A pagan man has 3 wives. The first wife has 4 children, the second wife has 2 children and the third wife has only one child. They all live together in a common compound where each wife and her children dwell in separate small houses. The man lives in the main house and each wife visits him and cooks for him once a week.
This pagan man then gets to know Jesus Christ and becomes BORN AGAIN.
What should he do with his marriages ? Keep the first wife and send the other two packing or leave things as they are ?
If he leaves things as they are, would church members not think that it is a good thing to marry more than one wife ?
According to the Office for National Statistics, UK residents make around 19.1 million visits abroad each year.
Most of these residents will be British citizens with passports declaring to authorities of other states that the Queen, and so now the new King, ‘requests and requires… all those whom it may concern to allow the bearer to pass freely without let or hindrance and to afford the bearer such assistance and protection as may be necessary.’ And most will assume that, if they are denied such assistance and protection abroad, and worse still are seriously harmed, then the UK government will step in to assist them. After all, the most basic function of any state is to protect its own citizens.
Nnamdi Kanu’s case, which is awaiting a hearing in the UK’s Court of Appeal on 22 June this year, is set to put each of these assumptions to the test. That is because, if the High Court was right to reject his family’s judicial review claim earlier this year, the UK government has what amounts to a right to remain indifferent and passive when British citizens’ rights are grossly abused abroad. Indeed, that right would mean the government can avoid ever making a decision about what has happened or is happening, to its citizens when they are abroad and desperately seeking its help.
The facts of the case are stark. Mr Kanu is a beloved husband and father to family in the UK. He is also leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a group that calls for self-determination of Biafra Land. And crucially, he is also a British citizen, who has been subject to the most serious human rights violations, including being detained for two years in Nigeria in an intelligence agency facility in conditions that amount to torture. As a British citizen, he travelled with the same expectations of protection by the British state as any other British citizen who may be mistreated abroad, however unlikely that may be. Unfortunately for Mr Kanu, such protection has been conspicuously lacking. Perhaps surprisingly for many, the question for the court is not ‘what should the UK government do to help him?’. Instead, it is ‘should the UK government make its mind up about what has happened to him and then decide what to do?’ because for over two years the government has said it cannot, and will not, make those critical decisions.
Background
In June 2021, whilst visiting Kenya, Mr Kanu was abducted by Nigerian security services. He was detained and tortured for around 10 days in Kenya at a ‘black site’ before being forcibly transferred from Kenya to Nigeria on a private plane, without any due process. For nearly two years, he has been held in solitary confinement in a spartan cell at the Nigerian intelligence agency headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria. He has been denied adequate medical treatment, despite a long-standing medical condition.
Since his detention, Mr Kanu’s family have been asking the British government to take steps to secure his release on the grounds that there was no lawful basis for bringing him to Nigeria, and he was therefore subject to extraordinary rendition. Mr Kanu’s family have also argued that his ongoing detention is arbitrary.
To date, however, the Foreign Secretary has failed to reach any firm view on whether Mr Kanu was subject to extraordinary rendition. He claims only a ‘provisional’ view is possible, despite the overwhelming evidence and the robust assertions of the United Nations and the Nigerian Court of Appeal.
Mr Kanu’s family have brought a legal challenge against the FCDO on the basis that reaching a firm, concluded view is necessary to lawfully determine what steps should be taken to assist Mr Kanu. An earlier Court of Appeal case, Abassi, held that lawful decision-making on assisting British citizens detained abroad depended on reaching such a conclusion.
Mr Kanu’s family’s challenge was heard before Mr Justice Swift at the High Court on 15 November 2022 and judgment was handed down on 23 March 2023.
High Court judgment
In the judgment, Mr Justice Swift noted the serious wrongs committed against Mr Kanu, including that in 2017, the Nigerian state had attempted to kill him, that the Nigerian authorities captured him in 2021 whilst he was in Kenya and subjected him to inhuman and degrading treatment, and crucially, that he was subject to ‘rendition’.
The court also highlighted extracts from the Opinion of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Nigerian courts, which unanimously found that Mr Kanu was subject to extraordinary rendition and called for his release on the basis that his ongoing detention is arbitrary.
However, despite clearly recognising the gravity of the wrongs committed against Mr Kanu, the court disappointingly held that Mr Kanu has no legitimate expectation that the British government should reach a firm view for itself on what had occurred or its seriousness.
The court also held that it was rational for the Foreign Secretary to maintain a ‘provisional view’ on whether Mr Kanu has been subject to extraordinary rendition, despite the overwhelming evidence. This is particularly surprising given that the court itself reached the view that Mr Kanu had been rendered on the basis of the evidence before it.
