British Prime Minister David Cameron: COLOMBO - Allegations that ethnic minority Tamils in Sri Lanka are being subjected to abuses four years after the army won a civil war against separatist rebels have put pressure on the government as it prepares to host a Commonwealth summit. , according to Reuters. British Prime Minister David Cameron says he will ask "serious questions" and demand an investigation into allegations of war crimes. By Frank Jack Daniel Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said weeks ago he was skipping the meeting because of concern about a deterioration in human rights and his Indian counterpart, Manmohan Singh, has also pulled out. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

composite index: The S P/TSX composite index was down 32.35 points at 13,326.04, while the Canadian dollar was off 0.14 of a cent to 95.3 cents US even as the Harper government said it will have a bigger than expected surplus in two years despite weak economic performance, according to CTV. The Dow Jones industrial average was 32.43 points lower to 15,750.67, the Nasdaq inched up 0.13 of a point to 3,919.92 while the S P 500 index slipped 4.20 points to 1,767.69 and TORONTO -- The Toronto stock market closed modestly lower Tuesday, led by resource stocks that fell alongside prices for oil and copper. U.S. indexes were also lacklustre amid a reminder to investors to accept the idea that the U.S. Federal Reserve will be putting the brakes on its asset purchase program. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Bank of Canada: The Canadian dollar was down 0.14 of a cent from Fridays close to 95.3 cents US. The Bank of Canada was closed Monday for the Remembrance Day holiday, according to 660 News. Even so, that could still be a conservative estimate, since Flaherty is subtracting $3 billion from the projections in case things turn out worse than he expects and TORONTO The Canadian dollar closed lower Tuesday as Ottawa announced it will have a bigger than expected surplus in two years. Finance Minister Jim Flahertys latest fiscal projections show a $3.7-billion surplus in the 2015-16 fiscal year, almost $3 billion more than predicted in the March budget. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Federal Employment Minister Jason Kenney: Federal Employment Minister Jason Kenney told reporters Tuesday the amount is 90 per cent of the $3.1 billion in claims that Alberta submitted following devastating floods that hit southern Alberta in June, according to Huffington Post. "Big picture? This is going to be a huge, huge federal fiscal commitment to post-flood reconstruction efforts in Alberta and the $2.8 billion I do not anticipate that will be the end of it," Kenney said and CALGARY - Ottawa has earmarked $2.8 billion to pay for Alberta's flood recovery costs. The federal government reimburses provinces for up to 90 per cent of approved claims under the disaster assistance agreement between Ottawa and the provinces. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty: The new projection nearly $3 billion better than the March budget forecast was part of Tuesday's fall economic update, which Flaherty upstaged a little by declaring he would be a candidate for re-election in two years' time, according to Times Colonist. Besides new estimates of the government's fiscal position, Flaherty's update a mid-year report card on the economy and Ottawa's books contained a few surprises, including plans for future asset sales and a costing of savings tied to the recently announced departmental spending freeze and OTTAWA - The Harper government will end seven years of deficits in 2015 with a $3.7-billion surplus, just in time for the next election a campaign in which Finance Minister Jim Flaherty now says he intends to run. Flaherty, who suffers from a serious skin condition, has said he would stay until the budget was balanced. Asked directly whether he would run in 2015 when by his accounting he will achieve that goal he responded unequivocally: "Yes." (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

omnibus bill: The sentencing laws, enacted as part of the Harper government's 2008 omnibus bill, could see people sent to prison for three years for what would amount to a licence violation, the Court of Appeal for Ontario ruled, according to Huffington Post. The law as written could capture anyone from a person keeping an unloaded restricted gun, with ammunition accessible, in their cottage when their licence requires it to be in their home, to a person standing on a street corner with a loaded gun in his back pocket "which he intends to use as he sees fit," the court said and TORONTO - Mandatory minimum sentences for gun possession enacted by the federal Conservatives' as part of their law-and-order agenda are "cruel and unusual punishment," Ontario's top court ruled Tuesday in striking the laws down as unconstitutional. In that scenario, there is a "cavernous disconnect" between the severity of such an offence and the severity of the sentence, the court ruled. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Iranian rock band: NEW YORK, N.Y. - A gunman was carrying about 100 rounds of ammunition in five magazines when he set out on a bloody rampage through a Brooklyn apartment, killing two brothers who played in an Iranian rock band and another musician, police said Tuesday. , according to Winnipeg Free Press. Records show the Spanish-made assault weapon was purchased by someone else at an upstate New York shop that went out of business in 2006, said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. People stand near a row house, center, that was the location of a murder-suicide in the Brooklyn section of New York, Monday, Nov. 11, 2013. A musician shot and killed two members of an Iranian indie rock band and a third musician early Monday, and wounded a fourth person at their apartment before killing himself on the roof, police and the group's manager said. AP Photo/Seth Wenig Ali Akbar Mohammadi Rafie fired several rounds early Monday before he used his rifle to kill himself on the roof the apartment building where four members of the band Yellow Dogs lived together, police said. Afterward, investigators recovered 81 unfired rounds, some of them in magazines stashed in a guitar case found on an adjoining rooftop. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Miami Dolphins: If you aren't up to speed with the goings on of the Miami Dolphins, here is what you need to know. Martin used to play offensive tackle for the team. He left because he says he was bullied, hazed and harassed -- mainly by Richie Incognito -- to the point he had to seek treatment for emotional distress. , according to Winnipeg Free Press. The cycle begins with the fact, for the most part, veterans don't initially care for the new players continually introduced to the team -- rookies. This aversion is understandable. If every year at your place of employment, multiple younger and cheaper prospects were brought in to compete for your job, and eventually take it, you probably wouldn't greet them with open arms either. With his actions, Jonathan Martin is making the NFL locker-room accountable to the standards and practices of a typical work environment. The only problem with this is the locker-room in professional football is anything but typical, and unlikely to change anytime soon. The problem with opening this window into the culture of pro-football is what you see when you look inside. Physical and mental abuse and harassment -- to some degree -- is something that happens every day in this world. It is the byproduct and side effect of the most physical and aggressive industry there is. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

rental market: Their impact is expected to be just as profound, if uncertain, as its been on the rental market where the desire among millenials to live close to work has driven up rents , driven down the vacancy rate and fuelled bidding wars for pricey new investor-owned condos clad in granite and stainless steel, according to The Star. Thats because the average age of first-time buyers across the GTA is 37 a number thats remained surprisingly constant over the last decade as house prices have virtually doubled and the bulk of millennials are just 20 to 36 right now and Its likely to be 2016 before the bulk of echo boomers who outnumber their baby boomer parents start packing up their rented downtown condos and moving into the new and resale house market, says the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Echo boomers now account for half of Toronto's population, but where they've going to end up as they move into parenthood remains the great unknown, according to the Toronto Housing Outlook Conference 2013, held here Tuesday. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

seismic events: Today, structural trends and seismic events are reshaping economies, societies, politics, power and expectations around the globe, according to The Chronicle Herald. Consider four drivers of this global change and what they may mean for our future in Atlantic Canada and The future is hiding in plain sight, and the question before us is whether we have the wisdom to spot it, and the ambition to seize it. In short, do we want to proactively shape our future, or be passively changed by it? (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.