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NEWSPAPER ARTICLES
№1 Coldest temperature on Earth recorded (12th December, 2013)
Scientists recently found the coldest place on Earth. Satellites measured a temperature of minus 93.2 degrees Celsius on part of Antarctica. Scientists still need to do more tests on the data. The real temperature could be one degree colder. The coldest temperature found before this was also in Antarctica. This was minus 89.2 degrees Celsius. Scientist Dr Ted Scambos said: "These very low temperatures are hard to imagine." He explained: "It's almost as cold below freezing as boiling water is above freezing." He added that parts of Antarctica are 50 degrees colder than Siberia. Nowhere on Antarctica is as cold as the Moon. Temperatures there got as low as minus 238 degrees Celsius.
Unfortunately, the record freezing temperatures measured by the satellites won't be in the Guinness Book of Records. The temperatures must be from a couple of meters above the ice. The scientists also have to use a thermometer. The satellites' temperatures were a few centimetres above the ice and they did not use a thermometer. Dr Scambos said he is sure that the temperatures recorded by the satellites are accurate. He also said that they would be too cold for a thermometer to work properly. He said it was so cold that you cannot breathe the air. When scientists go outside, they must wear a snorkel that goes inside their coat. They breathe the warmer air that is close to their skin.
№2 World mourns Nelson Mandela (8th December, 2013)
South Africans and people from all over the world are mourning the death of Nelson Mandela. In South Africa, thousands of people gathered in Johannesburg and Soweto to say goodbye to their country's first ever black president. They danced, sang, cried and prayed for the man they loved. Mr Mandela died aged 95 on Thursday after months of illness. South Africa's President Jacob Zuma broke the news of Mr Mandela's death in a late-night speech on TV. Mr Zuma said: "Our nation has lost its greatest son." Mr Mandela spent most of his life campaigning for equal rights in South Africa. He spent 27 years in jail before becoming South Africa's president in 1994.
Leaders from all over the world heaped praise on Mr Mandela. His long-time friend Archbishop Desmond Tutu said: "God was so good to us in South Africa by giving us Nelson Mandela." US President Barack Obama said: "He achieved more than could be expected of any man. Today, he has gone home." UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called him "a giant for justice and a down-to-earth human inspiration". He added: "Nelson Mandela showed what is possible for our world and within each one of us if we believe, dream and work together for justice and humanity." British Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted: "Nelson Mandela was a hero of our time. A great light has gone out in the world."
№3 Moscow removes giant Louis Vuitton suitcase (30th November, 2013)
Russia's government will remove a large building in the centre of Moscow. The building looks exactly like a brown Louis Vuitton suitcase. It is nine metres high and 30 metres long and is covered in Louis Vuitton's famous logo. It also has two giant Russian flags running down one side. The luxury goods maker built it for a 6-week exhibition of Louis Vuitton luggage. The exhibition was going to open on December the 2nd to mark the 150-year anniversary of the company. A spokesperson from Louis Vuitton said everyone at the company was disappointed. The company had planning permission to make the building and Moscow building inspectors visited it many times before the builders finished it.
The giant suitcase became very unpopular with ordinary Muscovites. Many people could not understand why the city agreed to build it in Moscow's famous Red Square. A member of Russia's Communist Party said Red Square was "a sacred place for the Russian state". The suitcase was built next to the tomb of Lenin. A Moscow pensioner said: "This is an embarrassment for our country. All we think about is business, business, business." He said it was shocking because most Russians could never afford to buy a Louis Vuitton product. The building may be moved to another part of Moscow. The money collected from the exhibition will go to a Russian children's charity.
№4 Xbox One has technical problems on day one (26th November, 2013)
Microsoft's new games console, the Xbox One, sold more than one million consoles within 24 hours of its release. It has sold out in most of the 13 countries that were selling it. Many people waited outside stores overnight to buy it. Company executives said it was an exciting product and the best console they have ever made. Microsoft spokesman Yusuf Mehdi said: "Seeing thousands of excited fans lined up to get their Xbox One, and their love for gaming, was truly a special moment for everyone on the Xbox team." He added: "We are working hard to create more Xbox One consoles and look forward to fulfilling holiday gift wishes this season."
Many Xbox One customers were disappointed after buying the console. They saw error messages soon after they switched the machine on and uploaded an update. The update caused the machine to "brick". This is a gaming word, which means to become useless. Microsoft explained to Britain's Sky News what users needed to do. It said: "If a user is experiencing a stall for more than 10 minutes…they should contact Xbox customer support and we will work with them to troubleshoot and get them up and running." Microsoft needs to act quickly because its big rival Sony also has a new console – the PlayStation 4. It is $80 cheaper than the Xbox One and gamers are calling it a "pure gaming machine".
