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Canadian Province Announces Two-year Ban On Admission Of Nigerians, Other International Students
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British Columbia is banning new post-secondary institutions from applying to enrol Nigerians and other international students for the next two years, as the province roots out "exploitive practices" plaguing the system.
Post-Secondary Education Minister Selina Robinson said Monday that the freeze is necessary to correct faults in an international education system that "has not been working as well as it should."
According to CBC News, Robinson said the province began looking into the system last March and found instances of "poor-quality education, a lack of instructors" and even the "scaring away" of students from lodging formal complaints by certain private institutions.
One student, Robinson said, told her that the woman's family in India saved money to send her to British Columbia for a "quality education." Instead, she was placed in online classes upon arrival, the minister said.
"She arrived here being told that there would be in-class instruction, only to discover on her first day of class as she showed up that the entire course would be taught online," Robinson said. "And she couldn't understand why she spent all that money for an online program.
"We do need to stop the bad actors from misleading these students, and that's what we're here to fix."
Robinson also announced the province was setting minimum language requirements at private institutions so international students would be "better prepared" before coming to British Columbia.
More details on the language requirement will be released in March, Robinson said, as work is still being done on that front.
Of the 175,000 international post-secondary students from more than 150 countries in B.C., about 54 per cent are enrolled in private institutions.
There are 280 of those private schools in the province, and 80 per cent of them are in the Lower Mainland.
Robinson said the province will step up inspections of the schools to ensure standards are met, adding that many students are being taken advantage of.
"They worry that if they complain, it will risk their student visa, and it will sacrifice all the effort their families have put into making sure they can get a quality education," she said. "So, they're less likely to complain.
"As a result of hearing that, we're going to be … developing a system where we'll be on site and doing a more proactive evaluation of programs."
Robinson said the two-year pause gives the province some time to assess the impact of recent changes, such as the federal government's capping of study permits it approves over the next two years.
Verified
23_12
Nigerian Afrobeats star David Adeleke aka Davido don become 'Outstanding Georgia Citizen'.
Nigerian Afrobeats star David Adeleke aka Davido don become 'Outstanding Georgia Citizen'.
Na Secretary of State of di State of Georgia, Brad Raffensperger, proclaim Davido wit am.
Di Afrobeats star bin share di development on im X page on Friday morning.
"Dis morning I bin attend U.S state of Georgia General assembly meeting wit di Georgia House of Representatives and Georgia state senate to dey recognized as ‘Outstanding Georgia Citizen’ … God dey good," e write.
23_11
Factors That Will Shape the Israel-Hamas War
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3 Factors That Will Shape the Israel-Hamas War
The brewing conflict in Gaza could turn into a full-blown regional crisis depending on how Israel crafts its military response and whether other militant groups in the region get involved.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Israel on Thursday to pledge unwavering U.S. support for its ally, while the humanitarian situation in Gaza goes from bad to worse amid numerous Israeli strikes. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is traveling to Israel on Friday.
SitRep has spoken to more than a dozen officials, regional experts, and U.S. lawmakers about the brewing conflict and what happens if it escalates beyond Gaza. Boiling all their insights down into just one newsletter is incredibly difficult, particularly given how rapidly the situation is evolving, but broadly speaking three factors will shape the conflict.
First, what would a ground invasion of Gaza look like? As Israeli strikes pound Palestinian neighborhoods in Gaza, the Israeli military is readying plans to launch a full-scale ground invasion—but Israel’s political leaders haven’t given the green light on that plan yet. Whether they do and how they do it will have massive military and humanitarian implications.
Gaza, the small coastal strip from which Hamas launched its deadly attacks on Israeli civilians and military bases over the weekend, is considered one of the most densely packed urban areas in the world.
Urban warfare is grim, and no matter which side wins, civilians always lose.
Adm. Rob Bauer, the Dutch commander who chairs NATO’s Military Committee, visited one of the Israeli bases bordering Gaza just a week before it was attacked. “I still believe the Israeli forces are extremely advanced,” Bauer told SitRep in an interview at the alliance’s headquarters in Brussels. “I still believe they have great capabilities. They have to, because they have been in a state of war for so long.”
Four previous rounds of conflict between Israel and Hamas between 2008 and 2021 ended indecisively, with Hamas still retaining control of Gaza, but Israeli officials vow this time will be different.
A full-scale Israeli invasion could decapitate Hamas in a best-case scenario for Israel, but it could also quickly bog down into a military quagmire. Some U.S. and European officials who spoke to SitRep voiced fears of parallels to Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon: Israel intended to swiftly defeat the PLO, but the war morphed into a drawn-out mini-Vietnam.
Second, will other actors get involved? The biggest fear for Israeli and U.S. officials is Hezbollah going all-in on joining the fight. The Lebanon-based militant group, backed by Iran and Syria, is considered one of the most heavily armed nonstate actors in the world, and its arsenal of weapons and missiles vastly overshadows Hamas’s military capabilities. By some estimates, it has expanded its missile arsenal to 130,000.
