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NATIONAL NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR *<br />

£1.30 2 – 8 MARCH 2012 Issue <strong>299</strong><br />

Working with<br />

more than<br />

a million<br />

readers *<br />

The weekly newspaper for young people<br />

<strong>First</strong> <strong>News</strong> supports<br />

children’s charities<br />

DO YOU<br />

GIVE<br />

SCHOOL<br />

Kate joins the Queen on her<br />

Diamond Jubilee tour p4<br />

BOSS<br />

Michael Gove says:<br />

THUMBS<br />

• Exams will get harder to pass<br />

• You can get instant detentions<br />

• Teachers to get new powers to search pupils<br />

• But our children will be among the best in the world<br />

UP?<br />

Rat boom across the UK p2<br />

KIDS should expect to start getting lower grades in exams, says schools boss, Michael Gove.<br />

The Government’s Education Secretary said fewer A*s and As<br />

are going to be handed out because he thinks GCSEs, A levels and<br />

degrees should get “tougher”.<br />

“If that means fewer passes, then that’s something we’ll have to<br />

accept,” he said. “But I want to ensure that, as well as exams being<br />

tougher, schools work harder.”<br />

This week, <strong>First</strong> <strong>News</strong> asks you if you think Mr Gove is right to<br />

get tough.<br />

He goes on: “What I hope we will see is our exams are once<br />

again trusted across the globe and our children are among the best<br />

in the world.”<br />

Mr Gove has been talking about new plans to improve discipline<br />

in English schools, too. These include handing out instant detentions<br />

*Source: <strong>First</strong> <strong>News</strong> Readership Survey, January 2011, Opinion Matters *Awarded by the Plain English Campaign, December 2011.<br />

by editor Nicky Cox<br />

outside school hours, without giving 24 hours’ notice to parents,<br />

which is what happens now.<br />

He is also planning to give new powers to teachers to search pupils<br />

for cigarettes and for items that are “going to be used to cause harm<br />

or break the law”.<br />

Charlie Taylor, who is advising the Government, says: “Without<br />

good behaviour, teachers can’t teach and pupils can’t learn.”<br />

But what do you think? <strong>First</strong> <strong>News</strong> will share your views with the<br />

Government. Fill out the form on page 4 or complete the questions<br />

at www.firstnews.co.uk/surveys by Monday 12 March. Get your<br />

classmates to join in too.<br />

The children who live in<br />

slums – new report p4


2<br />

<strong>First</strong><strong>News</strong> Issue <strong>299</strong> 2 – 8 march 2012<br />

