She is an actor, a businesswoman, a guru and an influencer, but at heart – let’s be honest – Gwyneth Paltrow is a sales guy, who has shown us time and again via Goop how thoroughly she understands how to monetise sneering. This week, crisis PR-style, she lent her world-class expertise to Astronomer, the company that dragged everyone’s eyes up to the jumbotron at a Coldplay concert two weeks ago when two of its married executives were entwined where they shouldn’t have been.
In the immediate aftermath of the scandal, during which the male half of the pair resigned, a widely asked question was: could the mass public shaming of two executives from a company no one had heard of – “a niche tech startup with roughly 300 employees”, as the New York Times put it – be considered a net win or a loss for Astronomer? It was a tough one to judge. On the one hand, all publicity is good publicity. On the other, is being known as the company that brought us two pilloried presumed adulterers necessarily a recommendation for its data and AI services?
Enter Paltrow, with her instinctive ability to ride waves of popular sentiment – and former marriage to the lead singer of Coldplay – appearing in a video released by Astronomer’s social media team. “Astronomer has gotten a lot of questions over the last few days and they wanted me to answer the most common ones,” said Paltrow, looking straight to camera with that slight smirk she always wears that seems to say “members of my family happen to find me very amusing”. A series of questions then appears on screen, including “OMG! What the actual f-.” To which Paltrow replies: “Yes! “Astronomer is the best place to run Apache Airflow.” And so on.
It works because it’s a knowing, clever spin that owns the outrage – and it’s a big win for Astronomer, whose average of 150 likes on its social media posts jumped to 64,000 with Paltrow’s video. It may even help rehabilitate the pair involved. Of course, the biggest win was for Paltrow and the impression she gave, brilliantly managed, of being a thoroughly and relatably good egg.
Tuesday
Into the same midsummer vacuum where news might otherwise appear, bursts this: Sydney Sweeney discourse! Quick recap: Sweeney, star of White Lotus and the romcom Anyone But You, has appeared in an advert for American Eagle, a slightly creaky US leisurewear brand that like so many mid-range brands from the 90s – Urban Outfitters, Eddie Bauer, even good old Banana Republic – has been suffering from a lack of relevance. The campaign, in which Sweeney lounges in double denim, would seem to be doing what advertising should, which is to get people talking about it, although possibly not in the same sentence as “eugenics”.
It seems like a stretch but the tagline “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans” – a lame pun on “genes” suggestive of the possibility that AI is already operating in the advertising space – has been taken up by loud voices on social media as an unsubtle endorsement of “Nazi” values, in which blond hair, blue eyes and being thin constitute apex hotness.
“Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair colour, personality and even eye colour,” intones Sweeney in the ad, leaving off the list resting sulking face, vocal fry and indistinguishability from 90% of other women in Hollywood. All of which probably rules out Paltrow for the follow-up crisis-management video.
Donald Trump in Scotland on Tuesday: “They follow me around everywhere, and what people don’t know is that those skirts they’re wearing and the tubes they’re blowing into? All invented for me.” Photograph: Jacquelyn Martin/AP
Wednesday
Let’s progress to even shallower water, and words that roll off the tongue like a meditation phrase promising to unlock the meaning of everything: the “seamless, sculpt face wrap from Skims”. It’s an iambic tetrameter and also a new product line from Kim Kardashian, whose amazingly successful shapewear, Skims, advances in a natural progression from body to face sculpting with a new kind of face sling.
The sculpt face wrap might look, at a glance, like something you would be given by an A&E doctor after standing too close to the chip pan, but it’s actually “jaw support” that you wear, like a retainer, overnight to hold back the terrible, glacial progression of jowls. According to the company, this item is not merely a piece of stretchy material you might have fashioned yourself out of an old pair of tights, but rather a “signature sculpting fabric” made of “collagen yarn”, which for £52 a pop and already selling like hotcakes is definitely a real thing that exists.
Thursday
Waking to an experience that used to be integral to British summer but feels increasingly rare: rain on the window and a cold tentacle of air seeping in through the crack. It’s a strange relief, and also a teachable moment to my kids enjoying their first summer in this country and who have entirely the wrong idea about the place. It’s August tomorrow, and for the past six weeks they haven’t bounced once from shorts into sweatpants and jumpers and back again, as the rain boots gather dust and my love of waterproof outwear goes unfulfilled.
And while they look out at the rain, grumbling at what it does to the day’s plans, I have a first thought out the gate that confirms my final, and total, transformation into my own mother: “Hmm, good for my plants.”
