Canadians Nearing Record-Breaking Winter For Snow
By Jonathan Spicer and Randall Palmer Mon Mar 10,
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080310/wl_canada_nm/

TORONTO/OTTAWA (Reuters) - Eastern Canada closed in on record snowfall levels this weekend, after a late-season storm dumped up to half a meter (20 inches) of snow on a region that has already been battered by a series of winter storms.

Toronto was among the first hit late on Friday as the storm pushed up from the U.S. Midwest. By Sunday, about 30 cm (12 inches) of snow had accumulated, leading to hundreds of traffic accidents, scores of flight cancellations and buried any expectations of spring. It also left the country's biggest city only about 21 cm (8 inches) shy of its 69-year-old annual snowfall record.

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Canada - Ethnic diversity and immigration
http://www41.statcan.ca/2007/30000/ceb30000_000_e.htm

Over the past 100 years, more than 13 million immigrants have arrived to forge a new life here, making Canada one of the world’s most ethnically diverse countries. Most came from Europe during the first half of the twentieth century. Later on, non-Europeans started arriving in larger numbers as economic immigrants or refugees, or as family members of previous immigrants.

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Ontario Left With Labour Shortages As Workers Move
http://www.torontosun.com/News/Canada/2008/03/09/pf-4951801.html
March 9, 2008
Call of the West
By TOM GODFREY, SUN MEDIA

Excerpts:
By drips and drabs, by the dozen and the hundreds, skilled Ontario workers are pulling up stakes and moving elsewhere. Long-term skilled job vacancy numbers and federal labour mobility statistics show Ontario is increasingly losing talent and experience to other jurisdictions -- and to Western Canada in particular.

Ontario will be short more than 360,000 skilled workers by 2025 and this can escalate to 560,000 jobs by 2030, according to the Conference Board of Canada. "We aren't producing the numbers of highly skilled graduates needed to replace an aging workforce," said Dr. Rick Miner, past chairman of Colleges Ontario and now president of Seneca College.

And for the first time in this country's history, half the workers are over 40. The impending retirement of tens of thousands of baby boomers will leave a massive hole in this province's labour force.

"Starve Your Neighbor" Policy Roils Food Trade
Wed Mar 5, 2008
By Missy Ryan
http://www.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=USHO57295820080305

Excerpts:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Many nations are turning to export restrictions to ease soaring food prices, but such interventions may aggravate turmoil on world commodity markets, a leading research center has warned.

"If one country after the other adopts a 'starve your neighbor' policy, then eventually you trade smaller shares of total world production of agricultural products, and that in turn makes the prices more volatile," said Joachim von Braun, director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute, or IFPRI.

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Indian migrants challenge Britain on visa rules
http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14618182
Friday, 07 March , 2008,

London: A challenge to changes made to Britain's visa rules, mounted by 49,000 mostly Indian migrants, reached the British courts on Wednesday with the government accused of breaching race relations and human rights acts.

The migrants are challenging retrospective changes made by the British government to its Highly Skilled Migrants Programme (HSMP) visas. Launched in 2002, the scheme was aimed at attracting doctors, engineers, accountants and IT specialists to fill a skills gap in Britain.

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U.S.A. Immigration
Immigrant Advocates want to see a change in who controls the debate
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0801235.htm
By Patricia Zapor
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- After the failure last year of a bill that seemed so close to passing that people started planning how to implement it, supporters of comprehensive immigration reform are regrouping, preparing to take on their opponents who have been dominating public debate on the issue.

Frank Sharry, a leader of the comprehensive reform movement and longtime director of the National Immigration Forum, is leaving that organization to launch a new one, America's Voice, with the goal of "taking off the gloves" in responding to opponents of comprehensive reform.

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Kirpan barred, so Sikh group to skip meeting with Pope
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/

A Sikh organisation in the US will skip a scheduled meeting with Pope Benedict XVI in Washington, DC, next month because its representatives have been been asked not to carry kirpans to the event.

