MIL OSI – Source: Government of Canada – MIL OSI National News – Press Release/Statement

Headline: Canadian soldiers depart for Operation REASSURANCE in Eastern and Central Europe

OTTAWA — Media are invited to a photo opportunity when approximately 125 soldiers from 3rd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment (3 RCR), depart Petawawa, Ontario, on March 2, 2015, for a deployment as part of Operation REASSURANCE.

Cheryl Gallant, Member of Parliament for Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke, will attend the event to wish the troops well on their deployment.

The 3 RCR contingent is a part of 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group, based in Garrison Petawawa, Ontario. Operation REASSURANCE refers to the military activities undertaken by the Canadian Armed Forces to support NATO reassurance measures through the provision of military capabilities for training, exercises, demonstrations and assigned NATO tasks.

WHAT:           Departure of soldiers for a deployment on Operation REASSURANCE.
WHEN:           Monday, March 2, 2015, at 9 h 30 (EST).
WHERE:        Garrison Petawawa

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Notes to editor / news director:

Media must pre-register. The rendezvous point will be at the front gate at 9h15 a.m. and media will be escorted onto Garrison.

Contacts

Lieutenant J-F Carpentier
2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group Public Affairs Officer
Phone: 613-687-5511 Ext 6351
Cell: 613-633-7896
Email: jean-francois.carpentier@forces.gc.ca

Media Relations
Department of National Defence
Phone: 613-996-2353
Toll-Free: 1-866-377-0811

Email: mlo-blm@forces.gc.ca

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MIL OSI – Source: United States White House statements – Press Release/Statement: Headline: Statement by the President on the Murder of Boris Nemtsov The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release February 27, 2015 [caption id="attachment_582" align="alignleft" width="300"] US president, Barack Obama. Image: White House.[/caption]The United States condemns the brutal murder of Boris Nemtsov, and we call upon the Russian government to conduct a prompt, impartial, and transparent investigation into the circumstances of his murder and ensure that those responsible for this vicious killing are brought to justice.   Nemtsov was a tireless advocate for his country, seeking for his fellow Russian citizens the rights to which all people are entitled.   I admired Nemtsov’s courageous dedication to the struggle against corruption in Russia and appreciated his willingness to share his candid views with me when we met in Moscow in 2009.  We offer our sincere condolences to Boris Efimovich’s family, and to the Russian people, who have lost one of the most dedicated and eloquent defenders of their rights.

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MIL OSI –

Source: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe – OSCE – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: OSCE PA President expresses outrage, calls for justice following murder of Boris Nemtsov

COPENHAGEN, 28 February 2015 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Ilkka Kanerva (MP, Finland) today issued the following statement on the murder of Russian opposition leader and former First Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov on Friday night in Moscow:

“I am outraged and appalled at the news of Boris Nemtsov’s murder. On behalf of the parliamentarians of the OSCE, I call on Russian authorities to uncover the truth behind this killing and bring its planners and perpetrators to justice. I sincerely hope that a swift and comprehensive investigation will dispel fears that Mr. Nemtsov was targeted for his political views and outspokenness in criticizing the Russian government, including its recent actions in Ukraine, as well as corruption in the country. 

“Boris Nemtsov will be remembered as a passionate man who fought for what he believed was best for Russia and its people, knowing full well the dangers that came with his work. I express my condolences to his family, friends and supporters.”

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MIL OSI –

Source: Kaspersky Lab – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: Kaspersky Internet Security Wins AV-Test’s Best Performance Award 2014

27 Feb 2015
Comparative Tests, Product news

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MIL OSI –

Source: World Wildlife Fund – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: Wild Giant Panda Population Increases Nearly 17%

The number of wild giant pandas has increased nearly 17% over the last decade, according to a new survey conducted by the Chinese government.

Figures released today by the Chinese government show that the global population of wild giant pandas has reached 1,864 – up from 1,596 when their numbers were last surveyed in 2003.

A symbol of wildlife conservation, giant pandas are only found in China’s Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces.

“The rise in the population of wild giant pandas is a victory for conservation and definitely one to celebrate,” said Ginette Hemley, Senior Vice President of Wildlife Conservation, World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

“This increase in the population of wild giant pandas is a testament to the commitment made by the Chinese government for the last 30-plus years to wild panda conservation,” Hemley said. “WWF is grateful to have had the opportunity to partner with the Chinese government to contribute to panda conservation efforts.”

According to the Fourth National Giant Panda Survey, 1246 wild giant pandas live within nature reserves, accounting for 66.8% of the total wild population size and 53.8% of the total habitat area. There are currently 67 panda nature reserves in China, an increase of 27 since the last survey.

