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Cagan, Jahanian, Pitel Elected to National Academy of Engineering

Carnegie Mellon University's standing as a powerhouse in engineering research is underscored by the election of Jonathan Cagan(opens in new window), CMU President Farnam Jahanian(opens in new window), and alumnus Ira J. Pitel to the prestigious National Academy of Engineering(opens in new window)'s 2026 class. Election to the NAE is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. Cagan, the David and Susan Coulter Head of Mechanical Engineering, is known for his advancements in…

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The Nature of Special Russian-Indian Relations

The problem is that this growth is driven primarily by increased Russian oil exports. India uses some of the purchased oil for its own needs and exports some to the West as petroleum products. Even if we ignore the political gamesmanship surrounding the US-India trade deal and Trump's triumphant claims that India has promised to stop importing Russian oil, we must admit that the oil axis between Moscow and New…

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Federal Contractor EEO‑1 Reports Set for February Release After FOIA Litigation

Seyfarth Synopsis: Following the Ninth Circuit’s July 2025 decision holding that EEO‑1 workforce data is not protected “commercial” information under FOIA Exemption 4, and the court’s subsequent December 29, 2025 mandate requiring the Department of Labor (DOL) to release the reports, the parties submitted a joint stipulation that now sets firm dates for public disclosure of federal contractors’ EEO‑1 Component 1 Report data. As these reports cover filing years 2016…

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Remote Control: When Employers Can Reject Work-From-Home Accommodation Requests

Quick Hits An employee who cannot perform essential job functions, even with a reasonable accommodation, is not a “qualified individual” under the ADA. The ADA does not require an employer to provide wholly remote work as a reasonable accommodation if a position requires in-person attendance to perform some essential functions. Employers need not extend additional accommodation offers after an employee rejects an initial reasonable accommodation. Background After an accounting assistant…

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Sri Lanka’s Strategy Amid Escalating International Tensions in Asia-Pacific Region

According to the global economic forecast at the outset of 2025, the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean Regions were poised to deliver the highest global growth. India was projected to lead the way with 6.5% growth, followed by China and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) with 4.6% and 4.5% for the next two years. However, the year posed many challenges for the Asia-Pacific Region, including escalating international tensions…

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New York Governor Unveils New AI Agenda

Quick Hits New York Governor Kathy Hochul has announced a new AI agenda, including the establishment of an Office of Digital Innovation, Governance, Integrity and Trust (DIGIT) to oversee digital safety and technology governance. The governor also announced plans to advance legislation aimed at regulating AI-generated content and enhancing consumer privacy, including proposals to mandate labeling of provenance data and require data broker registration. This initiative builds on a series…

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Expert Comment: How and why mathematics will both underpin and lead the next generation of AI

Professor Peter Grindrod. Artificial intelligence (AI) has already transformed how we see the world, and how the world sees us. To date, however, most AI systems fall into a small number of familiar categories. Some are analytical engines operating in data-rich environments: for instance, pattern and object recognition, supervised classification, anomaly detection, control systems, and forecasting across images, video, sensor streams, and high-throughput machines. Others are generative, including large language…

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Crypto Payrolls: Opportunities and Compliance Considerations for Global Employers

Quick Hits Crypto payments, especially via stablecoins, enable lightning-fast, low-cost cross-border transfers that reduce fees and delays compared to traditional banking. Offering crypto options can signal innovation and help attract tech-savvy talent, particularly in web3 and global remote teams. Key risks include price volatility (unless using stablecoins), complex U.S. tax treatment as property, and the challenge of meeting local minimum wage requirements when compensation fluctuates or is not denominated in…

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Lower inflation, weaker activity: what foreign import tariffs mean for the euro area

10 February 2026By Alessandro De Sanctis, Stefan Gebauer, Julian Schumacher and Flavia UngarelliImport tariffs imposed by other countries tend to lower euro area inflation and weaken growth. However, the sectors most exposed are also the most responsive to interest rate changes. This means that monetary policy can help offset disinflationary pressures and support activity.[1]Tariffs are a tax on trade. The immediate impact falls on the country imposing them, as import…

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New study warns of risks in AI chatbots giving medical advice

The new study, led by the Oxford Internet Institute and the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford, carried out in partnership with MLCommons and other institutions, reveals a major gap between the promise of large language models (LLMs) and their usefulness for people seeking medical advice. While these models now excel at standardised tests of medical knowledge, they pose risks to real users seeking…

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So, You Hired a Fraudulent Employee—Now What?

