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Federal Tax Credits Now Available When Certain Employees Use Emergency Paid Leave to Help Others Obtain or Recover from COVID-19 Vaccine

The federal Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced that certain employers can claim federal tax credits when employees use emergency paid leave to accompany an individual to obtain a COVID-19 vaccination and/or to care for an individual recovering from an injury, disability, illness, or condition related to the vaccine.




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IRS Releases 2022 Inflation Adjustments to Various Tax Limitations on Employer-Provided Benefits

On November 10, 2021, the IRS released Revenue Procedure 2021-45, which contains its annual inflation adjustments for over 60 tax provisions, including not only individual income tax rates and deductions, but also many employer-provided benefits.




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Puerto Rico Department of the Treasury Announces 2022 Limits on Qualified Retirement Plans

On January 14, 2022, the Puerto Rico Department of the Treasury issued Internal Revenue Circular Letter No. 22-01 (CL IR 22-01) announcing the applicable 2022 limits for Puerto Rico qualified retirement plans.




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Puerto Rico Department of the Treasury Announces 2023 Limits on Qualified Retirement Plans

The Puerto Rico Department of the Treasury recently issued Internal Revenue Circular Letter No. 23-01 (CL IR 23-01) announcing the applicable 2023 limits for Puerto Rico qualified retirement plans.




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Watch Out New York – New Jersey Wants Its Taxes Too!

On July 21, 2023, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed Assembly Bill No. S3128/A4694 into law,1 which implements an aggressive tax treatment of nonresidents who work for New Jersey employers.




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Puerto Rico Department of the Treasury Announces 2024 Limits on Qualified Retirement Plans

On January 31, 2024, the Puerto Rico Department of the Treasury issued Internal Revenue Circular Letter No. 24-01 (CL IR 24-01) announcing the applicable 2024 limits for Puerto Rico qualified retirement plans.




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California Eliminates Employers’ Ability to Require Employees to Use Vacation Before They Receive State Paid Family Leave Benefits

  • Employers will no longer be able to require employees to use up to two weeks of vacation before they receive paid family leave insurance benefits.
  • Employees will have access sooner to paid family leave insurance benefits.
  • Changes can have a knock-on effect concerning substitution of paid leave under federal FMLA and California CFRA, but should not impact San Francisco PPLO compliance.




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California Limits the Discretion Employers Have to Insist on a Driver’s License Even for Jobs that Require Driving for Work

Starting in January 2025, California’s Fair Employment & Housing Act (FEHA) will prohibit employers from including a statement in a job advertisement, posting, application, or other material that an applicant must have a driver’s license unless the employer “reasonably” anticipates driving to be an essential job function that cannot be comparably performed by alternative means. The stated purpose of the new FEHA amendment is to help facilitate employment for non-drivers who rely on ride hails, public transportation, biking, and walking as their primary means of transportation.




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U.S. Admits Qatar to Visa Waiver Program (VWP)

The United States has announced that Qatar will soon be officially admitted to the U.S. Visa Waiver Program (VWP), allowing visa-free travel to the United States by Qatari citizens for up to 90 days. Per the Final Rule published by the Department of Homeland Security on September 26, 2024, Qatar will be added to the VWP no later than December 1, 2024.




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Unlocking New Benefits: Is the SECURE 2.0 Student Loan Match Right for Your Workforce?

  • The Qualified Student Loan Payment (QSLP) match program allows an employer to match an employee’s student loan repayments by making matching contributions to the employer’s defined contribution plan, such as a 401(k) plan.
  • IRS Notice 2024-63 provides guidance for plan sponsors that offer (or wish to offer) a QSLP match program.




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California Eliminates Employers' Ability to Require Employees to Use Vacation Before They Receive State Paid Family Leave Benefits

Adam Fiss and Sebastian Chilco review updates to California’s paid leave law.

Wolters Kluwer

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California Eliminates Employers’ Ability to Require Vacation Use Before Receipt of State Paid Family Leave Benefits

Adam Joshua Fiss and Sebastian Chilco discuss a new California law that will eliminate employers’ ability to require employees to use up to two weeks of company-provided vacation before they start receiving paid family leave benefits.