Implications for British citizens
The High Court’s judgment is troubling not just for Mr Kanu, but for any British citizen who finds themself subject to a serious violation of their rights whilst abroad. It effectively enables the Foreign Secretary to remain indefinitely ambivalent in the face of such a violation and limits the steps the British authorities should take to assist a British citizen, even in circumstances where there is clear evidence of that violation.
Unfortunately, Mr Kanu’s case is no aberration. The British government’s inadequate approach to Mr Kanu’s case is symptomatic of a wider failure to protect its citizens abroad, one that has led the Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) to conclude in a recent report that the UK government is failing to prevent ‘abductor states’ from ‘weaponizing [the] citizenship of British nationals for geopolitical ends’.
The FAC highlighted that the presumption that quiet diplomacy is always appropriate is false. The FAC also concluded that the FCDO’s policy of not commenting on, or interfering with, a foreign state’s legal system even in situations where the UN has condemned that state’s actions, ‘is counterproductive and risks undermining an important tool, as well as the government’s commitment to a Rules-Based International Order based solution for ending’ unlawful and arbitrary detention by a foreign state. The FAC recommended that ‘the government should as a matter of practice promote public acceptance of the opinion of the [UN] working group’. Such action has been entirely absent in Mr Kanu’s case.
The detailed recommendations in the FAC report reflect the lack of clear and principled policy around protecting British citizens mistreated abroad or working with their families in the UK to ensure meaningful protection for them. It will be interesting to see how the government responds to the report but in the meantime, the Court of Appeal will have the opportunity to give the FCDO’s policy on protecting its citizens abroad a proper and robust legal underpinning by upholding the principle arising from Abbasi.
Court of Appeal hearing
The Court of Appeal will hear Mr Kanu’s family’s appeal on 22 June 2023. The case will set an important precedent on whether the British government has the right to avoid making a decision on whether a British citizen is subject to fundamental breaches of international law, in spite of overwhelming evidence of violations of their rights. Anyone traveling with a British Passport should look out for the ruling and hope that the court will firmly restate and apply the principles in Abassi so that they can be confident that their government will properly consider what protection they need abroad, should such a need ever arise.
Africa's largest economy, Nigeria, is in the process of introducing new banknotes for the first time in more than 20 years. The move is an attempt to reignite confidence in the currency, the naira, which is under severe pressure. With inflation at more than 20%, people are struggling to cope with the rising cost of living. It is leading to the largest exodus of young professionals in years.
"Imagine going to the grocery store one day, and everything has tripled in price? How do you even cope? You have a family at home. What do you cut out of the budget?" Oroma Cookey Gam tells me by Zoom, her face incredulous.
The fashion designer left Nigeria's biggest city, Lagos, with her young family a year ago for the UK capital, London. Her husband and business partner Osione, an artist, was granted a Global Talent visa, which enables leaders in academia, arts and culture, as well as digital technology to work in the UK.
She says it had become too expensive to raise their young family in Lagos. "Our money was buying us less and less. We weren't able to pay our bills, we weren't able to do normal things that we were doing."
Oroma studied law at the UK's University of Northumbria and moved back to Nigeria almost 20 years ago, keen to use her degree to help develop her country. Along with Osione, she eventually set up This Is Us, a sustainable fashion and lifestyle brand that uses local materials and artisans, including cotton grown and dyed in northern Nigeria.
Initially, the cost of living crisis wasn't impacting them.
"Because we are 100% sourced in Nigeria, things were not as terrible for us as it was for other people," Oroma says. "So when everyone was increasing their prices, we skipped a couple of increases because we could manage."
But eventually their Nigerian customer base was finding it harder to afford non-essential items like clothing - particularly when food accounts for 63% of their spending. This means when the price of food goes up, people have less disposable income.
Oroma says it is particularly bad for young Nigerians. "Speaking to my mum, one thing that I realised is that when they were younger, things were a lot easier for them. They could afford to buy houses, cars.
"I always felt like: 'What is going on with me?' I'm failing because I can't do all the things my mum was doing, but I realised that the country is not working for me."
She is not the only one to feel this way. Nigeria is experiencing its worst wave of emigration in years. Reliable statistics are hard to find, but the number of Nigerians granted UK work visas has quadrupled since 2019. And 700% more visas have been awarded to Nigerian students.
There are long queues outside immigration processing centres and embassies every day, and everyone here seems to know someone who's leaving or trying to relocate abroad.
The term "japa", which means "to run, flee or escape" in Yoruba, has become a popular topic of conversation online, as well as on radio and TV chat shows.
