CHINESEIFICATION OF TIBET

Tibet sustains rapid socioeconomic development: white paper

(Xinhua) 11:10, May 21, 2021

BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region has witnessed sustained and rapid socioeconomic development since its peaceful liberation in 1951, according to a white paper issued on Friday.

The region's GDP surpassed 190 billion yuan (about 29.6 billion U.S. dollars) in 2020, up from 129 million yuan in 1951, said the white paper titled "Tibet Since 1951: Liberation, Development and Prosperity," issued by China's State Council Information Office.

The region's retail sales of consumer goods reached 74.6 billion yuan in 2020, more than 2,000 times larger than in 1959, it said.

White paper slams 14th Dalai Lama group for promoting "Tibetan independence"

(Xinhua) 11:17, May 21, 2021

BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Over the years, the 14th Dalai Lama and his supporters have continued to try to promote "Tibetan independence" by provoking incidents to jeopardize peace and stability in Tibet, said a white paper released on Friday.

Full Text: Tibet Since 1951: Liberation, Development and Prosperity

(Xinhua) 10:40, May 21, 2021

BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- China's State Council Information Office on Friday issued a white paper on the peaceful liberation of Tibet and its development over the past seven decades.

The white paper, titled "Tibet Since 1951: Liberation, Development and Prosperity," reviewed Tibet's history and achievements, and presented a true and panoramic picture of the new socialist Tibet.

Tibet Since 1951:

Liberation, Development

and Prosperity

 

The State Council Information Office of

the People's Republic of China

May 2021

 

Contents

Foreword

I. Tibet Before the Peaceful Liberation

II. Peaceful Liberation

III. Historic Changes in Society

IV. Rapid Development of Various Undertakings

V. A Complete Victory over Poverty

VI. Protection and Development of Traditional Culture

VII. Remarkable Results in Ethnic and Religious Work

VIII. Solid Environmental Safety Barriers

IX. Resolutely Safeguarding National Unity and Social Stability

X. Embarking on a New Journey in the New Era

Conclusion

Full Text: Tibet Since 1951: Liberation, Development and Prosperity - People's Daily Online

 

China's deep-water drilling machine sets new world record

By Yu Si'nan, Tang Yahui (People's Daily Online) 10:14, May 20, 2021

A Chinese deep-sea drilling rig recently drilled to a depth of 231 meters on a seabed more than 2,000 meters beneath the sea level in the South China Sea, setting a new world record in deep-sea drilling depth.

Photo shows China's Hainiu II deep-water drilling machine on a research vessel. (Photo/Hunan University of Science and Technology)

Before that, the maximum designed drilling depth of deep-sea drilling machines around the world was 200 meters, and the actual depth drilled in pressure coring was 135 meters.

The Chinese drilling rig Hainiu (meaning "manatee") II, developed by Hunan University of Science and Technology (HNUST), signifies that China has theoretically acquired the capability to explore all maritime resources as a front runner in deep-sea drilling.

Pressure core sampling is a unique technique of Hainiu II, which enables the rig to retrieve core samples from the ocean floor while maintaining in-situ pressure. It is considered vital for exploring flammable ice, a methane-laced ice crystal, and some other seafloor minerals.

Flammable ice is in ice form only when it's under seawater pressure. Once withdrawn from the depth it is adapted to, it would volatilize due to decompression. That's why such substances can only be retrieved with pressure core sampling.

 

China's Hainiu II deep-water drilling machine performs a trial drilling. (Photo/Hunan University of Science and Technology)

The Hainiu II drilling rig has made a series of technological breakthroughs, such as whole-process pressure coring, as well as high-capacity drill rods and fast connection & release, said Wan Buyan, a professor with the HNUST and chief researcher of the Hainiu II project.

All the core technologies were independently developed by Chinese researchers, which have obtained 125 Chinese patents and four international ones, Wan added.

