Headline: Russia initiates WTO dispute regarding EU’s carbon border adjustment and emissions trading
Russia refers to Regulation (EU) 2023/956, establishing the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, as well as delegated and implementing acts and other related documents, and to Directive 2003/87/EC establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas emissions allowances trading within the EU. Russia claims the measures are inconsistent with the EU’s obligations under various provisions of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994; the Agreement on Import Licensing Procedures; the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures; and the Protocols of WTO Accession of Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
Further information is available in document WT/DS639/1.
What is a request for consultations?
The request for consultations formally initiates a dispute in the WTO. Consultations give the parties an opportunity to discuss the matter and to find a satisfactory solution without proceeding further with litigation. After 60 days, if consultations have failed to resolve the dispute, the complainant may request adjudication by a panel.
Headline: Georgia formally accepts Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies
DG Okonjo-Iweala said: “Georgia’s ratification brings us closer to making this Agreement a powerful demonstration of how multilateral cooperation can advance the global common good. Together, we can magnify our impact to improve ocean sustainability – for people and for our shared planet. Only 13 more acceptances to go!”
Deputy Minister Arveladze said: “Georgia has always been a top performer in implementing WTO commitments in full. By depositing its instrument of acceptance of the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies today, Georgia is clearly demonstrating its firm support for the rules-based multilateral trading system. This step reaffirms our continued engagement in international efforts to promote the sustainable and responsible use of marine resources. We commend the collective efforts by WTO members in concluding this Agreement and look forward to continued cooperation toward its entry into force and effective implementation.”
For the Agreement to come into force, formal acceptances from two-thirds of WTO members are required – representing 111 members. The list of current instruments of acceptance deposited with the WTO is available here.
At the WTO’s 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) held in Geneva in June 2022, ministers adopted by consensus the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, setting new, binding, multilateral rules to curb harmful fisheries subsidies. The Agreement prohibits subsidies for illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, for fishing overfished stocks, and for fishing on the unregulated high seas. Ministers also recognized the needs of developing economies and least-developed countries by establishing a fund to provide technical assistance and capacity-building to help governments which have formally accepted the Agreement implement the new obligations.
WTO members also agreed at MC12 to continue negotiating on remaining fisheries subsidies issues. The objective is to find consensus on additional provisions to further strengthen the disciplines of the Agreement.
Information for members on how to accept the Protocol of Amendment can be found here.
Headline: China Round Table on WTO Accessions, focusing on Arab economies, concludes in Muscat
Entitled “Advancing Arab Economies: From Strategic Accessions to Global Trade Integration”, the 13th China Round Table highlighted the benefits of WTO membership for economic policy coherence, growth and development. With the aim of informing the strategies of other acceding economies, the event explored how accession has enabled Arab economies to reform their trade regimes and engage more effectively with the multilateral trading system. The challenges that members faced immediately following their accession were also examined.
A high-level session celebrated the 25th anniversary of Oman’s WTO accession and recognized the challenges that Oman faced on its path to accession, as well as the contributions that Oman has made to the multilateral trading system.
Opening the Round Table, Oman’s Undersecretary for Commerce and Industry, Dr Saleh bin Said Masan, said: “Since joining the WTO in November 2000, Oman has been an active and committed member of the multilateral trading system. It has always regarded membership of the WTO as a strategic step towards enhancing its role in the global economy and deepening its co-operation with countries around the world.”
Highlighting the importance of the China Round Table in fostering cooperation among nations, Dr Saleh added: “It seems timely to consider efforts to restore the central role of the WTO as a platform for resolving global trade issues. The WTO should serve the interests of all countries, regardless of their level of economic development, in line with the principles enshrined in its founding agreement.
In addition to acceding economies, participants at the Round Table included the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states – namely, the Kingdom of Bahrain, the State of Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – and representatives of the International Trade Centre (ITC), United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the World Bank Group. Comoros, which became a WTO member in August 2024, also participated in the Round Table.
China’s Vice Minister of Commerce, Mr Yan Dong, said: “The 13th China Round Table is a unique opportunity to discuss how to help developing countries speed up accessions and benefit from the multilateral trading system. … As the global landscape undergoes rapid changes unseen in a century, accelerating accessions of developing countries, especially LDCs, to the WTO, and better integrating them into the multilateral trading system is conducive not only to their economic resilience and recovery, but also to the vitality and representation of the WTO.”
WTO Deputy Director-General Xiangchen Zhang said: “Oman’s journey since 2000 shows how the multilateral trading system can underpin bold diversification and outward-looking reform.”
Underscoring the relevance of the 13th China Round Table, DDG Zhang noted: “These round tables have supported many acceding countries in their journeys, and we expect that they will continue to make further progress for the rest of the year. Eight members of the Arab League remain outside the WTO and seven of them have been negotiating, on average, for twenty years. … These numbers speak of untapped potential – potential that accession can unlock by anchoring domestic reforms, attracting investment and fostering regional integration. … Pragmatic solutions, creative flexibilities and targeted technical assistance can minimize years of negotiations and deliver concrete development dividends.”
The Round Table addressed the state of play of current accession negotiations in the context of preparations for the 14th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC14), to be held in March 2026, with Ethiopia and Uzbekistan stating that they intend to complete their accession processes by MC14. The discussion also highlighted the need to better leverage technical assistance and capacity-building activities to support both accession efforts and new members’ participation in the WTO.
Participants also explored the role of the private sector in facilitating WTO accession and promoting regional integration. A dedicated session on Oman’s economic diplomacy provided insights into how trade can contribute to economic resilience, long-term peace and sustainable prosperity.
Acceding governments and interested WTO members meet annually at the China Round Table to discuss the integration of new economies into the rules-based multilateral trading system. Of the 22 members of the League of Arab States, 14 are WTO members, seven are currently undertaking the accession process, and one has held observer status in WTO ministerial conferences since 2005.
More information on the 13th China Round Table is available here.
The China Round Tables are among the activities of the China Programme, which supports and finances activities under six pillars:
An accessions internship programme at the WTO
Annual China Round Tables on WTO accessions
Increasing participation of LDCs in WTO meetings
South-South dialogue on LDCs and development
Follow-up workshops to LDCs’ Trade Policy Reviews
An LDC Experience Sharing Programme.
More information on WTO accessions can be found here.
Headline: Microsoft Build 2025: The age of AI agents and building the open agentic web
TL;DR? Hear the news as an AI-generated audio overview made using Microsoft 365 Copilot. You can read the transcript here.
We’ve entered the era of AI agents. Thanks to groundbreaking advancements in reasoning and memory, AI models are now more capable and efficient, and we’re seeing how AI systems can help us all solve problems in new ways.
For example, 15 million developers are already using GitHub Copilot, and features like agent mode and code review are streamlining the way they code, check, deploy and troubleshoot.
Hundreds of thousands of customers are using Microsoft 365 Copilot to help research, brainstorm and develop solutions, and more than 230,000 organizations — including 90% of the Fortune 500 — have already used Copilot Studio to build AI agents and automations.