Most of those who can afford to leave the country legally are well educated. They include doctors, nurses, engineers and IT professionals. It's led some to call the exodus a "brain drain".
The Nigeria Medical Association, says at least 50 doctors leave Nigeria every week to work abroad. Poor working conditions, coupled with bad pay and the rising cost of living are the main factors.
Kunle Ibisola is a junior doctor who used to work at the University College Hospital (UCH), in the south-western city of Ibadan. He now works for NHS Scotland.
"My story is the story of most Nigerian doctors," he tells me over the phone. "I never wanted to leave Nigeria. My intention was to start my residency there, become a consultant and practice in my country.
"The main reason I left is salary, and the cost of living. In the UK, if I work six to eight hours of locum work [overtime] and I convert that to naira, it will be the equivalent of my monthly salary in Nigeria. And that's not even including my main UK salary."
He says a year ago his hospital in Nigeria started haemorrhaging doctors.
"Some doctors didn't get paid for six to nine months, because there was an issue with the federal payment system. Some senior colleagues couldn't afford to drive to work or send their children to school. That was an eye-opener for a lot of people."
His wife and children are planning to join him in Scotland soon. When I ask him what he thinks the future holds for Nigeria, he grows pensive.
"If I think about it too much, it's depressing because even people currently in medical school are all planning to leave. If you aren't planning to leave, people think you're unfortunate or you don't have money."
I have spoken to half a dozen doctors, all with similar stories. Overworked and underpaid, they all decided to relocate over the past two years.
For those left behind, the pressure is immense. Cheta Nwanze, an economic analyst at SBM Intelligence, says Nigeria's current high rate of inflation is mainly caused by food inflation.
"SBM has this proxy for food inflation called the Jollof Index," he explains, referring to the tomato-based rice dish, popular across West Africa. "We calculate the average cost of making a pot of jollof rice for a family of five. It was just under 4,000 naira at the start of 2016, and now it's around 10,000 naira [$22, £18] - so it's more than doubled in five years."
He explains that although Nigeria has been affected by some of the same drivers of inflation as elsewhere in the world, namely the war in Ukraine and the 2020 pandemic, there are additional factors unique to the country.
He says that many farmers in the north, where much of the country's food comes from, have been unable to plant their crops in recent years because of attacks by Islamist militants and kidnappers.
"When you couple that with the government's protectionist policies with respect to food imports, and Nigeria's growing population, it means there's less food for more mouths to feed, which drives up inflation."
The impact of this can be seen in the country's markets. In Ajah, a small food market in a residential suburb of Lagos, there are fewer people than usual.
Omowunmi Ajekigbe, a market trader, is grating okra under a huge parasol. "Things weren't too expensive last year," she tells me, "but this year, it's too much. You used to see lots of customers rushing about, but now... you barely see anybody.
At a nearby stall, Cordelia Fidelis, a young woman with long braids and a big smile, is haggling with a vegetable seller. She owns a catering business and comes to the market every day.
"The cost of goods is alarming - in just two months the price of yams has more than doubled. It's crazy, I swear it's crazy, everything is so expensive. A box of egg is expensive, beef is expensive, palm oil is so expensive."
Some have started taking drastic action to manage their expenses. Angela Chukwulozie is a retired teacher who now sells Italian shoes. "Since the price of everything has gone up, I've cut back on how many meals my family and I eat every day. Instead of eating three times in a day we now eat twice."
The economy is one of the key concerns for voters in next month's elections. Despite being Africa's largest economy, four out of 10 Nigerians live below the poverty line, according to the World Bank. All of the main candidates have promised to improve the country's economy if elected, but there is scepticism as to whether they can deliver.
The Central Bank says the change of currency, which must be completed by 10 February when the old banknotes will no longer be legal tender, will help bring some of the cash currently being hoarded by individuals and companies back into the banking system.
It says 80% of the notes currently in circulation are outside banks. The organisation hopes the change will give it a better understanding of the money circulating in the economy so it can better manage inflation. Whether or not it will be successful is debatable.
Back in London, Oroma is optimistic, despite the hardships her country is facing.
"There's no place like home. I go back to Nigeria every three months, because when I haven't been there, I literally feel like I'm dying.