The smart drilling machine can be operated by one person alone on a mother ship. While drilling and sampling, it can also detect rock electrical resistivity and porosity, and take photos in the borehole.

China has placed increasing importance on the R&D of marine equipment over the recent years. Deep-sea drilling technologies are important for the manufacturing techniques of other deep-sea equipment, and are able to drive the development of relevant industries.

Over 10 years ago, almost all the equipment on China's research vessels was imported, Wan recalled. Now, however, more than 80 percent of the devices used in Chinese expeditions are domestically produced, and the proportion will continue to grow in the future, he added.

Wan disclosed that the research team of Hainiu II will further improve the performance of the drilling machine to make it more adaptive, better complete operations, and become more intelligent.

The team plans to put the drilling rig into an exploration operation at the Mariana Trench with a depth of over 10,000 meters, where no seabed drilling has ever been performed, Wan said.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Bianji)

Businesses in Vancouver's Chinatown suffer from COVID-19 pandemic

(Xinhua) 09:26, May 21, 2021

5 PHOTOS

Businesses in Vancouver's Chinatown suffer from COVID-19 pandemic - People's Daily Online

A woman walks past closed stores along a street in Chinatown, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on May 20, 2021. After suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic for over a year, businesses in Chinatown, one of the tourist attractions in Vancouver, are calling for help to bring back visitors. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua)

Businesses in Vancouver's Chinatown suffer from COVID-19 pandemic (2)

(Xinhua) 09:26, May 21, 2021

Photo taken on May 20, 2021 shows a shopping mall in Chinatown, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. After suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic for over a year, businesses in Chinatown, one of the tourist attractions in Vancouver, are calling for help to bring back visitors. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua)

Businesses in Vancouver's Chinatown suffer from COVID-19 pandemic (4)

(Xinhua) 09:26, May 21, 2021

People walk along a street in Chinatown, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on May 20, 2021. After suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic for over a year, businesses in Chinatown, one of the tourist attractions in Vancouver, are calling for help to bring back visitors. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua)

World Intelligence Congress opens in China's Tianjin 

12 PHOTOS 

World Intelligence Congress opens in China's Tianjin - People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 10:04, May 21, 2021

World Intelligence Congress opens in China's Tianjin (3)

(Xinhua) 10:04, May 21, 2021

Artists and robots perform during a concert at the World Intelligence Congress in Tianjin, north China, May 20, 2021. The fifth World Intelligence Congress, a major artificial intelligence (AI) event in China, kicked off on Thursday, highlighting frontier AI technologies and applications. (Photo by Sun Fanyue/Xinhua)

World Intelligence Congress opens in China's Tianjin (7)

(Xinhua) 10:04, May 21, 2021

Artists and robots perform during a concert at the World Intelligence Congress in Tianjin, north China, May 20, 2021. The fifth World Intelligence Congress, a major artificial intelligence (AI) event in China, kicked off on Thursday, highlighting frontier AI technologies and applications. (Xinhua/Li Ran)

World Intelligence Congress opens in China's Tianjin (8)

(Xinhua) 10:04, May 21, 2021

Artists and robots perform during a concert at the World Intelligence Congress in Tianjin, north China, May 20, 2021. The fifth World Intelligence Congress, a major artificial intelligence (AI) event in China, kicked off on Thursday, highlighting frontier AI technologies and applications. (Photo by Sun Fanyue/Xinhua)

REDS ON THE RED PLANET

China's Tianwen-1 probe sends back Mars landing visuals

(Xinhua) May 20, 2021



The black and white image taken by an obstacle avoidance camera installed in front of the rover of China's Mars probe Tianwen-1 shows that a ramp on the lander has been extended to the surface of Mars. The terrain of the rover's forward direction is clearly visible in the image, and the horizon of Mars appears curved due to the wide-angle lens. (Photo provided by the China National Space Administration)

BEIJING, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Two photos and two videos captured by China's Mars probe Tianwen-1 during and after the country's first landing on the red planet were released by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) on Wednesday.

