₦airaland Forum

Starting Thursday, Canadians will have a new way to identify their sex on passports and other government documents: “X” will join the options of male and female.

The decision to allow the third category, indicating an “unspecified” sex, is intended to protect the rights of Canadians to identify by the gender of their choice, the country’s immigration department said in announcing the change. Ahmed Hussen, the minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship, said in a statement that the designation was added to advance “equality for all Canadians regardless of gender identity or expression.”

The move is part of a broader push to embrace nontraditional forms of gender expression. In November, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed a special adviser to coordinate government efforts to promote equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals. A law passed in June amended the Human Rights Act to include nondiscrimination protections for gender identity and gender expression.

Canada is not alone. At least eight other countries offer a third option on passports or national identification cards, according to Lambda Legal, a nonprofit that promotes the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people. Those countries are: Australia, Bangladesh, Germany, India, Malta, Nepal, New Zealand and Pakistan. The group is suing the United States State Department on behalf of a client who identifies as neither male nor female and is therefore unable to accurately complete a passport application.

Last year, a judge in Oregon granted a petition allowing Jamie Shupe of Portland, a retired Army sergeant, to identify as neither sex and instead be classified as nonbinary. At the time, experts described the ruling as groundbreaking. In June, Washington, D.C., added a gender-neutral identifier to drivers’ licenses and identification cards, and in July, Oregon began allowing residents to mark their sex on driver’s licenses as “not specified.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/25/world/americas/canada-passport-x.html

Nigus Enfinity, an indigenous firm, says it will introduce electric vehicles into the Nigerian automobile market in 2018 and that its local assembly plant for electric vehicles will be ready in 2020.

Malik Ado-Ibrahim, chairman of the company, made this known to journalists in an interactive session which held in Abuja on Thursday.

Ado-Ibrahim said several countries across the world have set targets for the ban of petrol-fuelled vehicles with India targeting 2030, and the United Kingdom, 2040.

He said Nigeria and Africa need to look inward to be at the fore of the automotive revolution or risk becoming waste bin for banned vehicles from other countries.

Ado-Ibrahim, who was the first African to lead the Formula 1 Team global race car competition in 1999, said his firm is already building a 100 megawatts (mw) solar power plant in Katsina and another in Adamawa state.

According to him, the company has also partnered with Build Your Dreams, a Chinese firm, to import electric vehicles at affordable costs from 2018.

“We are also working with BYD to get a local brand and start an electric vehicle assembly plant for Nigeria from 2020. Gradually we will move to an EV with the African DNA starting in Nigeria,” he said.

In June, Elon Musk had unveiled the world’s cheapest electric car, which was priced at N11 million.

https://www.thecable.ng/electric-cars-introduced-nigerian-market-2018

safarigirl:
I want to say I am surprised by the way some people on this thread reason, but I won't say that because I am not.

First of all, they could win us...on both legs? No....on one? Yes. Could we win them? Yes, so I don't know why you people are being pessimistic. Haba! You think the Camrroonians didn't see our list and think similarly? Was the Algerian list as at last year not more intimidating? The way some of us seem to have lost faith in these boys is disturbing. Hian! I can't even talk too much about it because it's even annoying me as I'm reading some posts here.....lemme move on....


Some others think some players are living in past glory (I won't address the uncle that mentioned Mikel), while the likes of Musa and M.Simon and indeed Akpeyi, may not be names many of us want to see on the list, we must realise that the game at hand determines the invitees.


You cannot call up four to five new players for a crunch match like this. It is not possible. You call up the guys who have bonded over the span of at least four matches. Musa and Simon have solid experience with this team, so they will trump other fringe players for this game, it's a given. It is foolhardy to think that the likes of Onyekuru will be called up to play Cameroon when they haved not built any on field chemistry with anybody else.


Like someone said, these players will be phased out with time, I do not expect to see either of these guys in our NT come next year, however, they are a necessary evil for now. So, just suck it up and hope for the best.....

And stop berating our players, they are just as good as the Cameroonians.

If Nigeria qualifies for next year's world cup, expect Akpeyi and Musa to be part of the team. I reckon that it will be only injury that would prevent both players from making the trip to Russia. If Ikeme recovers from leukemia before the world cup, he will be part of the final 23 to Russia too. Something tells me that Rohr won't discard Akpeyi just like that.

The reason why it looks easier to pass American school exams is that the professors get promoted (or get pay raises) if a majority of their students pass their classes with a C, B, or A grade.
If most of the students get Ds and Fs, that professor may be in danger of either not being promoted (to, say, head of department), or even laid off. So, it is always in the best interests of the professor to ensure that most his/her students pass the class.

FT: Mali 90-50 Egypt

So, it's a Mali v Nigeria semifinal tomorrow

freshest4live:
Mali doing their thing though, 27-39, Half- Time.

The Malian defense have done well to limit Egypt to 27 first half points. The hosts do not score a ton of baskets but they sure won't let you have easy shots either.

D'Tigress may have to rely more on 3-point shots and drawing fouls in the paint in order to breach the Malian defense

LagosEconomist:
Mozambique is trashing Angola. That is the 4th team from our group knocking out the 1st team from the other group.

Mali vs Egypt might just be a lot more competitive than we thought.

Absolutely! Mozambique are about to pull the shock of the tournament!!

So far, they've outscored their opponents in 22 out of 24 quarters played!!

do4luv14:
today?