Companies like Fujitsu and NTT DATA are using Azure AI Foundry to build and manage AI apps and agents that help prioritize sales leads, speed proposal creation and surface client insights. Stanford Health Care is using Microsoft’s healthcare agent orchestrator to build and test AI agents that can help alleviate the administrative burden and speed up the workflow for tumor board preparation.
Developers are at the center of it all. For 50 years Microsoft has been empowering developers with tools and platforms to turn their ideas into reality, accelerating innovation at every stage. From AI-driven automation to seamless cloud integration and more, it’s exciting to see how developers are fueling the next generation of digital transformation.
So, what’s next?
We envision a world in which agents operate across individual, organizational, team and end-to-end business contexts. This emerging vision of the internet is an open agentic web, where AI agents make decisions and perform tasks on behalf of users or organizations.
At Microsoft Build we’re showing the steps we’re taking to make this vision a reality through our platforms, products and infrastructure. We’re putting new models and coding agents in the hands of developers, introducing enterprise-grade agents, making our platforms like Azure AI Foundry, GitHub and Windows the best places to build, embracing open protocols and accelerating scientific discovery with AI, all so that developers and organizations can go invent the next big thing.
Here’s a glimpse at just a few of the announcements today:
Reimagining the software development lifecycle with AI
AI is fundamentally shifting how code is written, deployed and maintained. Developers are using AI to stay in the flow of their environment longer and to shift their focus to more strategic tasks. And as the software development lifecycle is being transformed, we’re providing new features across platforms including GitHub, Azure AI Foundry and Windows that enable developers to work faster, think bigger and build at scale.
GitHub Copilot coding agent and new updates to GitHub Models: GitHub Copilot is evolving from an in-editor assistant to an agentic AI partner with a first-of-its-kind asynchronous coding agent integrated into the GitHub platform. We’re adding prompt management, lightweight evaluations and enterprise controls to GitHub Models so teams can experiment with best-in-class models, without leaving GitHub. Microsoft is also open-sourcing GitHub Copilot Chat in VS Code. The AI-powered capabilities from GitHub Copilot extensions will now be part of the same open-source repository that drives the world’s most popular development tool. As the home of over 150 million developers, this reinforces our commitment to open, collaborative, AI-powered software development. Learn more about GitHub Copilot updates.
Introducing Windows AI Foundry: For developers, Windows remains one of the most open and widely used platforms available, with scale, flexibility and growing opportunity. Windows AI Foundry offers a unified and reliable platform supporting the AI developer lifecycle across training and inference. With simple model APIs for vision and language tasks, developers can manage and run open source LLMs via Foundry Local or bring a proprietary model to convert, fine-tune and deploy across client and cloud. Windows AI Foundry is available to get started today. To learn more visit our Windows Developer Blog.
Azure AI Foundry Models and new tools for model evaluation: Azure AI Foundry is a unified platform for developers to design, customize and manage AI applications and agents. With Azure AI Foundry Models, we’re bringing Grok 3 and Grok 3 mini models from xAI to our ecosystem, hosted and billed directly by Microsoft. Developers can now choose from more than 1,900 partner-hosted and Microsoft-hosted AI models, while managing secure data integration, model customization and enterprise-grade governance. We’re also introducing new tools like the Model Leaderboard, which ranks the top-performing AI models across different categories and tasks, and the Model Router, designed to select an optimal model for a specific query or task in real-time. Read more about Azure AI Foundry Models.
Making AI agents more capable and secure
AI agents are not only changing how developers build, but how individuals, teams and companies get work done. At Build, we’re unveiling new pre-built agents, custom agent building blocks, multi-agent capabilities and new models to help developers and organizations build and deploy agents securely to help increase productivity in meaningful ways.
With the general availability of Azure AI Foundry Agent Service, Microsoft is bringing new capabilities to empower professional developers to orchestrate multiple specialized agents to handle complex tasks, including bringing Semantic Kernel and AutoGen into a single, developer-focused SDK and Agent-to-Agent (A2A) and Model Context Protocol (MCP) support. To help developers build trust and confidence in their AI agents, we’re announcing new features in Azure AI Foundry Observability for built-in observability into metrics for performance, quality, cost and safety, all incorporated alongside detailed tracing in a streamlined dashboard. Learn more about how to deploy enterprise-grade AI agents in Azure AI Foundry Service.
Introducing Microsoft 365 Copilot Tuning and multi-agent orchestration: With Copilot Tuning, customers can use their own company data, workflows and processes to train models and create agents in a simple, low-code way. These agents perform highly accurate, domain-specific tasks securely from within the Microsoft 365 service boundary. For example, a law firm can create an agent that generates documents aligned with its organization’s expertise and style. Additionally, new multi-agent orchestration in Copilot Studio connects multiple agents, allowing them to combine skills and tackle broader, more complex tasks. Check out the Microsoft 365 blog to learn how to access these new tools as well as the Microsoft 365 Copilot Wave 2 spring release, which has moved to general availability and begins rolling out today.
Supporting the open agentic web
To realize the future of AI agents, we’re advancing open standards and shared infrastructure to provide unique capabilities for customers.
Supporting Model Context Protocol (MCP): Microsoft is delivering broad first-party support for Model Context Protocol (MCP) across its agent platform and frameworks, spanning GitHub, Copilot Studio, Dynamics 365, Azure AI Foundry, Semantic Kernel and Windows 11. In addition, Microsoft and GitHub have joined the MCP Steering Committee to help advance secure, at-scale adoption of the open protocol and announced two new contributions to the MCP ecosystem, an updated authorization specification, which enables people to use their existing trusted sign-in methods to give agents and LLM-powered apps access to data and services such as personal storage drives or subscription services, and the design of an MCP server registry service, which allows anyone to implement public or private, up-to-date, centralized repositories for MCP server entries. Check out the GitHub repository. As we expand our MCP capabilities, our top priority is to ensure we’re building upon a secure foundation. To learn more about this approach see: Securing the Model Context Protocol: Building a Safe Agentic Future on Windows.
A new open project called NLWeb: Microsoft is introducing NLWeb, which we believe can play a similar role to HTML for the agentic web. NLWeb makes it easy for websites to provide a conversational interface for their users with the model of their choice and their own data, allowing users to interact directly with web content in a rich, semantic manner. Every NLWeb endpoint is also an MCP server, so websites can make their content easily discoverable and accessible to AI agents if they choose. Learn more here.
Accelerating scientific discovery with AI
Science may be one of the most important applications of AI, helping to tackle humanity’s most pressing challenges, from drug discovery to sustainability. At Build we’re introducing Microsoft Discovery, an extensible platform built to empower researchers to transform the entire discovery process with agentic AI, helping research and development departments across various industries accelerate the time to market for new products and accelerate and expand the end-to-end discovery process for all scientists. Learn more here.
This is only a small selection of the many exciting features and updates we will be announcing at Build. We’re looking forward to connecting with those who have registered to join us virtually and in-person, for keynote sessions, live code deep dives, hack sessions and more — much of which will be available on demand.
Plus, you can get more on all these announcements by exploring the Book of News, the official compendium of all today’s news.