Friday
In my house I’m banned from saying “skibidi”, “gyatt”, “hyperpigmentation” and “Ohio sigma” – and this week, a new addition has been made to the list. Grandma-like, I’ve cottoned on to KPop Demon Hunters – a film in which a K-pop group hunts demons disguised as a boyband, which is breaking records on Netflix as the most-streamed original animated film of all time – and am now forbidden by my children from singing Soda Pop, the tween summer anthem from the movie. “You’re my soda pop, my little soda pop/ Cool me down, you’re so hot / Pour me up, I won’t stop (oh, oh) / You’re my soda pop.”
Happy summer!
Dutch woman wins European Mum Dancing championship in tight finish against younger contestants. Photograph: Eddie Keogh/The FA/Getty Images
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Having thoroughly established itself as a serious – but also great value – player in the TV world over the past couple of years, TCL seems to have decided the time is right to go full kitchen sink with its 2025 TV range.
The brand’s new premium C8K range (the QM8K range in the US) is stuffed to bursting point with new technology, including a new AI-powered processor and an all-new LCD panel design that brings with it all manner of fancy-sounding innovations – including a so-called Halo Control system that sounds about as far up our street as an LCD screen technology even could.
With the previous C8 range already offering great bang for your buck, though, have TCL’s extreme ambitions for its new C8K really taken its latest TVs to a whole new level, or has the brand bitten off more than it can chew and ended up breaking something that didn’t need fixing?
Price
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
At the time of writing, the brand spanking new 65-inch TCL C8K we’re looking at here costs £1599 in the UK and $2695 in Australia, while the equivalent QM8K model in the US comes in at $1600.
In keeping with TCL tradition, these are pretty aggressive launch prices for a TV that, as we’ll see later, packs such a serious high-tech punch.
While the 65C8K’s pricing means it comfortably undercuts 2025’s similarly sized OLED TVs, though, it still finds itself up against some pretty stiff competition this year.
Sony’s 65-inch Bravia 7 and LG’s 65QNED93, in particular, have set a high LCD TV bar for the same sort of money. So all that shiny new tech in the 65C8K really is going to have to pay off if TCL wants to keep up with the Joneses this year.
Design
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
The C8K is both more attractive and better built than its TCL predecessors. The new ‘ZeroBorder’ frame around the screen really has been trimmed back to the point where it’s one of the slimmest around, and impressively, there’s practically no black border to be seen inside the screen area, either.
TCL 65C8K tech specs
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
Screen size 65 inches (also available in 75, 85 and 98 inches)
Type Quantum Dot LCD
Backlight Mini LED (1680 dimming zones)
Resolution 4K
HDR formats HLG, HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision
Operating system Google TV
HDMI inputs x 4 (x 2 48Gbps HDMI 2.1)
Gaming features 4K/144Hz, 4K/120Hz, VRR, ALLM, Dolby Vision game mode
Input lag 13.1ms at 60Hz
ARC/eARC eARC
Optical output? Yes
Dimensions (hwd, without stand) 83 x 145 x 5.9cm
The TV doesn’t stick out far around the back – impressive for a model that’s using a premium direct backlighting system.
The near-uniform flatness of the rear panel together with a cross-hatch pattern etched into it and neatly recessed connection bays and cable runs give the 65C8K true 360-degree design appeal, too, if you like that sort of thing. The premium feel is wrapped up by the gleaming brushed silver metal finish (aerospace-grade aluminium alloy, apparently) that’s applied to both the plate-style desktop stand and the TV’s slender side panels.
Add a sharply cut and metal-finished remote control to the package, and you’ve got a TV that manages to be stylish while still looking ‘serious’, and which feels like it’s worth every penny of its asking price. And then some.
Features
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
The C8K’s top line features are that it benefits from a 120Hz 4K Mini LED LCD panel with Quantum Dot colour, a premium local dimming light control system, and support for all of the key high dynamic range formats, including Dolby Vision and HDR10+. There’s actually way more going on beneath the C8K’s already eye-catching hood than this, though.
For starters, and as mentioned in passing earlier, it uses one of TCL’s home-grown new ‘CrystGlow’ WHVA panels. Highlights of this include ultra-reflective optical materials reckoned to enhance luminous efficiency by 97 per cent; a new level of LCD contrast for TCL that’s reckoned to deliver five times the contrast possible from rival IPS types of LCD TV screen; and a claimed 40 per cent improvement in the colour saturations the screen can reproduce when watched from wide viewing angles.
The local dimming system operates across a hugely impressive claimed 1680 separately controlled lighting zones, backed up by a new generation of light-emitting Mini LED chips, super-condensed mini LED micro lenses, an enhanced Micro-Optical distance system, faster transient response from the backlighting to reduce unwanted bright spots and dark ‘holes’ in the image, and a new ‘bionic’ bi-directional 23-bit light control algorithm. All of which adds up to a level of control over the entire light production path that’s far beyond anything TCL has been able to offer before.
