studyverse’s B2B platform is now onboarding tutoring organizations interested in complementing their tutoring with 24/7 AI-assisted instruction. The company reports active contract discussions and early adoption from firms seeking to upgrade their systems to thrive in an era defined by AI.
The broader vision, Karki noted, is to evolve humanity by becoming the digital infrastructure for the global tutoring market. “Every student we don’t support is potential we’re all losing: future doctors, innovators, leaders who never get their chance,” he said. “We plan to give every one of these students a tutor that cares.”
About Studyverse
Studyverse builds intelligent, gamified tutoring software that enhances student engagement and outcomes. Its flagship product, MyMCAT.ai, helped people who previously did poorly on the MCAT improve scores by an average of 11.2 points – more than triple the national benchmark, which is 3 points for retakers. Now expanding into B2B, Studyverse equips tutoring firms with adaptive AI infrastructure to drive results at scale. Learn more at studyverse.ai.
New York, NY, June 23, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — After proving its AI tutoring platform with impressive MCAT results, averaging 2.9 hours of daily student engagement and an 11.2-point score improvement among retakers that outperformed all industry benchmarks, Studyverse is now taking its technology to tutoring firms nationwide.
Prynce Karki, CEO of Studyverse
“We had so many parents come up to us like, ‘Hey, can I get this for my other kid who’s not going into medicine?’” said Prynce Karki, CEO of Studyverse. The edtech startup behind MyMCAT.ai is positioning itself as the infrastructure layer for the tutoring industry, offering what Karki describes as “Palantir for tutoring firms, Duolingo for students.”
Originally built to tackle inefficiencies in standardized test prep, Studyverse guided pre-med students through gamified learning experiences with an AI cat named Kalypso, dramatically boosting both engagement and scores. Now, the company is licensing this proven technology to tutoring firms looking to modernize their operations and provide smarter student support, whether in sessions or between them.
“Most tutors just don’t have the time to understand their students,” said Karki. “But this gives students a learning companion who understands what they’re weak in, which allows tutors to spend their time more efficiently, and helps firms have the insight to deliver on the promises they sell.”
Prynce graduated from Rice University as a premed and helped dozens of students get into medical school as a tutor and leader within multiple firms. He created the platform to address the frustrations he faced with firms overcharging and underdelivering to the students that need it most. Diagnosed as a child, Karki spent much of his early education battling illness in and out of hospitals. With his family unable to afford private tutors due to medical expenses, he fell behind academically. “I needed something like this growing up,” he said. “So do millions of students across the United States.”
Pictured: MyMCAT’s digital studyverse to create a gamified immersive experience
MyMCAT.ai became a proof-of-concept: a gamified AI tutor that not only held students’ attention but also drove statistically significant results. “I spent so much money on a formal post baccalaureate degree and expensive prep course just to fail my MCAT,” Kaya said. “But I succeeded with MyMCAT.ai.”
Studyverse’s B2B platform is now onboarding tutoring organizations interested in complementing their tutoring with 24/7 AI-assisted instruction. The company reports active contract discussions and early adoption from firms seeking to upgrade their systems to thrive in an era defined by AI.
The broader vision, Karki noted, is to evolve humanity by becoming the digital infrastructure for the global tutoring market. “Every student we don’t support is potential we’re all losing: future doctors, innovators, leaders who never get their chance,” he said. “We plan to give every one of these students a tutor that cares.”
About Studyverse
Studyverse builds intelligent, gamified tutoring software that enhances student engagement and outcomes. Its flagship product, MyMCAT.ai, helped people who previously did poorly on the MCAT improve scores by an average of 11.2 points – more than triple the national benchmark, which is 3 points for retakers. Now expanding into B2B, Studyverse equips tutoring firms with adaptive AI infrastructure to drive results at scale. Learn more at studyverse.ai.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – A Westerville woman who claimed affiliation with Dayton-area pizza restaurants to obtain nearly $1.9 million in COVD-19 relief funds was sentenced in U.S. District Court today to 70 months in prison.
Lorie A. Schaefer, 63, also assisted a co-defendant in fraudulently receiving more than $980,000 pandemic relief loans in exchange for payment, causing a total of $2.8 million in fraud.
According to court documents, Schaefer opened new bank accounts in December 2020 prior to registering a fictitious business name with the State of Ohio in March 2021.
Schaefer fraudulently claimed affiliation with the Flying Pizza restaurants in Dayton, Centerville and Fairborn. When notified that a Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP) loan for nearly $1.9 million had been filed in the name of Flying Pizza, individuals at the family-owned business said their restaurants could not justify such a large loan.
Schaefer claimed to have 98 employees and submitted altered bank records as part of her application. Schaefer also claimed the business was established in March 2021, even though the original Flying Pizza was established in 1984. Additionally, she claimed not to be under indictment despite having pending theft charges in Meigs County. Schaefer attached multiple fraudulent documents to her PPP application, including a bank statement, tax records, and a letter from the IRS.
Bank records indicate Schaefer improperly used PPP funds for personal expenses, for example, nearly $26,000 on liposuction, a $10,000 check for a “newborn baby gift,” and more than $900,000 to purchase and renovate a home in Westerville. Schaefer also made purchases at Wayfair, Lamps Plus, Kroger, KFC, Burger King, Arby’s, McDonald’s and Olive Garden. Evidence also suggests Schaefer used the fraud proceeds to purchase vehicles in Ohio and property in Australia.
