UN passes Canadian-led resolution advancing nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament.
(gc.ca)
The Honourable Stéphane Dion, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today welcomed the overwhelming support a Canadian-led resolution advancing a fissile material cut-off treaty (FMCT) received at the UN General Assembly’s First Committee.
The resolution, which passed with the support of 177 UN member states, establishes a high-level preparatory group mandated to recommend elements of a treaty banning the production of fissile material. It was co-sponsored by Germany and the Netherlands.
A fissile material cut-off treaty would restrict production and access to the materials necessary to create nuclear weapons. It is almost universally regarded as the next logical step in nuclear disarmament.
The work of the high-level preparatory group, which will be composed of 25 states, including states possessing nuclear weapons, will stand as the only current nuclear disarmament initiative bringing together both nuclear and non-nuclear weapons states. The high-level group will advance preparations for the negotiation of this treaty over the next two years.
“Canada attaches enormous importance to making concrete progress on nuclear disarmament. The passage of this resolution, with the support of both nuclear weapons states and non-nuclear weapons states, sets us on this path.
“Future negotiations on a fissile material cut-off treaty will not be easy. However, progress on an FMCT in the near term is possible, and Canada will spare no effort to ensure its success.”
- Stéphane Dion, Minister of Foreign Affairs
The possibility of extending verification procedures to India, Israel, North Korea and Pakistan is viewed by many as crucial, as it would legally bring them into the international nonproliferation regime More on the FMCT here
Of the 27,190 'Syrian' refugees who came to Canada ONLY 9 cases of Yazidis are being processed. HT: CIJNews.
Since assuming power in November 4, 2015, Trudeau government brought in to Canada as of May 15, 2016, 27,190 Syrian refugees
of whom 15,355 are government-assisted refugees, 2,341 blended
visa-office referred refugees and 9,494 privately sponsored refugees.
Senior
officials of the Ministry of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
confirmed on May 12, 2016 in their testimony to the Standing Committee
on Citizenship and Immigration that the number of Yazidi cases which are
being processed are “small” totalling only 9 cases.
Immigration Canada is receiving refugee applications of Syrian nationals only in Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan. Hmmm.....And 'Islamist' Turkey determines which refugees are allowed to travel to host countries. For the other countries it's MUSLIM administrations who handle the applications. Read the full story here.
Canadian PM Justin Trudeau signals openness to restoring Iran diplomatic ties. (IFP).
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed an
openness to restoring diplomatic ties with Iran, four years after Canada
closed its embassy in Tehran, reports said.
Such a move would be a reversal of the foreign policy
set by the previous Tory administration, which had vowed to keep its
sanctions regime against Iran after a preliminary deal on the Islamic
republic’s nuclear program in 2013.
Trudeau said Iran had made ‘significant movement towards respecting
international expectations’ regarding its nuclear program, Western media
reported.
‘That is something positive and I expect there will be (diplomatic) links now between Canada and Iran,’ he said.
‘We will certainly be discussing that further at a cabinet meeting in the coming weeks,’ he added, according to the AFP report.
Canada broke diplomatic ties with Iran in September 2012.
At the time, then foreign affairs minister John Baird did not cite a
specific incident for the breakdown in relations but issued a strongly
worded attack.
In July, Iran and global powers reached a deal in Vienna that saw sanctions lifted this weekend.
On Sunday, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion told the
Globe and Mail newspaper that Ottawa would decide ‘in a timely fashion’
whether to also lift sanctions in order to allow Canadian companies to
join US and EU firms rushing to do business in Iran.
‘Because if other countries move before us, it’s not a way to help
our industry,’ he said, adding that Canadian sanctions alone would not
be very effective. Hmmmm.......Real Change.......Human rights? Which politician cares about Human rights?
Quoting materials from Iran Front Page is permitted only if the source is mentioned by name.
Iran welcomes amicable relations with Canada's Trudeau admin. (IHN).