The World Sikh Council - America Region (WSC-AR) decided against attending the April 17 inter-religious meeting with the visiting pope because the US Secret Service refused to allow the kirpan, the ceremonial dagger that is one of the five articles of faith for Sikhs. "We have to respect the sanctity of the kirpan, especially at such inter-religious gatherings. We cannot undermine the rights and freedoms of religion in the name of security," said Anahat Kaur, secretary general of the WSC-AR, in a press release Friday.

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Retirement Income of Canadian Seniors

Source
Statistics Canada Government of Canada
Monday, March 10, 2008
Study: Income security in retirement among the working population
1983 to 2004
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/080310/d080310b.htm

On average, Canadian workers had family disposable incomes at age 75, when most are retired, that were 80% of their incomes at age 55, when they were working, according to a new study. However, the extent to which they maintained their income in retirement varied with their level of income.

Disposable incomes for wealthier Canadian workers declined significantly after they headed into the retirement years, but those with low incomes encountered relatively little change.

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Vatican Lists "New Sins," Including Pollution
By Philip Pullella Mon Mar 10, 8:46 AM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080310/ts_nm/pope_sins_dc

Pope Benedict XVI has spoken out on social issues throughout his three-year papacy. He backs a current political initiative to outlaw abortions after 90 days and encouraged Catholics to abstain from a 2005 referendum on easing restrictive laws on fertility treatments, which failed to achieve the 50 percent participation level to make the vote to change the law binding.
 
The seven social sins are:

1. "Bioethical' violations such as birth control

2. "Morally dubious'' experiments such as stem cell research

3. Drug abuse

4. Polluting the environment

5. Contributing to widening divide between rich and poor

6. Excessive wealth

7. Creating poverty

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MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI FOR LENT 2008
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/lent/documents

“Christ made Himself poor for you” (2 Cor 8,9)

Dear Brothers and Sisters!

1.  Each year, Lent offers us a providential opportunity to deepen the meaning and value of our Christian lives, and it stimulates us to rediscover the mercy of God so that we, in turn, become more merciful toward our brothers and sisters. In the Lenten period, the Church makes it her duty to propose some specific tasks that accompany the faithful concretely in this process of interior renewal: these are prayer, fasting and almsgiving. For this year’s Lenten Message, I wish to spend some time reflecting on the practice of almsgiving, which represents a specific way to assist those in need and, at the same time, an exercise in self-denial to free us from attachment to worldly goods. The force of attraction to material riches and just how categorical our decision must be not to make of them an idol, Jesus confirms in a resolute way: “You cannot serve God and mammon” (Lk 16,13). Almsgiving helps us to overcome this constant temptation, teaching us to respond to our neighbor’s needs and to share with others whatever we possess through divine goodness. This is the aim of the special collections in favor of the poor, which are promoted during Lent in many parts of the world. In this way, inward cleansing is accompanied by a gesture of ecclesial communion, mirroring what already took place in the early Church. In his Letters, Saint Paul speaks of this in regard to the collection for the Jerusalem community (cf. 2 Cor 8-9; Rm 15, 25-27).
    

2. According to the teaching of the Gospel, we are not owners but rather administrators of the goods we possess: these, then, are not to be considered as our exclusive possession, but means through which the Lord calls each one of us to act as a steward of His providence for our neighbor. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us, material goods bear a social value, according to the principle of their universal destination (cf. n. 2404)

"Santanchem Pursanv" at Goa Velha
Goa – Annual Procession of Saints
Photos by Joel D’Souza

GOA VELHA: The annual procession of saints popularly known as "Santanchem Pursanv" was held at the church of St Andrew here on Monday, March 10. www.goacom.com 
has a few pictures of the traditional procession at http://www.flickr.com/photos/52243088@N00/