While TCL’s marketing department is very happy to put up all this information on its latest panels for anyone to see, though, it’s probably sensible, given how complicated some of these technologies are, that TCL also covers it all under a relatively simple umbrella term of ‘Halo Control Technology’. This name tells you pretty succinctly that the ultimate goal of all these innovations is to maintain the sort of high brightness TCL’s premium TVs are already known for while simultaneously improving both the depth and the consistency of blacks – with a particular focus on dealing with the halos of light around bright objects that are such a common problem with locally dimmed LCD TVs.
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
The 65C8K’s Quantum Dot colour system is claimed, in conjunction with the other panel innovations, to deliver more than a billion colour hues across 97 per cent of the DCI-P3 colour gamut used for most HDR mastering. A new Intelligent picture setting has been added to the picture presets, too. This analyses incoming images and optimises contrast, colour, sharpness and motion to try and deliver them to their best advantage.
The latest AI system also extends its tendrils into real-time sound quality improvements, enhanced interaction with the TV’s menus and smart features, and even the provision of more than 100,000 pre-generated AI artworks across a wide range of painting styles you can use as digital screen savers.
The C8K provides plenty for gamers to get their teeth into, too. The screen delivers a native 144Hz refresh rate, for starters, which obviously includes support for the 4K/120Hz graphics now output by PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles. There’s also claimed support, though, for 288Hz feeds (if you can find any!) via TCL’s Game Accelerator technology, which makes it possible to downgrade resolution in return for higher frame rates.
VRR is supported right the way up to that crazy 288Hz level, including in the AMD FreeSync Premium Pro format, and you can call up a dedicated Game Bar menu screen when game sources are detected. This provides access to multiple gaming aids and information on the incoming graphics.
The C8K also supports HDMI’s ALLM switching feature, where the TV will automatically switch into its fast-response game mode when a game source is detected. This Game mode reduces input lag to 13.1ms with 60Hz feeds, and just 5.2ms with 4K/120Hz feeds.
The only disappointment for gamers is that the full range of cutting-edge gaming features is only available on two of the TV’s four HDMI sockets, rather than all four.
Smart features are provided by Google TV, but TCL has handily managed to make sure the C8K avoids Google TV’s blind spot when it comes to UK catch-up apps. BBC iPlayer, ITVX, All 4 and My 5 all appear alongside such global big hitters as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and YouTube.
There isn’t any support, though, for either the Freeview Play or Freely services that bring UK catch-up apps into a tidy umbrella interface; on the 65C8K you can only access UK catch up services through their separate individual apps.
TCL’s big ambitions for the C8K have even extended, finally, to its audio. It’s quite common these days for TV brands to work with third-party audio brands, but TCL has really pushed the boat out by partnering up for the C8K with Bang & Olufsen – one of the most premium brands in the AV world. We’ll be listening particularly carefully during our audio tests to see if such a meeting of value-oriented and no-expense-spared minds can really work.
Picture
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
We went into more detail in the previous section about the new hardware and software features TCL has thrown at the C8K than we usually might for the simple reason that it all, thankfully, actually seems to work.
The first thing that hits us is how bright and vibrant the 65C8K’s images are. HDR movies blaze off the screen in the default Standard picture preset with way more intensity than we witnessed on the LG 65QNED93 and Sony Bravia 7 rivals we mentioned earlier – despite both of those rivals themselves being impressively bright for their money.
As well as making the 65C8K a great option for a bright room, the extreme brightness also contributes to one of the most flat-out impactful HDR images we’ve seen. Whether it’s a full-screen bright daylight image or a small bright highlight, it erupts off the 65C8K’s screen with truly glorious intensity.
The longer we hang out with the C8K, though, the more apparent it becomes that dazzling though its brightness is, what’s really special about TCL’s new TV is how well all that light is used. Rather than it causing images to look forced or gaudy, for instance, it combines with the Quantum Dot colour system and TCL’s clearly massively improved image processing to ensure that the screen’s gorgeous vibrancy combines with excellent tonal subtleties and blend finesse.
The subtlety and shading even extends right into the brightest colours and white highlights of the most aggressive HDR pictures, avoiding that flared out, clipped appearance you get with screens that can’t resolve full shading steps and details when running at or close to their brightness extremes.
The 65C8K’s combination of so much brightness and such subtle shading and tonal control, along with some really outstanding 4K sharpness and detail, helps its pictures create a sense of depth and solidity that really lures you into whatever you’re watching.
It turns out in the end, though, that the single greatest strength of the 65C8K’s pictures is something that doesn’t actually hit you right away: its ability to partner extreme brightness with some of the deepest, richest and most consistently deep blacks the LCD TV world has seen.