After being charged in this case, Schaefer committed new offenses and violated her pre-trial release multiple times, leading to the revocation of her bond.
She pleaded guilty in July 2024 and twice attempted to withdraw her guilty plea.
Kelly A. Norris, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Anthony Licari, Special Agent in Charge, Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General, Midwestern Region; and Elena Iatarola, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division; announced the sentence imposed today by U.S. District Court Judge Edmund A. Sargus, Jr. Assistant United States Attorney David J. Twombly is representing the United States in this case.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – A Westerville woman who claimed affiliation with Dayton-area pizza restaurants to obtain nearly $1.9 million in COVD-19 relief funds was sentenced in U.S. District Court today to 70 months in prison.
Lorie A. Schaefer, 63, also assisted a co-defendant in fraudulently receiving more than $980,000 pandemic relief loans in exchange for payment, causing a total of $2.8 million in fraud.
According to court documents, Schaefer opened new bank accounts in December 2020 prior to registering a fictitious business name with the State of Ohio in March 2021.
Schaefer fraudulently claimed affiliation with the Flying Pizza restaurants in Dayton, Centerville and Fairborn. When notified that a Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP) loan for nearly $1.9 million had been filed in the name of Flying Pizza, individuals at the family-owned business said their restaurants could not justify such a large loan.
Schaefer claimed to have 98 employees and submitted altered bank records as part of her application. Schaefer also claimed the business was established in March 2021, even though the original Flying Pizza was established in 1984. Additionally, she claimed not to be under indictment despite having pending theft charges in Meigs County. Schaefer attached multiple fraudulent documents to her PPP application, including a bank statement, tax records, and a letter from the IRS.
Bank records indicate Schaefer improperly used PPP funds for personal expenses, for example, nearly $26,000 on liposuction, a $10,000 check for a “newborn baby gift,” and more than $900,000 to purchase and renovate a home in Westerville. Schaefer also made purchases at Wayfair, Lamps Plus, Kroger, KFC, Burger King, Arby’s, McDonald’s and Olive Garden. Evidence also suggests Schaefer used the fraud proceeds to purchase vehicles in Ohio and property in Australia.
After being charged in this case, Schaefer committed new offenses and violated her pre-trial release multiple times, leading to the revocation of her bond.
She pleaded guilty in July 2024 and twice attempted to withdraw her guilty plea.
Kelly A. Norris, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Anthony Licari, Special Agent in Charge, Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General, Midwestern Region; and Elena Iatarola, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division; announced the sentence imposed today by U.S. District Court Judge Edmund A. Sargus, Jr. Assistant United States Attorney David J. Twombly is representing the United States in this case.
PITTSBURGH, Pa. – A resident of Detroit, Michigan, has been sentenced in federal court to 24 months in prison, to be followed by four years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution of $14.5 million to the U.S. Small Business Administration on his conviction of fraud conspiracy, Acting United States Attorney Troy Rivetti announced today.
United States District Judge W. Scott Hardy imposed the sentence on Matthew Lloyd Parker, 37.
According to information presented to the Court, between March 2020 and August 2021, Parker conspired with others to defraud lenders of more than $14.5 million through false Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan applications for COVID-19 pandemic relief in the largest known PPP fraud in the Western District of Pennsylvania. Parker, a licensed CPA, recruited hundreds of small businesses in Pittsburgh and Detroit and falsified PPP loan applications in their names. The Small Business Administration approved more than 200 of those applications, resulting in loans totaling approximately $14.5 million to the various businesses. The United States argued that Parker’s sophistication as a CPA aided him in falsifying the hundreds of PPP loan documents, which then generated substantial PPP loans to others along with approximately $1.5 million dollars in loan processing fees to Parker.
Assistant United States Attorney Gregory C. Melucci prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.
Acting United States Attorney Rivetti commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation and United States Postal Inspection Service for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Parker.
Seattle, WA , June 23, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — UNpkl, a privacy-focused startup founded by network security veteran Yogesh Nagarkar, has announced the expansion of its AI-powered firewall platform into the B2B space. Originally launched as a consumer router solution, UNpkl now offers IT teams intuitive, plain-language control over complex firewall policies across distributed networks.
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Yogesh Nagarkar, Founder of UNpkl
UNpkl’s hardware and software solution replaces traditional routers and firewalls with a WiFi 6 mesh router and companion app, allowing users to issue commands such as “block social media on San Francisco Floor 2 weekdays from 9 to 5.” It supports advanced configurations on Linux-based virtual machines, making it ideal for managing cloud-native infrastructure.
The platform’s chat-based interface lets users administer firewall policies with simple natural language – no complex UI navigation or command-line expertise required. Whether a business administrator needs to secure remote server access or a parent wants to manage content access at home, UNpkl streamlines the process with precision and ease.
Designed for non-technical users, UNpkl also includes live traffic visualization, threat analysis, and contextual filtering, transforming obscure networking logs into human-readable insights. With rising cyber threats and increasingly complex IoT environments, the platform provides real-time visibility and precise control over network behavior.
The new enterprise dashboard, set for public beta this summer, allows administrators to manage global policies across multiple locations with just a few keystrokes. AI-enhanced prompts guide users through safe configuration changes to prevent missteps and ensure network integrity. This constellation-based visualization shows admins a live snapshot of all connected environments – whether a corporate floor in San Francisco or a compute instance in a cloud data center.
