A look at the past week’s news

A brief look at the highlights of the the past week’s news.

By Ida Aagenaes

US Election

With the US election coming up on November 6, President Barack Obama and presidential candidate Mitt Romney are trying their best to win over the last swing states that are likely to decide the outcome of the election. According to recent polls, President Obama is narrowly ahead of his opponent with 48 per cent, possibly helped by his handling of the devastating damage caused by super-storm Sandy. For more on the candidate’s stands on key issues see here.

Study abroad and save money

English students will benefit from studying abroad as Britain is now one of the most expensive places in the world to study. According to a HSBC study, only Canada, the US and Australia would be more expensive as the average English student is expected to spend £15,586 a year with the new tuition fees.
 

Labour calls for ‘living wage’

Ed Miliband urges employers to increase salaries to the new ‘living wage’ of £7.20 an hour (£8.30 in London) which is the estimated hourly pay for a person to be able to ‘live comfortably’. As part of Labour’s ‘One Nation’ vision Miliband is prepared to “name and shame” major companies who do not pay this as a minimum to their employees. The voluntary ‘living wage’ is more than a pound higher than the legal adult minimum wage of just above £6. It is part of a bid to make working more profitable than claiming unemployment and would benefit those on minimum wage.

Super-storm Sandy
Super-storm Sandy, which has been dubbed as ‘Frankenstorm’, wrecked large parts of the Caribbean and the US east coast last week leaving tens of thousands people homeless and 175 confirmed dead. Hitting New York on October 29, the tropical cyclone caused major flooding, major power cuts and the cancellation of the annual New York Marathon. With temperatures expected to drop below zero degrees residents are urged to find shelter with heating until power is restored.