The reason we didn’t fully clock the 65C8K’s prowess in this area right away is because in some ways it’s a strength revealed by exclusion rather than addition. As in, you’re not seeing and being distracted by the usual nasty stuff such as haloes of extraneous light around stand-out bright objects, vague clumps of clouding over what should be very faint areas of shadow detail, or over-obvious inter-dimming zone light adjustments during dark shots.
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
Nor does the 65C8K need to dim down the intensity of stand-out bright objects to keep a lid on the backlight blooming, and there’s no evidence either of TCL’s new TV heavily adjusting the image’s baseline brightness during hard cuts from dark to light shots, and vice versa. This all adds up to a level of consistency that would be impressive even on a much less bright TV than the 65C8K, but that becomes genuinely remarkable on a TV that’s capable of as much brightness and intensity as the 65C8K. All that fancy Halo Control technical talk is clearly much more than just hype.
While the new-found level of control TCL has found to go with the 65C8K’s extra brightness and bolder colours is at its most dramatic and enticing in the TV’s default Standard picture preset, it also, brilliantly, unlocks a whole new level of satisfaction with the TV’s most accurate Filmmaker Mode preset and the well considered Movie mode TCL has designed as a kind of mid-point between the Standard and Filmmaker Mode presets.
There’s nothing flat or drab about the 65C8K Filmmaker Mode’s adherence to key colour and brightness standards, and black levels remain both deep and free of haloing despite this mode inevitably cutting back on the amount of image processing being used.
Being able to provide both a punchy, eye-catching, screen tech-stretching picture preset option and an accuracy-focused preset option without either suffering with really any significant hardware or processing limitations or distractions is a rare achievement in even the premium TV world. And we are 100 per cent here for it.
Despite its many significant improvements over its already strong predecessor, the 65C8K isn’t perfect. While the Standard preset’s brightness and contrast are outstanding, for instance, its colours sometimes look a touch washed out in the brightest picture areas. More so, oddly, than they do in the same mode on TCL’s less bright C7K step-down models (which we’ll be reviewing soon). Our best guess on this is that the C8K’s brightness is so extreme in Standard mode that it pushes the Quantum Dot colour system slightly beyond its saturation comfort zone – a guess backed up by the contrastingly rich saturations you get in the C8K’s less bright Movie and Filmmaker Mode settings.
A few of the faintest shadow details in very dark picture areas can get crushed out of the picture, too (though not so much that dark scenes start to look hollow or flat), and the default Medium setting for TCL’s motion processing in Standard mode is a bit heavy-handed. Switching the processing to Low or even just turning it off yields very watchable results, though.
The Standard mode can look a bit blue in dark scenes, but this can be fixed by nudging the colour temperature a couple of notches up from its default position, and finally, for all its undoubted local dimming genius, TCL hasn’t quite managed to fully isolate its backlighting for the black bars above and below ultra-wide aspect ratio films. So you can sometimes spot faint traces of blooming in the bars if a very bright object appears right up against them. Though such blooming really is so faint that you may well not notice it unless you’re specifically looking for it.
You’ve probably noticed, though, that we’ve had to try pretty hard to find problems with the 65C8K’s pictures. And even where we’ve found one, it’s more often than not fixable through a simple tweak of one of the TV’s bounty of image fine-tuning features. So, in the end, we remain unshaken in our conviction that the 65C8K is one of the best-performing – especially when it comes to backlight consistency – LCD TVs we’ve seen.
Sound
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
TCL’s new working relationship with B&O for the 65C8K’s sound system yields slightly mixed results.
On the upside, the speakers, which include a couple of sizeable circular midrange drivers embedded in the TV’s rear, clearly benefit from much better build quality than those you got in TCL’s previous 8 series models. The general tone of the sound they produce is cleaner and crisper, and they’re more sensitive, too, ensuring that not even the faintest element in a good movie mix goes unheard.
The result is a highly detailed, bright and clean soundstage that also projects beyond the outer extremities of the TV’s bodywork without losing cohesion or becoming brittle. This proves particularly useful in placing score and ambient effects correctly outside the rest of the ‘in-frame’ sounds, without those direct on-screen effects – including dialogue – becoming displaced or muffled in the process.
While the 65C8K’s premium midrange drivers deliver an open and dynamic sound in many ways, though, the lack of a dedicated bass driver of the sort we’ve seen on some previous TCL TVs can leave dense soundtrack moments feeling rather bass-light. This can contribute, too, to high-pitched sound effects sometimes coming across too brightly, with too much emphasis in the mix. Enough, at times, to cause what should only be small, background sounds to come to the fore way more aggressively than they should.