Police Launch Murder Probe In Goa
By Lita Barretto in Panaji, India
March 09, 2008 09:30pm
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23346748-23109,00.html

POLICE in the popular Indian resort state of Goa have launched a murder investigation after the partially naked body of a British teenager was found last month on a beach. The announcement came after doctors conducted a fresh autopsy and concluded 15-year-old Scarlette Keeling was murdered, and did not drown as local police had initially insisted. "We are investigating it as a murder case," senior Goa state police official Kishan Kumar said, after a panel of three doctors conducted a six-hour examination of the body. "There will be detentions now," he said, without providing details, though sources say the owner of a cafe on popular Anjuna beach where Ms Keeling was last seen alive is likely to be questioned.

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Why More Tourists Are Breathing Their Last In Goa
http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14618900 
Saturday, 08 March , 2008, 15:42
Last Updated: Saturday, 08 March , 2008, 15:57

Goa: Death of foreign tourists visiting Goa has been on a rise with 17 cases already been registered in just two months this year in the state. With Goa increasingly becoming a hot spot for drug abuse, the involvement of tourists is evident from the fact that nearly half of the people arrested in narcotics cases were foreigners.

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The Traditional (Goan) Arts And Crafts
http://www.navhindtimes.com/articles.php?Story_ID=03072
Innjoy opens in Anjuna
Panaji, March 6

Innjoy, a melting pot of diverse Goan culture encompassing traditional Goan cuisine and arts and crafts has been thrown open at Chivar, near Flushing Meadows, Anjuna.

Situated in a picturesque hillock, it is aimed at being unique tourist attraction with focus on uniqueness and diverseness of Goa, keeping it as simple and natural as possible.

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India, sixth 'Wonder' of Americans
WASHINGTON (Agencies): India is the sixth most popular country in the US, with 69 per cent of the Americans having a positive image about it, while Pakistan finds itself among the 10 most unpopular nations, according to a new poll. Of 22 countries rated in Gallup's 2008 World Affairs survey, Canada, Great Britain, Germany and Japan win favour with at least 80 per cent of Americans. The top four is followed by Israel at 71 per cent. India ties with France at the sixth spot for the positive image. [GT]

Agriculture still a major occupation in Pernem
MAPUSA, Mar 8: Agriculture is still a major occupation in Pernem, however, it is yet to witness any major development, most of its fields are always seen 'green' clearly indicating that the agriculture is still prevalent in a major way despite of constraints. Cultivation of paddy, groundnuts, bananas and different vegetables is done in a big way so much so that these crops are even grown in a commercial manner. The famed Thursday market in Pernem offers a 'small' platform for these farmers to sell their produce. [Erwin Fonseca, NT]

Victor Rangel talk on "Hiding Places, Rigged Elections and a Rane Murdered on a Hill"
MAPUSA: The Xavier Centre of Historical Research will organise a talk on "Hiding Places, Rigged Elections and a Rane Murdered on a Hill" by Victor Rangel-Ribeiro at the Xavier Centre of Historical Research, Alto Porvorim, on March 13, at 5.30 pm. Rangel Ribeiro draws on his own family's oral traditions, his grandfather's newspapers and his father's memoirs to paint a vivid picture of Goa we no longer know. His varied professional career includes working on a freelance basis for Fairleigh Dickinson University Press as well as teaching both public and private New York schools. [GT]

Physicists Successfully Store and Retrieve Nothing
By Adrian Cho
ScienceNOW Daily News - 29 February 2008

It sounds like a headline from the spoof newspaper The Onion, but for physicists, this is actually an achievement: Two teams have stored nothing in a puff of gas and then retrieved it a split second later. Storing a strange form of vacuum builds on previous efforts in which researchers stopped light in its tracks (ScienceNOW, 22 January 2001) and may mark a significant step toward new quantum information and telecommunication technologies.