The lander carrying a rover of the Tianwen-1 mission touched down in the southern part of Utopia Planitia, a vast plain on the northern hemisphere of Mars, on May 15, becoming the country's first probe to land on a planet other than Earth.

The first photograph, a black and white image, was taken by an obstacle avoidance camera installed in front of the Mars rover. The image shows that a ramp on the lander has been extended to the surface of Mars. The terrain of the rover's forward direction is clearly visible in the image, and the horizon of Mars appears curved due to the wide-angle lens.

In the color photo taken by the navigation camera of Tianwen-1 probe towards the rear of the rover, the rover's solar panels and antenna are seen unfolded, and the red soil and rocks on the Martian surface are clearly visible. (Photo provided by the China National Space Administration)

The second image, a color photo, was taken by the navigation camera fitted to the rear of the rover. The rover's solar panels and antenna are seen unfolded, and the red soil and rocks on the Martian surface are clearly visible in the image.

Videos taken by a camera on the orbiter of Tianwen-1 show how the lander and the rover separated from the orbiter during landing. (Videos provided by the China National Space Administration)

The probe also sent back two videos taken by a camera on the orbiter, showing how the lander and the rover separated from the orbiter during landing.

Tianwen-1, consisting of an orbiter, a lander and a rover, was launched on July 23, 2020. It was the first step in China's planetary exploration of the solar system, with the aim of completing orbiting, landing and roving on the red planet in one mission.

After landing last Saturday, the lander and rover established communication with the Earth.

On May 17, the orbiter entered orbit to relay communication between the rover and the Earth, and sent back images and data from the rover.

The rover is now making preparations for moving down from the lander onto the Martian surface, CNSA said.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)

Interview: Space cooperation creates bridges between Europe, China, says ESA expert

(Xinhua) 11:05, May 20, 2021

File photo released on March 4, 2021 by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) shows a high-resolution image of Mars captured by the country's Tianwen-1 probe. (CNSA/Handout via Xinhua)

"The data that Zhurong (China's first Mars rover) will bring back to China would be of great interest to the scientific communities, be it in Europe, in China or anywhere," said an expert of the European Space Agency.

PARIS, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Europe-China cooperation in outer space is of great importance and creates bridges between scientists of the two sides, a senior official and expert of the European Space Agency (ESA) has said, expecting more cooperation and exchanges in this field.

In an interview with Xinhua on Monday, Karl Bergquist, ESA's administrator of international relations, said the agency, which has been cooperating with Chinese scientists in space exploration over the past years, is closely following the development of China's Mars mission.

The Tianwen-1 probe carrying China's first Mars rover Zhurong, named after the god of fire in ancient Chinese mythology, successfully touched down on the Red Planet on Saturday morning. It is the first time China has landed a probe on a planet other than Earth.



Technical personnel work at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center in Beijing, capital of China, May 15, 2021. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang)

Bergquist called the landing "a fantastic achievement" because landing on Mars is a highly complex and difficult task and what China has done is something which has never been done before -- succeeding to land in the first attempt.

"We really would like to congratulate China on this great achievement," he said.

"The data that Zhurong will bring back to China would be of great interest to the scientific communities, be it in Europe, in China or anywhere," the ESA expert added.

The expert said the European agency had provided environmental data on Mars to the China National Space Administration in 2015. It has also offered telemetric and tracking support for the Mars exploration mission.

As to a future Mars mission, a sample return one, Bergquist believed it will come in several years because of its enormous complexity. He is looking forward to more cooperation between European and Chinese scientists in this domain.



Technical personnel celebrate at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center in Beijing, capital of China, May 15, 2021. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin)

For decades, European and Chinese space scientists have been working together in various domains, the expert said, citing the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer, or SMILE, a joint mission between the ESA and the Chinese Academy of Sciences which aims to build a more complete understanding of the Sun-Earth connection by measuring the solar wind and its dynamic interaction with the magnetosphere.