There’s enough B&O DNA in the overall tone and ‘hi-fi’ feel of the sound to ensure that the 65C8K’s sound is an overall improvement over that of its predecessor. But it’s not quite the class-leading audio effort we’d hoped for.
Verdict
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
If the welter of new screen and processing technologies TCL has developed for the 65C8K presented the brand’s picture engineers with any major teething problems to overcome, no trace of these potential issues remains in the finished TV.
Instead, you just get to marvel at pictures that combine TCL’s familiar brightness and punch with a stunning new level of refinement and naturalism – underlining in big red ink just how serious a TV player the brand has now become.
SCORES
Picture 5
Sound 4
Features 4
MORE:
Read our review of the Sony Bravia 7
Also consider the LG 65QNED93
Best TVs: flagship OLEDs and budget LED sets tried and tested
COAS attends 98th founding anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China at GHQ. — ISPR
Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Asim Munir has reaffirmed that Pakistan’s friendship with China remains steadfast and resilient, despite shifting strategic dynamics, according to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Friday.
According to the military’s media wing, the army chief made these remarks while attending the 98th founding anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China held at the General Headquarters (GHQ) with senior Chinese and Pakistani military officials in attendance.
The chief guest at the ceremony was the Chinese ambassador to Pakistan Jiang Zaidong, the ISPR said. Chinese envoy was joined by China’s Defence Attaché Major General Wang Zhong, other embassy officials and senior officers from Pakistan’s Army, Navy, and Air Force.
Field Marshal warmly received the Chinese guests and extended congratulations on behalf of the Pakistan Army.
In his remarks, he praised the PLA’s role in ensuring China’s defence and nation-building efforts over nearly a century, the press release read.
COAS Asim Munir highlighted that the Pakistan-China strategic relationship exemplifies mutual trust, unwavering support, and shared commitment.
“Our friendship with China is unique, time-tested, and exceptionally resilient,” ISPR quoted the army chief as saying.
Highlighting the strength of bilateral military ties, Field Marshal Munir said: “The PLA and Pakistan Army are true brothers-in-arms. Our enduring partnership is central to promoting regional stability and securing our shared strategic interests.”
On the occasion, Chinese Ambassador Jiang Zaidong thanked the COAS for hosting the event and acknowledged the sacrifices made by the Pakistan Armed Forces in the fight against terrorism and reaffirmed Beijing’s unwavering support for and commitment to its strategic partnership with Islamabad.
DLA Piper has advised H2APEX, a leading developer, operator and integrator of electrolysis plants for the production, storage and use of green hydrogen, on a capital increase on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
As part of the transaction, approximately 13.8 million new shares were issued from authorised capital, excluding shareholders’ subscription rights. The gross proceeds of around EUR 30 million will be used to finance the acquisition of HH2E Werk Lubmin GmbH and to further develop the existing hydrogen project in Lubmin. A portion of the new shares was subscribed through the conversion of a convertible loan.
DLA Piper had already advised the client in 2023 on the merger of exceet and APEX Group and the subsequent IPO.
H2APEX Group SCA, headquartered in Rostock-Laage (Germany) and Grevenmacher (Luxembourg), is listed in the Prime Standard segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Under the brand name H2APEX, the company develops, builds and operates green hydrogen plants to decarbonize industrial sectors such as steel, chemicals, cement and logistics, and is considered a pioneer in the field since shifting its focus entirely to hydrogen in 2012.
The DLA Piper team was co-led by partners Andreas Füchsel (Private Equity/M&A, Frankfurt) and Dr Roland Maaß a as well as counsel Juliane Poss (both Capital Markets, Frankfurt). The team included associates Alexander Hofsepjan and Benedikt Mail (both Capital Markets, Frankfurt).
In recent years, there has been a growing interest in environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) issues in companies across all sectors in Latin America, which has led to the ESG concept becoming generally accepted in strategic decision-making.
Part of this change is brought by enthusiastic shareholders navigating their corporations to address ESG matters. There are several reasons why shareholders promote ESG – a commitment to personal ideals, seeking long-term profitability, or reducing latent risks such as regulatory penalties, reputational damage, or supply chain disruptions. Regardless of the reason, if the outcome of the corporation’s ESG strategy is considered negative by shareholders, the first to respond are the governing bodies of companies.
Around the globe, we have seen preliminary glimpses of what is coming for directors generally. ClientEarth v Shell [2023], a shareholder action brought in the UK, was initiated due to alleged breach of fiduciary duties of directors by “mismanaging climate risk”. ClientEarth alleged that Shell’s directors breached their legal duties under UK law by failing to implement a climate strategy that would allow the company to be net zero by 2050. The case was dismissed due to insufficient evidence.