SHRM

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California Limits Employers’ Discretion to Insist on a Driver’s License

Rod M. Fliegel discusses California legislation that further amends the Fair Employment and Housing Act to prohibit discrimination in the hiring process based on the applicant’s lack of a driver’s license.

SHRM

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Mediator Mark Rudy credits success to preparation, patience, persistence

Keith A. Jacoby explains what makes Mark Rudy a good mediator.

Daily Journal

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Supreme Court Permits Arbitration of Individual PAGA Claims

The United States Supreme Court’s decision in Viking River Cruises v. Moriana will dramatically impact employers’ rights to enforce arbitration agreements related to claims under California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA).1  This decision, which is a significant win for employers with interests in California, will allow employers to compel arbitration of a PAGA plaintiff’s individual PAGA claims.




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California Appellate Court Decision Limits Power of Arbitrators to Cure Late Arbitration Payments

On June 28, 2023, the California Second District Court of Appeal issued a decision interpreting the scope of California Code of Civil Procedure section 1281.98(a)(1), a recently amended California statute that requires employers to pay all arbitration costs and fees within 30 days of the due date, or risk being in material breach of the arbitration agreement.  In Cvejic v. Skyview Capital, the court held that an arbitrator cannot cure a missed or late arbitration fee payment.




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Employers can count sick leave credits as paid medical leave days under CLC: arbitrator

Rhonda Levy, Adrian Jakibchuk, Barry Kuretzky and George Vassos comment on an arbitrator’s ruling that federal employers can count employees’ sick leave credits as paid medical leave days under the Canada Labour Code (CLC) if their own program provides “a more favourable benefit” to workers.

Human Resources Director Canada

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New Law Prohibits Florida Businesses from Requiring Vaccine Passport from Patrons and Customers

On May 3, Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law SB 2006 (codified as Section 381.00316, Florida Statutes).  The law prevents business entities from requiring that patrons or customers provide documentation certifying COVID-19 vaccination or post-infection recovery to enter or obtain service from a business in Florida. It also prohibits educational institutions from requiring students or residents, and governmental entities from requiring persons, to provide vaccination passports or proof of post-infection recovery.




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NLRB General Counsel Files Complaint Demanding College Reclassify its Student-Athletes as Employees

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel (GC) Jennifer Abruzzo filed a long-anticipated complaint on May 18, 2023 against the University of Southern California (USC), the Pac-12 Conference, and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), alleging that their failure to use the term “employee” to refer to student-athletes in the university’s student athlete handbook and related social media policies intentionally discourages student athletes from exercising their alleged Section 7 rights as employees under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).




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No April Foolin’ – OSHA Updates its Worker Walkaround Representative Regulation

On April 1, 2024, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published its final rule clarifying that employees may designate a non-employee third party as their representative during an OSHA inspection.




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Once Bitten, Twice Shy: COBRA Excise Tax Audits May Add to COBRA's Bite

The advent of Health Care Reform has not lessened the importance of complying with existing Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and Internal Revenue Code requirements for employer-provided group health plans, such as COBRA, which requires covered health plans to provide certain notices and the opportunity to elect continued coverage to covered persons (qualified beneficiaries) who would otherwise lose coverage because of certain "qualifying events" such as termination of employment, loss of dependent status, and others.

IRS Updated COBRA Audit Guidelines




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Confidentiality and Attorney-Client Privilege Issues When Conducting Internal Investigations and Audits




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Risks in Internal Audits of Compliance Policies

In this edition of his Employment Issues column, Philip Berkowitz writes that if you are internal counsel or a human resources executive, your compliance department may want to review not only policies, but also backup data.

By Philip Berkowitz | July 7, 2021




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Viewpoint: A Checklist to Prepare for the DOL's Expansion of FMLA Audits

Jeff Nowak offers advice to employers on the DOL’s announcement that it will ramp up Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), as well as wage and hour, audits.

SHRM Online

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Federal regulators urge HR to perform AI bias audits

Jim Paretti offers advice on the EEOC's latest warning about AI bias in hiring, which may prompt employers to conduct AI audits, either done internally or with independent third parties.