FIRST NEWS HEADLINES<br />

IN BRIEF<br />

The Big March<br />

A VIRTUAL march against<br />

bullying was held online<br />

this week.<br />

Avatars of the world united<br />

in cyberspace to highlight the<br />

problems of online bullying.<br />

The organisers of the<br />

BeatBullying march are calling<br />

it the first global march for<br />

children’s rights.<br />

They were planning for one<br />

million avatars from 190 countries<br />

to arrive at a virtual United Nations<br />

building in New York to call for<br />

anti-bullying to be added to the<br />

UN Convention on the Rights of<br />

the Child (see p17 for more).<br />

St Paul’s protest<br />

POLICE and bailiffs have<br />

removed the protestors’<br />

camp outside St Paul’s<br />

Cathedral.<br />

The Occupy London<br />

demonstrators were campaigning<br />

against what they see as greed<br />

in the City (the name given to<br />

London’s financial district). The<br />

people who run the City went to<br />

court for permission to evict them.<br />

For the latest on these headlines, go to www.firstnews.co.uk/news<br />

Call in the<br />

rat catchers<br />

Rats are on the rise across the UK and coming to a place near you,<br />

according to a new survey.<br />

Two thirds of pest controllers are reporting<br />

a big increase in the number of call-outs to<br />

tackle rodent infestations.<br />

Reports from pest controllers have<br />

included one house with 200 rats living in it,<br />

while another had around 500 mice.<br />

According to insurance company LV,<br />

the reasons for the rise in rodents is a<br />

combination of recent warm weather,<br />

allowing the pests to breed faster, and<br />

a cutback in rubbish collections by local<br />

by Ian Prince.<br />

councils from once a week to twice a month,<br />

which leaves more rubbish around as food.<br />

Councils have also cut free pest control<br />

services to save money.<br />

Some people may think rats and mice are<br />

cute and keep them as pets, but wild ones<br />

living near humans bring health risks.<br />

The research also found that around one<br />

in five homes has suffered damage due to<br />

A rat – Do you go ‘Aaaaw’ or ‘Arghhhh’?<br />

rodents and other pests, which can gnaw<br />

through wires and building structures.<br />

In other countries, though, rats are in the<br />

news for different reasons.<br />

In Thailand, rat meat has been on the menu<br />

for years and is now so popular it costs more<br />

than chicken and pork.<br />

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY<br />

On 2 March 1969, the Anglo-<br />

French supersonic airliner<br />

Concorde made its maiden flight.<br />

The airplane was eventually<br />

retired in 2003.<br />

Olympic<br />

fact<br />

Victoria Park and Hyde<br />

Park will be focal points<br />

for the Games, with<br />

concerts, cinema,<br />

theatre and medal<br />

ceremonies.<br />

Olympic countdown<br />

21 weeks to go!<br />

Silence is golden at<br />

Oscar awards<br />

The Artist has become the first silent black and white<br />

movie to win an Oscar since 1929.<br />

The Artist<br />

looks like an<br />

old-fashioned<br />

movie. Although<br />

it’s a new film,<br />

it was made in<br />

the style of the<br />

first Hollywood<br />

movies, which<br />

didn’t use<br />

colour or sound<br />

– because the<br />

technology hadn’t<br />

been invented.<br />

It’s been a<br />

Uggie the dog and his<br />

human co-star in a<br />

scene from The Artist<br />

huge hit, winning five Oscars at this week’s awards ceremony in Los<br />

Angeles, including best film, best actor, and best director.<br />

The film also features a dog, Uggie, who joined other cast members<br />

on stage at the Oscars wearing a small gold bone. Uggie the Jack<br />

Russell is thought to be retiring from movies, as he has reached the<br />

grand age of ten.<br />

Kids are treated<br />

‘unfairly’ in media<br />

<strong>First</strong> <strong>News</strong> is working with other organisations to make<br />

sure children are treated fairly in the media.<br />

New research into how<br />

young people are written<br />

about in the media has found<br />

that more than 3/4 of press<br />

coverage of young people<br />

is negative, often showing<br />

them as criminals or unruly.<br />

The report is being sent<br />

to the Leveson Inquiry,<br />

which is investigating the More positive coverage of young people is needed<br />

in the media, such as stories about Britain’s<br />

behaviour of newspapers kindest kid, Callum Flynn, here with the PM<br />

in Britain.<br />

The report recommends that:<br />

• age should be included alongside race, colour and religion as<br />

something which should not be used to discriminate against people.<br />

• journalists should exercise extreme care to avoid negative general<br />

comments about young people.<br />

• the Press Complaints Commission, which people can use if they are<br />

unhappy with something in the papers, should be made more<br />

child-friendly.


<strong>First</strong><strong>News</strong> Issue <strong>299</strong> 2 – 8 march 2012<br />

FIRST NEWS HEADLINES<br />

Rare white<br />

rhino shot<br />

for its horn<br />

An endangered white<br />

rhinoceros has been<br />

shot by poachers in<br />

Africa – leaving Prince<br />

William upset by<br />

the killing.<br />

White rhinos are hunted<br />

for their valuable horns<br />

The Prince met Max the<br />

rhino on visits to Kenya.<br />

The poachers shot the<br />

animal and cut off his horn.<br />

In Asia, rhino horn can sell<br />

for £40,000 a kilo, where it<br />

is wrongly thought to have<br />

special powers, such as<br />

curing cancer. Rangers had<br />

already removed most of<br />

his horn to protect him – but<br />

he was killed for the little<br />

part remaining.<br />

Max also featured in a TV<br />

series, Last Chance to See.<br />

A spokesman for Prince<br />

William said: “The Duke is<br />

appalled by the senseless<br />

slaughter. He is very upset by<br />

the poaching.”<br />

New guidelines for adoption have been launched in England, aimed at speeding up<br />

