The Hard Lives-and High Suicide Rate-of Native American Children on Reservations. In one of the broadest studies of its kind, the Justice Department recently created a national task force to examine the violence and its impact on American Indian and Alaska Native children, part of an effort to reduce the number of Native American youth in the criminal justice system. The level of suicide has startled some task force officials, who consider the epidemic another outcome of what they see as pervasive despair. Last month, the task force held a hearing on the reservation of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community in Scottsdale. During their visit, Associate Attorney General Tony West, the third-highest-ranking Justice Department official, and task force members drove to Sacaton, about 30 miles south of Phoenix, and met with Owens and 14 other teenagers. Washington Post

Climate Change All-Night Session Set for Monday. Senate Democrats are about to burn the midnight oil to make their case on climate change. The previously rumored all-night session on the effects of climate change will take place Monday, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse confirmed. "It's locked in," the Rhode Island Democrat told CQ Roll Call. "An all-nighter is an all-nighter. We're going to go all the way through to eight or nine in the morning or whenever they need to clean it up for the next day." Roll Call

Council to Ask for More Radiation Testing. Fairbanks is a long way from the ocean and even farther from Fukushima, Japan, but an item about the 2011 earthquake and nuclear disaster nonetheless made its way onto the city's agenda tonight. At the urging of a concerned citizen, the council will consider a resolution tonight that calls on the federal government and United Nations to do more radiation testing in Alaska waters. It asserts that health risks related to nuclear meltdown have been vastly understated and are linked for the deaths of 20,000 Americans in the weeks after the meltdown. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Treadwell Not Seeking Arctic Representative Post. Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell says he hopes an Alaskan is chosen to serve as the U.S. Arctic representative. But he says he isn't seeking the job. Treadwell was appointed to the United States Arctic Research Commission in 2001 and served until 2010, when he ran for lieutenant governor. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

From Seal Ban to Svalbard- The European Parliament Engages in Arctic Matters. As the European Parliament (EP) is set to pass a resolution on the Arctic in its next plenary session on Wednesday March 12, and a Council conclusion on the issue is scheduled for May [1], the Arctic continues to be on the EU's policy agenda. In its recent plenary in February, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) discussed several questions posted concerning the legality of the Norwegian interpretation of the Svalbard Treaty, enquiring whether the EU (and its Commission) accepts the Fisheries Protection Zone (FPZ) surrounding the archipelago. This is not the first time a MEP has engaged in that particular issue, as former Vice President of the EP Diana Wallis already sparked a debate on the Treaty and its interpretation back in 2011. The Arctic Institute

Russia Setting Up Another Arctic Sea Defense Base. The Siberian Department of Spetsstroy of Russia has begun work on the construction of buildings and structures on one of the islands of the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago, commissioned by the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, reports the official agency Arctic-Info. Construction of facilities as part of the infrastructure of the Ministry of Defence in the Arctic is expected to be completed this year. These actions are aimed at strengthening the defence capability of Russia, according to a report on the website of the Federal Agency for Special Construction (Spetsstroy) cited by Arctic-Info. MarineLink

[Canada] Shipbuilding Memo Shows More Delays, Cost Overruns. An internal government memo obtained by CBC News shows that all four parts of the government's huge shipbuilding program are either over budget, behind schedule, or both. Written Oct. 7 last year by the deputy minister of national defense, Richard Fadden, the memo shows that three of those four programs also face "major challenges" of a technical nature, as well as difficulties lining up skilled manpower to get the ships built at all. CBC News