TechTarget

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Littler Appoints New Leadership to Its 'Ohana Affinity Group and SOAR Program

(August 7, 2024) – Littler, the world’s largest employment and labor law practice representing management, has selected Devjani H. Mishra (Shareholder, New York) and Nicole S. LeFave (Shareholder, Austin) to lead its 'Ohana affinity group and SOAR Program, respectively.




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Just 11% of Legal Departments Predict Gen AI Will Be 'Transformative,' As Its Honeymoon Phase Fades

Marko Mrkonich says it’s important for companies to establish their AI compliance framework at the beginning, instead of after employees have already gotten used to deploying AI in certain ways.

Corporate Counsel

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The White House Will Be Shedding Its Union Label

Lee Schreter and Michael Lotito discuss ways that the new administration is likely to change the labor landscape in workplaces around the country.

The New York Times

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ETSI completed its first remote Mission Critical Plugtests event

ETSI completed its first remote Mission Critical Plugtests event

Sophia Antipolis, 11 February 2019

ETSI has just ended its third MCX Plugtests, which is the first remote PlugtestsTM within the MCX Plugtests programme, from 3 Dec 2018 until 31 Jan 2019.  

Read More...




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ETSI NFV announces new features to its architecture to support 5G

ETSI NFV announces new features to its architecture to support 5G

Sophia Antipolis, 1 July 2019

ETSI NFV has enhanced the system as well as designed new features to support 5G networks. Specifically, 5G resource management and orchestration aspects were added on top of the NFV Release 2 architecture framework.

Read More...




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ETSI’s 4th NFV Plugtests event broadens its scope with edge computing testing

ETSI’s 4th NFV Plugtests event broadens its scope with edge computing testing

Sophia Antipolis, 29 July 2019

The 4th ETSI NFV PlugtestsTM event was one of the sunny June highlights in ETSI, as it took place from 3 to 7 June in Sophia Antipolis.

Read More...




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First ETSI C-V2X interoperability event tests ETSI ITS and 3GPP standards

First ETSI C-V2X interoperability event tests ETSI ITS and 3GPP standards

Registration now open!

Sophia Antipolis, 8 November 2019

ETSI, with experts from its Center for Testing and Interoperability, in partnership with the 5GAA, is organizing the first C‑V2X PlugtestsTM event.

Hosted by DEKRA in its Connected Vehicle Test Development Centre in Malaga from 2-6 December 2019, the event will enable vendors to run interoperability test sessions to assess the level of interoperability of their implementations and validate their understanding of the standards. Interoperability testing checks that devices built to the same standards can work together and provide the functionalities specified in the standards.

Read More...




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ETSI OSM organizes its first fully remote Hackfest with a record number of participants

ETSI OSM organizes its first fully remote Hackfest with a record number of participants

Sophia Antipolis, 16 March 2020

These are special times where many face-to-face meetings are being postponed or canceled. But when the going gets tough, the tough gets going and ETSI OSM opted for reorganizing its Hackfest, originally planned as a physical event in Madrid from 9 to 12 March 2020, as a fully remote event. What originally seemed a huge challenge due to the hands-on approach and the high level of interaction required in a Hackfest, proved possible in a record time thanks to the outstanding engagement of the OSM community and the means provided by ETSI, making this Hackfest one of the best attended ever. The 4 days of Hackfest were run in parallel with the OSM Mid-Release EIGHT meeting and the OSM Ecosystem Day, also held remotely. 

Read More...




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Confinement: how ETSI helps its members and staff to work remotely round the world

Confinement: how ETSI helps its members and staff to work remotely round the world

Sophia Antipolis, 15 April 2020

With over 200 e-Meetings organized by ETSI and 3GPP technical groups in March (with up to 300 participants per meeting!) and with the entire ETSI staff now working remotely, the ETSI IT department has stepped up to ensure that all core standardization activities can continue to run smoothly during the COVID-19 lockdown. Even if the situation we are in is exceptional, e-Meetings are not new to ETSI groups. The ETSI IT department has been able to lean on their established business continuity plan to adapt and up-scale our online services, in these unusual times.