In this article, we address how employers can respond in the immediate aftermath of discovering a fraudulent employee and their considerations moving forward. Quick Hits Employers may want to take immediate action to terminate an individual’s access and privileges as soon as they determine the individual is a fraudulent employee. Employers may also want to promptly involve trusted IT and legal personnel to conduct a forensic evaluation of the employee’s…

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Carnegie Mellon Researchers Rethink Chronic Pain

Nearly one in four adults in the U.S. lives with chronic pain(opens in new window). Opioids like morphine help by reducing the brain’s perception of pain, but they come with risks and side effects researchers still don’t fully understand. Across neuroscience, biomedical engineering and artificial intelligence, esearchers from Carnegie Mellon University’s Neuroscience Institute(opens in new window) are exploring how pain is measured, understood and treated to support safer, more effective care.Understanding pain behavior could…

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Political Islam… Where To?

Political Islam… where is it heading? This is the important question that occupies political thought in the Middle East: This comes in light of the decline in its activity on the one hand, and the rise of nationalist narratives on the other, alongside a relative resurgence of some Islamic forces over the past two years, writes Dr. Ahmad Majdalani, Member of the Executive Committee, Palestine Liberation Organisation, specially for the…

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California High Court Says Contract Illegibility Warrants Increased Substantive Scrutiny

Seyfarth Synopsis: The California Supreme Court held that illegibility and tiny font are matters of procedural, not substantive, unconscionability. However, courts must closely scrutinize the terms of hard-to-read agreements for unfairness, and ambiguities in such adhesive contracts (such as arbitration agreements) should be resolved against the drafter. Fuentes v. Empire Nissan, Inc.  The Facts When applying to work at Empire Nissan, Evangelina Fuentes signed an “Applicant Statement and Agreement” that…

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Home Care Agencies and Sign-On Bonuses: Understanding the Recent Advisory Opinion of HHS’s Office of Inspector General

Quick Hits On December 30, 2025, HHS’s OIG issued Advisory Opinion No. 25-12, determining that home care agencies’ proposed sign-on bonuses for prospective caregivers, who are often family members of Medicaid participants, constituted impermissible remuneration under the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and potentially violated the Beneficiary Inducements Civil Monetary Penalty provision. The OIG found that the proposed sign-on bonuses, advertised without eligibility criteria, created an “inextricable link” between caregivers and client…

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Central Asia 2026: From Great-Power Prize to Geostrategic Platform

In 2025, Central Asia began to look less like a blank space on someone else’s map and more like a calendar no outside power could ignore. In the span of months, the region hosted and attended a parade of summits: the first EU–Central Asia leaders’ meeting in Samarkand in April, the second China–Central Asia summit in Astana in June, a Russia–Central Asia summit in Dushanbe in October, and a US-hosted…

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German Federal Labor Court: No Works Councils for Mere Delivery Zones

Quick Hits For the election of a separate works council in Germany, a certain territorial unit belonging to a company must either constitute an establishment with unified management or an independent part of an establishment with a minimum degree of organizational autonomy. Mere delivery zones (“remote cities”) of a platform-based delivery service, where only delivery drivers are employed, do not constitute organizational units eligible to elect a works council. The…

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Researchers discover that ancient floods “rewrote” civilizations along the Yangtze River

Around 4600 years ago, the Shijiahe developed an advanced, complex culture in China’s Middle Yangtze River region – complete with palaces, city walls, sophisticated water management, and jade and pottery industries. But within a thousand years, this culture had collapsed and migrated out of the region. Until now, the reason behind this was unclear – could this civilization have been driven out by raiders from the Central Plains? Or were…

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A new member at the table: how Bulgaria’s euro adoption reshuffles the ECB

6 February 2026By David Baez Seara and Desislava DeyanovaBulgaria adopted the euro on 1 January 2026. With this, Българската народна банка (the Bulgarian National Bank) became a full shareholder and the Bulgarian governor has taken a seat on the ECB’s Governing Council. This blog post explains what this means for the Eurosystem.When a country adopts the euro, there is always extensive coverage of the expected implications on the sharing of…

