According to a U.S. State Department cable issued on Tuesday, embassies and consulates worldwide, including those in Nigeria, have been instructed to pause scheduling any new appointments for student (F, M) and exchange visitor (J) visas until further notice. “The department is conducting a review of existing operations and processes for screening and vetting of student and exchange visitor visa applicants,”the statements reads. With new guidelines on expanded vetting expected…

Equities meandered Tuesday as investors awaited the latest developments on Donald Trump’s trade war.

Difficult economic conditions, exacerbated by the U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, and persistently weak demand for many products have forced companies across Europe to freeze hiring or cut jobs. According to a report by Reuters, some of the layoffs announced since the beginning of April are as follows: Stellantis: The automaker agreed with trade unions to implement up to 200 voluntary redundancies at its Termoli plant in central Italy on…

The White House has said it is monitoring the case of Lucy Connolly in an escalation of free speech tensions with Sir Keir Starmer. State department officials are examining the treatment of Connolly, the wife of a Conservative councillor, who was jailed for 31 months over a social media post about the Southport attacks. Judges threw out an appeal brought by the 42-year-old last week, meaning she will not be…

A Federal Judge has ordered Trump administration on Friday to facilitate the return of a gay Guatemalan man who said he was deported to Mexico despite fearing he would be persecuted there, after officials acknowledged an error in his case. U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston issued the order days after the Justice Department notified him that its claim that the man had expressly stated he was not afraid…

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to escalate the trade war by imposing a 50 per cent tariff on European Union goods starting June 1 and warning Apple of a potential 25 per cent levy on imported iPhones. Trump’s statements, made via social media, caused global markets to fluctuate, with major U.S. stock indexes and European shares falling, the dollar weakening, and gold prices rising. The EU’s total exports to the…

U.S. singer-songwriter and pianist Billy Joel said on Friday he is canceling all his scheduled concerts after he was recently diagnosed with normal pressure hydrocephalus, a brain disorder. Billy Joel is undergoing physical therapy and has been advised to refrain from performing while he recovers. According to a statement on social media. “I’m sincerely sorry to disappoint our audience, and thank you for understanding,” Joel said. Joel’s condition was exacerbated…

The federal government is winding down production of the penny coin following a bipartisan effort to nix the lowest-denomination of U.S. currency over cost concerns. The Treasury Department placed its final order for blank pennies in May and expects to stop putting new pennies into circulation by early 2026. President Donald Trump directed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to cease production of the coin in February, describing spending on penny minting…

Finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of Seven democracies papered over their differences on Thursday, pledging to tackle excessive imbalances in the global economy and saying they could increase sanctions on Russia. There had been doubt before the meeting whether it would issue a final communique, in light of divisions over U.S. tariffs and Washington’s reluctance to refer to Russia’s war on Ukraine as illegal. But after…

Four decades ago, Hiroko Suzuki’s father navigated the challenges of a U.S. trade war by shifting the family auto-parts business, Kyowa Industrial, into niche products. Now, tariffs imposed by the Trump administration threaten her own attempt to diversify the 78-year-old company into medical devices. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has labeled the U.S. tariffs, including 25% on automobiles, a national crisis for Japan, the world’s fourth-largest economy. Meanwhile, Japan’s top trade…

European and American authorities, along with their Canadian counterparts, have joined forces to disrupt a massive malware network. Over 300 servers worldwide have been taken down, and international arrest warrants have been issued for 20 suspects. This operation, dubbed Operation Endgame, aims to tackle the world’s most notorious malware variants. German, French, Dutch, Danish, British, American, and Canadian agencies collaborated to identify over three dozen suspects, with 20 individuals facing…

A suspect is in custody after shooting dead two Israeli embassy staff outside a Jewish museum in Washington. The gunman, named by police as Elias Rodriguez, 30, of Chicago, approached a group of four people leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum and opened fire, killing Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, who officials said were in a relationship. Metropolitan police chief Pamela Smith said the shooter had been pacing…