Toma nota.../Take note...

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.

The executive orders and decisions signed by President Biden during the first days of his term are the most numerous in history. Here is a partial list for our readers of some of the decisions made by President Biden during these first few days. They are just a sample of the most relevant among dozens of executive orders signed in those early days.

Partial list of the actions taken by Biden and his administration
following his Jan. 20 inauguration 

1. The Keystone XL pipeline’s construction was halted after Biden revoked the construction project’s permit.
2. Signed an executive order for the United States to rejoin the 2015 Paris Agreement.
3. The United States would send $4 billion for development to Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.
4. Halted deportation of noncitizens entering the United States illegally.
5. Removed the designation of the Houthis as a terrorist group. 
6. Announced that the Biden administration would codify Roe v. Wade, which would allow for legal abortions even in the event that the Supreme Court overturns the 1973 ruling.
7. Halted the Interior Department agencies and bureaus from issuing oil and natural gas drilling leases or permits on federal lands and waters.

Nobel laureate Economist Prof. Hoseph E. Stiglitz said on Monday that the factors that have contributed to Kerala's success are "competent governmental institutions, competent adminitration, participatory democracy and decentralisation, reliance on Science and the continued importance given to planning" and advised Kerala to reduce its dependence on remittances from the Gulf countries, as the world was moving away from oil to start using renewable energy sources as part of the efforts to deal with global warming.

«Kerala needs to reinforce its productive capabilities».– Stiglitz

«State cannot continue to rely on Gulf remittances» 

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb. 1.– It is high time Kerala reduced its dependence on Gulf remittances and strengthened its productive capabilities for moving forward, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz said on Monday, underscoring the need for the State to have a “diversified economy.”

Delivering the keynote address at ‘Kerala Looks Ahead,’ a three-day international conference and consultation organised by the State Planning Board, Prof. Stiglitz said Kerala could scarcely continue to rely on remittances from the Gulf States any more. “The irony is that Kerala has become, in that way, indirectly dependent on oil, on a carbon economy. You do not think of yourself as a part of the fossil fuel economy, but indirectly you are. And that is why it is very important for Kerala to be looking ahead,” he said.