Read More...




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ETSI IPv6 White Paper outlines best practices, challenges, benefits and the way forward

Sophia Antipolis, 26 August 2020

The ETSI IP6 Industry Specification Group has just released a White Paper on the lessons learned from IPv6 best practices, use cases, benefits and deployment challenges. This White Paper puts forward recommendations to ease the adoption of IPv6 and to motivate the industry for the upcoming large-scale deployment of IoT, 4G/5G, IoT Cloud Computing benefiting from the restoration of the end to-end model.

Read More...




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Designing tomorrow’s world: ETSI unveils strategy in line with its ambitious vision

‘Designing tomorrow’s world’: ETSI unveils strategy in line with its ambitious vision

Sophia Antipolis, 3 December 2020

At the meeting of its General Assembly yesterday ETSI has validated a new strategy, the result of an intensive development process over the last months.

Titled ‘Designing tomorrow’s world’, the strategy has been shaped by ETSI’s diverse global community, drawing on the expertise and experience of more than 900 member organizations that include multinational and smaller companies, start-ups, research organizations and governmental institutions.

Read More...




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ETSI unveils its Report comparing worldwide COVID-19 contact-tracing systems – a first step toward interoperability

ETSI unveils its Report comparing worldwide COVID-19 contact-tracing systems – a first step toward interoperability

Sophia Antipolis, 2 February 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has stretched the planet’s health systems to their limits and tested the measures adopted to alleviate difficulties. Contact tracking or tracing to identify infected people has been one such example. However, contact tracing based on interviews with identified or suspected patients presents known weaknesses from previous pandemics. Turning to digital means in a world where global mobility is the rule was therefore of the essence.

Read More...




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‘Designing tomorrow’s world’: ETSI introduces its new strategy in line with its ambitious vision

‘Designing tomorrow’s world’: ETSI introduces its new strategy in line with its ambitious vision

Sophia Antipolis, 5 May 2021

Today ETSI is pleased to introduce its new strategy, the result of an intensive development process over the last months, validated at the ETSI General Assembly in December 2020.

Titled ‘Designing tomorrow’s world’, the strategy builds on a recognition of the global importance of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for a sustainable development and to support the digital transformation of society.

Read More...




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ETSI Advanced Mobile Location standard now permits European smartphones to send caller location in emergency calls

ETSI Advanced Mobile Location standard now permits European smartphones to send caller location in emergency calls

Sophia Antipolis, 22 March 2022

Since 17 March all smartphones sold in Europe are required to comply with Advanced Mobile Location for emergency communications. AML was standardized in ETSI TS 103 625 by the ETSI technical committee on emergency communications (EMTEL) in December 2019. It is already helping emergency services dispatch the needed resources efficiently in Europe and worldwide.

Read More...




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ETSI extends its ecosystem for the twin transition with new partners

ETSI extends its ecosystem for the twin transition with new partners

Sophia Antipolis, 29 March 2022

Today, ETSI’s General Assembly has approved two new Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with Direct Trust and FIDO and two cooperation agreements with the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) and Information Technology Industry Council’s (ITI) The Green Grid (TGG).

Read More...




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ETSI releases its Annual Report and Work Programme 2022-2023

ETSI releases its Annual Report and Work Programme 2022-2023

Sophia Antipolis, 20 April 2022

ETSI has just released its two activity documents, the Annual Report that looks back on 2021 achievements and the forward looking 2022-2023 Work Programme.

Read More...




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ETSI launches second release of TeraFlowSDN, its open source Cloud-Native SDN Orchestrator and Controller for transport networks

Sophia Antipolis, 2 February 2023

ETSI Open Source Group TeraFlowSDN has just announced the 2nd release of TeraFlowSDN controller, an innovative and robust SDN orchestrator and controller.

Read More...




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10 years of ETSI NFV - its Network Operators Council's perspective on the past, present and future

Sophia Antipolis, 24 February 2023

In the light of ten years from the NFV introductory whitepaper, is the new whitepaper the ETSI ISG NFV Network Operator Council (NOC), an advisory group of ISG NFV, launched this week, 10 years after the introductory whitepaper. 

