Headline

France Joins UK, Canada To Tighten Immigration Rules On Nigerians

Published

2 years ago

December 22, 2023

France has joined a list of countries that have imposed immigration restrictions on international students (including Nigerians) with new legislation that will stop them from bringing their families to the country.

The law passed by the parliament on Friday provides a new toughening immigration policy that makes it more difficult for migrants to bring family members to France and delays their access to welfare benefits.

It also banned detaining minors in detention centres while leaders of a third of French regions said they would not comply with certain measures in the law.

A controversial provision discriminates between citizens and migrants, even those living in the country legally, in determining eligibility for benefits.

This new immigration policy means that just like the United Kingdom which imposed a no-dependant restriction on international students in May, Nigerian students are expected to look elsewhere for their Japa plans.

The UK government’s decision came in response to the alarming surge in net migration, which has reached a staggering one million individuals. A situation that meant Conservative MPs had to call on the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, to address urgently and regain control over immigration figures.

Already, Nigerian students, who have been among the largest contributors to the UK’s international student community, have started to look at other alternatives in the Europe zone with France considered. But with this new development, their options are shrinking.

The other route – skilled worker visa, seen as a better option to the UK, has experienced some reshuffling as well.

Earlier in December, new Home Secretary, James Cleverly, unveiled a set of new rules that raised the minimum salary requirement for obtaining a skilled worker visa from £26,000 to £38,700.

The figure itself is more than the existing median average salary of a full-time worker in Britain.

He exempted health and social care workers but said they would be prevented from bringing family dependents.

Also, overseas care workers will no longer be allowed to bring dependents (partners and children), while migrants have to pay a 66 percent NHS surcharge increase.

According to Cleverly, all of these were done to ensure immigrants “bring dependents whom they can support financially”

Canada

Apart from France and the UK, the government of Canada in December announced that starting from January 2024, international students must show a new proof of funds, ₦16,050,000.0000 ($20,000).

The new cost is more than double the current requirement of $10,000, an amount brought in during the early 2000s that has not been adjusted since.

For 2024, a single applicant will need to show they have $20,635, representing 75% of LICO, in addition to their first year of tuition and travel costs.

The government however announced the extension of the waiver on the 20-hour per week work cap for international students until April 30, 2024.

This extension applies only to students already present in Canada and those who submitted a study permit application as of December 7th, 2023.

The measure was first introduced on November 15, 2022, and was set to last until December 31, 2023. It allows students to work more than the usual 20 hours per week while class is in session.

Headline

UK Nursery Worker Jailed For Abusing 21 Babies

Published

14 hours ago

September 26, 2025

Editor

A judge on Friday jailed a nursery worker for eight years for a string of “gratuitous” and “sadistic” attacks on babies.

In one incident, Londoner Roksana Lecka, 22, kicked a little boy in the face several times.

Lecka, who blamed cannabis for her crimes, admitted seven counts of cruelty to a person under the age of 16 and was convicted after a trial of another 14 counts.

Sentencing her for attacks on 21 babies, Judge Sarah Plaschkes said she had committed “multiple acts of gratuitous violence” at two London nurseries where she worked.

“You pinched, slapped, punched, smacked and kicked them. You pulled their ears, hair and their toes. You toppled children headfirst into cots,” she said.

“Often the child would be quietly and happily minding its own business before you deliberately inflicted pain… Your criminal conduct can properly be characterised as sadistic,” she added.

Lecka’s cruelty was revealed in June 2024 after she was seen pinching a number of children.
Police were called in and found multiple incidents recorded on the nursery CCTV.

Victim impact statements submitted to London’s Kingston Crown Court from parents of Lecka’s victims told how they were left heartbroken and guilt-stricken by the attacks.

“These children were so innocent and vulnerable,” one mother told the court.

“They couldn’t speak, they couldn’t defend themselves and they couldn’t tell us as parents that something had happened to them,” she added.

“They were totally helpless and Roksana preyed upon them.”

The hearing was told that she had apologised to the parents in a letter to the court in which she said cannabis had turned her into a different person.

She had been addicted to the drug around the time of the offences, but had not told the nursery.
She was found not guilty of three further counts of child cruelty.

Headline

Italy Fines Six Oil Firms $1bn Fine For Restricting Competition

Published

17 hours ago

September 26, 2025

Editor

Italy’s antitrust regulator said Friday it has slapped Italian energy giant Eni and five other companies with fines totalling more than 936 million euros ($1.1 billion) for “restricting competition” in the sale of fuel.

The authority said in a statement that Eni, Esso, Ip, Q8, Saras and Tamoil “coordinated to set the value of the bio component factored into fuel prices”, which tripled between 2019 and 2023.

A probe following a whistleblower’s complaint revealed that “the companies implemented parallel price increases — largely coinciding — which were driven by direct or indirect information exchanges among them”, the authority said.

“The cartel began on 1 January 2020 and continued until 30 June 2023,” it added.

AFP

Headline

Trump Signs Order For TikTok’s Sale, Valued At $14bn

Published

19 hours ago

September 26, 2025

Editor

United States President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order declaring that his plan is to sell TikTok’s US operations to American and global investors.

As reported by Reuters on Friday, the order requires companies bidding for TikTok to meet the national-security requirements of the 2024 law that otherwise would ban the app unless its Chinese owners divest.

Speaking to reporters at an Oval Office briefing on Thursday, Vice President James Vance said the newly created US entity would be “valued around $14 billion.

“We actually think this is a good deal for investors, but they will make a determination about what they want to invest and what they think is the proper value,” he said.

The White House on Thursday pushed back the law’s enforcement date to January 20 to allow time for the transaction, investor commitments, and negotiations with Chinese authorities.

The publication of the executive order shows Trump is making progress on the sale of TikTok’s US assets.

However, details remain to be worked out, including how the U.S. company would handle TikTok’s most valuable asset: its recommendation algorithm.

“There was some resistance on the Chinese side, but the fundamental thing that we wanted to accomplish is that we wanted to keep TikTok operating, but we also wanted to make sure that we protected Americans’ data privacy as required by law,” Vance said.

According to Reuters, Trump’s order says the algorithm will be retrained and monitored by the U.S. company’s security partners, and operation of the algorithm will be under the control of the new joint venture.

Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping had indicated approval of the plans. “I spoke with President Xi,” Trump said. “We had a good talk, I told him what we were doing, and he said go ahead with it.”

Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. TikTok did not immediately comment on Trump’s action.

Trump has credited TikTok, which has 170 million U.S. users, with helping him win reelection last year. Trump has 15 million followers on his personal TikTok account. The White House also launched an official TikTok account last month.

“This is going to be American-operated all the way,” Trump said.

He said that Michael Dell, the founder, chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies; Rupert Murdoch, the chairman emeritus of Fox News owner Fox Corp, and newspaper publisher News Corp, and “probably four or five absolutely world-class investors” would be part of the deal.