Welcome to Label’s fortnightly news update, bringing you a few headlines from Loughborough, the UK and around the world.
Winter Graduation
The University has recently hosted its winter graduation ceremonies to celebrate the achievements of hundreds of students. Four honorary doctorates were also awarded to four Olympic gold medallists. Loughborough alumnae and hockey players Dr Hannah MacLeod, Madeleine Hinch, Nicola White and Giselle Ansley made history when they won gold in the Rio 2016 Olympics, along with the rest of their GB hockey team. The women made several inspiring speeches and the event was presided over by our Chancellor, Lord Sebastian Coe.
Leicester Explosion
Following a massive explosion at a shop in Leicester last Feburary, three men have been charged. The explosion, which killed five people, including a mother and her two sons, is thought to have been an attempt by Aram Kurd, Hawkar Hassan and Arkan Ali to destroy the property and fraudulently claim £300,000 from their insurance. The trio are thought to have set “many, many litres of petrol” alight in the basement of the shop to produce the ‘bomb-like effect’. Subsequent to 11 hours deliberation, the jury found the three guilty on all counts: conspiracy to commit fraud and five counts of murder.
New Year’s Honours
This weekend the New Year Honour list was revealed. Those among the selected few included Gareth Southgate, who is to receive an OBE, model, Twiggy, who is set to become a Dame and Michael Palin, who is to be knighted. Yet, there are also many ordinary individuals who are to be honoured. Among those are Richard Stanton and John Volanthen, the British divers, who were instrumental in the rescue of 12 boys from a cave complex in Thailand.
Indonesia Tsunami
Last Saturday saw Indonesia rocked by the devastating effects of a tsunami and volcano eruption. The tsunami struck at around 21:30 local time, thought to have been prompted by the eruption of the Anak Krakatau, which led to under-sea landslides. The islands of Java and Sumantra were struck the hardest, as shown by the devastating footage shared across the media, and, now, just a week after the disaster, it is estimated that 400 lives were lost, while 20 people remain missing. Thousands have been forced to flee from their homes and communities, and have begun to clean-up the remnants of their daily lives. You can continue to spread Christmas cheer and support the Red Cross’ recovery appeal by clicking here.
New York alien invasion
New Yorkers were left confused this week as the skyline turned an eerie blue, as if aliens were descending on the ‘Big Apple’. Meanwhile, others speculated that the scary scenes were a religious sign. However, there were no religious visitations or extra terrestrial landings. Instead, the brilliant blue flash of Thursday was caused by a transformer tripping and an electrical fire at the Con Edison station in Queens.
Bread Beer
Fancy a pint? An initiative between Adnams Southwold and M&S, as part of Marks and Spencer’s Plan A strategy, has created three new beers from surplus sandwich bread. The three brews will be on shelves soon, and more may follow, as consumers alone throw away 24 million slices of a bread a day! Think of all of the potential beer!
Here in Media, we’re also working to be more open for our volunteers. You can view a copy of Media documentation and the latest Senate Minutes here. If you have any other questions about Label, you can email [email protected], or for general enquiries, our Media EO Jazz, at [email protected]
If you’d like to hear about something you’re interested in, do contact us at [email protected] or [email protected] with any stories which are important for us students.