Another case was reported in Poland where Enea, a power generation company, with the support of 87% of its shareholders, filed a claim against former directors who, in 2018, participated in the decision to invest in a coal power plant that did not consider the risks of climate transition. Here, the directors ignored warnings of rising carbon prices, competition from cheaper renewable energy, and the impact of new EU regulations that disincentivized coal power. In fact, at the time, this led shareholders to turn to the courts to stop construction of the plant. It was alleged that the company’s best interests and its shareholders would be damaged by the investment.
The aforementioned cases are a sample of a possible trend in ESG litigation that may expand to Latin America.
Latin America is an active region in climate litigation, with cases filed in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and especially, Brazil. The latter accumulated 82 cases by 2024, and is ranked amongst the top 4 most active jurisdictions in climate litigation, along with the US, UK, and Germany. As shareholder claims are a type of climate litigation claims, cases are expected to emerge in Latin America.
Furthermore, there have been numerous recent regulatory changes in Latin America, which intend to promote ESG practices in corporations and which, consequently, reinforce the possibility of further ESG litigation (including shareholder claims). For example, in Chile, Colombia, and Peru, regulations have been issued to make it mandatory for listed corporations to include environmental, social, and governance information in their disclosure reports to the market. This regulatory shift may increase the possibility of shareholder filing claims, as it enhances ESG disclosures and makes it easy for shareholders to find inaccurate, or misleading information; it should also reveal when an ESG strategy is lacking.
But how would these claims land in Latin America? Taking Peru as an example, directors generally have the duty of diligence of an organized trader and a loyal representative. However, under the regime of the Law of Collective Interest and Benefit Companies (Law No. 31072) and its regulations, directors have additional duties, as the aim of this regime is prioritizing certain social and environmental objectives included in the company’s . Among said duties are (a) to ensure the achievement of social and environmental benefit as defined in its bylaws, and (b) to introduce practices of organizational transparency.
In the event of a breach of these duties, shareholders may file a liability claim on behalf of the company against the directors for damages caused to the company. A requisite for this purpose is that such action This is independent of shareholder actions initiated in their personal capacity for damages caused directly to them.
Although damage shall have been caused to initiate an action, following the example of other jurisdictions, the main reason for shareholders to file claims is the disclosure of false or misleading information regarding the company’s ESG standards, particularly when such disclosures are used to attract investors or to comply with regulatory requirements.
Directors might also face claims for negligent corporate governance for failing to implement ESG considerations into company operations or ignoring climate-related financial risks. This is particularly where omissions result in regulatory sanctions or significant losses for the company. As the expectations around ESG standards continue to rise, the legal exposure of directors for ESG inaction or misrepresentation is likely to increase.
At the same time, directors may also be exposed to claims where ESG priorities are pursued at the expense of the company’s financial performance. Shareholders might argue that, in their enthusiasm to meet ESG expectations, directors fail to reach the necessary balance between sustainability and profitability. In Florida, United States, the Board of Directors of Target Corporation was sued after its DEI campaign caused Target’s stock price to drop. Shareholders alleged that they were not warned of the financial risks of implementing DEI policies and that funds were misused to serve political and social goals.
Comment
Finding the right balance between ESG ambition and shareholder interests remains a complex challenge for directors. Claims may arise either for failing to implement adequate ESG practices, or for prioritizing ESG at the cost of profitability. Sooner or later this will be a reality in Latin America. Therefore, corporations in the region should start seeking a way to resolve these tensions, in a sustainable manner, of course.
Two-time world team gold medallist Skye Blakely will compete on the uneven bars and balance beam at the upcoming U.S. Gymnastics Championships, set for 7–10 August in New Orleans, Louisiana.
“Just bars and beam. I think, for me, that’s just the best plan,” she told Olympics.com in an exclusive interview. “I don’t think there’s any point in rushing back to all-around or the leg events. I’m able to safely and healthily do bars and beam, so I’m having fun pushing that and getting back all those skills that I was doing last year.
“I am still working on floor and vault a little bit,” she continued, “but I don’t think 2025 is the year to push those events.”
Just over thirteen months ago, Blakely was a favourite to make the U.S. squad for the Olympic Games Paris 2024 after an impressive runner-up finish to Simone Biles at the 2024 U.S. nationals.
But then, disaster struck. Blakely tore her Achilles tendon during practice ahead of the U.S. trials.
She’s been working her way back into competition, including every week of her freshman season with the University of Florida Gators squad, where she competed on bars, but elite competition has not been far from her mind.
Blakely has a positive outlook on the eve of her return to the U.S. Championships.