the process of placing children with new parents.<br />

The changes have been recommended by a group of inspectors,<br />

Ofsted, who check children’s services. They say the younger and<br />

faster a child is adopted, the better start they get in life.<br />

The inspectors warn that delays in the adoption process can affect<br />

children really badly.<br />

The new arrangements will mean children should be placed with<br />

a new family within 12 months of being put up for adoption. It also<br />

calls for brothers and sisters to be kept together.<br />

Syria fighting update…<br />

THE son of a British photographer injured in fighting in the Middle East country of<br />

Syria has said he’s worried for his dad and wants him home.<br />

Kids must<br />

stop smoking<br />

Imagine 5,200 classrooms of children all puffing away on cigarettes – that’s how many kids start the deadly<br />

habit every year.<br />

Around 157,000 children aged 11-15<br />

start smoking every year, says the charity<br />

Cancer Research UK.<br />

That number is also the same as nearly<br />

14,000 junior football teams all taking<br />

up smoking.<br />

The charity warns that almost one<br />

million children aged 15 and under have<br />

tried smoking at least once – that’s around<br />

a quarter of all children.<br />

Pupils who try their first cigarette by<br />

the age of 11 are also much more<br />

Make adoption easier<br />

Otto Conroy and his mum Kate, from Devon,<br />

say they are hoping photographer Paul will be<br />

rescued. Otto and his Mum appeared on BBC<br />

<strong>News</strong> days after Paul’s colleague, Marie Colvin,<br />

a journalist for the British Sunday Times newspaper,<br />

was killed while reporting from Syria.<br />

A French journalist also died in the fighting. The<br />

deaths highlight the dangers that journalists face<br />

in covering conflicts. People like Marie and Paul<br />

War correspondent Marie Colvin,<br />

who died in Syria<br />

by Ian Prince<br />

Rebel fighters<br />

likely to be a smoker as an adult.<br />

The charity has released the research to<br />

warn also that smoking causes a range of<br />

diseases throughout the body.<br />

One dad of four, Jim, is warning kids not<br />

to be like him. He started smoking aged 15<br />

and now has lung cancer.<br />

“I know first-hand how horrific lung<br />

cancer is and how it’s almost always<br />

preventable by not smoking in the first<br />

For the latest on these headlines, go to www.firstnews.co.uk/news<br />

travel to war zones because of the importance<br />

of having first-hand and accurate reports from<br />

countries where the media can be controlled by<br />

governments.<br />

In Syria, President Assad is using his army to<br />

crush rebel fighters who want an end to his control<br />

over the country. Thousands of Syrians are thought<br />

to have died in the fighting between opposition<br />

forces and Government troops.<br />

Otto with his photographer dad,<br />

Paul (picture from BBC)<br />

Harm is caused<br />

to the body from<br />

the very first<br />

cigarette<br />

place,” he said.<br />

Jean King, of Cancer Research UK, said:<br />

“Far too many young people start smoking<br />

every year. We must act to bring this<br />

number down.”<br />

The chemicals in tobacco start to<br />

cause damage to the body from the first<br />

cigarette, reducing energy and raising<br />

cholesterol, which can cause blood clots<br />

and also start to cause skin damage.<br />

Smoking also causes 12 types of cancer, as<br />

well as heart and lung disease.<br />

Boys’ reading<br />

EDITOR’S<br />

COMMENT<br />

Boys are now<br />

reading as<br />

well as girls,<br />

according to<br />

a new survey<br />

into reading<br />

for pleasure.<br />

It found that<br />

boys are<br />

no longer<br />

reading easier books than girls.<br />

The most popular author is Roald Dahl.<br />

3<br />

Editor Nicky Cox MBE<br />

AT <strong>First</strong> <strong>News</strong> we always pride<br />

ourselves on giving you the chance<br />

to have your say about the things<br />

that affect you.<br />

And, what affects you more than your<br />

education? It isn’t just about how you spend<br />