The report found the total area inhabited by wild giant pandas in China now equals 6,370,000 acres, an expansion of 11.8% since 2003.

Despite a positive trend in the number of wild giant pandas, the species still faces challenges. 46% of panda habitat and 33.2% of the population live outside of protected nature reserves. Habitat fragmentation – the separation of wildlife populations by physical barriers – is increasingly noticeable with about 12% individuals facing higher risks to their survival.

Though there appears to be a decline in traditional threats to pandas such as poaching, large-scale infrastructure projects like mining, hydro-power, and supporting roads and railroads are becoming more severe and were referenced in the survey for the first time.

WWF supports the government of China’s work by establishing panda nature reserves and a conservation network that integrates those reserves with forests farms and corridors of forest that allow pandas to find food and meet mates. The organization’s work ensures the legal protection of a large percentage of panda habitat and an improvement in how conservation efforts are carried out. WWF was also involved with the survey produced.

Xiaohai Liu, Executive Program Director, WWF-China said, “The survey result demonstrates the effectiveness of nature reserves in boosting wild giant panda numbers.”

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MIL OSI –

Source: Switzerland – Federal Administration – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: Switzerland targets 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030

A new international climate agreement which will involve all States from 2020 is due to be concluded at the climate conference to be held in Paris in December 2015. All Member States of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change are required to state their commitments for the post-2020 period in advance of the Paris summit.

This objective of a 50% reduction in emissions reflects Switzerland’s responsibility for climate warming and the potential cost of emissions reduction measures in Switzerland and abroad over the 2020-2030 period. Switzerland, which is responsible for 0.1% of global greenhouse gas emissions and, based on the structure of its economy, has a low level of emissions (6.4 tonnes per capita per year), should be able to avail of emissions reduction measures abroad to reduce the cost of emissions reduction measures during the period 2020-2030 (see Box 1). The fulfilment of part of the targeted reduction abroad will also enable the spreading of domestic measures over a longer period to account for capacities within the economy.

Switzerland’s target for 2020-2030 is also compatible with the pathway defined by climate experts to keep climate warming below two degrees between now and the end of the century (see Box 2).

At national level, a draft revision of the CO2 Act will be submitted for consultation in mid-2016.  

Greater commitment for the climate

Thanks to the measures already implemented at national level, Switzerland emits less greenhouse gases today than in 1990 despite the fact that gross national product increased by 36% over the intervening period. Switzerland fulfilled its emissions reduction target for the first commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol (2008-2012).  

This commitment has been increased for the period 2013-2020. The CO2 Act prescribes a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 20% by 2020 to be achieved through domestic measures. The instruments established to fulfil this target include the CO2 tax on heating fuel, the reduction in CO2 emissions from new cars, the obligation for fuel importers to compensate for some of the CO2 emitted by transport and the Buildings Programme.  

Box 1: A clear, transparent and understandable commitment

According to the decisions adopted by the climate conference in Lima, the commitment to be announced by the States for the post-2020 period must be clear, transparent and understandable. Switzerland has provided information under each of the seven key points identified in Lima which ensure the clarity of its commitment:   

Reference point for the calculation of emissions reductions: 1990

Period for implementation: up to 2030

Scope of the commitment: sectors covered are energy, industrial processes and product use, agriculture, land-use, land-use change and forestry, waste; the reductions cover seven greenhouse gases: CO2, methane, nitrous oxide, HFCs (hydrofluorocarbons), PFCs (perfluorocarbons), SF6 (sulphur hexafluoride), NF3 (nitrogen trifluoride), that is the gases already covered by the current legislation.

Processes: a draft revision of the CO2 Act will be submitted for consultation in mid-2016; the proposed measures will mainly aim to reinforce existing measures.

Assumption and methodology: Switzerland’s commitment is based on the existence of emissions certificates which meet high quality criteria and are sufficient in quantity. The effect of forests will be taken into account. The methodology for non-forest land remains to be developed.

Adequacy of the commitment
Three criteria are taken into account:

Historical and current responsibility for climate change: Switzerland is responsible for 0.1% of global greenhouse gas emissions today. Its level of responsibility is low.

Capacity to contribute to solving the climate problem: thanks inter alia to its high per capita GNP, Switzerland’s capacity to contribute to solving the climate problem is high.

Cost-effectiveness of emissions reduction measures: due to its mainly carbon-free energy production and lack of heavy industry, the cost of reduction measures in Switzerland is high in the short term.

Contribution to the objective of the Convention (increase in temperature of less than two degrees): the reduction target of -50% relative to 1990 levels is compatible with the recommendations of the IPCC of -40 to -70% below 2010 levels by 2050. 