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Stopping COPD inhalers can lead to higher risk of flare-ups for 3 months

Stopping long-acting inhalers for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can lead to a sharp rise in flare-ups for around 3 months, a new study supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Manchester Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) has revealed.This research by The University of Manchester and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) scientists is the first of its kind to show people who stop using a prescribed…

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Syria at the Crossroads of Conflicts and Foreign Interests

In 2025, the new government in Syria failed to demonstrate an ability to create stable institutions, ensure public security, or establish mechanisms for social consensus. Competition between armed groups has made the country vulnerable to localised outbreaks of violence, ethno-confessional conflicts, and new waves of destabilisation, writes Nikolay Sukhov. For Syria, 2025 was a year of transition from open war to a state of managed instability. The conflict is not…

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What a California Mileage Tax Would Mean for Employers

Quick Hits California’s transition to electric vehicles is causing a decline in gas tax revenue, prompting the state to consider a mileage tax to fund transportation infrastructure. The proposed mileage tax would likely trigger existing state labor laws, requiring employers to reimburse employees for the tax as a necessary business expense. Employers may face significant financial impacts from increased reimbursements, potentially leading to higher prices for customers, reduced employee travel,…

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The Beautiful Problem with Gianpiero Petriglieri

In this episode, Heidi Brooks and Gianpiero Petriglieri invite you to step out of the mechanical pursuit of efficiency and into the “beautiful problem” of being human in a professional world. Through their conversation, Heidi and GP take you on a journey to reframe your everyday experiences as moments of learning, curiosity, and choice. They guide you through the essential tension between convergence, the practice of meeting a standard, and…

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The Cambridge x Manchester Innovation Partnership gathers pace following inaugural board meetings

Momentum is building behind The University of Manchester’s groundbreaking partnership with The University of Cambridge, the first cross-UK innovation partnership, with its inaugural board meetings hosted across Manchester this week. The agenda included a stakeholder meeting at Christie’s Bistro on The University of Manchester’s campus on Wednesday 4 February, and a creative roundtable in MediaCity on Thursday 5 February, hosted by Professor of Poetry, John McAuliffe, on the role of the creative economy in innovation. Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) also hosted a meeting to showcase Manchester’s transport network, providing the chance to share learnings between the two cities, before the first partnership advisory…

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Measles Outbreaks, Preventative Cardiology, and Other News

Howie and Harlan discuss an escalating measles outbreak in the U.S. and a project piloted by Yale School of Medicine professor Erica Spatz to deliver preventative care in barbershops and beauty salons. Also examined: flu season, nipah virus, and the perils of focusing on healthcare business models. Show notes: Measles CDC: Measles Outbreak Associated with an Infectious Traveler—Colorado, May–June 2025 CDC: Measles Cases and Outbreaks Snohomish County Health Department: Snohomish…

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Brave New World: What We Can Say About the Ongoing Transformation in the Middle East and Beyond

  Where is the Middle East in this transformation? As a region which often serves as a litmus test for global change, the Middle East entered an active phase of transformation roughly 15 years ago—earlier than many other regions. Long exposed to conflict and crisis, regional states are acutely aware of the costs of instability and increasingly rely on diplomacy, mediation, and pragmatic adaptation to mitigate risks. Looking into the…

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Let’s Start at the Very Beginning: Delaware Supreme Court Reaffirms That Consideration for Restrictive Covenants Is Measured at Contract Formation, Not Time of Enforcement

On February 3, 2026, the Delaware Supreme Court issued a short but highly anticipated order in North American Fire Ultimate Holdings, LP v. Doorly, reversing the Chancery Court’s dismissal of contract claims seeking to enforce restrictive covenants against a former senior executive. The decision clarifies that the existence of consideration supporting restrictive covenants must be evaluated at the time the parties enter into their agreement—not at the time of an alleged…

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Activism proves a stimulating topic at Sheldonian Series event

'The Power of Activism' delivered a stimulating evening of discussion as the theme for this term's Sheldonian Series event on Wednesday 4 February 2026.It was a brilliant evening of discussion and a lively crowdDominique PalmerThe event, which is open to all and aims to promote freedom of speech and inclusive inquiry, saw a robust exchange of views on themes including the relationship between democracy and activism, the ethical and legal limits…

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Military Operation Against Iran: A Realistic Scenario?

