A group of York students has won the opportunity to have their very own I-phone application developed after winning The App Challenge final, held at the Ron Cooke Hub on Wednesday, January 18.
YUSU Welfare officer Bob Hughes has warned students to be vigilant after a student loans phishing scam has been revealed.
Her Majesty the Queen will be visiting York on Maundy Thursday, 5th April, as part of the 800th anniversary of York’s Charter for the traditional “Royal Maundy” ceremony.
A flood caused by a heating system “failure” forced the university IT services to shut down many essential systems on Sunday night, causing problems for many students on the eve of their exams and assignment due-dates.
The group petitioned on behalf of Oxfam in St Sampson's Square in the city this week.They were joined by York Samba band to help gain attention and 270 people signed up to call for action over extreme poverty.
Over 38 million people from around the world joined the 24 hour protest between October 16th and 17th. The figure smashed the previous highest turnout of 23.5 million.
Emily Cousins, a second year who organised the event, said: "It's just to raise awareness really. We're just trying to get the message out there so that people's solidarity and support gives world leaders an undisputable mandate to change.
"It's to show world leaders that enough people care about the issue so that they should do something."
The campaign is run by the UN. Partners included the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP), trade unions and government ministers.
It aims to apply pressure to members of the organisation to honour their commitments to the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. The latest report suggested that developed countries were not pulling their weight to meet targets.
The group also formed a white ring on Vanbrugh paradise using bed sheets. The event is also known as white band day in reference to the anti-poverty symbol best known from the infamous 'Make Poverty History' armbands. It was later revealed that the accessories were made in sweatshops in China.
Asked whether it was easy for people to become disillusioned over huge issues such as extreme poverty, Cousins added: "It's a man-made problem so it can be overcome."
"It's not a problem like climate change where there's debate over if we do something whether or not it will make a difference.
"It's less controversial and in a way that can make people more reluctant because they think 'It's such a big issue, What can I do?' It sounds cheesy but if you can convince even a couple of people then on some level it's a success."
"Just remember how fortunate we are and there a literally millions of people in poverty. Half the world's population lives on less than $2 a day. If you surveyed 100 people and say do you think poverty is a bad thing you're not going to get a 50/50 split!"
There were notable contributions from around the world. A women's group in Adelaide, Australia stood upside down for the day (with breaks!) and the Kenyan Prison Service allowed thousands of prisoners and warders to join in. Closer to home, the Welsh assembly took part during a session on Thursday.
The official count for the stand up protest was 38,111,953.
Eveline Herfkens, of the UN Millennium Campaign, said: “The record we really want to break is the world’s record of breaking promises and ignoring the poor."
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