"I feel like Nigeria is at the point where, if we can change now, it's not too late. We just need some basics: people need to be educated, we need electricity, we need roads. If we can just do these three things and improve security, I think the potential in Nigeria is amazing."
emmanuelbrown26: Op, ur uncle or brother caused all these shit. When u show too much concern toward a bitch, d bitch would definitely turn around and take over d position of a man
laluski: No.. he's not tired yet.. let him continue till he drops dead, then I'll advice his corpse on what he should have done when he was as alive.. better leave him and face your own life so you won't make same mistakes, I wonder what I read her atimes is true or pure stories.. Kai..
ibkayee: Why are the flaws of these 'mistreated' guys always underemphasised/bundled in like a last minute thought aaaaallllllll the way at the end of these write-ups lol and it usually starts with something like "of course the husband is not perfect..."
In my opinion, may men these days are too weak. Culture has been eroded.
15 years marriage and my brother is going through a mini hell on earth.
When they got married, initially, the wife supported the husband with the usual cooking, tidying the house and contributing money intermittently. Plus she took good care of the kids.
Now, all she does is spend her husbands money, invests some of with her family without telling him. She does not cook, clean or support financially. Currently jobless. But learning some new skills for what I don't know. Loves her children and took care of them when they were little.
Current situation ;
Husband works, brings all the money, cleans the house, cooks and is deprived of sex. Maybe sex is once in 6 months. The children come to the husband for all their needs including dinner, pocket money and all matters relating to their upkeep. They also go the husband for advice and support.
Do you think it is normal for the husband to be like a house help while providing 100% of all the needs of the family ?
Husband is now tired and not sure what to do next. She refuses all advice and can get very abusive and dismissive when corrected.
Of course the husband is not perfect. During the early days of marriage, he will shout at her for leaving the kitchen in a total mess with no food, when he returned from work. And because his income was not large in the early days money was sometimes hard to come by. But after a while he just stopped shouting and started doing everything himself. At one point, he almost fell ill.
Gwan2: When UK decided to open its borders to every Tom, dick and harry….what do they expect.
I’m not being condescending, but whenever I take a flight from naija to UK and see some calibre of people in same flight to UK….I just know that UK are just grinding the gun powder they intend to sit on.
There’s this third world pattern or modus operandi of scamming people that is perculiar with third world countries. UK is now becoming safe haven for such scams.
Calibre of people ? What a deluded person. A human being is a human being.
On Monday, the NATO military alliance will hold a training exercise, known as Steadfast Noon, in which US B-52 bombers and F-16 fighters will simulate dropping atomic bombs over Europe amid a deepening nuclear standoff with Russia.
The training exercise comes just ten days after US President Joe Biden warned of a nuclear “apocalypse,” saying the risk of nuclear war is the greatest since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.
“This is the exercise that practices NATO’s nuclear strike mission with dual-capable aircraft and the B61 tactical nuclear bombs the US deploys in Europe,” wrote Hans Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists.
The aircraft will rehearse dropping B61 “tactical” thermonuclear bombs, each of which is up to 20 times more powerful than the weapon that destroyed Hiroshima in World War II, killing as many as 126,000 civilians.
While nuclear training exercises are usually presented as routine, nonthreatening, and not targeting any specific country, this year NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg made clear that the exercise is intended as a threat to Russia.
In a speech that mentioned Russia five times, Stoltenberg announced, “Next week, NATO will hold its long-planned deterrence exercise, Steadfast Noon.” He added, “Russia knows that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.”
As of 2019, the United States had 150 “tactical” nuclear warheads stationed throughout Europe as part of the NATO nuclear arsenal, including in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey.
On Sunday, one day ahead of the scheduled nuclear drill, China told its citizens living in Ukraine to evacuate the country, citing the “grave security situation.”
In June, the NATO alliance published a document pledging to “deliver the full range of forces” needed “for high-intensity, multi-domain warfighting against nuclear-armed peer-competitors.”
In announcing the Steadfast Noon exercise, NATO said the training flights include “14 countries and up to 60 aircraft of various types, including fourth and fifth generation fighter jets, as well as surveillance and tanker aircraft.” It added that “US B-52 long-range bombers” will “fly from Minot Air Base in North Dakota” to take part in the exercise.
The flights will take place “over Belgium, which is hosting the exercise, as well as over the North Sea and the United Kingdom.”
NATO added, “No live weapons are used,” which is a relief because the weapons involved in the drill would irradiate several hundred square miles and disperse fallout in multiple countries.
On October 7, President Joe Biden said the world is at risk of nuclear “Armageddon,” implying that the rapid escalation of the war in Ukraine could lead to nuclear war between the United States and Russia.
“We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis,” Biden said.
Biden added that he did not think “there’s any such thing as the ability to easily (use) a tactical nuclear weapon and not end up with Armageddon.”