The concentration of US military forces in the Persian Gulf has sparked discussions about the possibility of a new military operation against Iran. International relations are difficult to predict. However, the development of the situation can be viewed as a set of alternative scenarios. A military operation is one of them. A number of arguments can be made in favour of a military scenario being likely. First of all, the…

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Now Available! Washington Peculiarities: An Employer’s Guide to Labor & Employment Laws in the Evergreen State (2026 Edition)

Seyfarth is pleased to announce the release of the second edition of Washington Peculiarities: An Employer's Guide to Labor & Employment Laws in the Evergreen State. Authored by Labor & Employment attorneys in the firm's Seattle office, this book provides a high-level overview of employment laws in Washington and includes laws that went into effect on January 1, 2026. Click HERE to request an electronic copy of the publication. If you should…

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California Legislature Declines to Create New Private Right of Action to Recover Unpaid Wages

Quick Hits On February 2, 2026, the California Legislature declined to pass legislation (SB 310) that would have allowed employees to directly sue for unpaid wages under section 210, maintaining the current enforcement avenues through the labor commissioner or PAGA. SB 310 aimed to address delays and limited recoveries in existing processes by proposing a new civil action route for employees, but it failed to pass, leaving the current penalty…

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A seismic trade shift from the Alps to the Himalayas

Some tropes should be retired because they’ve become hackneyed clichés. Others should be set aside because they are almost always inapposite. Then there is the “Mother of All” trope – risible when it was first uttered; tragic given the consequences; and ridiculous in the light of what happened to its progenitor. And yet, against all logical odds and historical sense, it persists. So it was that European Commission President Ursula…

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Trump Shouts Loudly and Fumbles a Big Stick

This commentary originally appeared in Time. The views expressed are the author’s own.President Theodore Roosevelt referred to the presidency as a “bully pulpit,” which could be used to persuade legislators to embrace his sweeping policy agenda, from environmental legislation to antitrust protections. To Roosevelt, the word “bully” meant “superb” or “excellent.” Today, the term has taken another meaning. President Donald Trump bullies through coercion, threats, and retribution to serve his…

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Seyfarth Names Suzanna Bonham as Managing Partner in Houston

February 3, 2026 – Seyfarth Shaw LLP has named Suzanna Bonham managing partner of the firm’s Houston office, marking an exciting new chapter for Seyfarth in Texas. Bonham, who joined Seyfarth in 2013, brings more than two decades of leadership experience as a litigator, strategist, and trusted advisor to clients and firm leadership alike. Bonham has built a formidable reputation both in the Houston market and across Texas. She is a…

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Pay Attention or Pay Up: A Costly Lesson in New Jersey Paid Sick Leave Noncompliance

Quick Hits Noncompliance with New Jersey’s Earned Sick Leave Law’s recordkeeping requirements creates a presumption that an employer failed to provide the earned sick leave required by the law. Vacation/PTO policies relied upon by employers to comply with the ESLL must provide paid leave for all purposes required by the ESLL. Failure to provide earned sick leave constitutes failure to pay wages under NJWHL, subjecting employers to claims for liquidated…

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Rent, repudiation, and re-leasing: The February 18 SCC hearing that could shift Canadian leasing leverage

On Feb. 18, 2026, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) will hear Aphria Inc. v. Canada Life Assurance Company, et al. The issue before the SCC sits at the intersection of commercial leasing doctrine and mainstream contract law: when a tenant repudiates a commercial lease and vacates, can the landlord “do nothing,” keep the lease alive, and sue for rent as it falls due without any duty to mitigate? We…

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New research reveals ‘postcode lottery’ for second trimester baby loss

The care that women receive following a miscarriage during the second trimester of pregnancy varies according to where in the UK and Ireland the woman is treated, new research shows.The study, led by the University of Aberdeen in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Manchester, University College Cork and University of Birmingham, was funded by Tommy’s, the pregnancy and baby charity, and published in The European Journal of Obstetrics…

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2025 Year in Review / 2026 Look Forward – Hong Kong Employment Law

The year 2025 has seen significant developments in employment law in Hong Kong. This article provides a quick glance at the major changes introduced during the year and offers insights into anticipated changes as we transition further into 2026. To read more about all the key updates, please click here for the full version of this article. January: Six visa categories move to online-only applications. Click here to read more.…

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