Tags: AI, Azure AI, Azure AI Foundry, Book of News, GitHub, GitHub Copilot, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft Copilot, Microsoft Purview
The Great Financial Crisis (GFC) was a watershed event that set in motion two related structural changes to the global financial system. Those changes define the state of the system today. The first is the shift in the underlying claims from those on private sector borrowers (especially mortgages) to claims on the government in the form of sovereign bonds. The second structural change is the shift from banks to non-bank financial intermediaries. The GFC was essentially a banking crisis where (mostly) regulated banks were the protagonists. The post-GFC financial system has, instead, cast portfolio managers and other non-bank financial intermediaries as the main actors to take centre stage.
Even as expansive fiscal policies have meant that sovereign bond issuance has outpaced the growth of private sector debt, portfolio managers of all stripes have absorbed the rapid issuance of sovereign bonds. The global nature of sovereign bond markets means that currency choice is an integral part of the investment decision. Pension funds and life insurance companies from rich economies that have obligations to their beneficiaries or policyholders in domestic currency nevertheless hold a globally diversified asset portfolio in several currencies. Currency hedging is therefore a key theme, and the system has evolved to allow such hedging. In this process, the banking system has played a crucial role. Banks enable the market for foreign exchange (FX) swaps, allowing investors to hedge currency risk. When boiled down, an FX swap is a collateralised borrowing operation. A euro area pension fund, for example, borrows dollars to invest in dollar bonds by pledging euros as collateral, with a promise to unwind the transaction at a pre-agreed exchange rate. In this sense, FX swaps make money fungible across currencies. The outstanding stock of FX swaps stands at $113 trillion, having increased rapidly since the GFC. Accounting convention allows not including FX swaps in debt, even though they are collateralised borrowing arrangements. In this respect, the apparently smaller footprint of the banking sector after the GFC is more an artifact of accounting conventions, rather than the underlying economics. Most of the time, the FX swap market lies out of view, but it is thrust into the limelight from time to time. The eventful first few months of 2025 are a good example.
This lecture takes the audience through the operation of the FX swap market and how, with the greater role of global portfolio investors, it has served to intensify the transmission of financial conditions across borders. Portfolio decisions involve gross positions and are only loosely related to current account imbalances and associated net positions. As sovereign bond markets are set to grow even larger with expansive fiscal policies in key jurisdictions, this lecture aims to highlight how the sovereign bond market and exchange rates are two sides of the same coin. The banking sector plays the key linchpin role in connecting the two, even if the accounting convention allows them to keep a smaller footprint.
Headline: From skepticism to success: How AI is helping teachers transform classrooms in Peru
Marco Antonio Pedraza, a sixth-grade primary school teacher who migrated as a young man from the countryside to bustling Lima, used to spend his own money to purchase specialized teaching materials for the three neurodivergent kids in his class. He had only a vague idea of what AI was and was skeptical about its potential.
Then Pedraza was introduced to Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat, the AI companion that helps with work tasks. A group of AI experts recently trained him on how to write effective prompts to quickly generate personalized activities for the students just by typing a few traits of each. He was amazed by the results.
“It was a revelation,” says Pedraza, an experienced public school teacher with a humble background. “These days, a teacher requires technology to effectively assist the kids.”
He says the new tool saves him precious time and facilitates a more personalized education. As he gradually expands its use, he hopes Copilot will enhance the learning experience of all his students while opening new horizons for him that could help him thrive within Peru’s educational system.
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Pedraza is one of nearly 500 primary public school teachers participating in a pioneering pilot program launched by the education authorities of Lima metropolitan area (DRELM) in partnership with the World Bank, spanning over 200 public schools. All educators teach fifth and sixth grades. Most of the schools cater to children from low-income families, with some located in the city’s poorest areas.
Local education authorities expect AI can raise education standards and improve teachers’ capabilities in an inexpensive and easily scalable way, says Marcos Tupayachi, the representative of Peru’s education ministry for metropolitan Lima, the country’s capital and one of the largest cities in South America with 10.5 million residents or 30% of Peru’s population.
“It will help us a lot in transitioning from a traditional approach to a much more modern, student-centered approach,” Tupayachi points out.
Copilot Chat is powered by the latest AI models and uses web data and files uploaded by users to generate content. After a short training co-designed with a group of primary teachers, participating educators began using it at the start of the school year in early March through accounts provided by Peru’s education authorities. Chats are protected and not exposed to the public or used to train AI models.
If the results are as positive as expected, demonstrating enhanced student learning and improved teacher-student dynamics, the program could be expanded to all primary schools in Lima starting next year, Tupayachi says.
Marco Antonio Pedraza, a sixth-grade teacher in Lima, hopes Copilot will enhance the learning experience of all his students while helping him thrive within Peru’s educational system. Photo by Julio Reaño
A companion in the classroom
The World Bank is offering technical support to Peru to deploy the program, as part of the group’s wider efforts to promote education and social inclusion across the developing world.
Through AI, teachers can quickly and efficiently create lesson plans, curriculums and learning materials, while supporting grading and other administrative tasks, explains Ezequiel Molina, a World Bank senior economist.
This is especially important in a developing country where public schools are often understaffed and educators are underpaid and face limited training and access to advanced technology, Molina notes.
“We thought AI could be seen as an ally, helping teachers solve their challenges, design better and faster lessons and use the extra time to think about improving the educational experience for students,” he says.
Many educators in Peru have several jobs to make ends meet, says the economist, so AI can decisively help find a balance between work and life. As reliable connectivity is not widely available across schools, many educators in the program use Copilot on their own laptops at home or on their phones. They say they could barely believe the effectiveness of the AI tool when they first tried it.
Headline: Meet four developers leading the way with AI agents
Agents can get past the fragmentation of data that come from clinician notes, notes from the staff that deals with insurance, notes from nurses, images such as CT scans that are very different from pathology slides, and more, Keyes says.
“It’s really hard to get a chat model to do this,” he says. But agents can focus on a specialized task, with the healthcare agent orchestrator directing requests to the appropriate agent. Getting started is really easy. Stanford Health Care set up the initial agents from Azure AI Foundry Agent Catalog and deployed into Microsoft Teams for testing in about 10 minutes, Keyes says.
The data organizer brings in clinical notes, labs, medications and genomic data, all of which come in different formats, and structures the information into a succinct abstract, with citations so the clinician can quickly verify it or go to see the relevant section in depth.
Keyes recalls being with other medical trainees and his attending physician asking for a radiology report in the electronic health record. “And it’s like, click, click, click, click, click, click – 100 different clicks versus ‘oh, it’s right here in front of me.’’’ When he checked the agent’s citations against the actual notes, they were correct.
The radiology agent reads radiology images using the leading specialized AI models on Azure AI Foundry, and the pathology agent analyzes the whole-slide images and provides relevant pathology findings. Another agent identifies which clinical trials the patient is eligible for.
The medical research agent uses reasoning models to search over scientific papers on cancer, again giving links for quick retrieval of the full documents.
At the end of the process, a report creation agent summarizes the key components of the patient’s case to be discussed at the tumor board, turning it into a Word document or PowerPoint.