№5 Kids run more slowly than 30 years ago (22nd November, 2013)
A new report from the American Heart Association says fitness levels in children are lower today than they were 30 years ago. The researchers looked at data from the past 46 years. The statistics were on more than 25 million children in 28 countries. The research team found that on average, today's children run one kilometre about one minute slower than their parents did three decades ago. The figures were roughly the same for boys and girls. The distance a child can run is decreasing by around half of one per cent every year. One of the biggest reasons for the slowdown in children's running ability is obesity. Kids are overweight because they are eating too much and not exercising enough.
The researchers say their report is worrying. If children are becoming fatter and less fit, they will be unhealthier in the future. Lead researcher Dr Grant Tomkinson said: "If a young person is generally unfit now, then they are more likely to develop conditions like heart disease later in life." Dr Tomkinson said: "We need to help to inspire children and youth to develop fitness habits that will keep them healthy now and into the future. They need to choose a range of physical activities they like or think they might like to try, and they need to get moving." He added: "Young people can be fit in different ways. They can be strong like a weightlifter, or flexible like a gymnast, or skillful like a tennis player."
№6 "Invisible" helmet for cyclists invented (14th November, 2013)
Two Swedish design students have invented a totally new kind of bicycle helmet. People are saying it's invisible because you cannot see it on a cyclist's head. The "invisible" helmet is really a kind of airbag. It is inside a large collar. People wear it around their neck like a scarf. When the cyclist falls off his/her bike, the collar quickly fills with gas and an airbag surrounds the head. The two students, Anna Haupt and Terese Alstin, wanted to change the way people cycle. They said: "Bicycle helmets have always been the same. They're so bulky, like a hard mushroom on your head." They called their new invention the Hövding. The pair said it looks so fashionable that "people would be happy to wear it".
The inventors started research and development on the Hövding in 2005. They examined thousands of cycling accidents. They wanted to find out how to make the safest helmet. They then teamed up with a Swedish airbag company called Alva. Today, the Hövding company has a staff of 17 employees. They hope their helmet will change how people all over the world cycle. In their video, Haupt and Alstin said: "Cars are so yesterday. Bikes are the future." They also said their invention would make them millionaires. People can only buy the Hövding helmet online in Europe. It sells for around $530. The company did not say when it would be available in the rest of the world.
№7 USA destroys 6,000kg of ivory (18th November, 2013)
Elephants are in danger. Hunters kill them for their tusks. The hunters sell the tusks because they are made from ivory. The USA is working to stop this trade. It wants to protect the world's elephants. On Thursday, the U.S. government burnt almost 6,000 kilograms of ivory tusks. They also destroyed ivory carvings and jewellery. The USA wants to send a message to poachers (people who illegally hunt and kill elephants) to stop killing elephants. More and more elephants in Africa are dying. It is difficult for African countries to stop the poachers. On Wednesday the USA offered a $1 million reward for anyone who has information about a group in Laos that buys and sells ivory.
Conservationists (people who want to protect animals and the Earth) are happy with the USA's actions. They say one way to end poaching is to make it unprofitable. If poachers know they cannot make money from ivory, they will not kill elephants. Adam Roberts of the Born Free USA conservation group said: "Any time we can remove ivory from the marketplace, it's a win for elephants, because it suggests to the world that there isn't profitability to be had by selling ivory. And if there's no profitability in selling ivory, there's no profitability in poaching elephants." A worldwide ban on trading ivory started in 1989. It has helped to protect elephants, but the world needs to do a lot more.
№8 Britney Spears music scares off pirates (31st October, 2013)
Ship captains in the Indian Ocean are using a new tactic to keep pirates away – songs sung by U.S. pop star Britney Spears. An officer with Britain's merchant navy, Rachel Owens, said Britney Spears' songs did a good job against Somali pirates. Ms Owens, 34, said: "[Britney's] songs were chosen by the security team because they thought the pirates would hate them most. These guys can't stand Western culture or music, making Britney's hits perfect." A spokesman for a security company said playing loud pop music was an effective way of stopping attacks on ships. He said not all shipping companies choose Britney Spears' music. He added: "Each security company will have its own music choice."
This is not the first time loud music has been used to scare people. It has even been used as a form of torture. Prison guards at Guantanamo Bay started using music in 2003 to keep prisoners awake. In 2008, prisoners had to listen to very loud music for weeks and months. A former Guantanamo prisoner, Ruhal Ahmed, explained that the loud music played in his cell for weeks at a time was worse than being beaten up. He said: "It makes you feel like you are going mad." Many people think prisons must stop playing loud music to someone for days or weeks at a time. A human rights charity called Reprieve has started a campaign to end it. It wants rock stars to ban prisons from using their music for torture.
