On December 6, the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres, acting under Article 99 of the UN Charter, formally warned the UN Security Council of a looming global threat from the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. This is the first time that Guterres has invoked Article 99 since becoming Secretary-General, and only the fourth [...]

On Friday, Jan. 26, a panel of 17 judges of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered its ruling on South Africa’s request for the indication of provisional measures submitted in the landmark case: Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel). Although [...]

On 23 February 2022, the European Union (EU) Commission adopted a proposal for a Directive on corporate sustainability due diligence (Draft Directive). When the EU Commission opts for a Directive, in effect the EU is setting a goal that all member states must achieve, but how they get there legislatively is up to each state individually. In an [...]

In his epochal, controversial and highly polarizing essay, “The Social Responsibility of Business Is To Increase Its Profits,” published in the New York Times Magazine some 70 years ago, Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman argued against the social responsibility of businesses, and explicitly declared that “the business of business is business.” The shareholder value theory of the [...]

On November 4, 2021, US Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) announced the introduction of S.3175 – 117th Congress (2021-2022): Advancing American Artificial Intelligence Innovation Act of 2021 to Congress. Although the stated goal of S. 3175 is to ensure private companies have access to accurate data so they can better meet Department of Defense [...]