“I’m feeling good. I’m mainly just excited to be back,” she said. “Knowing it’s been a year, been through a lot, surgery, my foot’s gotten stronger. I’m happy to know that I’m at the skill level again to compete domestically.”
Stay tuned for more from Olympics.com’s interview with Blakely next week.
Nowhere across the Rolex Fastnet Race was there a spread of boats of a broader performance range than the MOCRA Multihull class. Thanks to the strong turn-out of seven Dazcat catamarans, this class hit a record 20 participants this year. At one extreme of the fleet were the two upgraded MOD70s – Jason Carroll’s Argo and Erik Maris’ Zoulou – down to the lowest-rated, an Excess14 cruising catamaran, Dogzhouse. When the speedy trimarans were tying up in Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, so Gary Taylor’s catamaran was just striking out into the Celtic Sea bound for the Rock. This morning, on day seven of the race, Dogzhouse was on her final approach to the finish.
Despite much pre-race wisdom suggesting that the pro-laden MOD70s would be run-away winners in the MOCRA Multihull class, in fact this was not the case with the ORMA 60-inspired, but more cruising-orientated, 63ft Irens-Cabaret trimaran Paradox3 claiming the top prize on MOCRA corrected time – the Croda Way Trophy (named after a 35ft trimaran from the 1970s).
“It was totally unexpected, because we’re not a brilliant boat in light airs,” commented skipper Adam Davis, who runs River Boatyard, up the Helford river in darkest Cornwall, of their win. “We were hoping for lots of breeze so that the MODs would have to depower while we could push hard in 25-30 knots with full kit, which is usually our opportunity. But I guess with some good tactics and crew work, we’ve managed to get through it and win which is great.”
“Despite this, the upwind half of the race to the Fastnet Rock was tricky in light airs with her crew of six constantly having to swap between the Code Zero (used in <14 knots apparent wind speed) and J1 and back again. “It is quite a tricky manoeuvre and we have to go bareheaded to do it, because of the amount of winches we have on board. Then, by the time you’ve done the change, normally it’s back to Code Zero again! And then you see the MODs bearing away around the Fastnet Rock and they’re doing 28-32 knots and we’re doing 16-20 max…”
Davis believes Paradox3 won thanks to the latter stage of the race where the MODs got entangled in their own personal match race and fell into light winds off Start Point while Paradox3 continued on, trucking towards Cherbourg-en-Cotentin at 16-18 knots, continuing to do well in the race’s giant final hurdle – the Alderney Race: “We caught the tide quite well until the end, which was tricky for anyone with the wind dying. The tide ended up lee-bowing us and we ended up doing quite well out of that.” Davis was most pleased to beat Oren Nataf’s Pulsar 50 trimaran Rayon Vert, which ended up fifth overall ahead of Vincent Willemart’s Rapido 40 Adamas.
“The highlights really were just great crew, great food – we don’t skimp on food and comforts – we still have memory foam mattresses and nice Italian food on board and make sure we enjoy it: Sail hard but keep everyone fed well and happy.”
This was also the philosophy of the collection of offshore and round the world legends (and friends) competing on board the all-carbon ORC 50 catamaran GDD. As crewman, Jules Verne Trophy record holder and former Vendée Globe race director, Jacques Caraës aptly described their race: “The only time you got wet was when you were having a shower!”
Otherwise the star-studded line-up on GDD included Halvard Mabire, who raced her in the last Route du Rhum, his direct competitor in that race on another ORC 50 Gwen Chapalain and Vendée Globe skipper Miranda Merron.
“It was really a very pleasant race compared to the previous two editions on our beautiful cruising multihull with some absolute legends,” explained Merron. “We sailed hard and had some very good drivers and a lot of fun. We ate properly which is a bit of a change.
“Weather-wise, it was a beat to the Fastnet, which, on a multihull, is much nicer: It was a bit bumpy but there was no sitting on the rail. Then downwind it was really nice. We went south to stay in the warm sector of the front for as long as possible in fairly steady wind. And the finish showcased what a beautiful part of the world this is!”
Winning the Crystal Trophy, an ancient MOCRA offshore race prize, as well as being first Dazcat under MOCRA corrected time, was Didier Bouillard’s Dazcat 1295 Minor Swing. Like most top French racers Bouillard has a background in the Figaro class but now lives in London, happy to follow the progress of his second-generation Figarist son Romain, who finished second in this year’s Transac Paprec. Among his crew was talented tactician Cédric Pouligny.