Box 2 Objective in the context of the two degree pathway

According to the objectives defined by the Federal Council for 2030 and 2050, i.e. -50% relative to 1990 and -70 to -85% by 2050, per capita annual emissions must reach 3 tonnes of CO2 equivalents per year in 2030, and between 1 and 2 tonnes of CO2 by 2050. Hence Switzerland’s targets lie within the ambitious average of the climate experts’ (IPPC) recommendations for 2050. This emissions development is also in line with the Federal Council’s long-term objective of reducing per capita emissions to one or one-and-a-half tonnes.   

Address for enquiries:

DETEC Press and Information Service + 41 (0)58 462 55 11
FOEN Media Section + 41 (0)58 462 90 00

Publisher:

The Federal Council

Internet: http://www.admin.ch/br/index.html?lang=en

General Secretariat of the Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications; General Secretariat DETEC

Internet: http://www.uvek.admin.ch/index.html?lang=en

Federal Office for the Environment FOEN

Internet: http://www.bafu.admin.ch/en

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MIL OSI –

Source: UNICEF – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: Six months after ceasefire, children of Gaza are trapped in trauma

By Catherine Weibel

After losing their father and their home during the most recent conflict, two young girls in Gaza struggle to come to terms with the past and look to a brighter future.

GAZA, State of Palestine, 26 February 2015 – It has been six months since a precarious truce ended another devastating bout of violence in Gaza. For children like Samar and Rosol Barakat, the scars left by 51 days of hostilities last summer are as raw as ever.

During the conflict, the two girls, their parents and three other siblings fled their flat under heavy shelling. The family took refuge in a United Nations–run school. One night, the classroom in which they slept was hit by an artillery shell. Their father was killed, and their mother seriously injured. Both girls were wounded by shrapnel.

Homes destroyed

Samar, who is 11 years old, and Rosol, who is 6, could not go back to their home at the al-Nada residential towers, which had been destroyed. They moved in with their grandfather, among 12 people squeezed into a tiny and derelict two-bedroom flat in Beit Lahiya.

The family were among 100,000 Palestinians in Gaza, half of them children, who had their homes either partially or totally destroyed during last summer’s conflict and remain displaced.

“My children have lost everything, and they need everything,” says Samar and Rosol’s mother, Neveen. “I have to be both their mother and their father now.” Because of her injuries, Neveen has a disability and needs help to take care of herself.

No safe place

Samar and Rosol continue to suffer profound distress. Neveen constantly comforts her daughters as the two girls struggle to cope with the loss of their father.

It was months before Rosol agreed to wear her school uniform and return to school. When asked whether she likes her teacher, she freezes, becomes withdrawn and, after a few minutes, starts sobbing.

“My children were injured in a school,” says Neveen. “They saw people injured with missing hands or legs, with wounded faces and eyes. They saw her father killed. They no longer see school as a safe place.”

Some improvement

A psychosocial counsellor working for UNICEF partner Palestinian Centre for Democracy and Conflict Resolution (PCDCR) follows the progress of Rosol and her older sister Samar.

Samar has shown some signs of improvement. In the aftermath of the conflict, she had temper tantrums and refused to do her homework. After a number of sessions with the counsellor, she has become calmer.

Sometimes, Samar goes with her grandfather to see what is left of her former home, now reduced to rubble. While she has come closer to accepting the situation, she still finds it difficult to focus on her studies, and her learning achievements have dropped.

“At school, everything has changed, because of what happened to us. Our father was killed, my mom, my siblings and I were injured, and we no longer have a home,” Samar says.

Need for continuing support

Like many children in Gaza, Samar and Rosol need both psychosocial and educational support to resume their lives. The involvement of schools is critical in supporting students through the emotional and physical challenges they face. At least 281 schools were damaged in the coastal enclave, however, and many have yet to be repaired. Adding to the difficulty of the situation, teachers themselves suffer from distress.

So far, UNICEF has provided nearly 35,000 children and more than 7,000 caregivers with psychosocial support, and 12,000 public school teachers with additional coping skills to support children. UNICEF is also helping to repair public schools and provide school uniforms and shoes to children, after an initial back-to-school campaign in September that supported 230,000 children with school supplies. These efforts have helped improve students’ lives, but the situation remains precarious.

“There is no future for anyone in Gaza, men, women or children,” Ali, Neveen’s father, says. “A lot of promises have been made on the reconstruction of Gaza. We hope there is implementation at last, so my daughter can be treated and recover from her wounds, and so people who lost their homes like she did have a place to live and a better life.

“My grandchildren deserve to lead a good life,” he says. “Like all children in the world.”

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MIL OSI –

Source: Australian Green Party – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: Tasmania sets benchmark by extending fracking ban

The Liberal Tasmanian Government yesterday extended their fracking ban for another five years, setting a clear benchmark for parties contesting the upcoming Gippsland South by-election.

