Nippon Steel Corp.’s proposed $12.3 billion acquisition of US Steel Corp. moved a step closer to being blocked after a US national security panel deadlocked on its review and left the final decision with President Joe Biden,

A government panel has failed to reach consensus on the possible national security risks of a nearly $15 billion proposed deal for Nippon Steel to purchase U.S. Steel.

Activists have called for Biden to commute the sentence of many or all federal death row inmates for some time. More than 130 civil and human rights groups penned a letter to the president in early December calling on him to commute the sentences of "all individuals on federal death row."

U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday commuted the sentences for 37 out of 40 federal inmates on death row, converting them to life in prison without parole, before he hands power to President-elect Donald Trump on Jan.