In February, he warned that sending offensive weaponry to Ukraine would trigger “World War III.” Since that time, the US has sent hundreds of armored vehicles, advanced long-range missile systems, and other high-end weapons to Ukraine.
In an article published last week in Politico, former CIA Director Leon Panetta wrote that the US intelligence agencies believe the odds of the war in Ukraine spiraling into a nuclear war are as high as one in four.
“Some intelligence analysts now believe that the probability of the use of tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine has risen from 1-5 percent at the start of the war to 20-25 percent today,” Panetta wrote.
On Friday, the Guardian reported that governments are making plans to prevent “panic” should the war in Ukraine escalate into a nuclear conflict. “West makes plans to avoid panic if Russia uses nuclear bomb in Ukraine” was the headline of its report, which cited an unnamed official as saying that governments are carrying out “prudent planning for a range of possible scenarios.”
The NATO nuclear exercise is set to occur at virtually the same time that Russia carries out its “grom” nuclear exercise. While NATO has been loudly announcing its nuclear bombing exercises, no similar announcement has come from Russia.
That has not, however, prevented NATO officials from vocally denouncing the as yet unannounced Russian exercise as a provocative escalation.
An unnamed US official told Reuters, “Brandishing nuclear weapons to coerce the United States and its allies is irresponsible.”
He added, “We think nuclear saber rattling is reckless and irresponsible. Russia may choose to play that game – but we won't.” The US official said this just days before Washington planned to fly bombers to Europe to practice dropping nuclear bombs.
Josep Borrell, the EU's foreign policy chief, last week threatened to “annihilate” the Russian military if nuclear weapons were used in Ukraine, saying, “Any nuclear attack against Ukraine will create an answer, not a nuclear answer, but such a powerful answer from the military side that the Russian Army will be annihilated.”
On October 7, the same day as Biden’s comment about nuclear Armageddon, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, at a meeting of an Australian think tank, called for NATO to carry out preemptive strikes on Russia to prevent the “possibility of Russia using nuclear weapons.”
“What should NATO do? Eliminate the possibility of Russia using nuclear weapons,” Zelensky said. “We need preventive strikes, so they know what will happen to them if they use nukes, and not the other way around.”
In this super-heated atmosphere, the US-led nuclear training exercise raises the prospect of a major miscalculation. It is a well-known fact that the annual NATO Able Archer exercise during the Cold War almost led to a full-scale nuclear war in 1983, when the leadership of the Soviet Union became convinced that the United States was actually going to launch a nuclear attack.
The Washington Post noted that Soviet bomber crews “were ordered to load nuclear bombs on one squadron of aircraft in each regiment, and aircraft were placed at ‘readiness 3,’ meaning a 30-minute alert.”
In February 2021, the Historian's Office of the US State Department declassified a letter by S. Lieutenant General Leonard H. Perroots that made clear Soviet forces had responded to the US buildup by loading nuclear warheads onto their bombers, and that if the United States had responded in kind, it could have triggered a nuclear war.
After being publicly released, the Perroots memo was taken offline by the State Department and a judge ruled that it should be reclassified as secret.
Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said the alliance is “closely monitoring” Russia’s nuclear forces and that any deliberate attack against allies’ critical infrastructure “would be met with a united and determined response”.
The Nato military alliance “is not party” to the conflict in Ukraine, Stoltenberg said during a news conference. “But our support is playing a key role,” he added.
Allies remained “united in their support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and self-defence”, he said.
Stoltenberg told reporters: Ukraine has the momentum and continues to make significant gains. While Russia is increasingly resorting to horrific and indiscriminate attacks on civilians and critical infrastructure.
President Putin is “failing in Ukraine” and his “attempted annexations, partial mobilisation, and reckless nuclear rhetoric represent the most significant escalation since the start of the war”, he said.
The Russian leader’s veiled nuclear threats are “dangerous and irresponsible”, Stoltenberg added: Russia knows that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. We are closely monitoring Russia’s nuclear forces. We have not seen any changes in Russia’s posture.
But we remain vigilant.
Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, has said Russia’s possible use of nuclear weapons is highly unpredictable.
Speaking to reporters after the virtual G7 meeting on Russia’s invasion fo Ukraine, Kishida said: The situation does not at all allow any prediction. It requires serious, close attention. For the past 77 years, the world has continued to put a stop to using nuclear weapons. This history of not using nuclear weapons must continue further.
