Business and trade regulations
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
Transforming Central Asia from a frontier market to a stable investment
Central Asia is considered a frontier market. However, at least two of the five countries that constitute this region, namely Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, are...
EU Institutions
Bulgaria and Romania become full Schengen area countries
As from January 1, 2025, travel will become possible without land border controls to and between Bulgaria and Romania. This follows a unanimous decision...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
A Christmas Carol for the new European Commission
In the novel “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens it is noted that “there is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter...
Democracy & Human Rights
Biden administration takes final steps to counter global corruption and human rights abuses
Announcing a global grab-bag of new sanctions, possibly some of its last, the Biden administration took major steps on December 9 by authorizing new...
EU Institutions
Facing mounting challenges, new EU Commission takes office
Amidst global geopolitical turmoil, the European Commission of Ursula von der Leyen officially took office on December 1 with the President pledging that over...
Russia Sanctions
U.S. sanctions Russian banks, finance officials and securities registrars
The U.S. announced on November 21 new sanctions targeting Russia’s largest remaining non-designated bank (Gazprombank), as well as dozens of other financial institutions and...
Terrorism
Washington targets Syrian conglomerate funding Iran and Houthis
On November 14 the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned 26 companies, individuals, and vessels associated with the...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
The role of open talent in raising European competitiveness
The American poet Claudia Rankine once said that the past is a life sentence: a blunt instrument aimed at tomorrow. This is particularly true...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
Time for Mandatory Climate Change Disclosures by GCC States?
From wildfires in New Mexico, to droughts in Vietnam, and extreme temperatures and historic flooding in China, it is clear that urgent action must...
Labor and Human Workforce Futures
Platform work: getting the right approach for consumers and workers
With an agreement finally reached by the European institutions on the Platform Worker Rights Directive after two years of fractious discussions, attention turns to...
IT & Telecom
EU adopts safeguards on general purpose artificial intelligence
The European Parliament took an important step in regulating technology, approving on March 13 the EU's proposed Artificial Intelligence Act that aims to ensure...
Business and trade regulations
EU Parliament strives to protect energy market from manipulation
Responding to the energy crisis exacerbated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the European Parliament approved on February 29 legislation to tackle energy market manipulation...
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