Obama: Before he departed Tuesday night, Obama urged lawmakers meeting with him at the White House to support his plan to punish Syria for allegedly using chemical weapons to attack its own people. The president won the backing of House Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, and Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, though that hardly guarantees support in the fractured House of Representatives, according to Times Colonist. "It's been like watching a slow-moving train wreck for nearly two years," Andrew Kuchins, a Russia expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said of the Obama-Putin relationship. "Mr. Putin and Mr. Obama don't like each other at all." WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama this week plans to urge reluctant world leaders to support a U.S.-led military strike against Syria as he attends a global summit in Russia and makes a stop in Sweden. His three-day overseas trip comes as his administration seeks authorization from Congress. Obama's presence at the Group of 20 gathering in Russia is bound to bring questions about Syria, recently leaked U.S. surveillance programs and especially his tense relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, an ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird: With the U.S. Congress scheduled to vote on a military strike against Syria, the ongoing bloodshed was threatening to overtake discussions at what is supposed to be an economic forum, according to Huffington Post. "The minister will be going to continue to engage with his counterparts on the situation in Syria," said Baird's spokesman Rick Roth and OTTAWA - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird will join his international counterparts to discuss the deepening crisis in Syria, on the sidelines of the G20 summit this week in Russia. Having foreign ministers meet simultaneously as world leaders do in St. Petersburg could help to keep the core agenda on track and defuse a showdown between Russia and other countries. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

The World Bank: WASHINGTON - The World Bank is helping Lebanon prepare the ground to request an influx of international aid to offset the high costs of spillover from the Syrian civil war, the bank's president, Jim Yong Kim, said Tuesday. , according to Winnipeg Free Press. Kim said the bank made a "very intensive effort" to finish the assessment in a few weeks, something that normally would take six to nine months. World Bank President Jim Kim speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the World Bank in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2013. He says his staff is doing a rush assessment of the impact of the Syrian conflict on Lebanon to prepare the ground for a new wave of international aid. AP Photo/Susan Walsh Kim said in an interview with The Associated Press that the Lebanese government asked the World Bank to take the lead in preparing a quick assessment of the social and economic impacts of the war in neighbouring Syria. This analysis will be presented at a Sept. 25 meeting of an international support group for Lebanon at the United Nations General Assembly. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Bashar Assad: Shoring up support for a military response, French officials said a punitive military response would help shift the balance in a 2 1/2-year-old civil war that was tipping in favour of Bashar Assad, according to Times Colonist. As the Obama administration worked to build its own support ahead of the Congress vote, the U.S. and Israel conducted a joint missile test Tuesday in the eastern Mediterranean in an apparent signal of military readiness. In the operation, a missile was fired from the sea toward the Israeli coast to test the tracking by the country's missile defence system and PARIS - France's government offers a preview Wednesday of what the Obama administration faces next week, as lawmakers debate the wisdom and necessity of a military response to a chemical weapons attack in Syria that killed hundreds. "If you want a political solution you have to move the situation. If there's no sanction, Bashar Assad will say 'that's fine, I'll continue what I'm doing,'" France's foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, told France Info radio Wednesday morning, hours ahead of the debate. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

President Barack Obama: As the Obama administration worked to build support ahead of the Congress vote, the U.S. and Israel conducted a joint missile test Tuesday in the eastern Mediterranean in an apparent signal of military readiness. In the operation, a missile was fired from the sea toward the Israeli coast to test the tracking by the countrys missile defence system, according to 660 News. The U.S. and France accuse the Syrian government of using chemical weapons in an Aug. 21 attack on rebel-held suburbs of Damascus that killed hundreds of people. President Barack Obama and Hollande are pushing for a military response to punish Assad for his alleged use of poison gas against civilians though U.S. officials say any action will be limited in scope, not aimed at helping to remove Assad and BEIRUT The French parliament will debate Wednesday whether the nation should launch strikes against Syria, though Frances president says he will wait for a decision from the U.S. Congress on possible military action against Bashar Assads regime. The French parliament will debate the Syria issue Wednesday, but no vote is scheduled. Frances constitution doesnt require such a vote for military intervention unless its lasts longer than four months, though some French lawmakers have urged President Francois Hollande to call one anyway. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne: THUNDER BAY, Ont. - Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has become the latest Canadian political leader to criticize Quebec's proposal to ban public servants from wearing religious symbols. , according to Winnipeg Free Press. That's not something Ontario will be doing, Wynne said Tuesday. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne speaks to the media regarding her party's by-election results at Queen's Park in Toronto on Friday, August 2, 2013. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette The Parti Quebecois government has proposed a Charter of Quebec Values which reportedly would restrict the right of public employees to wear religious items like turbans, yarmulkes, hijabs and visible crosses. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Barack Obama: WASHINGTON/BEIRUT - President Barack Obama won the backing of key figures in the U.S. Congress, including Republicans, in his call for limited U.S. strikes on Syria to punish President Bashar al-Assad for his suspected use of chemical weapons against civilians, according to Reuters. In remarks that appeared to question the legality of U.S. plans to strike Syria without U.N. backing, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the use of force is only legal when it is in self-defense or with Security Council authorization and By Jeff Mason and Yara Bayoumy Speaking after the United Nations said two million Syrians had fled a conflict that posed the greatest threat to world peace since the Vietnam war, Obama said the United States also has a broader plan to help rebels defeat Assad's forces. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Toronto Public Library: Documents dating back to 2011 and obtained by show city staff have been tackling the pest problem at branches in the downtown core, Scarborough and the Beaches, according to CTV. The entire branch had to be treated in March of 2012 after live bed bugs were found in books and The Toronto Public Library has been battling dozens of incidences of bed bugs in several branches in recent years, according to documents obtained by Toronto. At the Queen Saulter branch, located at Queen St. East near Broadview Ave., the critters have been dealt with seven times since 2011. They were found at public computers, the circulation desk and the book drop. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne: The Parti Quebecois government has proposed a Charter of Quebec Values which reportedly would restrict the right of public employees to wear religious items like turbans, yarmulkes, hijabs and visible crosses, according to CTV. "It's very important to me that Ontario is a diverse province, that our laws and our policies reflect that diversity," she told reporters in Thunder Bay, Ont and THUNDER BAY, Ont. -- Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has become the latest Canadian political leader to criticize Quebec's proposal to ban public servants from wearing religious symbols. That's not something Ontario will be doing, Wynne said Tuesday. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

St. Clair College: The University of Windsor and St. Clair College, also in Windsor, say the number of enrolled international students is down this year, according to CBC. "We've never issued more applications, and we've never been more popular," said Peter Bondy, the director of international education at the college and Striking foreign service workers at Canadian embassies around the world are costing schools and the Canadian economy millions of dollars, university and college officials say. Even though St. Clair College says interest from international students wanting to come to Windsor is at an all-time high, its enrolment of international students will be slashed in nearly half. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.