Migrants from Nigeria are bringing the highest number of relatives to the UK - and now face clampdown under Home Secretary Suella Braverman
Migrants from Nigeria are bringing the highest number of relatives to the UK
Nigerians accounted for 40% of dependants who accompanied foreign students
By comparison, 114,837 Chinese students brought with them 401 dependants
Home Secretary Suella Braverman is planning to cut net migration
Migrants from Nigeria may face a clampdown under Home Secretary Suella Braverman's plans to cut net migration as it emerged that citizens from the west African country are bringing the highest number of relatives to the UK.
Nigerians accounted for 40% of all dependants who accompanied foreign students in the 12 months to June - despite Nigerian students making up just 7% of all foreign students in that period, according to Home Office figures.
Some 34,000 Nigerians were given study visas in the UK, bringing with them a total of 31,898 dependants. A similar ratio was recorded for work visas, with 8,972 Nigerians issued with one in the 12 months to June bringing with them 8,576 dependants.
By comparison, 114,837 Chinese students who came to the UK last year brought with them a total of 401 dependants - while 93,049 Indian students came to Britain with 24,916 dependants, the figures show.
MailOnline has contacted the Home Office for further information about the numbers.
Miss Braverman and Cabinet Office minister Nadhim Zahawi are considering imposing a cap on the number of children that foreign students can bring in a bid to cut unskilled migration.
However, the Home Secretary's moves appear to have split the Cabinet and seem to be at odds with public opinion - with a survey carried out by Ipsos Mori finding that only 29% of Conservative voters support a reduction in student immigration.
The polling also found that the public remains divided over the Government's controversial policy to send migrants to Rwanda, with 21% strongly opposed and 21% strongly supportive.
Dependants can work without the same level of criteria that other migrants must meet.
In August it emerged that Nigerian students have become the third largest foreign student group in the UK, following in the footsteps of India and China - after a seismic 686% increase since before the pandemic.
Home Office figures reveal 65,929 Nigerian nationals were granted a sponsored study visa in the year ending June 2022 - a rise of 57,545 (686% ) compared to 2019, when 8,384 were given.
Overall, international student numbers have risen by 71% over that period, with 486,868 student visas granted to main applicants and their dependents in the year up to June - 202,147 more than 2019.
A Home Office spokesman said: '[This] is the highest on record in our time series, with the substantial increase representing both a recovery from lower numbers during the Covid-19 pandemic but also an increase on the pre-pandemic period.'
There were 117,965 grants to Indian nationals this year, an increase of 215% compared to 2019.
Chinese nationals were the second most common nationality with 115,056 visas granted, albeit 4% lower than 2019.
Non-Russell group universities now make up 56% of all CAS used in study visa applications. This is the highest proportion of Non-Russell group CAS seen since the Sponsorship time series began in 2010.
The head of student processing group Ucas has said more students from Nigeria, Ghana and Vietnam should be recruited, amid a row about international admissions - with accusations that some universities are seeking to benefit from the higher fees overseas students pay.
Biden promises Ukraine ‘advanced air defence systems’ after Russian missile strikes
The US president is pledging to provide Kyiv ‘with the support needed to defend itself, including advanced air defence systems ‘
President Joe Biden on Monday told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky the US would provide Ukraine’s armed forces with “advanced air defence systems” and other self-defence support after Russian missile strikes hit a range of civilian targets in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities.
A $290 million procurement of the drug Nplate, to treat acute radiation syndrome (ARS), was announced by the US Health and Human Services (HSS).
The government confirmed it was the first purchase of the drug, manufactured by the California pharmaceutical company Amgen.
The purchase comes after Vladimir Putin renewed his threat of nuclear war. In a speech last month he vowed to use “all the means at our disposal” to protect Russia and its people. “This is not a bluff,” he said.
The US government said the procurement of Nplate was not in response to the war in Ukraine.
An HSS spokesman told The Telegraph: “This is part of our ongoing work for preparedness and radiological security. It has not been accelerated by the situation in Ukraine.”
It is understood the HSS has been working with Amgen, and similar companies, for some years.
The US has maintained a stockpile of Leukine, a drug which also treats ARS, since 2013.
In 2017 the HSS partnered with Novartis, another pharmaceutical company, to determine if a product used for patients with low blood platelets, known as thrombocytopenia, could be used to protect people in the event of a nuclear incident.
The supply of Nplate has been procured “to save lives following radiological and nuclear emergencies”, according to the HSS announcement.
“ARS, also known as radiation sickness, occurs when a person’s entire body is exposed to a high dose of penetrating radiation, reaching internal organs in a matter of seconds,” it said.
“Symptoms of ARS injuries include impaired blood clotting as a result of low platelet counts, which can lead to uncontrolled and life-threatening bleeding.
“To reduce radiation-induced bleeding, Nplate stimulates the body’s production of platelets. The drug can be used to treat adults and children.”
