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UK Varsities Kick Against Ban On Foreign Students’ Families

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Most Universities in the United Kingdom have kicked against the country’s new immigration rules for foreign students shortly after the government announced new measures to control the influx of immigrants.

The UK Home Office On Tuesday, said that international students would no longer be able to bring family members with them as from 2024.

The UK also said overseas students would be stopped from switching from the student visa route to a work visa until their studies have been completed.

But in a statement on Tuesday, the UK International (UUK) – a body of universities across the UK – said the move was a threat to the country’s global success as a top destination for international talent and needed to be considered very carefully.

Specifically, the body of universities said the development will worsen their financial pressure in the United Kingdom.

According to the UK director, Jamie Arrowsmith, foreign students contributed largely to the economy. Arrowsmith stated that UK nationals had a wide acceptance of international students.

“International students make an invaluable contribution to our universities and to the UK’s economy. Building on the government’s explicit commitments and ambitions, which were clearly set out in the international education strategy, we have seen significant growth since 2019,” Arrowsmith said in a statement.

“Our research shows that international students make a huge economic contribution to the UK, with a single cohort delivering a total benefit of £41.9 billion.

“We also know that the public is overwhelmingly supportive of the international students we attract – just nine percent of people think we should be discouraging international students from choosing the UK.”

While Arrowsmith said he understood the impact an unchecked influx may be having in some areas, he asked the government to explore other ways of curbing immigration that would not cripple an already weakened financial situation for the universities.

“While the vast majority of students will be unaffected by proposals that limit the ability to be accompanied by dependents, more information is needed on the programmes that are in scope before a proper assessment of the impact can be made.

“We, therefore, urge the government to work with the sector to limit and monitor the impact on particular groups of students – and on universities, which are already under serious financial pressures. The review process that has been announced must consider these issues.”

“Ultimately, our collective aim must be to ensure that international students who choose the UK can be confident that they are welcome here, that their contribution is valued, and that the terms on which they have made decisions remain stable. Anything that threatens to affect the UK’s global success as a top destination for international talent needs to be considered very carefully,” the statement added.

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Education: Denmark permitting use of AI for English exams from 2026

We are launching pilot schemes to try to find the right balance,” Education Minister Mattias Tesfaye said in a statement, emphasising the need to encourage digital learning while upholding teaching standards.

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The Danish education ministry announced on Friday students in some high schools in Denmark will be allowed to use artificial intelligence to write English language exams from next year.

The move comes as education authorities around the world debate whether AI is a useful learning tool for those entering an increasingly digital economy, or a slippery slope to producing dumbed-down graduates.

The Danish government said the permitted use of AI in the English curriculum from 2026 would be experimental, and apply only to the oral component of the English exam for the high school diploma.

In that test, once a student is handed their topic, they would have one hour to prepare, during which they would be “permitted to use all available tools, including generative AI”, the ministry said.

The students would then have to give their oral presentation in person in front of an examiner.

“We are launching pilot schemes to try to find the right balance,” Education Minister Mattias Tesfaye said in a statement, emphasising the need to encourage digital learning while upholding teaching standards.

“With students growing up in both analogue and digital worlds, we need to ready them in the best way possible for the reality they will encounter after their schooling.

”When it comes to the written part of the English test, the ministry said students would have to do part of it handwritten to ensure no reliance on computers.

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Trump pledges to maintain federal forces in Washington amid mounting criticism.

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President Donald Trump on Thursday visited police and troops he has deployed in the US capital in what he calls a crackdown on crime, saying they were going to “stay here for a while.”

Trump ordered hundreds of members of the Guard, a reserve force, to deploy in Washington last week vowing to “take our capital back,” despite protests by some residents and statistics showing violent offenses falling.

“We’re going to make it safe, and we’re going to then go on to other places, but we’re going to stay here for a while. We want to make this absolutely perfect,” he said outside a US Park Police facility in Washington.

The 79-year-old Republican was surrounded by law enforcement from various local and federal agencies as well as National Guard troops.

Earlier Thursday he suggested he would go on patrol with police and the military, but instead he made a short speech and gave out pizzas and hamburgers.

“Everybody feels safe,” Trump said, adding that he plans to get the capital “fixed up physically.”

“One of the things we’re going to be redoing is your parks. I’m very good at grass, because I have a lot of golf courses all over the place. I know more about grass than any human being,” he added.

Trump wrote on social media early Friday that “there were no murders this week for the first time in memory” in Washington.

He said Mayor Muriel Bowser “must immediately stop giving false and highly inaccurate crime figures, or bad things will happen, including a complete and total Federal takeover of the City!”

Bowser has said that violent crime in the capital has been its lowest level in three decades.

Trump’s visit came a day after his vice president, JD Vance, was greeted by boos and shouts of “Free DC” — referring to Washington’s formal name, the District of Columbia — on his own meet-and-greet with troops.

Vance dismissed the hecklers as “a bunch of crazy protesters.”

The DC National Guard has mobilized 800 troops, while Republican states Ohio, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia are sending a total of around 1,200.

They have been spotted in tourist areas such as the National Mall and its monuments, the Nationals Park baseball stadium and others.

The overwhelmingly Democratic US capital faces allegations from Republican politicians that it is overrun by crime, plagued by homelessness and financially mismanaged.

But data from Washington police showed significant drops in violent crime between 2023 and 2024, though that was coming off the back of a post-pandemic surge.

Some residents have welcomed the crackdown, pointing to crime in their areas — but others have complained the show of force is unnecessary, or has not been seen in parts of Washington where violence is concentrated.

– Sandwich guy –

Several incidents involving the surge of law enforcement have gone viral as residents voice their discontent, including the arrest of one man who was caught on camera throwing a sandwich at an agent.

Banksy-style posters honoring the so-called “sandwich guy” have popped up around the city.

The National Guard troops have provided “critical support such as crowd management, presence patrols and perimeter control in support of law enforcement,” according to social media statements.

In addition to sending troops into the streets, Trump has also sought to take full control of the Washington police department, attempting at one point to sideline its leadership.

The deployment of troops in Washington comes after Trump dispatched the National Guard and Marines to quell unrest in Los Angeles, California, that was sparked by immigration enforcement raids

AFP

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Russia Hands Over Bodies of 1,000 Ukrainian Soldiers

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Russia on Tuesday returned the bodies of what it said were 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers, five of whom died while in captivity, a Ukrainian government agency said.

Ukraine returned the bodies of 19 Russian soldiers in exchange, a Russian official said.

Tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed on both sides since Russia invaded its neighbour in February 2022, though neither side regularly publishes data on their own casualties.

The exchange of prisoners of war and repatriation of war dead has been one of the few areas of cooperation between the two countries since the war began.

The two sides have intensified these efforts in recent months during talks in Istanbul.

“According to the Russian side, 1,000 bodies belonging to Ukrainian military personnel have been returned to Ukraine,” Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said in a statement on Telegram.

“Unfortunately, among those repatriated are the bodies of five Ukrainian servicemen who died in captivity,” it added.

It said law enforcement would begin the process of identifying the soldiers.

The exchange was carried out by agreements reached between the two sides in Istanbul, Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said.

Kyiv initially said the two had agreed to “exchange” the bodies of 6,000 Ukrainian soldiers for as many Russians, though Moscow has always presented the deal as a unilateral decision to repatriate Ukrainians.

AFP

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