“I am obviously super happy about the outcome because it’s a good boat, but it’s still a 43ft multihull and we are racing in a class where you have super-fast boats,” commented Bouillard, referring to the MOD70s. “Where we did very well was when we got the kite up after the Fastnet Rock and kept it up all the way through the night – a very dark night, which was a bit wild, with waves coming here and there which you couldn’t see.That’s where we actually made a big difference coming back. Then the tide was against us for the last three to four hours of the race, limiting what we could have done. If we’d have arrived 30 minutes earlier, maybe we could have got second overall. Otherwise, good crew, good atmosphere, good food…”
Failure to prevent fraud by ‘associated persons’ is a new offence under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA) (376 pages / 3.7 MB) The new corporate criminal offence will apply from 1 September.
Tom Stocker of Pinsent Masons, who specialises in corporate criminal defence, said: “This is the most significant reform of corporate criminal law since the Bribery Act 2010, and it greatly increases the risk of corporate criminal liability for frauds which benefit an organisation or an organisation’s clients.”
“There is a ‘reasonable procedures’ defence. To have a prospect of having a defence, the government guidance stipulates that a documented fraud risk assessment is essential. Large organisations and their subsidiaries should also ensure that current policies cover the failure to prevent fraud offence and are effectively communicated throughout the organisation,” he said.
The offence aims to hold large organisations accountable for frauds by subsidiaries, employees, agents and other “associated persons” where there is an intention to benefit the organisation or the organisation’s clients. In addition, smaller subsidiaries which are part of large corporate groups are also caught where there is a failure to prevent an outward fraud by an employee.
An organisation is “large” if it meets two or more of the following criteria in a financial year: turnover of more than £36 million; a balance sheet total of more than £18 million; and more than 250 employees. For parent companies, the aggregate global figures of all subsidiaries apply.
Organisations should already be working towards this deadline, as there is no formal grace period written into the legislation. The government has provided advanced notice of the start date as well as guidance on the steps organisations should put in place to discharge the reasonable procedures defence.
David Lister, forensic account at Pinsent Masons, said: “The current guidance is somewhat broad and not prescriptive, allowing organisations the flexibility to tailor their fraud prevention measures to their specific needs.”
Organisations will need to assess whether or not there are already reasonable procedures in place or, if not, make the necessary changes. This can be carried out via a ‘current state’ assessment of the fraud risk management framework.
The new corporate criminal offence is the most significant boost to the ability of the Serious Fraud Office, the police and other law enforcement bodies to investigate and prosecute serious economic crime in more than a decade.
Nicholas Ephgrave, Director of the Serious Fraud Office, recently emphasised the enforcement agency’s “hunger” to prosecute large organisations. He said: “Come September, if they haven’t sorted themselves out, we’re coming after them. That’s the message I’ll be delivering. I’m very, very keen to prosecute someone for that offence. We can’t sit with the statute books gathering dust, someone needs to feel the bite.”
Many Americans’ hearts age faster than their actual age, with lower income and education linked to greater heart ageing, reveals a new JAMA Cardiology study.
Your heart may be ageing faster than your birth certificate suggests, and for many Americans, especially those with lower income or education, that age gap is alarmingly wide. According to a study published in JAMA Cardiology on July 30, 2025, the average American’s cardiovascular system functions years older than their actual age, about four years older for women and seven years older for men. (Also read: Cardiologist explains how a simple blood test can predict heart attack risk years in advance: ‘Before symptoms appear…’ )
New ‘risk age’ concept highlights alarming heart health gaps among low-income adults. (Shutterstock)
What is ‘risk age’ and why it matters
The study, based on data from over 14,000 adults, introduces a new concept called “risk age”, a way of communicating heart disease risk not through percentages, but by comparing a person’s heart to that of someone in perfect cardiovascular health.
Study reveals that many Americans have hearts that function years older than their actual age. (Pixabay)
Researchers found striking disparities based on socioeconomic status. Adults with only a high school education or less showed significantly older heart ages, up to 10 years older in some cases. Income mattered even more: lower-income men had hearts ageing more than 8 years ahead of their age, and nearly 1 in 3 had heart ages 10+ years older.
Impact of education, income and race on heart ageing
Non-Hispanic Black adults had the highest gaps, especially men, whose hearts aged an average of 8.5 years beyond their chronological age. Hispanic and Asian adults also showed disparities, but Asian women had the smallest gap, less than three years.
Instead of saying a patient has a 15 percent risk of heart disease, doctors can now say their heart functions like someone a decade older. This “risk age” method may help younger adults understand their health risks more clearly and encourage better prevention efforts.
While individual choices matter, the research highlights how education and income levels shape heart health deeply. The findings call for not just lifestyle changes, but systemic solutions to close the cardiovascular health gap in America.
Note to readers: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions about a medical condition.
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News / Lifestyle / Health / Your birth certificate says 45 but your heart may be 55: Study shows how Americans’ hearts are ageing faster than them
