In a reversal of policy, the Federal Government has decided to allow CSIS agents to use information gained from torture in "exceptional circumstances". Agents are still not permitted to use torture themselves, but previously it had also been forbidden to use information from those who had been tortured in other countries.

California's ban against same-sex marriage was declared unconstitutional by a three-judge panel of the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals on Feb. 7. This landmark decision could bring the issue to the US Supreme Court. The law banning same-sex marriage, called Proposition 8, was approved by voters in 2008 – only five months after the State of California legalized same-sex unions.

About two dozen Thorold residents, including two City Councillors, gathered at Kernahan Park Secondary School on Feb. 2 to speak out against the possible closing of Thorold Secondary School. Thorold's only high school is one of several being considered for closure – but, the residents say, it is too important to Thorold to be shut down.

Niagara Regional Transit is off to a slow start, only earning half the revenue that was predicted during its first few months of service. The inter-municipality system, which connects St. Catharines, Welland, Niagara Falls, Fort Erie and Port Colborne, began its trial in September, and since then has only seen about a quarter of the ridership that was initially expected.

On Jan. 29, a jury in the Frontenac County Court House in Kingston delivered a guilty verdict in what has been dubbed the "Shafia Family Murders". Mohammad Shafia, his wife Tooba Mohammad Yahya and their son Hamed have each been convicted of four counts of first degree murder of their three daughters Zainab, Sahar, Geeti and Shafia's first wife, Rona.

In a vote held on Jan. 30, the member states of the AU failed to elect their new leader. Neither of the two candidates, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma of South Africa and Jean Ping of Gabon, secured the two-thirds majority needed to claim victory. A new vote will be held in June, in which neither of the two candidates will be permitted to run.

Since major sites such as Wikipedia and Reddit blacked-out their service on Jan. 18 to protest the United States's SOPA legislation, attention has been brought to similar copyright and anti-piracy legislation being proposed in other countries around the World.

Retiring at 65-years-old might soon be a thing of the past. Canada may be the next country to change its age of retirement. It is expected that by the year 2025 Canadians will be ineligible to receive their Old Age Security before turning 67-years-old.

LGBT students attending Catholic schools in Niagara will not be allowed to form Gay-Straight Alliances, said a new decision from the Ontario Catholic School Board Trustees Association in response to calls that they rescind the ban. Instead, schools will make "respecting differences" clubs available – meant to combat discrimination in general.

Several Niagara District schools are under review. The school board has released plans for a review it will be conducting in March, 2012 to assess changing enrolment patterns, issues with aging facilities and staff efficiency. Schools with low enrollment or which make inefficient use of its staff may face restructuring or closure depending on the board's decision.

On Jan. 9, after two years of re-building, the Carlisle St. Parking Garage finally opened its doors to the public once again. The new garage, which cost $27.9 million holds 600 parking spaces and will have rooftop gardens, LED sensor lighting, high efficiency ventilation, bike racks and greywater maintenance.

Outgoing NRP chief gives controversial speech Niagara Regional Police (NRP) Chief Wendy Southall gave a speech on Jan. 25 during the 2011 Niagara Women in Business Awards regarding her time as the first female, first civilian and longest-serving police chief in the NRP's history.

Wednesday, Jan. 25 marked the first  year anniversary of the revolution that ousted the former Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak. Tens of thousands of Egyptians gathered in Tahrir Square in mixed celebration and protest. A year ago protests broke out in Egypt as part of an uprising against the autocratic rule of its President Hosni Mubarak – a regime that lasted 30-years and ended when Mubarak resigned on Feb.

On Jan. 24, Prime Minister Stephen Harper met with nearly 400 Aboriginal Chiefs from 33 different nations in Ottawa, to address the issues of rampant poverty and deplorable living conditions on Canada's various Native Reserves. Long standing issues within Canada's borders have been economic and social deterioration of the various First Nations communities.

Megaupload Shutdown by US government Hong Kong-based  company Megaupload was shut down on Jan. 19 by the US Department of Justice and four of its executives were taken into custody in New Zealand on charges of copyright infringement. The arrest comes only one day after congress decided to postpone the debate and voting on the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA).

A new strain of TB has broken out in India and Iran. The new strain, which has proven immune to the antibiotic drugs usually used against it, has sent doctors all over the World into a panic. While information on the Iran outbreak has proven scant, reports from India have tallied the size of that outbreak at 12 people.

A Halifax Naval Intelligence Officer was arrested over the Jan. 14 weekend on allegations of espionage after allegedly transmitting several pieces of classified information outside the country over the course of several years. Sub-lieutenant Jeffrey Paul Delisle was arrested on two charges under the Security of Information Act.

St. Catharines residents living near the Downtown area may soon have a much easier time with their grocery shopping. The City's Ad-Hoc Budget Committee has decided to grant $2,500 to the local advocacy group Our Community Food Store to fund a study to see if a co-op grocery store would be viable in the downtown area.

At the biannual Liberal Party convention, on Jan. 15, party delegates voted in favour of the legalization of marijuana and against separation from the British monarchy. These two proposals were heatedly contested within the party – a party trying to find platforms that will win over Canadians to help pull it back up from the results of the last federal election.

On Jan. 18, an estimated 7,000 Web sites on the Internet blacked out their services for a 24-hour period to protest the SOPA and PIPA bills which were soon to be voted on in the US Senate and House of Representatives. The online activism led to many American politicians withdrawing their support for the bills, and congress has decided to postpone their debate on this issue.

Kim Jong Il deceased Kim Jong Il, the authoritarian leader of North Korea since 1994, died on Dec. 17, reportedly of a heart attack. On Dec. 30 Kim Jong Il's son, Kim Jong Un, was declared Supreme Leader of North Korea by the ruling "Politburo of the Workers' Party of Korea", following succession plans laid out by his father.

RIM Looking for New Chairman Research in Motion Ltd. is preparing to unveil a corporate shakeup at the beleaguered BlackBerry maker that could see co-founders Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie relinquish their titles as co-chairmen of the board. Barbara Stymiest, an independent director who joined RIM's board in 2007, is believed to be the leading candidate to replace the co-chairmen, sources familiar with events said.

American prosecutors are preparing a case for the first criminal charges against BP for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which killed 11 people and contaminated the ocean with over 200 million gallons of oil. The explosion and leak, which occurred in April 2010 and continued gushing for three months until finally capped in July, is being called the worst maritime environmental disaster in American History.

Ringing in the new year in London, ON, locomotive plant Electro-Motive locked-out 420 CAW members after new contract talks collapsed on Jan. 1. The plant was bought back in 2010 by Caterpillar's (CAT) subsidiary Progress Rail as part of a 820 million dollar deal.

The inauguration of the year 2012 has begun a period of great activity for the Niagara Region. The year will mark the 200th anniversary of the start of the war of 1812, and will see the first of many events to commemorate the war – events that will continue all the way through to the 2014 bicentenary of the signing of The Treaty of Ghent, which ended the war.