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Bajo la larga sombra de la COVID‑19, el 2020 ha sido un año oscuro. Los científicos llevaban años advirtiendo de una pandemia como esta, señalando el aumento de los patógenos zoonóticos —los que tienen capacidad para pasar de los animales a las personas— como reflejo de las presiones de los seres humanos sobre la Tierra.

Estas presiones han crecido de manera exponencial en los últimos 100 años. Los seres humanos hemos logrado cosas increíbles, pero también hemos llevado nuestro planeta al límite. Cambio climático, desigualdades flagrantes, cifras nunca vistas de personas que se ven obligadas a abandonar sus hogares por conflictos y crisis... Estos son los resultados de unas sociedades que valoran lo que miden en lugar de medir lo que valoran.

De hecho, las presiones que ejercemos sobre el planeta son ya tan elevadas que los científicos están estudiando si la Tierra ha entrado en una época geológica completamente nueva: el Antropoceno, la era de los seres humanos. Esto significa que somos las primeras personas que vivimos en una era definida por las elecciones humanas, en la que el riesgo dominante para nuestra supervivencia somos nosotros mismos.

Videos de Sandro Castro, nieto de Fidel Castro, se viralizaron recientemente en redes sociales. ¿Qué preguntas sobre la distribución de la riqueza en Cuba ponen sobre la mesa? DW conversó con economistas cubanos."

La Habana, Marzo 20 (DW).– “Tú sabes que nosotros somos sencillos, pero de vez en cuando hay que sacar estos jugueticos que tenemos en casa”, alardea Sandro Castro mientras conduce un Mercedes Benz y pide a su acompañante que lo filme.

El video, filtrado a redes sociales hace una semana, causó revuelo en un país ahora más conectado a internet, que sufre una profunda crisis económica, y una reforma monetaria, de salarios y pensiones, además de la actual pandemia de coronavirus. Tanto, que el nieto de Fidel Castro –a quien medios no estatales cubanos atribuyen la propiedad de varios renombrados bares en La Habana–, publicó un segundo video, disculpándose con “todos los cubanos, donde quiera que estén” y asegurando que el vehículo era prestado.

“Cuba cambió. En 62 años nunca un Castro o dirigente ha pedido disculpas públicas por su buena vida mientras el pueblo se hunde en la miseria”, reaccionó en Twitter el artista y activista disidente Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara. 

POSCO (formerly Pohang Iron and Steel Co., Ltd) is a South Korean steel-making company headquartered in Pohang, South Korea. Previously operated a joint venture with U.S. Steel, USS-POSCO Industries, in Pittsburg, California, United States, but U.S. Steel acquired full ownership of that facility in February 2020."

 Seoul, Mar.11.– POSCO chairman Choi Jung-woo is seeking reappointment as chairman at a general shareholders' meeting slated for March 12. Yet he is facing strong opposition from progressive civic organizations and some lawmakers of the ruling Democratic Party.

A group of civic organizations held a rally on March 10 to criticize POSCO and Choi for promoting a coal-fired power plant project in Samcheok, Gangwon Province, and business ties with Myanmar's military-owned companies.

Twenty-one Republican senators want President Joe Biden to reconsider revoking his predecessor’s executive order telling federal agencies to publish guidance on how they interpret and apply regulations. 

On his first day in the Oval Office, Biden revoked then-President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 13891 that required creation of a public database of agency guidance documents, based on a bill in Congress with bipartisan support, the Guidance Out of Darkness (GOOD) Act.

“Without explanation, you described this executive order as one of the ‘harmful policies and directives that threaten to frustrate the federal government’s ability to confront [the (COVID19) pandemic, economic recovery, racial justice, and climate change],’ and you claimed—again without explanation—that its revocation was necessary to provide federal agencies the ‘flexibility to use robust regulatory action to address national priorities,’” the senators told Biden in a Feb. 8 letter.

Sen. Ron Johnson (Wis.), the ranking Republican on the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, initiated the letter, which was also signed by Sens. James Lankford (Okla.), Rob Portman (Ohio), Rand Paul (Ky.), Joni Ernst (Iowa), John Cornyn and Ted Cruz (Texas), Thom Tillis (N.C.), Kevin Cramer (N.D.), Dan Sullivan (Alaska), John Barrasso (Wyo.), Pat Toomey (Pa.), James Risch (Idaho), Mike Lee (Utah), Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), Rick Scott (Fla.), Deb Fischer (Neb.), Bill Hagerty (Tenn.), Mike Braun (Ind.), Roger Marshall (Kan.), and Cynthia Lummis (Wyo.). 

The signers noted that the GOOD proposal had been approved once by the House and twice by the Senate Homeland Security Committee in previous Congresses ... [ Read more ] 

Letter sent to President Joe Biden questioning an executive order revoking Transparency Measures

February 8, 2021

President Joseph R. Biden
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

On January 20, 2021, you announced that certain executive orders related to Federal regulations would be revoked, including Executive Order 13891, Promoting the Rule of Law Through Improved Agency Guidance Documents.^[1] Executive Order 13891 required Federal agencies to publish and make available on a searchable database their guidance documents, which explain how an agency will interpret and apply its regulations.^[2] Without explanation, you described this executive order as one of the “harmful policies and directives that threaten to frustrate the Federal Government’s ability to confront [the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, economic recovery, racial justice, and climate change],” and you claimed—again without explanation—that its revocation was necessary to provide Federal agencies the “flexibility to use robust regulatory action to address national priorities.”^[3] These claims completely ignore the strong bipartisan support for and sound policy reflected in Executive Order 13891.