Preparing a single patient’s case for a tumor board could take Keyes several hours; in testing, AI agents might make the work 10 times faster, he says. Stanford Health Care has more than a dozen tumor boards serving about 4,000 patients, so the time savings would multiply quickly.
“The agents will enable the work to be done easier, faster and more efficiently, which really matters when you’re talking about meetings with 10 clinicians in them, where time is really precious,” Keyes says. Time is precious, too, for the patients.
“I think in a lot of industries when they think agentic, they get very excited about, ‘it’s going to work very autonomously. It’s going to be making decisions, and I can just look at what it’s doing every once in a while.’ That is not really what we’re envisioning. We do want the clinicians in charge of a patient’s care. We always want them to be able to check.”
“I would be excited at the idea of AI helping my doctors to be the best version of themselves and to liberate them from some of the time-consuming components of documentation so they can spend more time with me the patient,” he says.
Source: International Marine Contractors Association – IMCA
Headline: Sara McQuillan talks about International Women in Maritime day
May 18 marks the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) annual International Women in Maritime day, and in honour of it, we asked one of the members of our team to speak to us about her experiences of working offshore, and how her gender might have impacted her compared to her male colleagues.
Q: Hi Sara, thank you for agreeing to speak to us, could you describe your journey into hydrographic surveying and what drew you to work at sea in this specialised field?
A: I studied Geography at university and became interested in geospatial information systems which led me to pursue a hydrographic survey course. This opened the door for me to join an offshore construction company as a graduate hydrographic surveyor. Despite not knowing much about the offshore industry, I enjoyed the discipline and thought I would give it a go. Little did I know, it would become something I am so passionate about! Fifteen years later, I’m still working with fantastic hydrographic survey professionals developing technical guidance to support other survey professionals and supporting programs to ensure safety and quality offshore.
Q: What did a typical day look like for you onboard, and what were some of the most memorable or challenging projects you’ve worked on?
A: At the start of a job, during mobilisation, the surveyor has a lot of work to do – installation of sensors, calibrations, verifications, setting up the navigation software, liaising with the relevant teams for the job (ROV/Dive/Marine/OM) to ensure the team was prepared. After a couple of years offshore, my preferred shift was midnight to noon and although this meant I was usually the only surveyor on shift and there was minimal onshore support available, it was quieter and I enjoyed the responsibility.
I would be responsible for ensuring all the survey sensors were operating as required, and to the accuracy expected. That all necessary data was provided in real time to the required teams on board, logged and reported. I was primarily based on construction vessels, so my day to day would involve positioning support for subsea installations.
In 2013 I took part in the Guara-Lula project offshore of Brazil which was the development of a field in the Santos pre-salt basin. This project was a completely different kettle of fish for the survey team on this vessel after years in the UK, the North Sea and Norway. The operations involved were in 2km of water depth and therefore required the use of a wide suite of sensors to obtain accurate subsea positioning in deep water. This required the installation and maintenance of two very large (18 transponder) subsea positioning arrays along with high grade ROV based sensors for the installation operations. This was a very busy project working in a small survey team of five. It was the best project I worked on as it was the time I learned the most. It was incredibly busy and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way!
Q: How has your experience been as a woman working in the maritime sector, particularly in the often male-dominated environment of offshore surveying?
A: I am fortunate to have discovered a field I am passionate about. Hydrographic Survey, as a scientific discipline, draws academics who are dedicated and focused on their work. However, the general offshore environment when I began in 2010, was challenging and I was often singled out for my gender. On a vessel of around 120 people, there would have been around five women on board. Sexism and misogyny was always present but not acknowledged, addressed or prevented. Thankfully, towards the end of my offshore career, things started to change. More women were present and that alone changed the dynamic away from being solely a male world. In my offshore space, attitudes were shifting towards an environment where gender wasn’t noted. However, there was, and still is, a way to go but I was glad to see it moving.
Q: Have you noticed any shifts in how women are perceived or supported in maritime careers since you began, and what further changes would you like to see?
A: In 2025 I am happy to see there are more opportunities for women in the Maritime sector and a move towards a more gender balanced workforce. In my opinion this is down to some of the incredible professionals across the world who forged through male-dominated environments and changed perceptions, not just by those currently in the space, but also by those looking to enter it.
In general, the maritime industry seems to be prioritising diversity by focusing on attracting women to careers in the sector. Initiatives run by organisations like the Women’s International Shipping & Trading Association (WISTA) and the IMO promote inclusive policies, recruitment, and education for women. Simply changing the gender balance should open doors and careers for those who may not have considered it previously, changing these spaces for everyone, but particularly women.
Q: What advice would you offer to young women considering a career in hydrographic surveying or maritime more broadly?
A: If you enjoy a subject, go for it. If you are apprehensive of entering a male dominated place because of your gender, just get in, take up space, work hard, earn respect, make it your space. Don’t allow your gender to define what you can do.
As for Hydrographic Survey and Hydrography in general, it is full of women. Fantastic academics and practical professionals, working across many different industries, developing new technologies and working within a real-world environment. It’s a fantastic discipline to enter with endless possibilities for careers supporting things like mapping the unknown parts of the ocean, Global Positioning Systems, climate change and environmental sustainability (among others) whilst using and developing state-of-the-art technology. It’s an exciting place to be, come join us.
DSLR cameras, once a common sight at tourist destinations just a few years ago, are now rarely seen. That’s because the entire process of creating the perfect shot — from capturing the moment to editing the result — can now be easily done with a smartphone in the palm of the user’s hand.
Samsung Electronics has led the evolution of the Galaxy camera under three development principles:
Delivering the best picture quality for anyone, anywhere, anytime
Offering features that satisfy even professional users
Providing the ability to create content with easy and simple editing
The Galaxy S25 series is the culmination of these innovations, delivering a camera experience that pushes the limits of smartphones with high-pixel sensors, high-performance APs and powerful AI models.
So how did the Galaxy S25 series’ revolutionary camera experience come together? Samsung Newsroom sat down with camera developers from the Visual Solution Team of the MX Business at Samsung to hear the story directly from them.
▲ (From left) Jihye Kim, Pyojae Kim, Yunju Bae and Wonchul Choi from the MX Business’ Visual Solution Team
From Landscapes to Portraits, Every Moment Is Crystal Clear
The Galaxy S25 Ultra is equipped with a 50MP ultra-wide-angle camera, the first in the Galaxy series. “This means that photos with a wide angle of view can be taken with greater clarity and detail,” said Wonchul Choi, who led the development of camera quality. “We optimized not only hardware upgrades such as high-pixel sensors and lenses, but also software technology by building a system that enables AI models to operate organically,” Choi explained. As a tip for getting the most out of the feature, he added, “The ultra-wide-angle camera is ideal for capturing vast landscapes, but it can also be used for close-up shots to create a unique sense of depth.”
▲ Wonchul Choi
The ProVisual Engine, which uses AI-powered technology to enhance the camera experience, has also evolved. “We analyzed a full range of skin tones and preferences, and worked to use AI technology to present options for a broader variety of users. For better results, developers of various age groups took portraits themselves in different environments,” said Choi, explaining the improved portrait experience compared to previous models. “AI recognition and processing technologies analyze elements such as the person, clothing and background in the photo and optimizes each area to bring out the finer details, such as hair texture and even the subject’s pupils.”