The Biden administration is still determining how many fingerprints Iran put on Hamas’s massive attack on southern Israel.
“The intelligence community should be the ones to determine how much involvement Iran had in this attack, as that is what policy should be based on. Not selected leaks,” said Mick Mulroy, a former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East and a retired CIA officer.
If Hezbollah fully dives into the fight, it will turn the conflict into a two-front war for Israel and draw in, at least in a more meaningful way, Iran and Syria to the conflict—though Iran always prefers to operate through proxies. Israel has already deployed tens of thousands of troops to the border with Lebanon to head off any plans by Hezbollah, and the situation remains on a knife-edge. Austin, the U.S. defense chief, said the United States had “not seen any masses of forces on the border” between Lebanon and Israel, as of Thursday afternoon Europe time.
“For years, I’ve believed that Israel has effectively deterred Hezbollah from a major escalation, but things are more dangerous now,” Daniel Byman, a Middle East expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told SitRep. Byman indicated that there’s a risk for even small skirmishes to quickly spiral. “As regional passions rise, it is harder to be removed from regional events. In addition, military ‘signaling’ on both sides can easily be misunderstood or get out of control.”
Third, what’s Uncle Sam’s plan? The Biden administration has already deployed a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group to the region, in large part as a signal of support to Israel and also to deter Hezbollah or other groups from jumping into the fight.
The USS Gerald R. Ford and its entourage—five guided missile ships, a cruiser, and four destroyers—have a lot of firepower, including systems that could help defend Israel against missile attacks from Hezbollah. (Retired U.S. Navy Adm. James Stavridis has a good rundown in Bloomberg of what the carrier strike group’s deployment means, if you’re interested in learning more.)
A senior U.S. defense official, speaking to reporters in Brussels on condition of anonymity, said the Ford’s move into the Eastern Mediterranean would help prevent the conflict from expanding. The official mentioned the possibility of a second U.S. carrier entering the region in the future but didn’t give more details.
“You may be strong enough on your own to defend yourself, but as long as America exists, you will never, ever have to,” Blinken said in a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday.
Will the United States become militarily involved in the conflict? Top National Security Council official Jon Finer told MSNBC on Thursday: “We are not contemplating U.S. boots on the ground.” But planes in the air and ships in the sea aren’t boots on the ground, and it’s not yet clear what authorities the carrier group and the deployment of fighter jets would have—if any—to provide backup to Israel if it ends up on its heels.
Still, it is a sign to Iran and groups such as Hezbollah to stay out. “I don’t necessarily think these are resources that would be flying in support of the Israelis,” said Joseph Votel, a retired U.S. Army general who led U.S. Central Command until 2019. “Iran has to appreciate that there is a cost to be paid for stepping more into this.”
There’s another factor on the U.S. side: money.
President Joe Biden and Congress, or at least most of Congress, are hankering to send Israel more military aid—to the tune of $2 billion—but the current Republican political fiasco in the House of Representatives amid the battle over a new speaker makes that difficult.
Biden has the ability to send Israel limited military aid through presidential drawdown authority—basically allowing the rapid shipment of existing U.S. stockpiles to Israel—but Congress needs to write the bills (and the checks) for future military and security assistance packages. Can Congress do that without an elected House speaker? In short, maybe not, but it’s complicated and legally unprecedented territory.
Let’s Get Personnel
Former Republican Rep. Will Hurd has quit the Republican presidential primary race and endorsed Nikki Haley.
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo joins Liberty University as the conservative Christian school’s new distinguished chair of the Helms School of Government.
Israel-Hamas war live: Israel raids Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital
There are red alert sirens in communities and towns in the south [of Israel], specifically in the town of Ashkelon there was a direct hit.
Now this barrage of rockets comes after 17 hours of no red alerts and no rocket fires in those areas, but we are hearing of a direct hit in the southern coastal city of Ashkelon.
Medical authorities are saying that two Israelis were injured. They are two men in their 30s in mild condition.
Authorities are also saying that there was damage to cars and buildings after that rocket slipped through the Iron Dome missile defence system earlier this afternoon.
Olamide Baddo
YBNL (an abbreviation for Yahoo Boy No Laptop) is the second studio album by Nigerian rapper Olamide. It was released on November 12, 2012, as the follow-up to his debut studio album Rapsodi (2011). The album features guest appearances from Kayswitch, Tiwa Savage, Dammy Krane, Davido, Kida Kudz, Reminisce, Base 1, Buckwyla, and Minus 2. Its production was handled by Pheelz, Samklef, I.D Cabasa, 2Kriss and Tyrone. YBNL was supported by the singles "Ilefo Illuminati", "First of All", "Stupid Love" and "Voice of the Street".
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