"This is a very interesting mission. The purpose of such a mission is providing data to European and to Chinese researchers so that they can work together to understand and learn more about the universe," he said.

Bergquist also highlighted Europe-China cooperation in the field of earth sciences, introducing the "dragon" project that has been going on for over 10 years with about 700 scientists from the two sides working together on issues including oceans, atmosphere, chemistry, pollution and climate.

"These are really fields that we have global problems (with) and we try to see how we can work together to find a solution for us all," Bergquist said.

"This is fantastic. We are pushing science a little bit further each time through these cooperation projects," he added.

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Liang Jun)

Study finds Sinovac vaccine 99.49 pct effective in immune responses

(Xinhua) 17:22, May 19, 2021

Photo taken on May 12, 2021 shows COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac at a COVID-19 vaccination center in Bangkok, Thailand. (Xinhua/Rachen Sageamsak)

99.49 percent of the recipients of Sinovac vaccine had developed antibody responses four weeks after their second shots, the Bangkok Post said on Sunday, quoting the study results.

BANGKOK, May 19 (Xinhua) -- A new vaccination study conducted by Thailand's Chulalongkorn University has found that China's Sinovac vaccine has extremely high efficacy in boosting immune responses against COVID-19, according to media reports.

The study run by the Center of Excellence in Clinical Virology of the Faculty of Medicine at the university showed that 99.49 percent of the recipients had developed antibody responses four weeks after their second shots, the Bangkok Post said on Sunday, quoting the study results.

Three weeks after the first shot, around 66 percent of the recipients had developed immune responses, the report added.

The number of antibodies against the coronavirus was measured with Roche Elecsys Electrochemiluminescence Immunoassay, a qualitative detection of total antibodies developed against the virus in people's blood samples before and after the vaccination period, said the research group.

The tests were conducted before injections, three weeks after the first shot and four weeks after the second injection.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Hongyu)

BOTTOM FEEDER ARISTOCRAT

UK
‘The pay is right’: Jacob Rees-Mogg defends 1% increase after nurse who treated Boris Johnson quits NHS


James Morris
·Senior news reporter, Yahoo News UK
Thu, 20 May 2021, 

Watch: Jacob Rees-Mogg defends 1% rise for NHS workers – 'The pay is right'

Jacob Rees-Mogg has defended the government’s proposed 1% pay rise for NHS staff following the resignation of Jenny McGee, insisting: “The pay is right.”

McGee, the nurse who cared for Boris Johnson when he nearly died from coronavirus last year – and who was publicly thanked by the prime minister – has quit the NHS.

She cited the government’s controversial 1% pay rise offer and said Downing Street does not respect the profession.

Johnson evaded a question about her resignation at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.

Boris Johnson and Jenny McGee at a Downing Street reception in July last year celebrating 72 years of the NHS. (Andrew Parsons/Number 10 Flickr/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

However, House of Commons leader Rees-Mogg was also asked about McGee at Thursday’s business questions in the chamber.

Shadow Commons leader Thangam Debbonaire asked what Rees-Mogg had to say to McGee.

He said: “There is a 1% pay increase being given to nurses. And over the last year there are 56,900 more people working in the NHS.

“That is a real success, it shows the recruitment is right, and if the recruitment is right that usually indicates the pay is right."

McGee cared for Johnson in intensive care at St Thomas’ Hospital in central London in April last year.

She told a Channel 4 documentary, The Year Britain Stopped, which will be broadcast on Monday: “We’re not getting the respect and now pay that we deserve. I’m just sick of it. So I’ve handed in my resignation.”

In March, the government’s 1% pay rise recommendation for NHS staff in England sparked outrage. One poll suggested as much as 72% of the population thought it was too low.

At the time, Johnson defended the offer, saying: “Don’t forget that there has been a public sector pay freeze, we’re in pretty tough times.”