The Nightography feature for shooting in low-light conditions has been improved as well. “For the Galaxy S25 series’ Nightography, we focused a lot on video shooting,” said Choi. “We applied 10-bit HDR video as the default for videos to achieve more realistic and richer picture quality, and applied a solution that separates the subject from the background and analyzes movement to remove noise with precision,” he said.
Shooting and Editing With DSLR Quality Like a Pro
Is it possible to get DSLR-quality results with a smartphone camera? The new Virtual Aperture feature in the Expert RAW app does by creating depths of field and aperture effects similar to those of a DSLR camera, delivering high-quality results that look like they were shot by a professional.
“We applied an interface that recreates the effect of changing the aperture of a lens on a DSLR camera, allowing users to flexibly select deep or shallow depths of field,” said Pyojae Kim, who led the development of the Virtual Aperture feature, before proudly adding that the AI-powered innovation overcomes the physical limitations of smartphones.
▲ Pyojae Kim
Achieving the depths of field and bokeh effects unique to DSLR cameras was no easy task. The training image database was built using more than 200,000 photos taken simultaneously with both Galaxy and DSLR cameras. “We had to manually control both the focus and exposure of the DSLR camera, and there were some nerve-wracking moments of having to dispose of our hard work because the photos were out of focus or taken with the wrong exposure,” said Kim. “We learned how difficult of a task it is to obtain data.”
While photos have a DSLR-like quality, videos can now be filmed in Log Video mode, a feature normally found in digital cameras that professionals use. Log video is a recording format that makes it easier to color-correct in post-production and create high-quality videos. To make log videos accessible to the average user, the Galaxy S25 series also comes with the Color Correction feature, which allows users to easily correct their video footage in the Gallery app with the click of a button.
Fun and Easy AI Editing With Just a Few Taps
First introduced in the Galaxy S24 series, Generative Edit has evolved by leaps and bounds in the Galaxy S25 series. “We focused on enhancing the fun and useful features that only generative AI can deliver,” said Jihye Kim. “We’ve improved the AI models so that they can now accurately recognize areas of the photo with only a simple touch and seamlessly erase those areas or add onto them. We also made improvements to each of the component technologies involved in generative editing.”
▲ Jihye Kim
The AI models used for Generative Edit and other generative AI features were developed through continuous collaboration with Google. “My team members and I took turns traveling to Google’s San Francisco Campus for a month at a time,” Jihye Kim said. “I remember staying up late at night, sharing ideas with the developers to improve the model.”
The nature of generative AI, which produces different results each time, often posed challenges during development. “We constantly mulled over how to quantitatively evaluate the results in a situation where they change every time. We also had to anticipate a wide range of edge cases to prevent the AI from producing inappropriate images,” she explained.
New to the Galaxy S25 series and the Galaxy lineup as a whole is the Best Face feature. This feature selects the best facial expressions of up to five people from multiple Motion Photos and composites them into a single picture-perfect group shot. “The Best Face feature can not only change a closed-eyed face to an open-eyed face, but can also turn a face from looking to the side to looking straight ahead,” Kim said. “My mom kept closing her eyes every time we took family photos, so we often had to retake them several times. It’s very useful in that kind of situation,” she added with a laugh.
An Unrivaled AI Filter Experience That Captures the User’s Unique Vibe
With Filters, the Galaxy S25 series also offers a variety of filters that intuitively capture each user’s unique aesthetic.
“We have enhanced the AI-powered feature to make it easier for anyone to capture the color or mood of their favorite photos while also improving the overall user experience to make it more user-friendly,” said Yunju Bae, who led the development of Filters. “We went through detailed tuning and repeated evaluations to balance technology and aesthetics to perfect filter quality.”
▲ Yunju Bae
Filters let users choose a photo they like and utilize AI to analyze the color and style of the photo to produce a personalized filter. “I often look at a photo and think, ‘I want to take a photo with this kind of vibe,’ so I wanted to make it easy to recreate the style I like without going through complicated editing,” Bae said as she explained the background behind the feature’s development.
Filters’ new film-style filters naturally capture the aesthetic unique to analog film. “The look and feel of analog film is a subjective area, so we went through a lot of trial and error to quantify it for digital reproduction,” Bae said. “We analyzed a lot of actual film, and through constant experiments and adjustments, we made meaningful progress in numerical representation to adequately reproduce the aesthetic of analog film,” she said. Bae also expressed her gratitude for the various experiments and analyses done in collaboration with Samsung Research, which played an integral role in enhancing the technical reliability of Filters.
The Future of the Galaxy Camera Visual Experience
The Galaxy S25 series has set a new standard for mobile cameras — but the Visual Solution Team is just getting started. The developers are already working on even bigger innovations to shape the future of smartphone imaging.
Asked about the team’s plans and ambitions for the future, Wonchul Choi replied, “Our goal is to further strengthen the camera’s picture quality fundamentals, all while maximizing convenience and accessibility so that it can perform at its best no matter where or when it’s used.”
“We plan to analyze the market’s response to Virtual Aperture and incorporate it into Portrait mode. By continuing to expand the features, we’ll ensure that the photo quality of the best DSLR cameras out there can be fully experienced on mobile devices,” added Pyojae Kim.
“We’ve put forth our best effort to continuously improve quality and introduce new generative AI features to users, but there’s always room to do better We’ll make these features more accessible so that users can more easily and comfortably utilize the powers of generative AI,” said Jihye Kim.
Sharing her bold aspirations, Yunju Bae concluded with, “We want to expand the shooting experience to the point where artistic sensibilities and technology naturally blend together through AI. We aim to deliver an experience that’s good enough to replace different types of hardware.”
Smartphone cameras are no longer just a technical feature. They’ve become iconic, indispensable items that capture and share life’s stories. The Galaxy camera is constantly evolving to make it easier for anyone to create high-quality photos and videos, and to personalize their content. As it evolves, so too will the ways users see, share and shape the moments that matter most.
GSK’s Nucala (mepolizumab) demonstrated a consistent reduction in exacerbation rates among patients with eosinophilic chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), irrespective of prior severe event history, according to findings presented at the 2025 American Thoracic Society (ATS) International Conference. These results further solidify the role of IL-5 inhibition in biomarker-driven COPD management, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
GlobalData’s latest analysis of the Phase III MATINEE trial (NCT04133909) highlights Nucala’s ability to reduce moderate or severe exacerbations by 25% in patients with a history of severe exacerbations and by 21% in those without such a history. In both groups, Nucala significantly lowered the rate of exacerbations requiring emergency department (ED) visits or hospitalization—by 32% in the severe subgroup and 40% in the non-severe group—over a period of up to 104 weeks.
Asiyah Nawab, Healthcare Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “The consistent benefit seen in both high-risk and lower-risk eosinophilic COPD patients highlights Nucala’s broad utility. These results can support its positioning as a foundational therapy in a segment where precision biologics are beginning to take hold.”
