Northern Uganda Dept: The disease causes young children and adolescents to nod violently in an apparent seizure. It happens frequently throughout the day, including when they eat, according to The Star. A team from the Atlanta-based health organization is returning to Uganda in February to consult with local officials about a treatment trial and nodding syndrome a disease with epileptic-type symptoms prevalent in parts of northern Uganda is a medical mystery that is confounding medical researchers and scientists alike. Over the past year there has been a growing outbreak in northern Uganda, specifically in Kitgum, Pader and Gulu. It is believed that thousands of cases have developed, but officials from the U.S.-based Centers for Disease Control CDC have only been able to confirm a couple hundred. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Rubio Dept: Each candidate has as much as offered Mr. Rubio the vice-presidential running mate spot. Each has heaped praise on the Tea Party favourite 40-year-old who rocked Florida politics in 2010 by running then governor Charlie Crist out of the Republican Party, according to Globe and Mail. So why is Mr. Rubio playing so hard to get and but Mr. Rubio, the Republicans great Hispanic hope, has been coy about whom he s backing in Tuesday s GOP primary in Florida. He is officially staying neutral in the hotly contested race, even as Mr. Gingrich and Mr. Romney are both claiming kinship to him. Mr. Rubio won his Senate seat against Mr. Crist, who ran as an independent candidate after quitting the GOP when he stood little chance of beating Mr. Rubio in a primary. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Berrington Dept: For many immigrants who come to America to seek a better life, it s an almost sacred ceremony, something like being born again, says Berrington, 42, who came to the U.S. from Britain in 1997, according to The Star. It was unexpectedly moving, observes Berrington, a graduate student at Tufts University, a lovely thing, really and it was a chill January day last year when Lucy Berrington and 400 other immigrants from around the world gathered in Boston s famed Faneuil Hall the nation s cradle of liberty on the historic Freedom Trail to take an oath and become citizens of the United States. Despite a wintry New England day, she found warmth in the words of the presiding judge, she says. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Taliban Dept: As a postpubescent female in Kabul, with the radically fundamentalist Taliban seizing power, she would undoubtedly have donned the crown-to-toe swaddling forced upon women who ventured outdoors, according to The Star. In court here, Tooba never wore even the hijab, the modest head-covering scarf. This might have been a defence tactic, to demonstrate for the jury that Tooba and by extent her co-accused husband and son was not pious, not conservative, thus not unbearably strict with her daughters and unlikely to have acquiesced, much less participated, in what the prosecution described as a mass honour killing of three teenage sisters and Tooba s co-spouse and kINGSTON, ONT. I am trying to picture Tooba Yahya in a burqa, her bush of black hair tucked away under the forehead-pinching skullcap that anchors voluminous pleated fabric billowing like fish gills. Yet in a wedding photograph with Mohammad Shafia smiling between his two wives, linking arms with the old one and the new one 17-year-old Tooba wears a Western-style white bridal gown. And we know, from her own evidence on the witness stand, Tooba hailed from a liberal family as least liberal in Afghan terms to the extent that, when the Taliban forbade females from attending school, her father secured a private tutor for his youngest daughter. Such behind-closed-doors educating for girls was also against the law in Afghanistan. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Evangelical Christian Dept: First, church and state are not all that separate in Canada. Why else do you think Ontario taxpayers fund Catholic separate schools? Also, the Charter of Rights recognizes the supremacy of God, according to The Star. It is also unfair to accuse Harper of advancing an evangelical Christian agenda championing only the cause of Christian minorities abroad and it is wrong to accuse Stephen Harper of mixing church and state just because he wants to promote religious freedom worldwide. Second, freedom of and from religion is a secular principle. A prime minister who promotes it should be commended, not criticized. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Health Care Dept: Prime Minister Stephen Harper put the cat among the pigeons in a speech in Davos on Thursday, saying he intends to do to government-funded pensions what he did to health care transfers limit their growth, according to The Chronicle Herald. On Friday, the Prime Minister s Office issued talking points to Conservative MPs and supporters stressing that any changes would not impact benefits to seniors currently receiving OAS, or those nearing retirement and oTTAWA The Harper government is moving to deflect political blowback from planned cuts to public pensions, as the opposition blasted the prime minister for putting seniors security on the block. Although he was not specific, speculation had been building for weeks that Ottawa would increase the age of eligibility for Old Age Security by two years to 67 and that the measure would form part of the upcoming budget. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Susie Riediger Dept: After 75 years, this is what's left of the family business: an empty shell of a building, a stack of bills and the crisp grey photos of what was, according to Winnipeg Free Press. But all that thinking hasn't found a way to warm the coldness of the math. "I don't think there was one year where our sales went up, for 20 years," Nick says. "But the cost of business never goes down. And the longer we stayed open, the deeper we were sinking. I couldn't live with bankruptcy. I couldn't live if I did that to our creditors." Riediger's founder Henry Riediger and his children stand behind the meat counter of their brand-new grocery at 188 Isabel Street in 1946. From left to right: unknown employee, Henry Riediger Sr., Henry Riediger Jr., Susie Riediger, Nick Riediger Sr., Vern Riediger, John Riediger. Earlier this month, Riediger's Supermarket quietly closed its Isabel Street doors and parked its delivery trucks. There just wasn't a way to make the business work anymore. "I'm always trying to think of a way to save the place," murmurs Nick Riediger Jr., sipping a straight black coffee. Related Items Articles Hunger amid the plenty (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport Dept: Apparently Canada's immigration laws can't make a distinction or, if it does, seems to consider the threat of torture more inhumane. At least that seems the case by allowing an alleged killer to gain protection in Canada against punishment for his possible involvement in one of the biggest mass murders in modern history, according to Winnipeg Free Press. Mugesera fought his deportation through the seemingly endless court proceedings that are entitled to him under our laws. His luck finally ran out on Monday, when the courts ordered him on a plane to Rwanda at Montreal's Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport and here's an ethical dilemma for you: does a person who may face torture deserve more compassion than hundreds of thousands of innocent murder victims? Our immigration rules afforded freedom to Leon Mugesera, who is accused in his homeland of Rwanda as being one of the trigger men the 1994 genocide that saw a 100-day massacre claim about one million Tutsis and Hutus. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Provinces And Territories Dept: The program allows participating provinces and territories to nominate potential immigrants who they believe will meet particular economic and labour market requirements. It is the second-largest source of economic immigration to Canada and an estimated 42,000 to 45,000 people will be allowed to apply this year, according to The Chronicle Herald. But Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says there are problems. One is that less than one-quarter of nominees who moved to the Atlantic provinces stayed there compared with a 95 per cent rate in British Columbia and cALGARY A program which allows provinces to tailor immigration to fit local labour needs may look fine on the surface but a federal government evaluation has uncovered what it says are some troubling trends. The evaluation by Immigration and Citizenship Canada says the majority of workers selected by the provinces are succeeding. More than 90 per cent declared employment earnings after one year in Canada and 70 per cent held a job in line with their skills. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Winnipeg School Division Dept: The division has had a net gain of close to 1,000 students this school year, growth that shows no signs of slowing, according to Winnipeg Free Press. Sister MacNamara School is at capacity after 70 children more than anticipated moved into newcomer housing downtown and phenomenal immigration-driven increases in enrolment have put tremendous pressure on schools in the inner city and northwest neighbourhoods of Winnipeg School Division. "Specific schools are really impacted," inner-city superintendent Karen Siler said. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.