The Telegraph understands Nplate is approved for use in Europe and the UK to treat low blood platelet counts in adults, but there is currently no licence to use it for other purposes such as blood injuries following ARS.
Nigeria has been ranked second most attacked country by the Islamic State terrorist group globally, according to the data by an acclaimed global and international terrorism research group, Jihad Analytics, with Iraq being the first and Syria being the third in the world.
The report which was made in its half year report spanning January to June 2022 stated that while Iraq recorded 337 terrorists attacks, Nigeria recorded 305 attacks with Syria coming third following 142 terrorists’ attacks.
The analysis is coming against the backdrop of repeated claims by Nigerian government offiials that terrorists have been degraded, decimated and terrorism checkmated to the barest minimum.
The most recent and daring attacks by the terrorist group including attacks on the Owo Catholic Church in Ondo State, the Train attack on Kaduna-Abuja rail line, the attack on the Kuje Medium Security Correctional Centre, Abuja leading to freeing of 66 Boko Haram Commanders among other criminals have made observers question the claims.
The terrorists group also attacked troops of the Presidential Guards Brigade troops both at Dutse and Zuma Rock in Abuja some soldiers and officers died.
Abuja—The United Kingdom yesterday announced plans to begin issuance of new visa that allows holders of first degrees, masters, and doctorates to travel to the country and work in fields, such as science, technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship by May 30.
The visa, known as high potential individual visa, allows applicants to relocate to the UK without a prior job offer or sponsorship.
Meanwhile, some of the requirements exempted those who graduated from Nigerian universities.
Also, the applicants must have been awarded a degree, equivalent to or not less than a UK bachelor’s degree.
It was learned that the UK’s action against Nigerian graduates was based on the fact that Nigerian universities do not appear in any of the global rankings.
The UK had been one of the choice destinations for many Nigerians seeking to relocate abroad for academic and work purposes.
UK Minister of Safe and Legal Migration, Kevin Foster, said of the visa: “The High Potential Individual visa route is targeted at attracting high-skilled foreign university graduates who will be allowed to work and stay in the UK for two or three years.
”On the expiration of the visa, the holders could switch to permits under the skilled worker, start-up and innovator, exceptional talent, or scale-up route for continued stay in the UK.
“The new High Potential Individual route will make it as simple as possible for internationally mobile individuals who demonstrate high potential to come to the UK.“
”It will enable those who have already demonstrated their potential through academic achievement to come to the UK without a prior job offer.
“If you’ve been resident in the UK for more than 12 months, you might not need to meet this requirement. Graduates with a bachelor’s or a master’s degree will be given a two-year visa. Ph.D. or other doctoral-level graduates will get visas valid for three years.
”This visa can only be granted once and will not be available to those who have already had a graduate visa.”
We are aware of inaccurate reporting circulating in the media and online that the UK Government has added the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to the UK’s list of terrorist groups or organisations banned under UK law.
These reports are untrue. The “Indigenous People of Biafra” (IPOB) is not a proscribed organisation in the UK.
The inaccurate reporting relates to the 13 April 2022 publication by the UK Government of a revised Country Policy and Information note (CPIN) on separatist groups in SE Nigeria, including the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
CPINs provide country of origin information (COI) and analysis of COI for use by UK Government decision-makers handling particular types of protection and human rights claims.
All asylum and human rights claims made in the UK are considered on their individual facts in accordance with our obligations under the UN Refugee Convention and European Convention on Human Rights, taking into account relevant background country information and case law.
The CPIN on separatist groups in the South East, including the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), provides a general assessment of risks faced by individuals belonging to those groups.
These assessments are based on an analysis of publicly available country information obtained from a wide range of reliable sources including media outlets; UK and other governments; local, national and international organisations; and non-government organisations.
This CPIN also acknowledges that the Nigerian government has proscribed IPOB as a terrorist organisation, some members of IPOB have reportedly used violence against the state and members of the public, and advises that persons who have committed human rights abuses must not be granted protection.
I was surprised that many Nigerians believed the fake news on the labelling of IPOB as a terrorist organisation by the UK authorities. This is false and can be easily discounted by reading the entire article on this issue from the 'horses' mouth.
What the UK has stated very clearly is that anybody responsible for, or involved in violent activity as part of the IPOB group or any other group for that matter, will be denied assylum to the UK, EXCEPT sufficient evidence is provided to prove otherwise. This has nothing to do with peaceful supporters and advocates for a new dawn in Igbo land - away from miserable existence in that dump called Nigeria.