“Network control shouldn’t require a PhD in networking,” said Yogesh Nagarkar, founder and CEO of UNpkl. “Whether you’re a parent trying to block TikTok during homework hours or a CTO securing cloud workloads, we want to make policy enforcement as easy as texting your router.”
UNpkl devices are currently available on Amazon under the product line “UNpkl ICHI,” with support for scalable mesh configurations and secure routing across both home and enterprise use cases. Early adopters include education institutions, startups, and privacy-conscious tech teams looking to eliminate third-party data leaks and unauthorized marketing trackers.
About UNpkl
Founded in 2023 by Yogesh Nagarkar, UNpkl develops human-centric networking tools that combine AI, cybersecurity, and user-friendly design. The company’s flagship product, a live network camera, empowers users to understand and control their WiFi traffic using simple language. UNpkl’s solutions span consumer and B2B markets, with support for local routers, mesh networks, and cloud-based VMs. Learn more at https://unpkl.io/.
Financial products are becoming increasingly sophisticated – as are the frauds associated with things like crypto, hacking and digital robbery. Many people are already overwhelmed by financial matters, and being unable to manage money can lead to mental health problems.
But money is primarily a social and cultural construct. Humans created it to serve their everyday needs for food, clothing and shelter. You could argue, however, that this servant of society has now become the master. Money permeates every aspect of life, including health, wellbeing and love – even relationships can become transactional.
Humans have done immense damage to the planet. We urgently need to re-examine our financial motives and institutions so that we nurture the Earth, rather than extract, plunder and destroy it.
Meanwhile, in the last 50 years, the discipline of finance has grown in influence and reach. In fact, most other disciplines in business, such as marketing, organisational behaviour and management, have become subservient to finance. The priority has been to maximise profits to satisfy the demand for constant growth in revenues and shareholder wealth. This is known as financialisation.
Get your news from actual experts, straight to your inbox.Sign up to our daily newsletter to receive all The Conversation UK’s latest coverage of news and research, from politics and business to the arts and sciences.
This, along with rising inequality, makes it a good moment to examine the knowledge system (epistemology) and beliefs (ontology) of finance. What are its core ethics, when did they go wrong, and how can they be reformed to help shape a sustainable society in future?
Given the vast cultural and religious diversity on Earth, as well as the global challenges of inequality and sustainability, I have examined a variety of experiences, beliefs and perspectives on money in my new book, Organic Finance.
This has resulted in a framework akin to organic farming, where the health of the soil, air and water is respected. Tradition, morality, culture and belief play a highly influential role in cultivating sustainable societies. Making money is placed into a wholesome cultural and planetary context. I have looked at attitudes towards money across culture and uncovered forgotten wisdom.
Many religions have strong views on money, debt and their role in building peace and cohesion. Most have rejected the accumulation of wealth for its own sake, and warned about the limits of greed and materialism. But these principles are the antithesis of how modern abstract economics and finance are modelled and taught all over the world. This has endorsed environmental degradation through resource depletion and extraction.
Countless cultures and traditions have emphasised the importance of kinship, charity, volunteering and service towards building communities and social relationships. Trust and mutuality have been central to many cultures and beliefs, yet severely undermined and ignored by the teachings of modern finance.
In contrast, for many indigenous traditions, money has historically played only a small role in livelihoods. For example, the Jains have a record dating back several hundred years of philanthropy for people, animals and the environment.
The first chapter of my book is titled “Evil Finance”, and outlines how some people have become defined by competition, exploitation and expropriation. Multinational corporations have amassed significant global power, and are very hard to govern and regulate. This is often accepted as a scientific reality, when in fact such behaviour is unsustainable.
Nature and spirituality are important when it comes to framing a conscious and responsible future for finance. A ground-up view of finance that includes kindness towards living beings, including rural communities and animals, would help to keep the focus on soil health, water purity and unpolluted air. And it would ensure that humans are humble and nurturing.
Trust before profits
Across the world, there are millions of small businesses that simply want to provide a valuable service and feed their families. They have no aspirations of exponential growth and want to keep expansion within manageable proportions. And because they want to pass the business to future generations, sustainability is deeply woven into their business culture. Trust and relationships are valued more than profits or wealth.
In the book, I also examine how profits and wealth maximisation have serious consequences, with side-effects including pollution and insecure jobs. Sadly, I’ve seen from decades of research and teaching experience that words like morality, trust, relationships and community have been disappearing from corporate finance and banking textbooks, encouraging selfishness and a calculating mindset.
Unless we go back to the basics of the cultural and ethical nature and limits of money, reforms in finance such as ESG (environmental, social and governance) investment criteria or net zero goals are going to be sticking plasters on fundamentally short-termist, greedy and selfish market institutions.
For people who work in finance, it’s about understanding the limits of materialism. Finance can once again become a servant of society and nature, helping to boost values of family and community. We can start by placing ethics and culture at the centre of accounting, economics and finance training.
When we allow self-reflection and diverse cultures and traditions into the finance curriculum, we enable rich dialogues, strong moral frameworks and an ability to put money in its place. Such a rewriting of finance would be respectful of diverse cultures and traditions, allowing them to learn from one another, and work together to build an equal society and healthy planet.
This article features references to books that have been included for editorial reasons, and may contain links to bookshop.org. If you click on one of the links and go on to buy something from bookshop.org The Conversation UK may earn a commission.
