The Nigerian journalist has been accepted into Columbia Journalism School for a master’s degree and was on the cusp of applying for her US visa. “I don’t have any backup plan,” the 31-year-old said. “I put all my eggs in one basket – in Columbia… which is quite a risk.” She is due to start her degree in New York in August having already paid a hefty enrolment fee.

Akintade is among thousands of people across the globe who were thrown into limbo on Tuesday when the US State Department instructed its embassies and consulates to pause the scheduling of new student visa interviews as it plans to expand social media vetting for applicants.

It’s the latest in a series of moves by the Trump White House targeting higher education, starting with an ongoing fight with Harvard University and then dramatically expanding in scope.

‘A scary time to study in the US’

“It feels like a really scary and unsettling time for international students studying in the US,” said one Canadian student who has also been accepted by Columbia. “A lot of us chose to study in the US for its freedoms but now knowing that innocent social media posts could cost an education feels like censorship.”

“We were looking at a post from us at Pride, and my caption was simply a rainbow flag and then a trans flag. And I was on the phone with her ‘and I was like, do I have to take this down?’ Eventually we decided no, I could leave it up, but I changed the caption, I removed the trans flag. I don’t know how to feel about that,” the student said.

“I do think it’s real proof that it is a fear campaign that is incredibly successful,” she said, adding that she has deferred her place for this year after getting a job offer. “I changed the caption with the anticipation that it could get worse. Today it is one (issue) and tomorrow it will be another one.”

The State Department has required visa applicants to provide social media identifiers on immigrant and nonimmigrant visa application forms since 2019, a spokesperson said. In addition, it had already called for extra social media vetting of some applicants, largely related to alleged antisemitism. But it’s unclear what kind of post might pose a problem for an application from now on, or how these posts will be scrutinized.

British student Conrad Kunadu said he’d been grappling with an “internal conflict” over his offer to pursue a PhD in Environmental Health at Johns Hopkins University after monitoring the crackdown on US colleges “religiously” for the past few months.

After wondering whether he could manage his anxiety that “something (he) wrote in 2016” could get him deported, Kunadu decided to stay in Britain and study at Oxford University instead. Despite being grateful to have another option, he described his situation as a “lose-lose.”

“I wanted to study in the US not just because, for my interests in health security, it’s where all the talent and resources are, but because it’s the best way to make an impact on these issues at a global scale,” Kunadu said. Like many others, he can’t help but mourn the possible academic research and advances that now may never come to fruition.

Kunadu and another student who requested anonymity both mentioned being anxious about exploring topics in their studies that could be interpreted as dissent and ruffle official feathers.

Kagan described the visa halt as “one of many attacks on higher education and immigrants… two of the Trump administration’s favorite targets,” which in this case overlap. And while the directive is consistent with what the White House was already doing, he sees this as “an unprecedented attack in a non-emergency time.”

When asked whether those who had accepted college offers and were waiting for a visa appointment had any legal avenues available to them, Kagan was not encouraging. “If someone is trying to enter and not yet getting a visa, (that person) usually has nearly no recourse,” he said.

A sense of rejection

In the 2023-34 academic year, more than 1.1 million international students studied at US higher education institutions, according to a report from the the Institute of International Education.

For Nigerian journalist Akintade, who has always dreamed of studying at an Ivy League school, the feeling of rejection by the US is weighing heavily. “This is the message I’m getting: we don’t want you,” she said, with a deep sigh.

Lisa Klaassen, Nimi Princewill and Quinta Thomson contributed to this report

New satellite images show that North Korea has deployed what appear to be balloons alongside its damaged 5,000-ton warship that has been laying on its side and partially submerged since a botched launch last week.

The stricken destroyer was the country’s newest warship and was meant to be a triumph of North Korea’s ambitious naval modernization effort. Instead, a malfunction in the launch mechanism on May 21 caused the stern to slide prematurely into the water, crushing parts of the hull and leaving the bow stranded on the shipway, state media KCNA reported, in a rare admission of bad news.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who witnessed the failed launch in the northeastern city of Chongjin, called it a “criminal act” and ordered the country to swiftly repair the as-yet-unnamed ship before the late-June plenary session of the ruling Workers’ Party, calling it a matter of national honor.

Officials have since scrambled to undo the damage and punish those they claim are responsible, detaining four people in recent days, including the shipyard’s chief engineer.

Analysts say it appears balloons are being used in North Korea’s effort to swiftly repair the destroyer.

“It looks like what appear to be balloons have been installed not to refloat the ship, but to prevent the ship from further flooding,” said Rep. Yu Yong-weon, a South Korean National Assembly lawmaker and military analyst.

Retired United States Navy Cpt. Carl Schuster said if the objects are indeed balloons, they could have one of two purposes – either to prevent “low- to mid-level drone reconnaissance,” or to reduce the stress on the part of the ship still stranded on the pier.

“That is the area that is most likely to have been damaged, suffered the most severe damage and remains under intense stress while the forward area remains out of the water,” he said.

Nick Childs, senior fellow for naval forces and maritime security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said North Korea could be in danger of further damaging the ship if it’s using balloons to keep it afloat or raise it.

“It is highly likely that the ship is under quite a lot of stress anyway,” and lifting from above could compound those stresses, he said.

Normal procedure would be to get as much buoyancy as possible in the ship and then raise it from below, Childs said.

According to satellite images shared by Maxar Technologies, more than a dozen white, balloon-like objects have been deployed around the destroyer since May 23.

The images don’t appear to show any flotation bladders supporting the hull or the body of the ship, Schuster said – something the US might use in such a situation. He added that North Korea’s maritime industry might not be advanced enough for such techniques.

North Korean state media had previously reported that the damage was less severe than initially feared, and that there were no holes in the hull, though it was scratched along the side and some seawater had entered the stern. It estimated repairs could take about 10 days – though analysts are skeptical.

The ship’s precarious position also makes the salvage operation unusually complex. “Having it half in and half out of the water is basically the worst possible situation,” said Decker Eveleth, an associate research analyst at CNA, a nonprofit specializing in defense research.

He added that the operation would be simpler if the ship had fully capsized into the water, or if it had fallen over entirely on land. “But as it’s half on land and half on water – if you try to pull the sunken half out, you’re risking twisting and breaking the keel,” Eveleth said, referring to the structural spine running along the ship’s bottom. “And if you do that, the whole ship is junk.”

Childs said North Korea may have to cut the ship into pieces and then try to salvage what it can because righting it from its current position is an extremely complex task.

“Very often the only way you clear the dock … is to dismantle at least part of the ship to make the operation easier, right what you have left and tow it away and make a decision on whether you rebuild it or scrap it,” he said.