Tomorrow

Nigeria's semifinal tips off at 7:30pm tomorrow

isaiah9:
Lol that male commentator na bastard.

FT: Nigeria 98-43 Cote D' Ivoire

4th qtr
Nigeria 95-35 Cote d' Ivoire

End of 3rd quarter
Nigeria 71-32 Cote d' Ivoire

The Ivorians only scored 2 points in the second quarter Our ladies are wicked

carbonado:
Nigeria is shooting ivory coast out of the arena.......

I'm telling you
It's been a 3-point shooting clinic from D'Tigress

End of 1st quarter
Nigeria 23-13 Cote d' Ivoire

xedyl:
she's on a long thing.

Literally

As of FY 2015, the B-visa rejection rate for Nigerian citizens was 33%.

Surprised that Liberia and Ghana have U.S. B-2 visa rejection rates of 70% and 65% respectively. It is indeed too high considering the fact that nationals of both countries spend millions of dollars in visa application fees, and a large number of them get turned down.

BTW, the U.S. federal fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30. Thus "Fiscal year 2016" runs from October 1, 2015 - September 30, 2016.

Despite the closeness in diplomatic ties, Liberia has one of the highest US visa refusal rates. The country ranks fourth after Cuba, Afghanistan, and Mauritania.

Statistics from a US State Department website reveals that 70.2 percent of Liberians who applied for US visas for tourist and business purposes in 2016 were denied. Only 3,214 visas were approved out of a total of 10,796 applications.

Paul Hinshaw, the public affairs officer at the US Embassy in Monrovia, wrote via email that there are many reasons why visa applications may get rejected. One reason could be that individuals may not qualify for the specific visa category for which they applied.

“In other cases, the applicant is inadmissible to the United States or ineligible for a visa because a previous visa was used improperly, or due to other actions the applicant may have taken in the past,” he wrote. “And, in many cases, an application requires additional processing before a visa can be issued. In all cases, whenever an applicant does not qualify for a visa, the interviewing officer provides a written explanation of the refusal to the applicant.”

In a previous communication, the US Embassy’s Public Affairs Section had told The Bush Chicken that Liberia’s non-immigrant visa refusal rate is relatively high, compared to other countries.

“In fiscal year 2015, 12 percent of Liberian visiting visa holders overstayed their visas rather than departing the United States in a timely fashion,” an embassy spokesperson said.

However, Hinshaw clarified that it is inaccurate to say that travelers must leave the United States “before their visas expire,” as it is a common misperception on the time periods individuals on visas can stay for.

“You may stay in the States after your visa expires. The visa expiration date is the last date it can be used to apply for entry to the States, not the last date someone can be in the States,” he wrote.

The 12 percent of Liberians who were overstaying their tourist or business visas were likely staying much longer than the usual six months provided for a visa carrier.

Hinshaw said it is unfortunate that some Liberian travelers stay in the US longer than permitted, as that makes it more difficult for future Liberians applying for visas.

“When we see this, new visa applicants face a higher burden of proof to demonstrate their intent to use a visa appropriately,” he wrote.

At a rate of US$160 per application, the embassy made US$1.73 million from visitors’ visa applications last year.

Asked about any guilt on the part of the embassy for profiting off mostly poor applicants, Hinshaw said U.S. law requires the Department of State to attempt to recover, as far as possible, the cost of processing non-immigrant visas through the collection of the application fees.

“We note that the fee for a multiple-entry, one year B1/B2 (“visitor”) visa to the United States is currently US$160, while the fee for a multiple-entry, one year visitor’s visa to Liberia is US$200,” he continued.

Although the embassy’s defense that American citizens coming to Liberia are charged a higher amount than what it is charging in Liberia, it did not account for the significant differences in earnings. The average Liberian earns approximately 300 times less salary than the average American.
http://www.bushchicken.com/us-embassy-rejected-70-of-liberian-visa-applicants-in-2016-made-us1-73-million/

What a unique car. But I'd rather prefer the traditional left-sided steering wheel.

The good news for Tottenham is that they will still be in European competition after December

D'Tigress game tomorrow tips off at 3pm Nigerian time.

Qarabag will host the first ever UCL game in Asia. They are the Azerbaijani champions

hardeycute:
Costa won't be eligible just realized GStage ends at December

Yes. But if Chelsea welcomes him back to the fold before UEFA's registration deadline, he gets to play against Atleti

hardeycute:
....Pdpguy


When costa sees it

Haha.
It will be a bitter-sweet return for the elephant man

Chelsea
Athletico

ebonflexy:
Shouldn't be a problem if he loves eating her kitty and booty.

She's guaranteed to bust a nut each time, as opposed to just s3x.

You'd be shocked that some ladies would still want intercourse, even though they love to receive head from their man. A female friend of mine even said she doesn't like receiving head sef. Penile penetration is definitely a big deal for most women.

Erectile Dysfunction is treatable, a man of reasonable means should be able to afford the treatment. So, a woman can hook up with a man with that condition only if he is undergoing treatment

LagosEconomist:
Good win, but we left too many points on the floor. Missed layups and all.

We should easily beat Ivory Coast, but the Semi Finals against Mali could be very tough (I expect them to beat Egypt). The team will be playing against the hosts, crowd and refs.

Angola vs Senegal could also be very interesting.

Yes. Mali will beat Egypt simply because the Malians have way better defense than the young Egyptian team. In fact, Egypt has the worst defense of the quarter finalists as they let in 419 points