Headline

Canada To Reduce Admission Slots For Nigerian Students, Others

Published

1 year ago

January 22, 2024

The Canadian Government is set to impose a national cap to reduce the intake of international students into the country.

According to the country’s immigration minister, Marc Miller, during an interview on Sunday with CTV’s Question Period, the Canadian government will need to have a meeting with provincial governments “to make sure that the provinces that have not been doing their jobs actually rein in those numbers on a pure volume basis.”

“That volume is disconcerting,” Miller said, in reference to the number of international students in Canada. “It’s really a system that has gotten out of control.”

Recall that Canada had raised its “cost-of-living financial requirement for study permit applicants,” basically for international students, to $20,000 from $10,000 starting from January 1, 2024.

Reacting to the new development, Miller said, “The Canadian government has faced criticism for welcoming an increasing number of immigrants — both permanent and temporary residents — while the country faces an acute housing shortage.”

Meanwhile, new reporting by The Canadian Press — citing internal documents obtained through an access to information request — shows the goverment was warned by public servants two years ago that its ambitious immigration targets could jeopardise housing affordability.

The Liberals have set targets aiming to bring in 485,000 immigrants this year, and 500,000 in both 2025 and 2026.

Temporary residents, largely comprised of international students and migrant workers, are another part of the equation, with more than 300,000 of them arriving in Canada in just the third quarter of last year.

Miller said he’ll be looking in both the first and second quarter of this year at possibly setting a cap on international students to help reduce the demand for housing.

When asked why his government is only considering a cap now, when the idea of one has been floated for months, Miller said there’s a need to sort out numbers on a federal level before looking with “a little more granularity” at what individual academic institutions are doing in different provinces, possibly profiting off bringing in more international students.

“We need to be doing our jobs and making sure that we have a system that actually makes sure people have a financial capability to come to Canada, that we’re actually verifying offer letters,” Miller said.

“And now it’s time for us to have a conversation about volumes and the impact that that is having in certain areas.”

A cap on international students would not be a “one-size-fits-all solution” to housing shortages across Canada, Miller noted.

When pressed further on the number of international students coming to Canada far outpacing the number of homes the federal government has announced it’s planning to help build, Miller also said housing is only part of the calculation when it comes to immigration targets. “The pressing need to bring down the average age of the workforce also needs to be taken into consideration,” he said.

While he wouldn’t give specifics, Miller said a cap on international students is something the federal government is considering, “and will continue to consider.”

“We have a sense of what those numbers would look like, what the reduction of those numbers look like, out of courtesy to my colleagues in the provinces, those are discussions that we’re first going to have around the negotiating table,” he said, adding the financial needs of academic institutions is also a factor.

Headline

Nine Dead In Austria School Shooting

Published

11 hours ago

June 10, 2025

Editor

A mass shooting at a secondary school in Austria’s second-largest city has left nine people dead and at least 10 others injured in what authorities are calling one of the country’s worst school attacks in recent history, Al-Jazeera reported.

Police were called to BORG Dreierschutzengasse school in Graz on Tuesday morning after reports of gunfire. Emergency services responded swiftly and secured the area.

Authorities later confirmed that the suspected shooter had died by suicide, bringing the total number of dead to ten, including the attacker.

According to local officials, at least seven of those killed were students. Graz Mayor Elke Kahr described the shooting as a “terrible tragedy.” One adult was also among the dead, though their identity has not yet been released.

The incident reportedly began shortly after 10 a.m. local time and unfolded across two classrooms. Students, many aged 14 and older, were evacuated and are now receiving psychological support alongside their families.

The attacker is believed to have acted alone and is reported to be a former school student. The motive behind the shooting remains unclear.

Headline

17 Palestinians Killed In Israeli Strikes Near Gaza Aid Site

Published

11 hours ago

June 10, 2025

Editor

At least 17 Palestinians were killed and dozens more injured on Tuesday near a humanitarian aid distribution site in central Gaza, according to local health authorities as reported by Reuters.

The casualties reportedly occurred as large crowds of displaced residents gathered in the area to receive aid.

The deaths were attributed to Israeli gunfire by Gaza’s health officials.

The Israeli military said its forces had fired warning shots at “suspects who were advancing in the area of Wadi Gaza and posed a threat to the troops.”

It added that it was aware of reports that several were injured, but said numbers released by local health authorities did not align with the information it had collected.

“The warning shots were fired hundreds of meters from the aid distribution site, prior to its opening hours and toward the suspects who posed a threat to the troops,” the military added.

Medics confirmed that those injured were transported to Al-Awda Hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp and Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City.

The Israeli military contested the reported casualty figures but acknowledged that several people were wounded during the incident.

The shooting occurred in an area where the military has labelled a hazardous zone for its personnel.

This came after a warning issued last week by the Israeli army, advising Palestinians to avoid roads leading to Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m., which were designated as “closed military zones.”

The incident adds to growing concerns over civilian safety amid ongoing conflict in Gaza. Just last week, at least 27 Palestinians were reported killed near another aid site in Rafah, also by Israeli fire.

That event marked the third consecutive day of disruption to aid operations, according to local health officials.

“Day after day, casualties & scores of injured are reported at distribution points manned by Israel & private security companies,” Philippe Lazzarini, the chief of the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), wrote on X.

“This humiliating system continues to force thousands of hungry & desperate people to walk for tens of miles excluding the most vulnerable & those living too far,” he said.

The war erupted after Hamas-led militants took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the Oct. 7, 2023, single deadliest day.

Israel’s military campaign has since killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to health authorities in Gaza, and flattened much of the coastal enclave.

AFP

Headline

Britain’s Jobless Rate Climbs To 4.6% As Economy Weakens

Published

12 hours ago

June 10, 2025

Editor

Britain’s unemployment rate has reached its highest level since July 2021, according to official data released on Tuesday, following a UK tax rise and the implementation of US tariffs.

The rate climbed to 4.6 percent in the three months to the end of April, according to the Office for National Statistics.

That compared with 4.5 percent in the first quarter of this year, the ONS added.

Tuesday’s data covers the start of a hike in business tax laid out in the Labour government’s inaugural budget last October.

April also saw the beginning of a baseline 10-percent tariff imposed on the UK and other countries by US President Donald Trump.

“There continues to be weakening in the labour market, with the number of people on payroll falling notably,” said ONS director of economic statistics Liz McKeown.

“Feedback from our vacancies survey suggests some firms may be holding back from recruiting new workers or replacing people when they move on.”

Analysts said the data, which included slowing growth to wages, would likely see the Bank of England continue to cut interest rates into 2026, weighing on the pound but lifting London’s stock market in early trade on Tuesday.

“With payrolls falling, the unemployment rate climbing and wage growth easing, today’s labour market release leaves us more confident in our view that the Bank of England will cut interest rates further than investors expect, to 3.50 percent next year,” noted Ruth Gregory, deputy chief UK economist at Capital Economics research group.

The Bank of England last trimmed borrowing costs in May by a quarter point to 4.25 percent.

AFP