Iran would welcome reinforcing relations with Canada, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said here on Monday.
Hossein Jaber Ansari made the remarks at his weekly press briefing in Tehran.
Commenting on Canada’s severing diplomatic relations with Iran, he
said the fresh stance of the new Canadian government has been announced
in mass media.
‘The ex-Canadian government severed its relations with Iran and we
hope the new Canadian government would practice proper political and
diplomatic measures aimed at fostering relations with Iran,’ he added.
‘Iran did not cut its relations with Canada and naturally Tehran would welcome amicable relations with Ottawa,’ he added.
Canadian ex-Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s administration severed
diplomatic relations with Iran in September 2012, citing, among other
pretexts, what it described as continued threats from Iran to Israel.
Back then, the Canadian government closed its embassy in the Iranian
capital, Tehran, and demanded that Iranian diplomats leave Canada within
five days.
The two countries maintain interest sections in the embassies of third countries.
Two planes carrying 338 wounded fighters and civilians from Foua, Kefraya arrive in Beirut from Turkey. (AlBawaba).
More than 200 wounded Syrian rebel fighters and civilians reached Lebanon Monday en route to Turkey via the Beirut airport, in the second phase of a UN-backed agreement between combatants in Syria's nearly five-year-old conflict.
The rebels and civilians who had been trapped in three Syrian towns were evacuated Thursday morning.
Dozens
of relatives welcomed them at the Masnaa border crossing in Lebanon's
Bekaa, cheering as they arrived and waving the three-star flag of the
Syrian opposition.
Other pro-rebel Syrian refugees and Lebanese
citizens also gathered at the border point in a show of solidarity with
the fighters, shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is great).
Sources
told The Daily Star a total of 123 people - 70 wounded militants and 53
women, children and elderly suffering from deterioration in their
overall health - were evacuated from Zabadani, a Syrian town near the Lebanese border.
In
the rebel-held Shiite villages of Kefraya and al-Fouaa in the
northwestern province of Idlib, a total of 338 wounded fighters and
civilians were evacuated, according to the sources.
They were
taken by the Syrian Red Crescent to the Lebanese border crossing at
Masnaa, where they were met by delegates from the Lebanese Red Cross
(LRC) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
A
convoy of 22 LRC ambulances, two ICRC cars and several buses had arrived
earlier at Masnaa escorted by Lebanon's General Security.
The
deal, under the auspices of ICRC, has allowed scores of rebel fighters,
many of whom are wounded and have been holed up for months in the
war-ravaged town of Zabadani, to have safe passage to the Beirut airport
and from there to Turkey, their final destination.
Simultaneously, around 300 families in the two besieged Shiite towns
headed in an overland convoy to the Turkish border from where they will
then fly to Beirut.
The route via Turkey was the safest option
for the families, as traveling through Syria would have taken them
through Idlib, where a patchwork of rebels controls different areas.
An
airport source told The Daily Star that two Turkish planes were
preparing to fly to Beirut to transport the Syrian Shiite families,
while another plane in Lebanon was preparing to fly to Turkey to
transport the Syrian rebels and civilians. It said the planes would fly
out together as part of the deal.
The UN and foreign governments
have tried to broker local ceasefires and safe-passage agreements as
steps towards the wider goal of ending Syria's war, in which more than 250,000 people have been killed.
Iran
and Turkey, which back opposing sides in the Syrian conflict, helped
bring about the local ceasefires in Zabadani and in the two villages in
Idlib in September, in the first phase of the deal.
Zabadani,
which lies in Syria's mountanious Qalamoun area, had been the focus of
an offensive by Hezbollah and the Syrian army against insurgent groups.
The area is of importance to Assad because of its proximity to the
Syrian capital Damascus and the Lebanese border.
Insurgent groups
have in turn launched attacks on the two Shi'ite villages that
intensified after most of Idlib province fell to rebels after a series
of advances against the army this year.