To stop light, researchers first shine an intense and continuous beam of laser light into a gas of atoms. That "control beam" tickles the atoms to allow a pulse of laser light of another wavelength to enter the gas. To trap the pulse, researchers turn off the control beam, which causes the pulse to imprint itself on the atoms. To release it again, they turn on the control laser.

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Life in the United Kingdom: A Journey to Citizenship - 2nd Edition (2007)

The British government is launching the citizenship test for foreigners who want to become British. If you want the passport, then you'll have to read Life in the UK, a special book, and sit a 45-minute test on society, history and culture. But do you know what it is to be British?
Can you pass a citizenship test?
If not see…
http://www.lifeintheuktest.gov.uk/
http://www.lifeintheuktest.gov.uk/textsite/test_intro_20.html

Pass the Citizenship test with 'Life in the United Kingdom: A Journey to Citizenship' - the only official test book and study guide - written by the Home Office Life in the UK Advisory Group, the people who set the citizenship test....more
• Published: 26 Mar 2007
• ISBN 13: 9780113413133

Transport Canada wants anti-skid vehicles starting after 2011

Technology helps prevent crashes after control lost

Nicolas Van Praet, Financial Post Published: Tuesday, March 11, 2008
http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=366141

Excerpt:
Transport Canada said yesterday it is working on regulations requiring all new passenger vehicles to have anti-skid technology within three years, part of a wider push by the Harper government to integrate the country's auto industry with its Nafta partners.

The department will mandate that manufacturers selling in Canada put a feature called electronic stability control, or ESC, on all new light cars and trucks built after Sept.1, 2011, according to its Web site.

Transport Canada Releases New Video on Vehicle Safety Benefits of Electronic Stability Control

OTTAWA — As part of the department's mandate to promote the safety of Canadians and to promote awareness of important life-saving technology related to transportation, Transport Canada today released video footage that demonstrates the benefits of Electronic Stability Control (ESC) on dry, snow-covered and wet pavement. A description of the video is available below.
The video is available at: http://ram.canadacast.ca/asxgen/transport/ESC_english.wmv.

Cholera Threatens Arusha's Reputation
http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200803090030.ht
Arusha Times (Arusha)
9 March 2008 By Stanley Daniel Arusha

Arusha Municipal authorities say cholera epidemic is still prevalent in the city and its environs mainly because of poor hygienic conditions. This was sounded in Arusha by the Arusha Municipality Mayor Lawrence Heddi when he was speaking to the media last week.

Heddi told news reporters that the water-borne disease was still a very serious epidemic in Arusha as 160 people were admitted over the period of January-February this year. The mayor gave the break down of victims as follows: 64 males and 30 females came from Sokon I, Muriet and Sombetini wards.

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Weather No Bar For Goan Seniors Attending
WHIST DRIVE – 29TH FEBRUARY, 2008

An unexpected snow storm that even the meteorologists didn’t forecast tried to put a damper on our whist event. But TEGSA members true to form made a determined effort to brave the weather and not disappoint the organizers. Some 70 whist enthusiasts did attend. Not bad at all! By all accounts everyone had a good time.

Guests were treated to a “Fisherman’s Platter”, a snack box full of patties, croquets, sandwiches, samosas and desert. A meal so tasty that the remaining boxes for those who did not show up were sold off with little trouble.

Joe Lobo as expected did a great job at organizing the whist. Our sincere thanks to Joe. Many, many prizes were awarded to both winners and some losers.

Dogs to Sniff Out DVD Piracy in Malaysia
http://southernledger.com/technology/
By Vincent Thian (AP)

Malaysian authorities said Monday they hope two specially trained dogs will help police sniff out pirated DVDs and clean up the country's reputation as an abuser of intellectual property rights.

Two male Labradors from Northern Ireland, named Paddy and Manny and trained to smell chemicals used in DVD production, will become the world's first permanent canine national anti-piracy unit when they go into action next month, according to Malaysia's Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs.
The dogs can't distinguish between real and pirated DVDs

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