The MATINEE trial enrolled 804 patients aged ≥40 years with screening blood eosinophil counts ≥300 cells/μL and a history of ≥2 moderate or ≥1 severe exacerbations in the prior year. All patients were receiving triple inhaled therapy. In addition to reducing exacerbation rates, Nucala improved health-related quality of life, with a greater proportion of patients achieving ≥4-point improvements in the St George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) score—particularly among those without prior severe events.
Nawab adds: “The findings from the MATINEE trial reinforce Nucala’s efficacy across different levels of baseline disease severity and align with precision medicine strategies increasingly used to identify high-value subgroups within the broader COPD population. Despite a delayed FDA decision following its 07 May PDUFA date, the totality of evidence from METREX, METREO, and MATINEE trials provides a strong platform for potential regulatory approval.
“With the recent approval of GSK’s Dupixent (dupilumab) in COPD and the growing emphasis on biomarker stratification, Nucala’s consistent performance in high-eosinophil populations could carve out a differentiated role, especially given its mature safety profile and experience in respiratory indications.”
GSK’s extensive experience with Nucala in asthma and eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA), combined with established payer familiarity, may facilitate market access if approved for COPD. However, competitive positioning against upstream agents such as Dupixent will require clear value messaging, robust real-world data, and targeted diagnostics to optimize prescriber uptake.
Nawab concludes: “The MATINEE results provide a compelling case for Nucala’s use in eosinophilic COPD. Success will depend not only on regulatory approval but on strategic execution across diagnostics, pricing, and payer alignment to maximize its impact in an increasingly competitive and biomarker-driven biologics market.”
Tezepelumab, a thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) inhibitor developed by AstraZeneca and Amgen, demonstrated significant reductions in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations among eosinophilic subgroups, regardless of chronic bronchitis status, according to new post hoc findings presented at the 2025 American Thoracic Society (ATS) International Conference. These results further support the potential for biomarker-driven biologic therapies in COPD, a historically underserved market, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company
GlobalData’s latest analysis reveals that tezepelumab, evaluated in the Phase IIa COURSE trial, achieved a 26% reduction in annualized moderate or severe exacerbations in patients with chronic bronchitis (CB), with a 28% reduction in those with baseline blood eosinophil counts (BECs) ≥150 cells/μL. Notably, in patients without CB but with elevated BECs, a 56% reduction was observed. These findings highlight the impact of type 2 inflammation and eosinophilic status in shaping treatment response.
Asiyah Nawab, Healthcare Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “These subgroup findings reinforce the growing momentum around precision medicine in COPD. While tezepelumab did not meet its primary endpoint in the overall trial population, the marked benefit in biomarker-defined groups could pave the way for future regulatory and commercial strategies centered on eosinophilic inflammation.”
The COURSE study enrolled 337 patients with moderate to very severe COPD and at least two exacerbations in the prior year, all of whom were on optimized triple inhaled therapy. Participants received either tezepelumab 420mg subcutaneously every four weeks or a placebo for 52 weeks. In addition to exacerbation reductions, tezepelumab was associated with improvements in lung function and quality of life, particularly in CB patients with elevated eosinophils.
These results align with prior patterns seen in other biologics targeting eosinophilic COPD, including GSK’s Nucala (mepolizumab) and AstraZeneca’s Fasenra (benralizumab). However, tezepelumab’s upstream mechanism of action may offer a broader anti-inflammatory effect, which could differentiate it in a competitive landscape increasingly defined by biomarker stratification.
Nawab continues: “Biologics remain a small segment of the COPD market, largely due to underwhelming results in unselected populations. Tezepelumab’s ability to deliver clinically meaningful outcomes in eosinophilic subgroups, if confirmed in Phase III trials, could establish it as a valuable add-on therapy for high-risk patients unresponsive to standard inhaled regimens.”
From a commercial standpoint, AstraZeneca’s existing respiratory portfolio, including Symbicort and Fasenra, may offer strategic leverage for market integration. However, Nawab notes that payers will require clear evidence of clinical value and biomarker-based stratification to justify premium pricing.
Nawab concludes: “Tezepelumab’s trajectory will depend on its ability to validate these subgroup effects in a pivotal program. In an increasingly crowded and cost-sensitive biologics space, a successful precision medicine strategy will be essential to achieving market access and uptake.”
The 2025 Masters Tournament featured seven sponsors, with the Bank of America serving as the sole new sponsor for the year’s edition, distinguishing it from the previous year’s roster of sponsors. The Bank of America has agreed to serve as the Champion partner of the Masters’ Tournament. The partnership, which has been confirmed for the 2025 edition of the tournament, is worth an estimated $9.5 million annually. Overall, the tournament generated an estimated $60.45 million for the 2025 season, reveals GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
GlobalData’s latest report, “Post Event Analysis – The Masters 2025”, reveals that the final round of the 2025 Masters on Sunday, April 13, emerged as the most-watched final round of the tournament since 2018 on CBS. The total prize purse for the 2025 Masters reached $21 million, marking the highest in the tournament’s 89-year history.
Olivia Snooks, Sport Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “The Masters generally maintains long-term commitments with its sponsors. For instance, IBM has sustained a sponsorship relationship with the tournament for over 25 years. This strategic approach by the tournament organizers is designed to preserve their robust affiliation with established, high-value corporations.”
Rory McIlroy, the winner of the 2025 Masters, earned $4.2million- a $600,000 increase from the winner’s prize money in the 2024 edition, which was won by Scottie Scheffler. The 2025 Masters prize money saw the top 50 golfers receive cash prizes ranging from $4.2 million to $52,920. The remainder of the professional golfers received cash prizes ranging downward from $51,660, depending on the scores.
Snooks continues: “Despite the substantial prize fund associated with the Masters, the Green Jacket—bestowed upon the tournament’s victor—embodies a considerable portion of the event’s prestige. The Green Jacket not only symbolizes triumph but also secures automatic invitations to other major championships. Although the monetary reward is undeniably important to any golfer, the allure of the Green Jacket serves as a significant motivator within the sport.”
According to various estimates, the Masters Tournament generates approximately 45% of its revenue from merchandise sales, a significantly higher percentage than many other events. Official merchandise is exclusively available on-site at Augusta National Golf Club during the tournament week, as it is not sold online, which creates substantial demand. It is estimated that Augusta National sells over $70 million in merchandise during the Masters Tournament, which translates to an impressive $10 million per day.
Snooks concludes: “This strategic approach to merchandise sales not only fuels the exclusivity and allure of the Masters brand but also underscores the significant economic impact of limited availability on consumer behavior.”
Headline: ICC calls for G7 leadership to revitalise global trade system
Hosted by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce under the theme “Bolstering Economic Security and Resiliency”, the B7 Summit was held in Ottawa from 14–16 May.
ICC Secretary General John W.H. Denton AO featured as an executive spotlight speaker during the Summit where he urged G7 countries to demonstrate leadership in shaping the future of global trade.
“A strong, stable, and predictable multilateral trading system is essential, and leadership from the G7 community must drive this forward.”