The NHS Pay Review Body is currently considering the recommendation and is set to report back to the government within the next 11 days.

JOE BIDEN’S DRILLING MORATORIUM 

IS NOT A MORATORIUM

BY SAM MELLINS

JACOBIN

05.20.2021

During his first week in office, Joe Biden signed an executive order pausing oil and gas leases on federal land. But a few months later, it's clear the modest action will do little to rein in US carbon emissions

.
Experts and environmental advocates say that Joe Biden's moratorium on drilling is likely to have little effect. (@ElMelindo / Flickr)

During the 2020 campaign, President Joe Biden promised to combat climate change by “banning new oil and gas permitting on public lands and waters” — and the week he took office in January, Biden issued an executive order pausing oil and gas leases on federal land as part of the administration’s effort to “combat the climate crisis by example.”

But experts and environmental advocates say that the moratorium is likely to have little effect. Moreover, even as a new International Energy Agency (IEA) report said governments must immediately end fossil fuel development, Biden has yet to use his executive authority to take steps that could more quickly do that.

The ramifications of Biden’s initial moves will likely be limited because fossil fuel companies, fearing such a ban under a potential Democratic administration, sought and received approval for thousands of drilling permits on millions of acres of federal land during the Trump years, which they can develop at any time. Several energy executives have said that this stockpile will keep the companies occupied at least until the next presidential election, without needing to seek any new leases in order to continue development.

Even if their stockpiles don’t last that long, the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management has already broken Biden’s campaign promise by approving more than five hundred new drilling permits for previously existing leases since Biden took office.

“The review process for an application for a permit to drill is comprehensive to ensure oil and gas development will be done in an environmentally sound and responsible manner,” the Bureau of Land Management told Argus Media in March.

These factors are why Mitch Jones, policy director for environmental advocacy group Food & Water Watch, believes the pause on new leases “most likely will have no effect on oil and gas production on federal lands.”

Jones added: “The mere fact that new leases aren’t being issued isn’t having any real-world effect on the amount of drilling that’s taking place.”

The IEA report, released this week, found that in order to keep global temperature increases below catastrophic levels, governments should move aggressively toward electric cars and zero-emissions power plants, both of which would dramatically reduce oil and gas use.

If Biden is serious about reducing oil and gas developments on federal lands and mitigating the worst effects of climate change, experts insist that action is needed beyond the permit moratorium. Specifically, there are other concrete steps the administration can take without congressional action, including a moratorium on new drilling permits, and disincentivizing further development by raising the cost of leasing land and the percentage of oil and gas revenues taken by the government.
A Limited and Tenuous Moratorium

Without additional action, Biden’s executive order is unlikely to enable the United States to reduce emissions on federal lands by the 45 percent amount that is necessary by 2030 to limit warming to less than 1.5 degrees Celsius. Even under conservative estimates, the emissions produced by development of leases granted under Trump alone could equal the annual emissions of the entire nation of Brazil, according to a 2020 report from the Wilderness Society.Fossil fuel companies, fearing such a ban under a potential Democratic administration, sought and received approval for thousands of drilling permits on millions of acres of federal land during the Trump years, which they can develop at any time.

“Most of the [fossil fuel company] revenues are coming from existing wells that have already been developed and are pumping oil,” said Mark Squillace, professor of natural resources law at the University of Colorado Law School. “Nothing that the Biden administration has done has changed any of that.”

Regardless of its effectiveness, there’s another problem with the moratorium on new leases: It could be overturned soon. The state of Wyoming has sued in federal court to obtain an injunction against the moratorium. The state’s memo in support of its suit claims that the moratorium violates the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, which requires that “lease sales shall be held for each State where eligible lands are available at least quarterly.”

According to Squillace, Wyoming has a “good shot” at getting an injunction blocking the moratorium, especially since the Wyoming federal district court has previously been sympathetic to the state’s lawsuits against the Bureau of Land Management. “I do think that they’ve got a decent argument,” Squillace said.

