Hannelore Romeike: Uwe and Hannelore Romeike moved to Tennessee in 2008 after facing escalating fines and threats for refusing to send their children to a state-approved school, as required by German law, according to Times Colonist. The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in May rejected that claim. The court found that U.S. law does not grant asylum to every victim of unfair treatment and NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A couple who fled Germany in order to home-school their children is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to grant them asylum. The Romeikes claim they are being persecuted because they want to raise their children in accordance with their Christian beliefs. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Conservatives: The poll by Winnipeg-based Probe Research for The Winnipeg Free Press , which surveyed 1,002 people in late September, still gave Conservatives the lead in the province, with 42 per cent to 32 per cent for the Liberals. But that represents a dramatic shift since the 2011 election: a drop of 11 points for the Tories and a gain of 15 for the Liberals, giving Grits their best numbers since the 2004 election when they won three of the province's 14 seats. They currently hold only one, according to Huffington Post. The poll shows Liberals trailing the Conservatives by only two points in Winnipeg. Outside of the provincial capital, where two byelections in Brandon-Souris and Provencher will be held, the Conservatives had a 22-point lead. Even so, that is radically different from the last election when the Liberals took just seven per cent of the vote. The poll now gives them 28 per cent in the region and As voters in two Manitoba ridings wait for an impending byelection call, a new poll shows the Liberals have made significant gains in the province and have supplanted New Democrats as the main alternative to Stephen Harper . The New Democrats placed third with 22 per cent, a drop of four points since the last election, while the Greens held steady with four per cent support. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Premier Redford: The premiers office has been taking heat for not releasing the severance paid out to Carter after he left in 2012, according to CTV. The Premier is flouting the law. The precedents here are very clear, said Smith. This is Premier Redford ignoring the rule of law in order to cover up what must be a large taxpayer-funded payout to her friend and PC campaign manager and After months of speculation, we now know how much Premier Redford's former Chief of Staff, Stephen Carter, was paid out when he left. The Leader of the Wildrose opposition, Danielle Smith said in a release on Thursday that Redfords refusal is another insult to the Premiers commitment to transparency. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Benedict Cumberbatch: Cumberbatch, 37, said in an "ask me anything" interview on content-sharing site Reddit on Friday that he was concerned with playing the part after Assange sent him a letter in January declining an invitation to meet in person and urging him to rethink his involvement in the film, according to Reuters. Assange's letter, dated January 15 and published on the WikiLeaks website on Wednesday, called the actor a "hired gun" and criticized Walt Disney Co's DreamWorks studio for using "toxic" source material as a foundation for the film, based partly on the 2011 book "Inside WikiLeaks" by Assange's former lieutenant Daniel Domscheit-Berg and LOS ANGELES - British actor Benedict Cumberbatch says a letter from WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange asking him not to do a movie about the emergence of the anti-secrecy website affected his portrayal of him in the upcoming film "The Fifth Estate." "To have the man you are about to portray ask you intelligently and politely not to do it gave me real cause for concern, however, it galvanized me into addressing why I was doing this movie," Cumberbatch said in response to a user asking him whether Assange's letter affected his role in the film. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

government shutdown: The shutdown has had far-reaching consequences for some but minimal impact on others. Mail is being delivered. Social Security and Medicare benefits continue to flow. But the shutdown has been particularly harsh on those who rely on tourism, such as communities near the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone national parks, according to Times Colonist. TRAVEL The government shutdown continues with some glimmer of hope for those who would like to visit the nation's national parks: The Obama administration said it would consider offers from the states to use their own money to pay for park operations and Utah jumped at the chance. A look at how services have been affected, and sometimes not, by Congress failing to reach an agreement averting a partial government shutdown: (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

applications: The Labor Department said Thursday that the less volatile four-week average rose 20,000 to 325,000. The sharp increase in both the weekly figures and the four-week average comes after applications hovered near a 6-year low the previous week, according to Times Colonist. Federal workers temporarily laid off by the shutdown may also file for benefits. But their numbers are reported separately and published a week later than the other applications and WASHINGTON - The number of people applying for U.S. unemployment benefits jumped by 66,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 374,000. But the spike was largely because California processed a huge backlog of claims and the partial government shutdown prompted some contractors to cut jobs. A government spokesman said that about half the weekly increase occurred in California, where officials processed applications that were delayed several weeks by a computer upgrade. One-quarter of the increase reflected applications from employees at government contractors. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Danielle Duperre: The Montreal native, who moved in 2011 to the tiny village of Manor in southern Saskatchewan, said Thursday that the volunteer fire chief showed up at her house demanding that she pay for making the emergency call because the fire wasn't posing a hazard, according to Huffington Post. "Go back to expletive Montreal where you belong!" he shouts on the recording. "You got me out of expletive bed for this whole expletive !" MANOR, Sask. - Danielle Duperre called 911 last week when she thought the blaze from her neighbour's fire pit was getting out of control, but says she didn't expect to face a tirade about her "petty" French complaint as a result. She said his hand was balled up in a fist and his mouth was clenched tight. The 58-year-old said she became afraid and quickly grabbed her cellphone to record the man's ensuing two-minute rant. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Doris Lessing: When reporters finally got a hold of Munro to ask her about the historic win, the short story writer was incredibly gracious, according to Huffington Post. But our favourite reaction to a Nobel win has to come from British novelist Doris Lessing, who won it in 2007. Lessing was told of her win by journalists who were waiting outside of her London flat and Canadian author Alice Munro was reportedly asleep when the Nobel Prize Committee called to inform her that she had won the prize. The committee left a voicemail message. "I'm particularly glad that winning this award will please so many Canadians. I'm happy, too, that this will bring more attention to Canadian writing," she said in a statement. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

House of Representatives: TORONTO - The main Canadian stock index racked up its best day in three months on Thursday as investors were encouraged by signs U.S. lawmakers were making progress in negotiations to raise the debt ceiling, according to Reuters. Republicans in the House of Representatives on Thursday put forward a plan that would delay that deadline by roughly six weeks, giving the government, and markets, some breathing room and By Leah Schnurr U.S. politicians are locked in a budget stalemate that has resulted in a partial government shutdown now in its tenth day. The impasse is bringing lawmakers closer to a separate mid-October deadline to raise the debt ceiling to avoid a potential default that would roil world markets. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

BlackBerry: The smartphone maker TSX:BB issued a statement saying the location in suburban Bedford would be shut down as of Jan. 10, affecting more than 350 employees. Most of them work as technical support representatives, according to CTV. However, the company is now in the process of cutting its global workforce by 4,500 as it struggles to deal with a shrinking market share and disappointing sales of that device and HALIFAX -- Embattled tech giant BlackBerry announced the closure Thursday of its offices in the Halifax area, eliminating more than 300 high-paying jobs as part of a global push to cut costs. But the Nova Scotia operation was supposed to be much more than just a support centre. In February, the company announced the location would be the home for a new so-called centre of excellence to promote the BlackBerry 10 smartphone. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.