Atul K. Shah 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.
Financial products are becoming increasingly sophisticated – as are the frauds associated with things like crypto, hacking and digital robbery. Many people are already overwhelmed by financial matters, and being unable to manage money can lead to mental health problems.
But money is primarily a social and cultural construct. Humans created it to serve their everyday needs for food, clothing and shelter. You could argue, however, that this servant of society has now become the master. Money permeates every aspect of life, including health, wellbeing and love – even relationships can become transactional.
Humans have done immense damage to the planet. We urgently need to re-examine our financial motives and institutions so that we nurture the Earth, rather than extract, plunder and destroy it.
Meanwhile, in the last 50 years, the discipline of finance has grown in influence and reach. In fact, most other disciplines in business, such as marketing, organisational behaviour and management, have become subservient to finance. The priority has been to maximise profits to satisfy the demand for constant growth in revenues and shareholder wealth. This is known as financialisation.
Get your news from actual experts, straight to your inbox.Sign up to our daily newsletter to receive all The Conversation UK’s latest coverage of news and research, from politics and business to the arts and sciences.
This, along with rising inequality, makes it a good moment to examine the knowledge system (epistemology) and beliefs (ontology) of finance. What are its core ethics, when did they go wrong, and how can they be reformed to help shape a sustainable society in future?
Given the vast cultural and religious diversity on Earth, as well as the global challenges of inequality and sustainability, I have examined a variety of experiences, beliefs and perspectives on money in my new book, Organic Finance.
This has resulted in a framework akin to organic farming, where the health of the soil, air and water is respected. Tradition, morality, culture and belief play a highly influential role in cultivating sustainable societies. Making money is placed into a wholesome cultural and planetary context. I have looked at attitudes towards money across culture and uncovered forgotten wisdom.
Many religions have strong views on money, debt and their role in building peace and cohesion. Most have rejected the accumulation of wealth for its own sake, and warned about the limits of greed and materialism. But these principles are the antithesis of how modern abstract economics and finance are modelled and taught all over the world. This has endorsed environmental degradation through resource depletion and extraction.
Countless cultures and traditions have emphasised the importance of kinship, charity, volunteering and service towards building communities and social relationships. Trust and mutuality have been central to many cultures and beliefs, yet severely undermined and ignored by the teachings of modern finance.
In contrast, for many indigenous traditions, money has historically played only a small role in livelihoods. For example, the Jains have a record dating back several hundred years of philanthropy for people, animals and the environment.
The first chapter of my book is titled “Evil Finance”, and outlines how some people have become defined by competition, exploitation and expropriation. Multinational corporations have amassed significant global power, and are very hard to govern and regulate. This is often accepted as a scientific reality, when in fact such behaviour is unsustainable.
Nature and spirituality are important when it comes to framing a conscious and responsible future for finance. A ground-up view of finance that includes kindness towards living beings, including rural communities and animals, would help to keep the focus on soil health, water purity and unpolluted air. And it would ensure that humans are humble and nurturing.
Trust before profits
Across the world, there are millions of small businesses that simply want to provide a valuable service and feed their families. They have no aspirations of exponential growth and want to keep expansion within manageable proportions. And because they want to pass the business to future generations, sustainability is deeply woven into their business culture. Trust and relationships are valued more than profits or wealth.
In the book, I also examine how profits and wealth maximisation have serious consequences, with side-effects including pollution and insecure jobs. Sadly, I’ve seen from decades of research and teaching experience that words like morality, trust, relationships and community have been disappearing from corporate finance and banking textbooks, encouraging selfishness and a calculating mindset.
Unless we go back to the basics of the cultural and ethical nature and limits of money, reforms in finance such as ESG (environmental, social and governance) investment criteria or net zero goals are going to be sticking plasters on fundamentally short-termist, greedy and selfish market institutions.
For people who work in finance, it’s about understanding the limits of materialism. Finance can once again become a servant of society and nature, helping to boost values of family and community. We can start by placing ethics and culture at the centre of accounting, economics and finance training.
When we allow self-reflection and diverse cultures and traditions into the finance curriculum, we enable rich dialogues, strong moral frameworks and an ability to put money in its place. Such a rewriting of finance would be respectful of diverse cultures and traditions, allowing them to learn from one another, and work together to build an equal society and healthy planet.
This article features references to books that have been included for editorial reasons, and may contain links to bookshop.org. If you click on one of the links and go on to buy something from bookshop.org The Conversation UK may earn a commission.
Atul K. Shah 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.
Twenty-three years on from director Danny Boyle’s unforgettable film 28 Days Later, and five years on from COVID, horror is having a spectacular renaissance. With 28 Years Later, the franchise has returned to cinema as a mouthpiece for the unique pressures Britain is facing post-pandemic and post-Brexit.
In 2020, speculative architect and director Liam Young said: “I’m sure the scripts for a new genre of virus fictions or ‘Vi-Fi’ are already in the works and perhaps that is the real opportunity of this present moment, to imagine the potential fictions and futures, and to prototype the new worlds that we all want to be a part of when the viral cloud lifts.” Well, here that vision is.
In this film, Europe has contained the “rage virus” to Britain. There are French boats on quarantine patrols, Swedish soldiers mocking remaining mainlanders and St George’s flags burning.
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28 Years Later is set on Holy Island, off the coast of the UK. There, an isolated community is protected by tides which conceal and reveal a causeway through which islanders can leave to get to the mainland to forage.