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ETSI unveils 2023 Fellows at its 81th General Assembly

Sophia Antipolis, 31 March 2023

ETSI is pleased to unveil its 2023 ETSI Fellows who were announced at the 81th ETSI General Assembly on 29 March. The award ceremony took place in the Fernand Leger museum, in Biot, near ETSI facilities in the South of France where art, science and technology mixed beautifully. Scott Cadzow, Hans Johansson and Robert Sarfati were unanimously nominated as ETSI Fellows for their outstanding personal contributions to the organization by the Award committee, composed of the GA Chair and Vice-Chairs, the Board Chair and the ETSI Director-General.

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ETSI Releases TETRA Algorithms to Public Domain, maintaining the highest security for its critical communication standard

Sophia Antipolis, 14 November 2023

ETSI is happy to announce that at a meeting in October of its technical committee in charge of the TETRA standard (TCCE), a full consensus was reached to make the primitives of all TETRA Air Interface cryptographic algorithms available to the public domain.

Read More...




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3GPP Commits to Develop 6G Specifications

As the project celebrates the 25th anniversary of the signing of the 3GPP Project Agreement, the 3GPP Organizational Partners have today issued the following joint press release.

Sophia Antipolis, 4 December 2023

With its work on 3G, 4G and 5G specifications used by billions of communications services consumers globally, 3GPP stands ready to create the 6G future.

Read More...




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ETSI releases its two first reports on THz communication systems

Sophia Antipolis, 05 April 2024

ETSI is pleased to announce the release of the first two Group Reports developed by its Terahertz Industry Specification Group (ISG THz). They are addressing key elements in this initial phase of the pre-standardization works for THz communications: the use-cases and the spectrum. The role of ETSI ISG THz is to develop an environment where various actors from the academia, research centres, industry can share, in a consensus-driven way, their pre-standardization efforts on THz technology resulting from various collaborative research projects and global initiatives, paving the way towards future standardization. Complementing the work of other ETSI Technical Bodies and other SDOs, the group concentrates on establishing the technical foundation for the development and standardization of THz communications.

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ETSI SDG OSL makes publicly available its 2024Q2 Release

Sophia Antipolis, 29 July 2024

We are thrilled to announce our latest official release of OpenSlice, proudly brought to you by ETSI Software Development Group OpenSlice (SDG OSL). This marks our first release under the ETSI umbrella, reflecting our commitment to excellence and innovation in the field of open-source Operations Support System (OSS) solutions.

We want to keep the community’s interest on par with our highest passion and expectation to revolutionize the way Network as a Service (NaaS) is delivered, and our latest release is a testament to our dedication! With this new release, we introduce significant changes aimed at enhancing user engagement and addressing the contemporary needs of both research and industry sectors on the matter.

"The latest OpenSlice 2024Q2 version is a manifest to our commitment to pave the way for modern telco-cloud requirements, seamless integration and reference implementations for 6G" - Christos Tranoris, Senior Research at UPATRAS and Chair of ETSI SDG OSL.

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ETSI completes F5G Advanced Release 3 enabling 10Gbits to everybody

Sophia Antipolis, 8 October 2024

ETSI announces the completion of its Release 3 specifications on Fifth Generation Advanced Fixed Network (F5G-A). Building on the achievements of the Release 1 and Release 2, the ETSI ISG F5G has specified a series of new features and capabilities, further elevating fixed fiber networks to a new level:

  • Specification of F5G Advanced
    ETSI ISG F5G unveiled the "F5G Advanced Generation Definition", which not only further enhances existing three foundational features of F5G-Enhanced Fixed Broadband (eFBB), Full Fiber Connectivity (FFC), and Guaranteed Reliable Experience (GRE), but also introduces three new key features: Real-time Resilient Link (RRL), Optical Sensing and Visualization (OSV), and Green Agile Optical network (GAO).

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The architecture of the Sudanese agricultural sector and its contribution to the economy between 1990 and 2021 [in Arabic]

بنية القطاع الزراعي السوداني ومساهمته في الاقتصاد بين عامي 1990 و2021