Oprah Winfrey: Billionaire media mogul Oprah Winfrey says she ran into Swiss racism when a clerk at Trois Pommes, a pricey Zurich boutique, refused to show her a $38,000 handbag, telling one of the world's richest women that she wouldn't be able to afford it. Winfrey earned $77 million in the year ending in June, according to Forbes magazine, according to Times Colonist. She brought up the incident during an interview about her new movie, "Lee Daniels' The Butler," which opens next week and focuses on civil rights and race relations in the U.S. She was asked to open up about her own experiences with discrimination and GENEVA - Switzerland is a glamorous playground of the rich and famous, filled with glitterati from princes to movie stars. It's also a land with a sometimes uneasy relationship with foreigners especially when they aren't white. "She said: 'No, no, no, you don't want to see that one. You want to see this one. Because that one will cost too much; you will not be able to afford that,'" Winfrey, appearing on the U.S. television program "Entertainment Tonight," quoted the clerk as saying. "And I said, 'Well, I did really want to see that one.' And she refused to get it." (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

World Vision Canada: Traditionally, employees and volunteers of the non-profits that descend on battered communities following disasters move from home to home, tent to tent, collecting details about the number of family members, their ages and other relevant data. That handwritten information is ultimately used to determine how much food, medicine and other emergency supplies are needed, according to The Star. Now World Vision Canada is using a $900,000 grant from the Department of Foreign Affairs three times as much as it originally asked for to expand the use of a cutting-edge mobile phone app to register refugees and other aid recipients and The international aid agencies that respond to humanitarian crises are leaving the paper-and-clipboard era behind. But different aid agencies can sometimes overlap, registering the same family multiple times as they rush to disaster zones and refugee camps, said Bart Witteveen, World Vision Canadas director of humanitarian and emergency affairs. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Obama: Answering questions Friday at a White House news conference, Obama said the United States was reassessing its relationship with Moscow but that U.S. athletes should not be penalized by the nations' differences, according to CBC. Russia's support for Syrian President Bashar Assad in the ongoing civil war and Moscow's decision to grant temporary asylum to National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden have roiled the already uneasy relationship and President Barack Obama rejected the idea of the United States boycotting the Winter Olympics in Sochi next year despite several significant disputes with Russia. "I do not think it's appropriate to boycott the Olympics," Obama told reporters. "We've got a bunch of Americans out there who are training hard, who are doing everything they can to succeed." (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Jordan Tannahill: For those who live and work in, and generally care about, Kensington Market who number at least 88,000, according to a recent petition it was nothing less than a stay of execution. General though it may be, the freeze appears targeted at Walmart Canada , which still plans to install one of its omnibus retail outlets on the markets doorstep, on Bathurst between Dundas and College Sts, according to The Star. People were threatening to tear it down, says Jordan Tannahill, co-director of the gallery-cum-performance space Videofag . We had to politely explain to them: We re on your side. Its a satire. You can step inside and see for yourself and A few weeks ago, Toronto city council passed a bylaw freezing retail development on nearby Bathurst St. for a minimum of one year. So when the familiar sign blue background, white letters, a cartoony twinkle of yellow appeared on a storefront on Augusta Ave. last Saturday, the shocked disdain that greeted it maybe shouldnt have been a surprise. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Wade Miller: The team turfed CEO Garth Buchko and installed former Bomber player Wade Miller as acting CEO, according to CTV. A GM has the responsibility to win football games. Lets call a spade a spade, under Joe Mack, the record speaks for itself, said Miller and The Bombers have cleaned house following months of frustration and anger from fans over constant losses, stadium delays and problems. But it also means the team will be paying out contracts for its former CEO and general manager. One of Millers first moves was to fire general manager Joe Mack Friday. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper: In fact, several high-profile Tories including Prime Minister Stephen Harper have spoken out on these issues for years, according to Huffington Post. Baird said he is concerned the legislation will be enforced during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and called the law an "incitement to intolerance, which breeds hate. And intolerance and hate breed violence." While John Baird was accused this week of alienating the conservative base by denouncing anti-gay laws in other nations, support for gay rights abroad is actually nothing new for the Harper Conservatives. REAL Women of Canada, a privately-funded and socially-conservative group, slammed the foreign affairs minister this week for saying he has been working behind the scenes to persuade Russia to ditch a controversial anti-gay law. The legislation bans "propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations" and imposes fines on those holding gay pride rallies. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

The German economy: "The German economy grew briskly in the spring," the ministry said on Friday in its monthly report. "After the weather dampened growth in the first quarter, there was a growth spurt in the second quarter due to catch-up effects." , according to Reuters. The Bundesbank said in June that the German economy would slow down after a surge in the second quarter and expected just 0.3 percent growth for the year as a whole. BERLIN - The German economy is likely to have expanded significantly between April and June, helped by higher private consumption and investment in construction, but growth will be more modest in the rest of the year, the Economy Ministry said. The modest underlying rate of growth in the economy should accelerate slightly in the rest of year, held back by the tough European and international environment, the ministry said. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Putin: WASHINGTON - U.S. and Russian officials will seek to maintain a working relationship when they meet in Washington on Friday, even though the political mood between their countries has hit one of its lowest points since the end of the Cold War, according to Reuters. Obama's move came after Putin gave asylum to former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, whose public flight after revealing U.S. surveillance programs was a major embarrassment for Washington and By Lesley Wroughton and Phil Stewart President Barack Obama's cancellation this week of a summit in Moscow with President Vladimir Putin finally put to rest any notion that a much-vaunted "reset" of ties sought by the United States in recent years is alive. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Canadian Broadcast Standards Council: Balanced debate, according to The Star. Mother of all insults OTTAWA Sun News Network hit the airwaves boasting it would be provocative. But it has sparked some notable controversies. Host Krista Ericksons aggressive interview with dancer Margie Gillis over public funding for the arts in June 2011, sparked a record 6,676 complaints to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council. But the council said the exchange, while somewhat heated, had produced a balanced debate. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

State John Kerry: WASHINGTON - U.S. and Russian officials agreed on Friday on the need to convene a long-delayed Syrian peace conference in Geneva as soon as possible, but they offered no concrete plan to bring the warring government and rebels to the table, according to Reuters. He said much of his meeting with Secretary of State John Kerry was devoted to Syria and both men agreed they needed to convene a so-called Geneva 2 conference "as soon as possible." By Paul Eckert and Susan Cornwell Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters after five hours of political and security meetings in Washington that officials from the two countries will meet again by the end of the month to prepare for the Syria talks. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.