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Foreign students attending Further Education colleges are to be banned from working in Britain under a fresh crackdown on immigration ordered by Home Secretary Theresa May.

Under the new rules, non-EU college students will be denied the right to work while in the UK and will not be able to apply for a visa extension when their course finishes.

Students will have to leave the country before applying to return under a work visa.

Official figures show that 121,000 non-EU students entered the UK in the 12 months to June last year, but only 51,000 left – a net influx of 70,000.

The government estimates that the number of foreign students coming to the UK will rise by more than 6 per cent a year up to 2020.

The length of stay is also expected to be cut to two years when the plans are unveiled this week.

Immigration Minister James Brokenshire said it was ‘part of our plan to control immigration for the benefit of Britain’.

Taxpayers who pay for colleges expect them to be providing top-class education, not a back door to a British work visa

Immigration minister James Brokenshire

‘Immigration offenders want to sell illegal access to the UK jobs market and there are plenty of people willing to buy.

‘Hard-working taxpayers who are helping to pay for publicly funded colleges expect them to be providing top-class education, not a back door to a British work visa.’

But universities have warned that any clampdown could damage the sector and business leaders are also wary of the move, warning it could rob Britain of vital skills.

Seamus Nevin, head of employment and skills at the Institute of Directors, said: ‘The Business Secretary’s proposals to eject foreign students after graduation are misguided and would damage the British education system, our economy and global influence.

‘Britain already makes it difficult and artificially expensive for international students to enter and stay, and now these proposals would eject them ignominiously when their studies are finished.

‘Restricting talented workers from staying on in the UK would damage business and lead to a loss of important skills.

‘Shutting the door to highly-trained international graduates at a time when our economy needs them most would be hugely damaging for UK businesses.

‘In the interests our education sector, our businesses, and our international standing, the Business Secretary should reconsider this proposal.’

Source: Daily Mail

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Rita Akana

14.Jul.2016

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New Prime Minister Theresa May has made Boris Johnson, the former London mayor who led the Brexit campaign, foreign secretary in her new government.

He replaces Philip Hammond, who becomes chancellor. Ex-Energy Secretary Amber Rudd is home secretary and Eurosceptic David Davis is the Brexit minister.

No 10 said ex-Chancellor George Osborne had resigned from the government.

On arriving at Downing Street, Mrs May vowed to lead a government that works for all not just the "privileged few".

BBC

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Rita Akana

13.Jul.2016

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Britain's tough former interior minister Theresa May became prime minister on Wednesday, promising to champion social justice and rise to the challenge of leading the country out of the European Union.

May, 59 assumed office after an audience with Queen Elizabeth and drove straight to her new home of 10 Downing Street, vacated hours earlier by David Cameron, whose resignation after the vote to leave the EU brought her to power.

"We will rise to the challenge. As we leave the European Union we will forge a bold new positive role for ourselves in the world, and we will make Britain a country that works not for a privileged few, but for every one of us," she said.

Cameron stepped down after Britons rejected his entreaties to stay in the EU last month with a decision to get out that severely undermines European efforts to forge greater unity and creates economic uncertainty across the 28-nation bloc.

May must now try to limit the damage to British trade and investment as she renegotiates the country's ties with its 27 EU partners. She will also attempt to unite her divided Conservative party and a fractured nation in which many, on the evidence of the vote, feel angry with the political elite and left behind by the forces of globalization.

In comments addressed to ordinary Britons, she spoke of the 'burning injustice' suffered by large sections of society: poor people facing shorter life expectancy; blacks treated more harshly by the criminal justice system; women earning less than men; the mentally ill; and young people struggling to buy homes.

Acknowledging the struggles faced by many people, May declared: "The government I lead will be driven not be the interests of the privileged few, but by yours. We will do everything we can to give you more control over your lives."

Shortly afterwards, her office announced that Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond would become Finance Minister, replacing George Osborne whose determination to balance Britain's books made him synonymous with austerity.

She spoke of the "precious bond" between the nations of the United Kingdom, implicit recognition of the tensions generated by the referendum in which England and Wales chose to quit the EU, but Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to stay, raising the possibility of a new Scottish vote on independence.

The United States congratulated May and said it was confident in her ability to steer Britain through the Brexit negotiations.

"Based on the public comments we've seen from the incoming prime minister, she intends to pursue a course that's consistent with the prescription that President Obama has offered," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

An official photograph showed May curtseying to a smiling Queen Elizabeth, for whom she is the 13th prime minister in a line that started with Winston Churchill.

She is also Britain's second female head of government after Margaret Thatcher.

Reuters

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Rita Akana

13.Jul.2016

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Cameroon is reopening its border with Nigeria in the Far North region because the threat of attacks by Boko Haram militants subsided sufficiently to resume commercial activities, according to the region’s governor.

At this stage in the crisis, we are confident to declare that the insecurity caused by Boko Haram is firmly under control,” Governor Midiyawa Bakari said by phone on Tuesday from Maroua, the regional capital. “The efforts of defense and security forces, as well as the remarkable contributions by self-defense groups, have paid off enough to permit the reopening of the closed markets and the land border with Nigeria.”

Schools will also resume teaching when the new academic year starts in September, Bakari said.

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Rita Akana

13.Jul.2016

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Tapang Ivo

12.Jul.2016

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The Maputo Protocol, also known as the “Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa”, is a set of rules to be followed by States that are party to it in efforts to protect women against violence and exploitation.

A call to governments and citizens across the continent was made in Kigali by women leaders and other experts from Africa and other parts of the world to expedite the implementation of policies and laws that promote equality between men and women and empower the latter with the view to meet the same goal.

This was during the two-day 3rd African Union High-Level Panel on Gender and Women’s Empowerment in Rwanda’s capital Kigali at the Parliament Buildings that ran between July 9^th –July 10th.

The meeting facilitated discussions on how policies and laws on gender equality in Africa can be turned into daily practices.

AUC Chairperson Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, challenged fellow women leaders on the continent to be more assertive and passionate about their advocacy for better protection of women’s rights.

She urged them to ensure that practical results are achieved every day in terms of implementing policies and laws in favor of gender equality.

“It is our collective duty not to let our struggles become a routine,” Dlamini-Zuma said, reminding women that demanding their rights shouldn’t be seen as too much to ask or a favor to be given on charitable grounds.

“We are equal (with men) in our own right. We are not taking anything from anyone,” she said.

The Maputo Protocol contains instructions about a number of areas for the protection of women, such as the elimination of discrimination against them, upholding their right to dignity, life, and security, as well as their right to harmless treatment, marriage, and access to justice, among other rights.

It also emphasizes women’s right to participate in the political and decision-making processes in their countries, their right to peace and protection during armed conflicts as well as their right to education and training, economic and social welfare, housing and food, and health and reproductive health, among other forms of protection.Rwanda, host of the 27^th AU Summit, remains a shining example of gender equality and women empowerment. The country’s Lower House is dominated by women who occupy 64 per cent of the seats while the Judiciary is also women inclusive, at 40 per cent, while 43 per cent of district councilors are women.

CCTV

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Rita Akana

12.Jul.2016

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