One of the film’s most adrenaline-spiking scenes comes in the form of a terrifying chase back to the island. A young boy named Spike (Alfie Williams) is hurrying back after performing his rite of passage ceremony in which he is instructed to kill infected people on the mainland. It’s sound-tracked to the transcendental tones of Wagner’s Das Rheingold prelude.
Twenty-eight years on from the events of the first film, the infected have evolved. Boyle has re-imagined them in even more monstrous forms. Gore-lovers will enjoy the menacing new brand of infected – seven-foot “alphas” – who rip heads from the living and dangle their severed spines.
An ode to COVID
Talking about how the pandemic inspired 28 Years Later, Boyle told Sky News:
Suddenly everybody’s capital city, everywhere around the world was the same. And what was incredible about it was obviously just this idea which had previously only really belonged to films, like our film, where culture is suddenly just stopped dead.
Danny Boyle speaks about 28 Years Later.
The film’s stars, Jodie Comer and Aaron Taylor Johnson, meanwhile have both said that they drew from their real-life experiences of pandemic isolation for their roles as Spike’s Geordie parents. As Taylor explained:
My son was 13, the same age as Alfie was when we were making this movie. I know what it was like to protect your family but also to not understand what was happening around us. And I thought it was interesting whilst reading this that an audience is going to understand that journey […] I drew upon a lot of those scenarios.
The film ushers in a new age of “Vi-Fi” without succumbing to pulpy pandemic storytelling. Boyle gives us an antidote to cultural amnesia around the pandemic through Dr Kelson, the mad doctor played by Ralph Fiennes.
Dr Kelson pushes against cultural erasure through his construction of a temple of bones: totems of tibias and a spire of skulls that honour the virus victims.
The trailer for 28 Years Later.
He touchingly explains that we are to remember death and remember love: “Every skull is a set of thoughts, these sockets saw, and these jaws swallowed.” Fiennes is adept at rendering this “crazy” loner character who has a knack for turning up at the right time; the effortlessness of his humanity is a pleasure to watch.
Boyle explained: “The COVID memorial wall opposite parliament is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen … it sort of inspired Ralph Fiennes’ character and what he’s building as a gesture towards remembering everyone as a way of actually looking forwards, not a way of looking back.”
After the creative inertia brought on by the COVID lockdowns, I’ve detected tectonic shifts in pandemic storytelling in my interviews with COVID authors.
Stories like 28 Years Later that “quietly” insert the pandemic and push COVID into the background are considered the easiest to digest. These stories are part of a new, radical literary avant-garde that has emerged in contemporary literature to chronicle the COVID era.
Pandemic fiction has become an oft-maligned genre; conversations on my podcast, Pandemic Pages, with emergency planner Professor Lucy Easthope and horror author Kylie Lee Baker confirm that literary festivals and agents have expressed reluctance to read or publish COVID fiction. Professor Easthope explained that many people just don’t feel ready to read about the pandemic.
For Baker, it’s that many people simply find the associations too traumatic. However, judging from the reactions of cinema-goers when I saw 28 Years Later, there is an audience hungry for another serving of Boyle’s insatiable trilogy.
Lucyl Harrison 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.
Twenty-three years on from director Danny Boyle’s unforgettable film 28 Days Later, and five years on from COVID, horror is having a spectacular renaissance. With 28 Years Later, the franchise has returned to cinema as a mouthpiece for the unique pressures Britain is facing post-pandemic and post-Brexit.
In 2020, speculative architect and director Liam Young said: “I’m sure the scripts for a new genre of virus fictions or ‘Vi-Fi’ are already in the works and perhaps that is the real opportunity of this present moment, to imagine the potential fictions and futures, and to prototype the new worlds that we all want to be a part of when the viral cloud lifts.” Well, here that vision is.
In this film, Europe has contained the “rage virus” to Britain. There are French boats on quarantine patrols, Swedish soldiers mocking remaining mainlanders and St George’s flags burning.
Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here.
28 Years Later is set on Holy Island, off the coast of the UK. There, an isolated community is protected by tides which conceal and reveal a causeway through which islanders can leave to get to the mainland to forage.
One of the film’s most adrenaline-spiking scenes comes in the form of a terrifying chase back to the island. A young boy named Spike (Alfie Williams) is hurrying back after performing his rite of passage ceremony in which he is instructed to kill infected people on the mainland. It’s sound-tracked to the transcendental tones of Wagner’s Das Rheingold prelude.
Twenty-eight years on from the events of the first film, the infected have evolved. Boyle has re-imagined them in even more monstrous forms. Gore-lovers will enjoy the menacing new brand of infected – seven-foot “alphas” – who rip heads from the living and dangle their severed spines.
An ode to COVID
Talking about how the pandemic inspired 28 Years Later, Boyle told Sky News:
Suddenly everybody’s capital city, everywhere around the world was the same. And what was incredible about it was obviously just this idea which had previously only really belonged to films, like our film, where culture is suddenly just stopped dead.
Danny Boyle speaks about 28 Years Later.
The film’s stars, Jodie Comer and Aaron Taylor Johnson, meanwhile have both said that they drew from their real-life experiences of pandemic isolation for their roles as Spike’s Geordie parents. As Taylor explained:
My son was 13, the same age as Alfie was when we were making this movie. I know what it was like to protect your family but also to not understand what was happening around us. And I thought it was interesting whilst reading this that an audience is going to understand that journey […] I drew upon a lot of those scenarios.