ICC Secretary General, John W.H. Denton AO
“Revitalising the multilateral trading system should be on Page 1 of the Brief of Leaders going into the G7 Summit in Alberta next month,” he added.
Speaking on a keynote panel alongside Nikki Haley, former US Ambassador to the United Nations, Matthew Harrington, Global President and COO of Edelman, and Bianca Freedman, CEO of Edelman Canada, Mr Denton stressed the growing need for business to play a proactive leadership role in easing global tensions and highlighted ICC’s focus on advancing practical solutions to restore confidence in the global trading system.
“Without leadership, we risk drifting into a more fragmented global economy where uncertainty becomes the norm, and the basic safeguards of the trading system erode. That would be a loss not just for governments, but for businesses and communities everywhere that rely on open, stable markets to grow and prosper.”
Strengthening the voice of business globally
Throughout the B7 Summit, ICC representatives engaged in bilateral meetings with high-level officials, including the G7 Sherpa and Deputy Minister Cindy Termorshuizen, as well as with chamber leaders.
The ICC International Court of Arbitration (ICA) and the ICC Digital Standards Initiative (DSI) were recognised in the final B7 Communiqué, which outlines the business community’s key policy proposals for G7 leaders. ICC was cited as a leading example of how to implement the B7’s Strategic Trade Coordination recommendations.
The B7 Summit culminated in the presentation of policy recommendations to the Canadian government ahead of the G7 Summit, scheduled to take place from 15-17 June in Kananaskis, Alberta.
The B7 serves as the official business engagement platform for the world’s seven largest advanced economies. ICC first participated in the B7 Summit in 2024, under Italy’s G7 Presidency. ICC is also a Network Partner to the B20 and continues to play a leading role in the G20 process, having been actively engaged since 2010.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to grant “in-principle” approval to Emirates NBD Bank PJSC for setting up a Wholly Owned Subsidiary (WOS) in India, under the “Scheme for Setting up of WOS by foreign banks in India”.
Emirates NBD Bank PJSC is currently carrying on banking business in India in branch mode through its branches located in Chennai, Gurugram and Mumbai. The in-principle approval has been granted to the bank for setting up a WOS through conversion of its existing branches in India.
The RBI would consider granting a licence for commencement of banking business in WOS mode under Section 22 (1) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 to Emirates NBD Bank PJSC, on being satisfied that the bank has complied with the requisite conditions laid down by RBI as part of “in-principle” approval.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), vide order dated May 19, 2025, has cancelled the licence of “HCBL Co-operative Bank Ltd., Lucknow”. Consequently, the bank ceases to carry on banking business, with effect from the close of business on May 19, 2025. The Commissioner and Registrar of Cooperative, Uttar Pradesh has also been requested to issue an order for winding up the bank and appoint a liquidator for the bank.
The Reserve Bank cancelled the licence of the bank as:
The bank does not have adequate capital and earning prospects. As such, it does not comply with the provisions of Section 11(1) and Section 22 (3) (d) read with Section 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.
The bank has failed to comply with the requirements of Sections 22(3) (a), 22 (3) (b), 22(3)(c), 22(3) (d) and 22(3)(e) read with Section 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.
The continuance of the bank is prejudicial to the interests of its depositors.
The bank with its present financial position would be unable to pay its present depositors in full; and
Public interest would be adversely affected if the bank is allowed to carry on its banking business any further.
2. Consequent to the cancellation of its licence, “HCBL Co-operative Bank Ltd., Lucknow” is prohibited from conducting the business of ‘banking’ which includes, among other things, acceptance of deposits and repayment of deposits as defined in Section 5(b) read with Section 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 with immediate effect.
3. On liquidation, every depositor would be entitled to receive deposit insurance claim amount of his/her deposits up to a monetary ceiling of ₹5,00,000/- (Rupees five lakh only) from Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC) subject to the provisions of DICGC Act, 1961. As per the data submitted by the bank, 98.69% of the depositors are entitled to receive full amount of their deposits from DICGC. As on January 31, 2025, DICGC has already paid ₹21.24 crore of the total insured deposits under the provisions of Section 18A of the DICGC Act, 1961 based on the willingness received from the concerned depositors of the bank.
ASEAN and the Netherlands convened the Second Meeting of the ASEAN-Netherlands Development Partnership Committee today at the ASEAN Headquarters/ASEAN Secretariat. Both sides commemorated reviewed progress made under the ASEAN-Netherlands Norway Practical Cooperation Areas (2025-2029). They also reaffirmed their shared commitment to strengthening cooperation across areas of common interest to bring the partnership to greater heights.
Source: ASEAN – Association of SouthEast Asian Nations
Secretary-General of ASEAN, Dr. Kao Kim Hourn, today received a courtesy call by General Secretary of g7+, Dr. Helder da Costa, at the ASEAN Headquarters/ASEAN Secretariat. They discussed potential areas of cooperation between both organisations, including conflict resolution and prevention as well as climate finance.
The post Secretary-General of ASEAN meets with General Secretary of g7+ appeared first on ASEAN Main Portal.
CBB Governor Participates in Shura Council Forum on Inclusive and Sustainable Economic Development
Published on 18 May 2025
Manama, Bahrain – 18 May 2025: HE Khalid Humaidan, Governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB), took part in the ‘Towards Inclusive and Sustainable Economic Development’ Forum hosted by the Shura Council. The event was attended by HE Ali bin Saleh Al Saleh, Chairman of the Shura Council, and HE Shaikh Salman bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Minister of Finance and National Economy, alongside various ministers and industry professionals from the public and private sectors.
HE the Governor shared his insights in a panel discussion on national development efforts carried out under the Kingdom’s Economic Vision 2030, including the Economic Recovery Plan and strategies to strengthen growth in priority sectors. Through his participation, HE highlighted the CBB’s role in driving economic development and achieving sustainable economic growth.
During the session, HE Khalid Humaidan underscored the financial sector’s 17% contribution to the GDP, making it a prime sector for foreign direct investments, in addition to delivering the highest salary rates for around 14,800 employees. HE stated that establishing an innovative, local regulatory environment requires greater investment in digital transformation, human capital growth, and skills development. He also noted the importance of developing regulatory systems that achieve a balance between stability and innovation.
HE discussed the CBB’s efforts to support the digitalization of the financial system by developing dedicated supervisory systems and enhancing payment and settlement efficiencies. In addition to adopting the highest governance, compliance and consumer protection standards thereby building trust between all parties. He emphasized the importance of attracting investors to facilitate digital transformation, while creating a supportive technical infrastructure to elevate the quality of financial services in Bahrain.
This participation reflects the CBB’s strategic directive to engage in ongoing dialogue on issues relating to economic and financial sector growth.
An ADB equity investment project has helped Philippine-based PHINMA Education expand its operations in Indonesia with two universities that now provide quality education to underserved communities. It has established or acquired Horizon University in Karawang, West Java, and lately, Horizon University in Jakarta. In this video, Indonesian students share how Phinma Education helps them achieve their dreams.