your days at school right now because what you<br />

learn will be with you for the rest of your life.<br />

The Government has got Michael Gove in<br />

charge of schools in England (front page).<br />

He is making some big changes right now<br />

and over the coming months and years.<br />

I think it’s really important that you feel<br />

listened to when it comes to decisions<br />

being made about your education. This<br />

is because people are much happier with<br />

plans if they feel like they had a say in them.<br />

I know I feel like that!<br />

So, tell us what you think – and we will<br />

tell Michael Gove. You can fill out the form<br />

on page 4 or go to www.firstnews.co.uk/<br />

surveys where you can also leave comments.<br />

If you go to school in another part of the UK,<br />

tell us what you think about your education, too.<br />

SUBSCRIBE FOR HOME<br />

Get 4 issues for £1*<br />

Call 0844 8267 338<br />

www.firstnews.co.uk/subscribe<br />

Quote: FNSH<br />

*followed by £13.99 every 3 months by Direct Debit<br />

GOOD WEEK FOR...<br />

BAD WEEK FOR...<br />

Sam Nixon<br />

The CBBC<br />

presenter was<br />

kicked off Dancing<br />

On Ice after losing<br />

the skate-off.<br />

Sam said: “This<br />

experience has<br />

been absolutely<br />

awesome.” Chico<br />

managed to make<br />

it through.


4<br />

<strong>First</strong><strong>News</strong> Issue <strong>299</strong> 2 – 8 MARCH 2012<br />

FIRST NEWS HEADLINES<br />

For the latest on these headlines, go to www.firstnews.co.uk/news<br />

Is the school boss<br />

right or wrong?<br />

TELL <strong>First</strong> <strong>News</strong> what you<br />

think about Government<br />

plans for your education.<br />

Name:<br />

Age:<br />

Tough lives of slum<br />

children<br />

1. Do you think it should be<br />

tougher to pass exams?<br />

Yes<br />

No<br />

2. Should teachers be allowed to<br />

search you and your belongings?<br />

Yes<br />

No<br />

3. Should head teachers be able to<br />

hand out after-school detentions<br />

without 24 hours’ warning?<br />

Yes<br />

No<br />

4. Are you happy Michael Gove<br />

is in charge of education in<br />

England?<br />

Yes<br />

No<br />

5. Do you think Mr Gove’s plans will<br />

help to make the country’s children<br />

among the best in the world?<br />

Yes<br />

No<br />

Show this form to your teacher and<br />

get as many classmates to complete<br />

it as possible. You can photocopy<br />

it as many times as you like. Send<br />

completed forms to <strong>News</strong>desk, <strong>First</strong><br />

<strong>News</strong>, 14-20 Shand Street, London,<br />

SE1 2ES. Alternatively you can go<br />

to www.firstnews.co.uk/surveys<br />

to take part and comment. Please<br />

respond by Monday 12 March.<br />

Worst drought<br />

in 30 years<br />

THE worst UK drought in 30<br />

years is already threatening<br />

wild animals.<br />

Now experts are warning that there<br />

might be a ban on people using<br />

hosepipes – even before spring<br />

has begun.<br />

Low river flows mean that fish are<br />

becoming stranded and dying in<br />

Hampshire. And, in the east of England,<br />

soil drier than ever has been recorded.<br />

Now the Government is calling on<br />

people to cut down on wasting water.<br />

Taking shorter showers and turning<br />

off the tap while brushing teeth<br />

can help.<br />

However, we are not facing the sort<br />

of drought that is seen in some poor<br />

countries, like the Congo, above right.<br />

In next week’s <strong>First</strong> <strong>News</strong> we will look<br />

at the difference in severity of drought<br />

and what we can all do to help.<br />

People queue to collect water from a natural spring<br />

at Camp Luka, a slum outside Kinshasa, the capital<br />

of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Children carry<br />

up to ten litres of water and adults up to 30 litres,<br />

climbing slippery, mud-covered paths between the<br />

spring and where they live. Many children collect<br />

water three or more times every day.<br />

UNICEF has just published a report on children growing up in towns and cities, and the<br />