The film ushers in a new age of “Vi-Fi” without succumbing to pulpy pandemic storytelling. Boyle gives us an antidote to cultural amnesia around the pandemic through Dr Kelson, the mad doctor played by Ralph Fiennes.
Dr Kelson pushes against cultural erasure through his construction of a temple of bones: totems of tibias and a spire of skulls that honour the virus victims.
The trailer for 28 Years Later.
He touchingly explains that we are to remember death and remember love: “Every skull is a set of thoughts, these sockets saw, and these jaws swallowed.” Fiennes is adept at rendering this “crazy” loner character who has a knack for turning up at the right time; the effortlessness of his humanity is a pleasure to watch.
Boyle explained: “The COVID memorial wall opposite parliament is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen … it sort of inspired Ralph Fiennes’ character and what he’s building as a gesture towards remembering everyone as a way of actually looking forwards, not a way of looking back.”
After the creative inertia brought on by the COVID lockdowns, I’ve detected tectonic shifts in pandemic storytelling in my interviews with COVID authors.
Stories like 28 Years Later that “quietly” insert the pandemic and push COVID into the background are considered the easiest to digest. These stories are part of a new, radical literary avant-garde that has emerged in contemporary literature to chronicle the COVID era.
Pandemic fiction has become an oft-maligned genre; conversations on my podcast, Pandemic Pages, with emergency planner Professor Lucy Easthope and horror author Kylie Lee Baker confirm that literary festivals and agents have expressed reluctance to read or publish COVID fiction. Professor Easthope explained that many people just don’t feel ready to read about the pandemic.
For Baker, it’s that many people simply find the associations too traumatic. However, judging from the reactions of cinema-goers when I saw 28 Years Later, there is an audience hungry for another serving of Boyle’s insatiable trilogy.
Lucyl Harrison 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.
As the days stretch long and the sun lingers late into the evening, most of us welcome summer with open arms. Yet for a surprising number of people, this season brings an unwelcome guest: insomnia.
For these people, summer is a time of tossing and turning, early waking – or simply not feeling sleepy when they should. Far from just being a nuisance, this seasonal insomnia may chip away at mood, concentration and metabolic health.
But why does insomnia spike in summer — and more importantly, what can be done about it? The answer lies in the light.
Every tissue in the body owns a molecular “clock”. However, these clocks take their cue from a central timekeeper – the brain’s suprachiasmatic nucleus. This cluster of about 20,000 neurons synchronises the myriad cellular clocks to a near 24-hour cycle.
It uses the external light detected by the eyes as a cue, driving the release of two different hormones: melatonin, which makes us sleepy and a pre-dawn surge cortisol to help us wake.
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In winter, this light cue is short and sharp. But in June and July, daylight can stretch on for 16 or 17 hours in the mid‑latitudes. That extra dose matters because evening light is the most potent signal for pushing the central timekeeper later. In summer melatonin shifts by roughly 30 minutes to an hour later, while dawn light floods bedrooms early and kills the hormone off sooner.
This can have a big effect on the amount of sleep we get. One study monitored the sleep of 188 participants in the lab on three nights at different times of the year. The researchers found that total sleep was about an hour shorter in summer than winter.
Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep — the sleep stage most strongly linked to emotional regulation and the consolidation of emotionally charged memories — accounted for roughly half the sleep loss in summer.
The same team later tracked 377 patients over two consecutive years and showed that sleep length and REM sleep began a five‑month decline soon after the last freezing night of spring. Sleep length shrank by an average of 62 minutes, while REM decreased by about 24 minutes. Slow-wave sleep – the phase most critical for tissue repair, immune regulation and the consolidation of factual memories – reached its annual low around the autumn equinox.
Both studies took place in a city bathed in artificial light – suggesting that even in modern environments our sleep remains seasonally affected.
Big population surveys echo these findings. Among more than 30,000 middle‑aged Canadians, volunteers interviewed in midsummer said they slept eight minutes less than those interviewed in midwinter. The summer interviewees also reported greater insomnia symptoms in the fortnight after the autumn clock change – suggesting the abrupt time shift exacerbates underlying seasonal misalignment.
One study also compared the effect of summer sleep in people living at very different latitudes – such as near the equator, where there’s little change in day length in the summer, and near the Arctic circle, where the differences are extreme. The study found that for people living in Tromsø, Norway, their self-reported insomnia and daytime fatigue rose markedly in summer. But for people living in Accra, Ghana (near the equator), these measures barely budged.
This show just how strongly daylight – and the amount of daylight hours we experience – can affect our sleep quality. But it isn’t the only culprit of poor summertime sleep.
Temperature is another factor that can spoil sleep during the summer months.
Just before we fall asleep, our core body temperature begins a steep descent of roughly 1°C to help us fall asleep. It reaches its lowest point during the first half of the night.
On muggy summer nights this can make falling asleep difficult. Laboratory experiments show that even a rise from 26°C to about 32°C increases wakefulness and reduces both slow-wave and REM sleep.
Different people are also more vulnerable to summer insomnia than others. This has to do with your unique “chronotype” – your natural preference to rise early or sleep late.
Evening chronotypes – “night owls” – already lean towards later bedtimes. They may stay up even later when it stays bright past ten o’clock. Morning chronotypes, on the other hand, may find themselves waking up even earlier than they normally do because of when the sun rises in the summer.