№9 Japanese food to get UNESCO status (27th October, 2013)
The United Nations is going to put traditional Japanese food on its list of important world cuisines. It will be the fifth time for UNESCO to give a country's or region's food its cultural heritage status. French, Mediterranean, Mexican and Turkish food are already on the list. Traditional Japanese food is called 'Washoku'. It is very famous for its variety. It ranges from sushi (raw fish on rice) to ramen noodles, tempura and sukiyaki. Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs said it wants to put all of its food on the list, not just one or two famous dishes. The agency said Japanese food is special because of its artistic presentation. It also uses unique ingredients. Many dishes are important because they celebrate the four seasons.
'Washoku' is very healthy and has a good balance of minerals, vitamins, carbohydrates and protein. It is one of the reasons why Japanese people live for so long. It also helps to keep obesity levels low. The cuisine is also important as different meals throughout the year help to bring families and communities together. Food plays an important role in many ceremonies that mark seasonal traditions. The menu for New Year's celebrations, rice-planting events and harvest festivals are all very different. Japan's government said food helps Japanese people keep a strong sense of culture. It also said 'Washoku' is closely "associated with an essential spirit of respect for nature."
№10 Only 10% of UK engineers are women (6th November, 2013)
A new report says less than ten per cent of Britain's engineers are women. This is the lowest figure of all European countries. Vince Cable, the UK Business Secretary, told reporters that this would be an "enormous problem for years to come". He said one of the biggest areas that needed more women was in computer science. Many women graduate from university with degrees in computer science, so Mr Cable did not understand why there were so few female computer engineers. He suggested that many companies had a "psychological barrier" against women becoming engineers. He said: "Half of all state schools don't have a single girl doing physics. We are only tapping half the population."
The British government has started a new campaign to get more women into engineering. It is called "Tomorrow's Engineers Week" and started on November the 4th. Mr Cable said at the launch: "Engineering has a vital role to play in the future of UK industry. It is important that we act now to ensure businesses have access to the skills they require to enable them to grow." A spokesman for Siemens UK said Britain needed to "help young people understand how an engineering [training programme] can lead to a rewarding career". The campaign website said it would "showcase all the exciting businesses and industries…that rely on the work of creative engineers."
№11 U.S. fast-food workers stop working (1st September, 2013)
Fast-food workers in 58 cities in the USA did not go to work on Thursday. They went on strike because they want more money. The workers currently get paid the minimum wage. This was set at $7.25 in 2009 and has not changed since then. Many workers say they cannot afford to live on that. The price of everything has gone up but their wages have stayed the same for five years. The workers want $15 an hour, which is double their current rate. Julio Wilson, a cashier at a pizza restaurant, told the BBC he earns $9 an hour. He said that wasn't enough to support himself and his five-year-old daughter. He said: "I know I'm risking my job, but it's my right to fight for what I deserve."
McDonald's and Burger King both spoke about the strike. They said they did not make decisions about how much to pay workers in most of their restaurants. They said each restaurant is an independent franchise and the manager decides how much to pay the staff. McDonald's profits were over $5.5 billion in 2011. The burger giants did say that an increase in wages would mean more expensive burgers. America's National Restaurant Association said the wages were low because the staff are young and have little work experience. It said: "Only five per cent of restaurant employees earn the minimum wage and those that do are [mainly] working part-time and half are teenagers."
№12 World's largest building opens in China (3rd July, 2013)
China is building up a large collection of the biggest things in the world. The latest addition is the world's largest building. It is called the New Century Global Center and it opened this week in Chengdu, Sichuan province, in China's southwest. It is 500 meters long, 400 meters wide and 100 meters high. The area inside covers an amazing 1.76 million square meters. The building is so big that 20 Sydney Opera Houses could fit inside. It is almost three times the size of the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. It took thousands of workers just three years to build the enormous structure. The center is an important part of plans to make Chengdu a 21st-century city. It fits with the city's slogan, "Chengdu – Can Do".
The inside of the center is almost like a small city in itself. There are around 400,000 square meters of shopping space, a 15-screen IMAX movie theatre complex and an ice rink big enough to hold international competitions. There are also offices, hotels, a replica Mediterranean village and a water park. The building's owners hope it will attract business and tourists from across China and the world. It is all part of a wider plan to put Chengdu on the global map. Around 14 million people currently live in the city, but that is set to increase. The city is also a magnet for investment and is one of China's most important industrial regions. The area is also home to the world's largest giant panda nature reserve.