Read some exceprts below BUT NOTE THAT THE UK in particular and no other country in the world has designated IPOB as a terrorist group.
Nigerians, black Africans - THINK , REASON !
2.2 Exclusion
2.2.1[b] IPOB is proscribed as a terrorist group by the Nigerian government[/b], and members of the group and its paramilitary wing – the Eastern Security Network (created in December 2020) – have reportedly committed human rights violations in Nigeria (see Indigenous People of ‘Biafra’ (IPOB) and various media articles in Activities and Clashes between state and IPOB)
2.2.2 MASSOB has been banned, but is not a proscribed terrorist group in Nigeria. It too has reportedly been involved in violent clashes with the authorities (see Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of ‘Biafra’).
c. IPOB
2.4.10 In September 2017, IPOB was proscribed as a terrorist organisation in Nigeria (see Overview of groups and Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of ‘Biafra’ (MASSOB) leadership).
2.4.30 Decision makers will also need to take into account whether the person supports and is active on behalf of IPOB, which is a proscribed group in Nigeria, and whether they fear prosecution rather than persecution.
8.2 Proscription/legal status of IPOB
8.2.1 Country information included in the EASO Country Guidance stated: ‘In 2017, the Nigerian authorities declared IPOB a terrorist organisation.’[footnote 32]
8.2.3 The EASO Targeting of individuals report of November 2018 citing several media news sources stated:
‘After the crackdown [August 2015 and August 2016] in which the army killed and arrested an unknown number of IPOB members, the military, endorsed by the federal government, banned IPOB and declared it a terrorist organisation. This declaration was not supported by many Nigerians and international observers such as the EU and the US, as the Chatham House article noted. It was stated that “IPOB supporters are not known to be violent and that the protests have been largely peaceful”.’ [footnote 34]
8.2.4 Human Rights Watch in their World Report 2019, Nigeria: Events of 2018 stated: ‘In a letter to President Buhari in March, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) declared the government’s proscription of IPOB as a terrorist group and attacks against its members as prima facie violation of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights. In April, Nigeria’s sixth periodic report on the implementation of the charter was considered at the ACHPR’s 62nd Ordinary Session in Mauritania.’[footnote 35]
Official Ukrainian sources on May 1 said devastating artillery strikes on a Russian military headquarters may have injured the senior general in the Russian Army, Valery Gerasimov, along with killing or wounding dozens of other military personnel, many of them senior members of the officer’s corps.
A statement from Ukraine’s Army General Staff (AGS) said a pair of surprise bombardment
The main target was an army headquarters and the second was a headquarters for an airborne infantry unit, the statement said.
According to Ukrainian news reports, Gerasimov travelled from Moscow to the command post near Izyum on April 29 to take personal command over a major Russian offensive in the sector, aimed at capturing the Donetsk regional town of Kramatorsk and encircling Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) units further east.
Ukrainian media were quick to report the strikes wounded Gerasimov, but the claims were not repeated by official UAF sources.
Social media sites in Russia appeared to confirm Gerasimov had indeed been wounded, most accounts stemming from a public post by Russian political scientist Valery Solovei, who said: “Gerasimov received a shrapnel wound in the upper third of the right shin without a bone fracture. The fragment was removed, there is no danger to [his] life.”
Ukrainian news reports following the strikes said that among the dead was Maj. Gen. Andrei Simnov, head of the Russian Army’s radio-electric warfare division.
Ukrainian military video published during the afternoon of April 30 purportedly of some of the strikes, showed images of heavy artillery shells systematically pounding and destroying a concentration of Russian command vehicles, field antennas and trucks.
Oleksiy Arestovych, a presidential administration advisor frequently commenting publicly on military developments, in an April 30 evening interview said artillery “completely eliminated” a Russian command center near the Kharkiv regional village of Zabavne, and that Simonov’s alleged death was likely but “needed to be confirmed”.
Arestovych estimated the number of Russian officers and command center staff personnel killed and wounded in the strikes at between 100 and 300 personnel.
He made no comment about Gerasimov.
If his death were confirmed, Simonov would become the tenth Russian general officer killed in combat since Kremlin despot Vladimir Putin ordered a renewed invasion of the neighboring country on Feb. 24.
Solovei’s comments said nothing about Simonov’s status, but estimated that “dozens of people” were present at the headquarters when hit, and that “about half of them” did not survive the strikes.
According to Ukraine, Russian units have suffered more than 22,000 casualties since the renewed invasion.
Christianity Etc › Re: What Should A Man Who Has 3 Wives Do After He Becomes Born Again. by IhateYouMan(op): 2:46pm On Jul 26, 2023