Jones said that he believes the moratorium is legal under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, which authorizes the Interior secretary to “take any action necessary to prevent unnecessary or undue degradation of [public] lands.”

Asked whether he thought such an argument could prevail in federal court, Jones said that “it’s a solid argument, whether or not a Trump-appointed federal judge would see it that way.”

Reached by email, Wyoming attorney general Bridget Hill told the Daily Poster that the state does not comment on pending litigation.
Other Opportunities

Even if the moratorium is struck down, there are other approaches that would make bigger contributions to reducing oil and gas development on federal lands and that don’t present the same legal issues.

Before fossil fuel companies can exploit oil or gas on leased land, the Bureau of Land Management has to approve the companies’ application for a drilling permit. The permitting process could allow the government to impose limits on the way in which oil and gas development occurs, or block such development entirely, without running into the same legal issues as the moratorium on new leases.

“The [permitting] process is an opportunity for the government to impose restrictions, or limit the way in which oil and gas development occurs,” Squillace said. “They could put a pause on [permits].”

And unlike the statutory obligation to offer new leases, Squillace said, “I don’t know that there’s any particular obligation to issue [permits].”

Pausing new permits “would be a good first step for the federal government … where the administration actually has the authority to act unilaterally without going to Congress for legislation,” Jones said.

Short of pausing permits entirely, the Bureau of Land Management could put conditions on permits that require developers to mitigate the environmental harms of drilling, such as utilizing methane capture technologies, Squillace said.

The Biden administration could also unilaterally create financial disincentives to fossil fuel exploitation on federal land by raising costs and fees associated with drilling.

The Mineral Leasing Act sets a minimum rent on federal land — $1.50 per acre for the first year of a lease, and $2 per acre for each subsequent year — but doesn’t preclude the president from setting a higher rent. In recent comments to the Interior Department, Squillace and eighteen other law professors recommended raising yearly rents to $10 per acre.Fossil fuel exploitation on federal lands ‘shouldn’t be made more expensive, it should be ended.’

With such a rent hike, “We’d actually have fewer leases being developed, but those that were being developed would generate more revenues for the federal government and the states,” Squillace said.

Another way to raise money while disincentivizing development would be increasing the government’s cut of revenues from oil and gas extraction on federal lands. The government’s share is currently 12.5 percent — the same as it has been since the passage of the Mineral Leasing Act in 1920. Squillace said that “if the BLM is serious about ramping down production and maximizing federal and state revenues,” the government’s take should be raised to 20 percent.

“I don’t think the long-term outlook for oil and gas is very bright — revenues are going to go down as price goes down.” Squillace said, noting the rapidly-falling cost of renewable energy. “In the short term, we should be squeezing fair revenues out of these industries before they shut down.”

Increasing the government’s share to 20 percent would also disincentivize development by lowering fossil fuel company profits, he said.

Jones, however, said that Food & Water Watch considers these types of policy changes insufficient.

Fossil fuel exploitation on federal lands “shouldn’t be made more expensive, it should be ended,” Jones said. “We should be taking direct action to transition away from fossil fuels, and the federal government needs to play a central role in guiding that transition.”

You can subscribe to David Sirota’s investigative journalism project, the Daily Poster, here.

#ABOLISHICE

US ends use of 2 immigration jails where mistreatment alleged

  

In this May 12, 2021 photo, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testifies before the Senate Appropriations committee hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Biden administration will stop using immigration detention facilities in Massachusetts and Georgia that are the subject of abuse allegations. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Thursday announced that federal authorities will no longer use the jail facilities in Bristol County, Massachusetts and the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Georgia.(Photo by Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post via AP, Pool)

By BEN FOX and KATE BRUMBACK

Published: May. 20, 2021 

WASHINGTON (AP) — A detention facility in Georgia where women claim they were subjected to unwanted medical procedures and a Massachusetts jail that has drawn complaints of inhumane conditions will no longer be used to detain immigrants, the Biden administration said Thursday.