Mood can amplify the effect. Research found people who suffered with mental health issues were more likely to experience difficulty sleeping in summer.
Get some morning sunshine. Try to step outside within an hour of waking up – even if it’s just for 15 minutes. This tells the clock that the day has begun and nudges it to finish earlier that evening.
Create an artificial dusk. Around two hours before bed, close the curtains, turn off the lights and reduce the intensity of your phone screen’s blue light to help your melatonin rise on time.
Don’t let the dawn light in. Being exposed to the dawn light too early will wake you up. Blackout curtains or a contoured eye-mask can ensure you don’t wake before you’re rested.
Keep things cool. Fans, breathable cotton or linen sheets or a lukewarm shower before bed all help the body to achieve that crucial one-degree drop in core temperature needed to get a good night’s sleep.
The deeper lesson here from chronobiology is that humans remain, biologically speaking, seasonal animals. While our industrialised lives flatten the calendar, our cells still measure day length and temperature just as plants and migratory birds do.
By adapting and aligning our habits with those light signals, we might just be able to recapture some sleep – even during the warmer months.
Timothy Hearn 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.
As the days stretch long and the sun lingers late into the evening, most of us welcome summer with open arms. Yet for a surprising number of people, this season brings an unwelcome guest: insomnia.
For these people, summer is a time of tossing and turning, early waking – or simply not feeling sleepy when they should. Far from just being a nuisance, this seasonal insomnia may chip away at mood, concentration and metabolic health.
But why does insomnia spike in summer — and more importantly, what can be done about it? The answer lies in the light.
Every tissue in the body owns a molecular “clock”. However, these clocks take their cue from a central timekeeper – the brain’s suprachiasmatic nucleus. This cluster of about 20,000 neurons synchronises the myriad cellular clocks to a near 24-hour cycle.
It uses the external light detected by the eyes as a cue, driving the release of two different hormones: melatonin, which makes us sleepy and a pre-dawn surge cortisol to help us wake.
Get your news from actual experts, straight to your inbox.Sign up to our daily newsletter to receive all The Conversation UK’s latest coverage of news and research, from politics and business to the arts and sciences.
In winter, this light cue is short and sharp. But in June and July, daylight can stretch on for 16 or 17 hours in the mid‑latitudes. That extra dose matters because evening light is the most potent signal for pushing the central timekeeper later. In summer melatonin shifts by roughly 30 minutes to an hour later, while dawn light floods bedrooms early and kills the hormone off sooner.
This can have a big effect on the amount of sleep we get. One study monitored the sleep of 188 participants in the lab on three nights at different times of the year. The researchers found that total sleep was about an hour shorter in summer than winter.
Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep — the sleep stage most strongly linked to emotional regulation and the consolidation of emotionally charged memories — accounted for roughly half the sleep loss in summer.
The same team later tracked 377 patients over two consecutive years and showed that sleep length and REM sleep began a five‑month decline soon after the last freezing night of spring. Sleep length shrank by an average of 62 minutes, while REM decreased by about 24 minutes. Slow-wave sleep – the phase most critical for tissue repair, immune regulation and the consolidation of factual memories – reached its annual low around the autumn equinox.
Both studies took place in a city bathed in artificial light – suggesting that even in modern environments our sleep remains seasonally affected.
Big population surveys echo these findings. Among more than 30,000 middle‑aged Canadians, volunteers interviewed in midsummer said they slept eight minutes less than those interviewed in midwinter. The summer interviewees also reported greater insomnia symptoms in the fortnight after the autumn clock change – suggesting the abrupt time shift exacerbates underlying seasonal misalignment.
One study also compared the effect of summer sleep in people living at very different latitudes – such as near the equator, where there’s little change in day length in the summer, and near the Arctic circle, where the differences are extreme. The study found that for people living in Tromsø, Norway, their self-reported insomnia and daytime fatigue rose markedly in summer. But for people living in Accra, Ghana (near the equator), these measures barely budged.
This show just how strongly daylight – and the amount of daylight hours we experience – can affect our sleep quality. But it isn’t the only culprit of poor summertime sleep.
Temperature is another factor that can spoil sleep during the summer months.
Just before we fall asleep, our core body temperature begins a steep descent of roughly 1°C to help us fall asleep. It reaches its lowest point during the first half of the night.
On muggy summer nights this can make falling asleep difficult. Laboratory experiments show that even a rise from 26°C to about 32°C increases wakefulness and reduces both slow-wave and REM sleep.
Different people are also more vulnerable to summer insomnia than others. This has to do with your unique “chronotype” – your natural preference to rise early or sleep late.
Evening chronotypes – “night owls” – already lean towards later bedtimes. They may stay up even later when it stays bright past ten o’clock. Morning chronotypes, on the other hand, may find themselves waking up even earlier than they normally do because of when the sun rises in the summer.
Mood can amplify the effect. Research found people who suffered with mental health issues were more likely to experience difficulty sleeping in summer.
Get some morning sunshine. Try to step outside within an hour of waking up – even if it’s just for 15 minutes. This tells the clock that the day has begun and nudges it to finish earlier that evening.
Create an artificial dusk. Around two hours before bed, close the curtains, turn off the lights and reduce the intensity of your phone screen’s blue light to help your melatonin rise on time.