Environmental, Social, and Governance information—non-financial corporate data—has become increasingly important in today’s market. According to Bloomberg earlier this year, global ESG investments amounted to USD 30 trillion in 2022 and are expected to surpass USD 40 trillion by 2030. As studies continue to show that ESG performance influences corporate value, financial outcomes, and borrowing costs, ESG disclosure is now taken more seriously than ever.
However, the legal framework for ESG disclosure remains incomplete, leaving consumers and investors vulnerable to misleading practices such as ESG washing. ESG investments are rapidly growing and influencing business activities, yet concerns[1] persist over greenwashing—where companies falsely promote or exaggerate the environmentally friendly attributes of their actions or products. International organizations and regulatory authorities across various countries are working to establish and strengthen non-financial disclosure requirements, but a universal regulatory framework is unlikely to emerge quickly due to the complexity and diversity of ESG information.[2]
Despite these challenges, such a regulatory framework is essential, as greenwashing fosters false perceptions among consumers and investors, leading to misunderstanding and potential harm. A notable example is the 2015 Volkswagen emissions scandal, in which the company deliberately manipulated diesel engine performance during emissions tests, misleading regulators and consumers alike.[3] More recently, concerns have been raised that banks with weak ESG evaluations have greenwashed their performance by increasing lending to companies with stronger ESG ratings.
While establishing a legal framework to impose sanctions for misleading ESG disclosures would help mitigate greenwashing risks, developing such a system is expected to take significant time. Although ESG disclosure obligations are strengthening worldwide, variations in mandatory reporting content and format between countries will likely persist for the foreseeable future. Ensuring consistency, accuracy, and comparability in ESG disclosures remains a complex challenge.[4]
Moreover, non-financial information—such as environmental, governance, and social data—often presents greater information asymmetry between companies and investors than financial metrics. Quantifying and standardizing this information is difficult, as its relevance varies by industry, making it challenging to define uniform disclosure standards. Additionally, some ESG disclosure obligations have not been introduced based on investor materiality but rather due to historical factors, such as responses to industrial accidents, social concerns, environmental damage, or governance failures.[5]
As a result, reporting obligations for many critical ESG indicators that matter to investors remain absent or incomplete. Yet, markets and investors must continue making decisions based on these fragmented disclosures, increasing the risk of confusion and financial loss.
The Czech National Bank is celebrating a major success in the area of employee care. In this year’s Pluxee Employer of the Region – Capital City Prague ranking, CNB placed second in the category for organizations with up to 5,000 employees. The result confirms that the CNB is among the top employers in Prague. The award is part of the Employers’ Club Annual Awards 2025, one of the most prestigious recognitions on the Czech labor market.
The awards ceremony took place on May 12. On behalf of the CNB, the recognition was accepted by Helena Dybová, Deputy Director of the Administration Department and acting Head of Human Resources. The CNB takes home a well-deserved award that reflects the bank’s long-standing commitment to high-quality working conditions, employee care, continuous improvement of the work environment, and corporate social responsibility.
Employers are evaluated using the globally recognized Saratoga methodology, overseen by PricewaterhouseCoopers Czech Republic. This method compares employers first within their sectors, ensuring that the final scores reflect the true quality of employee policy and the work environment. Companies are assessed across 14 indicators in three areas. These include data on training, employee benefits, staff turnover, corporate social responsibility, and financials.
According to the latest survey by the STEM agency, nearly three-quarters of the population (73%) trust the Czech National Bank. This places the central bank at the top of the public institutions trust ranking. It is also one of the highest levels of trust ever recorded by STEM in its long-term monitoring of public confidence in domestic institutions.
The CNB’s primary mandate is to maintain price stability — that is, to keep inflation low and stable, close to the 2% target. After the period of elevated price growth in 2022 and 2023, this goal is once again being met. As early as the beginning of 2024, the CNB succeeded in restoring price stability in the country. Over the whole year 2024, consumer prices rose by an average of just 2.4% year-on-year — the lowest rate since 2018. In April 2025, according to the latest data from the Czech Statistical Office, the annual inflation rate stood at 1.8%, the lowest in the past seven years.
The restoration of price stability is one of the key reasons for the current high level of public trust in the CNB. “This result likely also reflects the stabilizing economic situation and the gradual easing of inflation,” confirms STEM analyst Doris Borovcová. According to the CNB’s forecast, inflation will remain close to the target not only throughout this year, but also in 2026.
In its report, STEM also noted that the CNB is perceived by the public as highly independent. “The low degree of political polarization suggests that the CNB is seen as a politically neutral institution,” said STEM analyst Doris Borovcová.
STEM’s time series shows that public trust in the CNB has remained high over the long term. Even during the period of heightened inflation, the energy crisis, and public concerns about future developments triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, 60% of the population trusted the central bank. Following the return to price stability and overall economic stabilization, trust in the CNB rose again. At 73%, it is currently the highest among all monitored public institutions. It is followed by municipal offices, the police, the army, regional authorities, and the Constitutional Court. In contrast, institutions associated with political power have consistently shown low levels of public trust.
Source: African Development Bank Group As night falls on the Batonou Health Centre on the Mono River, which forms the international boundary between Togo and Benin, Victorine Ablavi, nurse, midwife and head of the peripheral care unit, is busy at her examination table. Just a few years ago, she would have been forced to go about her duties in the dark, with a…
Source: African Development Bank Group Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi praised African Development Bank Group’s President Dr Akinwumi Adesina for his visionary leadership during an official meeting held in Cairo on 11 May, highlighting the Bank’s pivotal role in advancing critical investments across Africa over the past decade.
Source: African Development Bank Group At Konioudou Primary School in Bazèga province, Françoise Koanda watches 506 kids (274 girls and 232 boys) dig into bowls of babenda, a mix of leafy greens and peanut powder. She’s been the school’s headmistress since 2020, fighting hunger that dulled young minds.
The Reserve Bank of India will shortly issue ₹20 denomination Banknotes in Mahatma Gandhi (New) Series bearing the signature of Shri Sanjay Malhotra, Governor. The design of these notes is similar in all respects to ₹20 banknotes in Mahatma Gandhi (New) Series. All banknotes in the denomination of ₹20 issued by the Reserve Bank in the past will continue to be legal tender.
Headline: Chinese consortium acquires 100 H135s from Airbus Helicopters
A Chinese consortium made up of China Aviation Supplies Holding Company (CAS), Qingdao United General Aviation Industrial Development Company (Qingdao United) and CITIC Offshore Helicopter Co. Ltd (COHC) has ordered 100 H135 light-twin helicopters, becoming China’s first customer to form an industrial partnership to launch a H135 final assembly line (FAL) in Qingdao, Shandong province. This is an important step forward, fulfilling the commitment of purchasing 100 H135s signed in the Letter of Intent (LOI) last year.
Headline: Airbus announces launch customer for its new In Flight Entertainment experience
Airbus Corporate Jets (ACJ) and Alpha Star Aviation have signed a Letter Of Agreement at Dubai air show for the new and unique In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) technology – “The ACJ Smart LiFi Monitor” in presence of Abdulnaser Al Kheraif CEO, and Ibrahim Al Yaheyan VP-Tech, Alpha Star Aviation and Benoit Defforge, ACJ President.