Victorian Greens leader Greg Barber welcomed the Tasmanian Government’s policy, saying “it is now time for Victorian Opposition leader Matt Guy to do the same.”

“The Nationals support for farmers’ right to veto gas exploration on their land is a step in the right direction, but a permanent ban is vital.

“The Greens will be closely watching the Liberal and National announcements on this issue,” Mr Barber said.

* http://www.premier.tas.gov.au/releases/fracking

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MIL OSI – Source: United Nations – Press Release/Statement: Headline: Syria’s war continues ‘unabated and with total impunity,’ Security Council told 26 February 2015 – In a briefing to the Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Syria, two senior United Nations relief officials warned today that as the conflict enters its fifth year, the violence and brutality continue unabated and with total impunity. Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, Kyung-Wha Kang told the 15-member body that parties to the conflict continue to kill civilians and target critical infrastructure which condemn people to unnecessary suffering. Ms. Kang delivered remarks on behalf of Under Secretary-General and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valery Amos. Joining Ms. Kang was António Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). “Every month we report on the same violations. The numbers change, but the pattern remains the same. The parties to the conflict continue to act with impunity: killing and abducting civilians; denying access; removing vital supplies from convoys. This pattern must be broken,” Ms. Kang stressed. Over 2 million people in Aleppo and Dar’a Governorates have been affected by wilful denial of water and electricity by parties to the conflict this month. Of the 212,000 people who are besieged, in conditions that deteriorate every day, only 304 were reached with food in January. In other areas where conditions deteriorate every day, parties to the conflict severely restrict access to those in need. In Raqqa and Deir ez Zor, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has closed down the offices of several aid organisations, including the Syrian Arab Red Crescent. “Some 600,000 people have not received food assistance in these governorates since last December. The sick or wounded often have nowhere safe to get treatment,” said Ms. Kang. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has succeeded in sending life-saving medicine and medical supplies from Damascus to rural Aleppo for some 65,000 treatments but many of the surgical items including midwifery and reproductive kits were removed by Government security personnel at one of the checkpoints. The Council must do everything in its power to hold parties accountable and ensure that aid is delivered to people in need. Humanitarian organizations operating in besieged Syria and in neighbouring countries continue to reach millions of people every month. In January, some 3.4 million people were reached with food assistance while hundreds of thousands were also reached with medicines, household items and other supplies. “But it is not enough. More effort must be made to deescalate the violence, protect and enable humanitarian organisations to give more support,” the Special Coordinator said, emphasising the need to secure the freeze in fighting in some parties of Aleppo so that humanitarian agencies can deliver food, remove debris and get children back into school. Ms. Kang said she was extremely concerned that two UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) staff has been asked to leave the country without any reason given. “This will hinder our work tremendously,” she said, urging the Government to reverse its decision. OCHA’s response cannot keep up with the needs of Syria’s people because there is simply not enough funding. By the end of last year, the Syria Humanitarian Assistance Response Plan for 2014 was just 48 per cent funded. Lack of funding has already forced the World Food Programme (WFP) to reduce rations by 30 per cent. And for every million dollars that WHO cannot raise in Syria, some 227,000 people lose vital health services. And unless urgent funding is received before May 2015, a million children will not be able to access education. Ms. Kang said she looked forward to the next pledging conference to be held on 31 March in Kuwait, expressing hope that the funds acquired there will make a difference on the ground. Echoing that sentiment, UNHCR head António Guterres, said that the Kuwait III conference will play a determining role in stabilizing the situation in the refugee hosting countries because international support has been far from keeping pace with the magnitude of needs. The Syrian refugee crisis has overwhelmed existing response capacities with 3.8 million registered in neighbouring countries. In Lebanon and Jordan, these populations have grown exponentially and Turkey is now the biggest refugee-hosting country in the world. “The continued growth in displacement is staggering. And the nature of the refugee crisis is changing. As the level of despair rises, the available protection space shrinks, we are approaching a dangerous turning point,” Mr. Guterres warned. Refugee resources are depleted and living conditions are drastically deteriorating. Host communities are severely overstretched. And the refugee influx has heavily impacted the economies and societies of Lebanon, Jordan and Northern Iraq in particular, overwhelming resources. Almost two million Syrian refugees under 18 years of age risk becoming a lost generation and many of the over 100,000 refugee children born in exile could become stateless under Syrian law. If not addressed properly, this crisis-in-the-making will have huge consequences for the region. Mr. Guterres also expressed concern over those risking their lives to find protection in Europe and called for flexible visa policies, expanded family reunification, academic scholarships and private sponsor schemes. – –]]>