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The London 2012 Paralympics kicked-off on Wednesday night with a spectacular opening ceremony, before the Team GB athletes held up their side of the bargain with two gold medals on the first day.

Ceremony with a Message

The opening ceremony, whilst maybe not quite as spectacular as Danny Boyle's Olympic equivalent, was brilliant. A theme of scientific discovery and enlightenment ran throughout, and Professor Stephen Hawking was in the Olympic Stadium narrating the events going on around him. As a world-famous scientist who himself is severely disabled, he was the perfect candidate for such a role and brought with him the message: "Look at the stars and not down at your feet ... Be curious".

With the scientific theme running throughout, the ceremony started with a glowing, fiery orb that represented the Big Bang, before a pulsing mound of people came to represent the recent Higgs Boson particle discovery. There were hundreds of volunteers dancing with umbrellas, flying wheelchairs, spinning acrobats, giant human rights books and Ian McKellen reading Shakespeare. This was a ceremony that had a clear message but certainly didn't take itself too seriously.

A protest is building outside Downing Street this afternoon as students and NUS members gathered to show their anger over the treatment of London Metropolitan University's international students.

Thousands of non-EU students have been left stranded after finding out today that London Met has lost its license to admit international students. The judgement from the UK Border Agency leaves 2,600 students with no university to attend when the new term starts in less than a month and with visas that will run out in just 60 days.

The university's international students find themselves in an impossible situation. Existing students returning for their second or third years, as well as new students arriving for their first year, now face a desperate scramble to try and find a place at a different university.

"Serious, systematic failure"

The whole process started when London Met was first warned earlier in the year about their treatment of international students and abuses of the student visa system. They then had their status as a ‘highly trusted sponsor' suspended by UKBA over a month ago.

Angelique is originally from the Seychelles and has recently finished as a Law student at the University of London. Here she looks at the joy of studying in London.

"Dearest London,

"And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any belied with false compare."
"My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun"
Sonnet 130, William Shakespeare

Leaving you has not been easy. I think of you every now and then and all the memories we hold. Three years and you have taught me a lot. How to live on a student budget in one of the most expensive cities in the world. How to pick the right people to trust. How to be strong and choose the library over the ‘bright lights'. You have often caused me distress with suspended tube lines, masses of people during rush hour and losing my shoe on the railway track. I would like to think it was all tough love and now wherever I go I'll be able to survive.

One of the stranger stories of the year hit Britain this weekend, as police hunted for a lion on the loose in Essex. The police were called in after there were numerous sightings from locals of what looked like a lion. However, after a fruitless 24-hours, the search was called off due to a lack of any evidence being found.

This bizarre story all started when a holidaymaker reported that he had seen a lion in a field near the Essex coast on Sunday evening. A grainy photo (above) of the animal was shown to experts at the nearby Colchester Zoo, who admitted that there was the possibility it was a lion.

With this ‘confirmation' the police got involved, advising people in the local area to stay indoors. With the news unsurprisingly spreading across Twitter like wildfire, more and more supposed sightings came flooding in and police launched a huge search for the beast. By Monday morning there were 25 officers, a specialist firearm unit and two police helicopters all on the hunt for the Essex Lion. A second picture supposedly taken in the local area also hit the news:

A pensioner's restoration of a fresco that has adorned the wall of a Spanish church for more than a century has become an internet sensation. The famous painting of Jesus Christ by artist Elias Garcia Martinez had been deteriorating for years until 81-year-old Cecilia Gimenez decided to do something about it.

The results can be seen above. On the left is the original, whilst on the right is the hilarious attempted restoration. The new version has swept the internet, with people likening it to anything from a bear to Chewbacca from Star Wars. Indeed, even the BBC correspondent Christian Fraser described how it "resembles a crayon sketch of a very hairy monkey in an ill-fitting tunic".

After starting her masterpiece, the elderly woman soon realised she was a little out of her depth and contacted her city councillor in charge of cultural affairs. Luckily he was sympathetic to her attempts:

"I think she had good intentions. Next week she will meet with a repairer and explain what kind of materials she used. If we can't fix it, we will probably cover the wall with a photo of the painting."

Since appearing on British news sites, a number of famous paintings have been given the same treatment. What do you think of these? An improvement?