Don’t let the dawn light in. Being exposed to the dawn light too early will wake you up. Blackout curtains or a contoured eye-mask can ensure you don’t wake before you’re rested.
Keep things cool. Fans, breathable cotton or linen sheets or a lukewarm shower before bed all help the body to achieve that crucial one-degree drop in core temperature needed to get a good night’s sleep.
The deeper lesson here from chronobiology is that humans remain, biologically speaking, seasonal animals. While our industrialised lives flatten the calendar, our cells still measure day length and temperature just as plants and migratory birds do.
By adapting and aligning our habits with those light signals, we might just be able to recapture some sleep – even during the warmer months.
Timothy Hearn 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.
MPs have voted to introduce assisted dying, almost seven months after this bill was first debated in the House of Commons. The proposal – a backbench private member’s bill promoted by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater – would allow terminally ill people in England and Wales to receive assistance to end their lives.
That the bill has completed its House of Commons passage is an important milestone. Its success is perhaps also surprising given that private members’ bills face a precarious route through that chamber. Even a small number of determined opponents is often enough to derail them.
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But that has not materialised in this case. MPs on all sides of the debate deserve credit for enabling the bill to be decided on its merits rather than by procedural subterfuge and political game-playing.
Even so, the bill’s passage into law is not yet assured. It must now go through an equivalent series of legislative stages in the House of Lords. If the Lords makes any changes, these must in turn be agreed to by MPs – potentially setting off a process of compromise known as “ping-pong” – before the bill can enter the statute book.
Stereotypes of the Lords as a holdout of social conservatism are now largely out of date. Indeed it is the Lords that has, to a large extent, kept the issue of assisted dying on the political agenda. Prior to Leadbeater’s bill, peers proposed a series of private members’ bills on this topic – including in 2014, 2020, 2021 and 2024. None, however, made it through the chamber.
Despite this recent history, it is difficult to predict exactly how the Lords will respond to this assisted dying bill. As an unelected and largely appointed chamber, the Lords contains many members with expertise directly relevant to the bill, including medical, legal and disability rights. For many peers, the Lords’ central constitutional purpose is to subject proposals to in-depth scrutiny – and they will surely want to do so here.
In principle, it would be possible for the Lords to reject the assisted dying bill outright. The often-cited Salisbury convention, which states that peers should not block any proposal in the governing party’s election manifesto, would clearly not apply to this backbench measure.
Yet such an outcome would appear unlikely. In practice, it is exceptionally rare for any bill to be rejected outright by peers. This is in large part because the chamber recognises that it should be for the elected House of Commons to set the direction of policy, with the Lords playing a supporting scrutiny role.
Whatever the chamber’s balance of opinion on assisted dying – and some peers may well be individually willing to vote it down – the chamber as a whole seems likely to conclude that they would be playing with constitutional fire to reject such a high-profile bill that has been passed on a free vote by MPs.
In-depth scrutiny
What is more difficult to call is whether the bill could run out of time before it has completed its passage. The last time an assisted dying bill made significant progress in the Lords, a decade ago, it became mired in hundreds of amendments and never made it out of committee stage.
Given the gravity of this bill, and the degree of Lords expertise, there is likely to be significant demand to conduct in-depth scrutiny and to make amendments to the legislative text. Unlike in the House of Commons – where only a small number of amendments are selected by the speaker for a decision – in the Lords, every proposed amendment can be moved and spoken to. All of this will require parliamentary time.
It is also theoretically possible that a small number of opponents could deliberately propose large numbers of amendments purely to gum up proceedings. Most of the time, peers act with restraint – and they would probably do so here too, given the high risk of generating backlash against the chamber. But the combination of strong feelings with a “free-vote” conscience issue makes this harder to definitively rule out.
Adding to the unpredictability is that the timetables available remain uncertain. If the Lords makes any changes to the bill these would need to return to MPs for approval before the bill can pass into law. As things stand, the last available Commons sitting Friday – by default there are only 13 each session, when private members’ bills are considered – is July 11. There is now next to no chance of this deadline being met.
A tight timetable
It is possible in principle for the Lords to expedite scrutiny of the bill. But House of Lords procedures recommend observing minimum periods between bill stages. This ensures there is time, for example, to consider the issues raised at one stage before deciding whether to pursue them further at the next.
Departing from these conventions would be politically unthinkable on a bill criticised by many – largely unfairly – for inadequate parliamentary scrutiny.
Yet it is straightforward for ministers to grant additional time in the Commons. Indeed, it would arguably break with recent practice for time to not be provided. In both cases since 2010 where a regular private member’s bill required additional Commons time for Lords amendments – in 2019 and 2023 – this was provided by the then Conservative governments.
This means that the second key deadline is the end of the current parliamentary session, at which point most outstanding legislation automatically falls. Sessions typically last around one year, and some had expected this one to end sometime in the autumn.
But the length of sessions is elastic – within the control of ministers – and it is not unusual for those immediately after a general election to last significantly longer.
Nor does the Lords operate the same system of private members’ bill Fridays as the Commons, though it would be unusual to schedule substantive debates on them earlier in the week. Either way, there would surely be pressure for sufficient parliamentary time to be found.
Ultimately, one of the stories of this bill’s passage to date has been that the constraints of an often-inadequate parliamentary process have not been allowed to prevent MPs from expressing their will. Many in the Lords will recognise the risks of any situation in which they are now seen to stand in its way.
Daniel Gover 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.