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Nerve Block Therapy Offers Hope for Migraine Sufferers

                           Calgary neurologist Dr. Serena Orr injecting a patient to help treat migraines.  Researchers in Calgary are spotlighting a promising treatment for people living with severe migraines: occipital nerve blocks . This approach involves injecting a small amount of anesthetic near the occipital nerves at the back of the head, which can interrupt pain signals and provide rapid relief. Neurologist Dr. Serena Orr of the University of Calgary has been at the forefront of this research, recommending updates to the American Headache Society’s guidelines for emergency departments. The new recommendations encourage doctors to consider nerve blocks as a frontline option for patients arriving with debilitating migraine attacks. Patients who have received the treatment report significant improvement. Some describe it as the first time they’ve been able to escape the crushing pain, nausea,...

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Germany Ends Fast-Track Citizenship Amid Shifting Immigration Debate

                    A view shows the Reichstag building, the seat of the German parliament, the Bundestag, in Berlin.

Germany’s parliament has voted to abolish its fast-track citizenship programme, a move that underscores the country’s changing political climate on migration. The scheme, introduced under former Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition, allowed “exceptionally well-integrated” immigrants to apply for citizenship after just three years of residency instead of the standard five.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative-led government argued that citizenship should mark the culmination of integration, not serve as an incentive for migration. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt emphasized that a German passport must be “recognition of a successful integration process.”

Although the programme was designed to attract highly skilled workers to a country facing acute labour shortages, it was rarely used. Of the record 300,000 naturalisations in 2024, only a few hundred came through the fast-track route. Critics, including the Greens, warned that scrapping the measure could make Germany less appealing to global talent.

The rest of the liberalised citizenship law remains intact, including reduced residency requirements from eight to five years and expanded access to dual citizenship. Still, the decision reflects a broader hardening of attitudes toward immigration, a shift that has fueled the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in recent polls.


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