The Department of Homeland Security said it would terminate contracts with the local government agency that runs the detention center in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts, and with the private operator of the Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia.

Any detainees the U.S. believes should remain in custody will be transferred elsewhere, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in announcing the move, which had been sought by immigrant advocates.

“Allow me to state one foundational principle,” Mayorkas said, “We will not tolerate the mistreatment of individuals in civil immigration detention or substandard conditions of detention.”

Mayorkas said ending the use of the facilities is part of an effort to make “lasting improvements” to a detention system that advocates have long argued detains people for civil immigration offenses for too long and in inappropriately harsh conditions.

It also reflects a broader effort to roll back the anti-immigrant policies that characterized U.S. policy under President Donald Trump.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a part of DHS, holds about 19,000 noncitizens for removal at about 200 facilities around the country, down about a quarter from a year earlier. About 73 percent of those in custody have no criminal record and many others have only minor offenses, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a data-gathering organization at Syracuse University.

DHS suggested additional detention facilities could close in a statement that noted that it would “review concerns” about other centers.

“Today’s announcements show the Biden administration’s willingness to decisively break from the immigrants’ rights abuses of prior administrations,” said Naureen Shah, senior advocacy and policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, which recently called for the closure of 39 immigration detention centers around the country.

The ACLU has called for an end to the “default incarceration” of immigrants and an end to the agreements with state and local authorities that enable prisoners who are noncitizens to be transferred into ICE custody for deportation upon release.

Mayorkas has led an effort to soften some immigration policies but has publicly insisted that noncitizens who pose a threat to the public and have committed serious crimes should be detained pending their removal from the country.

The Massachusetts jail was run under an agreement with the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office. The Georgia facility was run by a private company under contract with ICE.

Members of Congress and advocates have called for the closure of the Georgia facility since last year after women held there told of being forced into unnecessary gynecological procedures with dirty equipment and other unsanitary conditions.

DHS and the Justice Department are investigating the allegations of medical mistreatment, which a doctor involved in their treatment has denied, and Mayorkas said that steps will be taken to preserve evidence.

Immigrants held at Irwin also had broader complaints about overall conditions, alleging that authorities at the detention center failed to take adequate measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

“Given its extensively documented history of human rights violations, Irwin should have been shut down long ago,” said Azadeh Shahshahani, legal and advocacy director for Project South, an advocacy group that has pressed for ICE and the company that runs the facility to compensate women subjected to unwanted procedures there.

The facility in Ocilla, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) south of Atlanta, has been used to house men and women for ICE as well as inmates for the U.S. Marshals Service and Irwin County. It’s run by the private LaSalle Corrections, a Louisiana company.

The company had no immediate comment to Thursday’s announcement.

Immigrants held at the Massachusetts jail, known formally as the C. Carlos Carreiro Immigration Detention Center, have also complained about a lack of COVID-19 precautions as well as overcrowding and excessive use of force.

The Massachusetts attorney general’s office issued a scathing report in December, determining that officers violated the rights of detainees and used excessive force during a disturbance there earlier in the year.

A spokesman for Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson, who was an honorary chairman of former President Trump’s reelection campaign in Massachusetts, didn’t respond to an email seeking comment Thursday.

But local immigrant rights groups that have frequently clashed with Hodgson cheered the decision as long overdue.

Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU Massachusetts, said Hodgson “carried out the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant agenda with zeal.”

And Iván Espinoza-Madrigal, head of Lawyers for Civil Rights, said the jail, located almost 60 miles (95 kilometers) south of Boston near Cape Cod, is “notorious for its inhumane and unconstitutional treatment of civil immigration detainees.”
___

Brumback reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writer Philip Marcelo contributed from Boston.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

COLD WAR 2.0
US, Russia at odds over military activity in the Arctic

Posted Thursday, May 20, 2021 
By MATTHEW LEE

REYKJAVIK. Iceland (AP) — The Biden administration is leading a campaign against to assert authority over Arctic shipping and reintroduce a military dimension to discussions over international activity in the area.