№13 Police arrest a coconut (9th September, 2013)
Police officers in the Maldives have arrested a coconut. It had Arabic writing on it. It was a "sura" (a verse from the Koran) and local people got worried about it. They said it was full of black magic and that someone was using it to try and change the results of an election. Police took the coconut to a local police station because it was a "suspicious fruit". They thought the small fruit might affect how people voted in Saturday's national election. People on the island of Guraidhoo believe black magic can stop voters from voting, or make them vote for someone else. The police contacted a "ruqyah" (a good magician), who decided the coconut was a fake and contained no black magic.
A police official said: "It seems like it was a joke. Just a prank, so that people will become aware, understand the message, and not do it again." The Huffington Post website claims that black magic can have a big effect on life in the Maldives. In July, a school refused to let a voting box into the building. Teachers were worried it would make students ill. In 2012, Abdulla bin Mohamed Ibrahim, a religious leader in the Maldives, asked the government to make black magic illegal. He said it was a sin to practice black magic. He said it caused a lot of problems for many families and that it was time to do something about it. Mr Ibrahim said black magic has become a major social issue in his country.
№14 Letter of the alphabet for 'the' invented (11th July, 2013)
An Australian businessman has invented a new, 27th, letter for the English alphabet. It is a symbol to replace the word "the". It looks like a combination of a capital "T" and a lower case "h" (Ћ). However, the "new" letter looks the same as a letter from the Serbian language. Paul Mathis believes many people will like his idea. It is already available for download on Apple's iTunes. Mathis is hoping mobile phone, tablet and computer makers will add the letter to their keyboards. He invested $35,000 in his app, but so far Apple has shown little interest. He told the "Sydney Morning Herald": "Is this going to change the world? Not really. But is it something that might be useful for people? I think so."
Mr Mathis believes the new character is useful because it replaces the most common word in the English language – "the". He said it will save people time when they type because they only need to use one key instead of the three needed for each letter of the word "the". He argued that other words have their own character. He pointed out that the word "and" has its own symbol - the ampersand (&) and that is only the fifth most common word. Mathis also says his new symbol will help "in the texting space" such as Twitter or texts where there is a limited number of characters. Not everyone agrees with Mathis. Computer experts don't think manufacturers will change their keyboards or operating systems.
№15 30,000 bees attack couple, kill ponies (31st July, 2013)
Being attacked by killer bees usually only happens in horror movies or nightmares. For a couple in Texas, the nightmare turned into reality on Wednesday night. Kristen Beauregard, 44, and her boyfriend were in their garden exercising their two ponies. Ms Beauregard told reporters that everything was normal until one of the ponies started kicking and jumping. The animal was very frightened about something. Suddenly she saw a dark cloud in the sky and she realised it was a swarm of bees. She said: "It got all dark, like it was night time, there were so many bees." The bees attacked the couple and their horses.
Luckily they had a swimming pool, so the couple jumped in. Ms Beauregard was stung over 200 times by the bees. Her boyfriend counted over 50 stings on his arms, neck and head. The pool probably saved their lives because the bees could not attack them under the water. Kristen explained how terrifying it was. She said: "We were trying to stand up in the water but every time we stuck our heads out for air, they would cover us and start stinging us. We were trying to breathe and they were stinging us on the face and on the nose." Unfortunately, the two ponies could not escape from the bees. They got stung thousands of times. One died on the farm, the other passed away at the vet's clinic later that evening.
№16 BBC plans 2,500 hours of World War I shows (19th October, 2013)
The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) has released details of its programme schedule to mark the centenary of World War I. It is planning almost 2,500 hours of new TV and radio shows. These will be broadcast from 2014 to 2018, to mirror the one hundred years since the war. It is the biggest plan in the BBC's history. Tony Hall, the head of the BBC, said the programming would be, "a chance for us all to learn something new about a war we think we know well". A BBC spokesman said: "We are setting out to broaden people's understanding of the war, to commemorate and remember those who were caught up in it, and to tell both well-known stories from fresh perspectives and original stories so far untold."
World War I (WWI) is also known as the First World War. It was a global war that mostly took place in Europe. It began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. It was called the "World War" or the "Great War" until 1939, when World War II started. More than 9 million soldiers were killed in WWI. This makes it the fifth-deadliest conflict in human history. Over 70 million people fought in countries all over the world. The United States joined the fighting in 1917. After the war ended, many countries changed and many new nations were created. There were also revolutions in a lot of countries. There was a lot of unhappiness in some countries. This lasted for many years and was one of the causes of World War II.