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Welcome to The Bicycle Thread. A monthly PING List for bicycle enthusiasts to share experiences, information and ideas.

Welcome to The Bicycle Thread. A monthly PING List for bicycle enthusiasts to share experiences, information and ideas.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp and ArcelorMittal SA will spend $775 million to build an electric arc furnace at their U.S. joint venture in Alabama, with a planned start date in the first half of 2023, Nippon Steel said on Tuesday. The new furnace, to be constructed at their 50-50 joint venture AM/NS Calvert, will have an annual capacity of 1.5 million metric tonnes and will produce hot-rolled, cold-rolled and coated steel sheets. Calvert currently produces steel sheet products by processing semi-finished products, or slabs, procured from local and overseas suppliers. With the new furnace, Calvert will be...

Welcome to The Bicycle Thread. A monthly PING List for bicycle enthusiasts to share experiences, information and ideas.

Harley Rouda Thanks to the incredible energy brought by our thousands of grassroots volunteers, I was proud to be the first Democrat ever to represent #CA48.

Archaeologists have found what they think is evidence of low-chromium crucible steel in the 11th century in what is now Chahak in Iran, a long time and a long way away from the European Industrial Revolution. The metal would have been used to manufacture armour and weapons, including swords and daggers. "This research not only delivers the earliest known evidence for the production of chromium steel dating back as early as the 11th century CE, but also provides a chemical tracer that could aid the identification of crucible steel artefacts in museums or archaeological collections back to their origin in...

Germany on Wednesday pledged to help its steel industry become carbon neutral by 2050, as the coronavirus pandemic squeezes a sector already in a prolonged crisis. It is important to act now so the steel industry “will still be competitive and environmentally friendly … in 30 years’ time,” Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said. A proposed plan includes new criteria for awarding public contracts, a minimum quota of low-carbon or carbon-neutral steel in finished products, and a new “green steel” label, Altmaier said. Industry figures cited by the economy ministry suggest steelmakers will need an extra €30 billion ($34 billion) to...

U.K. Court documents released on Wednesday reveal that as early as July 5, 2016, the FBI was aware that former MI6 agent Christopher Steele had acknowledged that then-presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton personally knew that he was commissioned to compile the now thoroughly discredited Trump-Russia dossier. Notes taken by the FBI indicate that Steele was told that Clinton herself was aware that he was commissioned to create the Trump-Russia dossier which alleges collusion between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and the Russian government during the 2016 election, amongst various other wild allegations. Three months later, the FBI would conceal this...

Martensite steel powder used for 3D printing. Inset shows a zoomed-in view of the steel powder. Credit: Raiyan Seede/Texas A&M University College of Engineering For millennia, metallurgists have been meticulously tweaking the ingredients of steel to enhance its properties. As a result, several variants of steel exist today; but one type, called martensitic steel, stands out from its steel cousins as stronger and more cost-effective to produce. Hence, martensitic steels naturally lend themselves to applications in the aerospace, automotive and defense industries, among others, where high-strength, lightweight parts need to be manufactured without boosting the cost. However, for these and...

A 32-year-old man was found guilty after he reportedly purchased Chinese parts for a NASA space launch project and tried to cover it up. Seongchan “Steven” Yun of Redondo Beach, California was charged with providing a false document to a federal agency and now faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison, according to the United States Department of Justice. Yun worked for the CBOL Corporation which provides parts and materials to the aerospace industry, including NASA. Yun was responsible for a contract that would provide stainless steel tubing to carry rocket fuel in support of NASA’s Space...

President Trump said he would impose tariffs, effective immediately, on all steel and aluminum shipped into the United States from Brazil and Argentina. “Brazil and Argentina have been presiding over a massive devaluation of their currencies. which is not good for our farmers,” Trump said in Monday morning tweet. He then directed his attention to the Federal Reserve, saying the central bank should “act so that countries, of which there are many, no longer take advantage of our strong dollar by further devaluing their currencies. This makes it very hard for our [manufacturers] & farmers to fairly export their goods....

I’ve looked and could find no information on which US steel manufacturers are providing the steel for the wall. Does anyone know?

Yes! Le Tour is here. The 106th edition of the race begins Saturday, in next-door Brussels, a nod to the stern-faced Belgian cycling titan Eddy Merckx, who won five overall Tours and 34 stages beginning in 1969... It’s got a case as the craziest and most beautiful event in sports, but it’s clearly an acquired taste. I’m really super-duper into it. You know this. ...the four-time Tour winner Chris Froome, was badly hurt in a crash, suffering a broken leg and other injuries. Froome would have been a favorite for this year. One of the more intriguing newbies is Mike...

Britain's second-biggest steel maker collapsed on Wednesday, putting about 5,000 jobs at the company directly at risk, and threatening another 20,000 at suppliers. The company was seeking a government bailout, but talks ended without agreement. The High Court ordered the company into compulsory liquidation, according to the government's Insolvency Service. British Steel was reportedly seeking a government loan of £75 million ($95 million) to cover losses it said it suffered because European orders had evaporated due to the uncertainty surrounding Brexit. "Unable to decipher the trading relationship the UK will have with its biggest market in just five months' time,...

Britain's second biggest steel maker collapsed on Wednesday, putting about 5,000 jobs at the company directly at risk, and threatening another 20,000 at suppliers. The company was seeking a government bailout, but talks ended without agreement. The High Court ordered the company into compulsory liquidation, according to the government's Insolvency Service. British Steel was reportedly seeking a government loan of £75 million ($95 million) to cover losses it said it suffered because European orders had evaporated due to the uncertainty surrounding Brexit. "Unable to decipher the trading relationship the UK will have with its biggest market in just five months'...

The United States has reached a deal to lift steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and Mexico, removing one key obstacle to passing updates to the North American Free Trade Agreement. In a joint statement Friday, the Canadian and American governments said the U.S. will scrap the metals duties within two days. Canada will remove tariffs levied on American goods in retaliation for the steel and aluminum duties. The countries will also: Drop all pending litigation in the World Trade Organization related to the tariffs

(CNN)President Donald Trump lifted steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and Mexico on Friday, a move designed to ease one area of tensions even as the President's wider trade agenda faces an uncertain future. A joint statement from the US and Canadian governments said the tariffs would be lifted in two days, and added the two sides had agreed on monitoring and enforcement mechanisms to prevent steel dumping that might affect prices. The step clears a key hurdle for ratification of Trump's replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement, though final passage of that pact remains uncertain as US...

How Are Those Steel Tariffs Working? Not so good. https://t.co/z5TwS7ZcyX— Jeb Bush (@JebBush) March 18, 2019

1 COMMITTEE SENSITIVE EXECUTIVE SESSION COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, JOINT WITH THE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM AND OVERSIGHT, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, WASHINGTON, D.C. INTERVIEW OF: BRUCE OHR Tuesday, August 28, 2018 Washington, D.C. The interview in the above matter was held in Room 2141, Rayburn House Office Building, commencing at 9:05 a.m. COMMITTEE SENSITIVE 2 COMMITTEE SENSITIVE Mr. Parmiter. Good morning. This is a transcribed interview of Bruce Ohr. Chairman Goodlatte and Chairman Gowdy requested this interview as part of a joint investigation by the House Committee on the Judiciary and the House Committee on Oversight and Government...

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Saturday she had made clear in a meeting with U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the Munich Security Conference the importance of the U.S. lifting tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada. Freeland said that while Canada is now focused on its domestic ratification process for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade deal, it remains strongly opposed to the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum. “The Canada position is now that we have concluded (USMCA) that is all the more reason why the tariffs must be lifted,” she...