As Russia assumed the rotating chairmanship of the on Thursday, the U.S. rallied other members to oppose Moscow’s plans to set maritime rules in the Northern Sea Route, which runs from Norway to Alaska, and its desire to resume high-level military talks within the eight-nation bloc. Those talks were suspended in 2014 over


The effort reflects growing concerns in Washington and among some NATO allies about a surge in Russian military and commercial activity in the region that is rapidly opening up due to the effects of climate change. Russia has expressed similar suspicion about NATO's motives.

At a meeting of Arctic Council foreign ministers in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the group should maintain its focus on peaceful cooperation on environmental issues, maritime safety and the well-being of indigenous people in the region.

“The Arctic is a region for strategic competition that has seized the world’s attention," Blinken said. "But the Arctic is more than a strategically or economically significant region. It’s home to our people, its hallmark has been and must remain peaceful cooperation. It’s our responsibility to protect that peaceful cooperation and to build on it.”

Blinken stressed the importance of upholding “effective governance and the rule of law” to ensure that the “Arctic remains a region free of conflict where countries act responsibly.” He had previously questioned the legality of the proposed Russian maritime rules and expressed deep reservations about Russia's military activity in the far North.

Several other foreign ministers, including those from Canada, Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden, echoed Blinken's call to keep the Arctic peaceful and free of conflict under the authority of international, rather than that of individual countries. Representatives of indigenous Arctic populations urged that their voices be heard.

“We are concerned over the level of recent angry and provocative rhetoric,” said James Stotts of the Inuit Circumpolar Council. “We do not want to see our homeland turned into a region of competition and conflict.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who had earlier this week dismissed the U.S. criticism because the Arctic “is our territory, our land," questioned NATO's motives in deployments of bombers and submarines to the area. On Thursday, he said resumption of an Arctic Council military dialogue would contribute to stability.

“It is therefore important to extend the positive relations we have within the Arctic Council to encompass the military sphere as well, first of all by revitalizing multilateral dialogue on military issues between the general staffs of the Arctic states," Lavrov said.

He said later at a new conference that resuming that dialogue would be a priority for Russia while it heads the council.

“We have not received any ‘no’s’ so far but we have not received any positive reaction, either,” Lavrov said. “So we have decided that within the next three years we will create the proper conditions so that this particular aspect of common security will once again be part of the work of the Arctic Council.”

The outgoing council chair, Foreign Minister Gudlaugur Thor Thordarson, of Iceland, did not appear enthusiastic. “Everything that we can do as nations to lower tension and see stability is something that, of course, should be looked into very positively, but I think it’s important to keep the council as it is,” he said.

Lavrov also cast aspersions on NATO and the U.S., which he accused of acting with arrogance toward Russia and its security concerns. He took particular aim at Norway, which he said was amending its laws on foreign military presence to allow for the constant rotation of military equipment and personnel.

“We’re especially concerned about what is going on close to our borders and Norway is indeed a very close neighbor of ours," he said. "We have very good relations with Norway. Nevertheless, the issues related to heightened military tensions due to military deployments in Norway and in the Baltics are still very present.”

He called the rotational presence a “play on words” to describe what is actually a permanent presence. “This is not the first demonstration of this highbrow approach that our Western colleagues are now taking in the international arena," he said. “We are going to undertake necessary measures in order to ensure our security, but our priority and our preference really is dialogue.”

Lavrov also proposed a summit of Arctic Council leaders to be held at some point during Russia's two-year chairmanship and said Moscow is keen to foster cooperation.

“We encourage you to maintain and seek consensus in the council to continue constructive cooperation,” Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde told Lavrov.