Heroes and Villains of the Week: News Round-up

By Sabrina Collier and Mathilde Frot

With Easter around the corner, it's fitting that the last week has featured plenty of tales of heroic figures, whether it's an Indian medical student delivering a baby on a train or a brave Muslim woman facing down fascist protestors in her city. Of course, we've had our share of villians too, from the predictable (White House press secretary Sean Spicer) to the shocking (here's looking at you, United Airlines).

Here are the people we're loving and hating this week.

Heroes

Vipin Khadse In India, a cool-headed final-year medical student training to be a surgeon helped a woman give birth to a boy on a train headed to Nagpur. Vipin Khadse, 24, sought guidance from senior doctors on a WhatsApp group, which was vital as the delivery proved to be a particularly difficult one. The baby’s shoulder came out first and the mother’s amniotic fluid had completely dried. Read more here.

University of Utah The University of Utah is offering a scholarship to video gamers, in an attempt to attract talent for its varsity e-sports team. Players are needed to play the popular game League of Legends and compete in the Riot Games (the makers of League of Legends) Collegiate League. Gamers will receive partial scholarships, with the university aiming to offer 35 full scholarships and make money from marketing deals. 

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UK researchers Open University researchers, working in collaboration with the University of Nevada, have made the heroic discovery that 9am lectures should be banned. We get the feeling this is something most students could get behind. Apparently, lectures should start no earlier than 11am, as students perform best academically between 11am and 9.30pm.

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Saffiyah Khan A photo of Saffiyah Khan standing up to far-right English Defence League (EDL) leader Ian Crossland during a protest in Birmingham on Saturday went viral this week. EDL supporters claim that Khan disrupted a tribute to the victims of the Stockholm and Westminster attacks, which she denies, having actually intervened to defend another woman who was being shouted at by EDL protesters.

Khan and the woman she defended, Saira Zafar, met properly on Tuesday, allowing Zafar to thank Khan for her help. Looking back on the confrontation, Khan said: "Sometimes it's more important to smile than to shout". She also told Vice that she’d like to use her recent status to “fight against racism on the streets of the UK”. She added: “[I’ve] got big things planned, focusing on the bigger picture. Being viral is worthless if nothing helpful comes of it.”

Who looks like they have power here, the real Brummy on the left or the EDL who migrated for the day to our city and failed to assimilate pic.twitter.com/bu96ALQsOL

— Jess Phillips MP (@jessphillips) April 8, 2017

Villains

Sean Spicer White House press secretary Sean Spicer has apologized after falsely claiming Adolf Hitler didn't use chemical weapons, despite the fact millions of Jewish people were chemically gassed in the Holocaust. Spicer's comments drew criticism from Israel, Germany, and basically anyone in the world with half a brain. To make matters worse, Spicer’s gaffe came during the Jewish festival of Passover, which commemorates the liberation of Jews from slavery in Egypt. Some have speculated that Spicer’s misstep was a confused, idiotic regurgitation of this Fox interview and this tweet. 

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Dortmund bomber German police have detained a suspect with ties to radical Islamism after a bomb attack on the Borussia Dortmund football team bus en route to a Champions League match. Player Marc Bartra suffered a fractured wrist in the blast, but there were no further casualties. The team's match against Monaco was postponed, but only by 24 hours, a decision which was criticised by the manager Thomas Tuchel.

North Korea The unstable dictatorship in North Korea continues to threaten nuclear war. On the bright side, the threat has led to President Trump offering China's President Xi Jin Ping a favorable trade deal in exchange for their support over North Korea’s threat of nuclear war. Earlier this week, North Korea condemned the US deployment of a navy strive group to the Korean peninsula and warned that it will defend itself "by powerful force of arms". Utterly terrifying.

United Airlines This week, a man was violently dragged from his overbooked United Airlines flight after refusing to give up his seat. Dr David Dao was left bloodied by the incident, which was filmed by shocked fellow passengers, and the images provoked worldwide condemnation of the airline. United Airlines’ CEO Oscar Munoz initially responded to the incident by calling Dao "disruptive and belligerent" and told the airline’s employees that they “followed established procedures”. However, he has since attempted to apologize by saying he feels "shame and embarrassment" over the incident. This change-of-heart may or may not have had something to do with the fact United Airlines value on the stock market fell by $1bn following the news. Read more on this story here.

PEPSI: We made the biggest PR blunder of any major company this year.

UNITED: Hold my beer.

— Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) April 10, 2017

In other news...

What does your average student have in common with a whale? More than you’d think actually….and no, we’re not saying you’re blubbery. Tiny non-invasive cameras placed on the backs of Antarctic whales have revealed some fascinating insights into their social lives and feeding habits – proving that they socialize and rest by day and feed at night. Remind you of anyone???

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Finally...

If you've ever been asked a question in class when you weren't paying attention, you'll know exactly how newsreader Natasha Exelby feels...