growing difference between the rich and the poor.<br />

UNICEF’s report wants us to make sure we pay<br />

attention to the millions of children who live in these<br />

urban areas, so they won’t be forgotten when it comes<br />

to looking after them and protecting their rights.<br />

When you imagine a child in poverty abroad, your<br />

normal image is, perhaps, someone living in a village<br />

or a remote part of the countryside. However, towns<br />

and cities have millions of children living in terrible<br />

conditions, without essential things such as clean<br />

water or toilets.<br />

Cities can be a great place to live, with schools,<br />

hospitals and playgrounds. However, many children<br />

And almost a quarter of parents say they<br />

lack the maths skills and confidence to<br />

support their children.<br />

The findings, from a survey by online<br />

maths tutoring service iTutorMaths<br />

and <strong>First</strong> <strong>News</strong>, show that the biggest<br />

classroom fears include kids thinking they<br />

should know the answer already (36%),<br />

looking stupid in front of friends (29%),<br />

being too embarrassed (22%), or being<br />

afraid of attracting too much attention<br />

(20%). Even so, children still vote maths<br />

the most important subject for their future<br />

career (31%), beating English (25%) and<br />

science (13%) to the top spot.<br />

Steve Chinn, a former head teacher and<br />

special needs expert, has also spoken out<br />

about maths this week. He says children<br />

are giving up on maths by the age of seven,<br />

a quarter of all people struggle with maths<br />

and nearly seven million adults are worse<br />

at maths than the standard expected of a<br />

nine-year-old.<br />

Managing Director of iTutorMaths,<br />

Andrew Tarling, says: “With growing class<br />

sizes and greater demand on teachers, lack<br />

in urban areas live in places called slums. These are<br />

crowded living areas and children from slums can be<br />

forgotten in a big city. They might live near a school<br />

but be unable to attend, be near a hospital which<br />

they can’t afford, or be unable to play with other<br />

children in a safe environment.<br />

There are great health risks to living in a city as<br />

well. Crowded, dirty spaces mean children are in<br />

more danger of illness and disease. Hunger is also<br />

getting worse in urban areas, as the children aren’t<br />

able to eat the healthy food they need to grow<br />

up properly.<br />

Children give up on maths<br />

UK children are too scared to raise their hands in maths lessons, yet a<br />

third say it is the most important subject for their future career.<br />

of confidence in maths is becoming a very<br />

real and worrying issue.<br />

“At iTutorMaths we are passionate about<br />

making high quality maths tutoring a<br />

reality for everyone. Our online, small<br />

group tutorials help build confidence and<br />

overcome the issues highlighted by this<br />

new research.” www.itutormaths.co.uk<br />

Kate joins Queen<br />

on Jubilee tour<br />

THE Duchess of Cambridge is joining<br />

the Queen as she begins her Diamond<br />

Jubilee tour.<br />

They will travel to Leicester by train with the Queen’s<br />

husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, on Thursday.<br />

Leicester Mayor, Peter Soulsby, said: “I am very proud<br />

that Leicester will be the first stop on the Queen’s<br />

Diamond Jubilee Tour.”<br />

The Queen will travel around the country between<br />

now and 25 July – by car, train, aircraft and ship!


<strong>First</strong><strong>News</strong> Issue <strong>299</strong> 2 – 8 March 2012<br />

THE NEWS IN PICTURES<br />

5<br />

27 February dhaka, Bangladesh: A child works in a plastic bottle recycling<br />

factory besides a river. Bangladesh is one of the poorest nations on the planet, with 40<br />

percent of its 144 million people living on less than one US dollar each day.<br />

27 february london, UK: With the Olympics less than five months away, Madame<br />

Tussauds in London unveiled a brand new wax figure of Tom Daley. One of the most dramatic<br />

figures ever to feature at Madame Tussauds, Daley is captured in mid-dive as he soars from the<br />

diving board towards the water. The figure is suspended at a height of four metres in a specially<br />

designed aquatic set and guests can walk right underneath, as if Daley was frozen in action.<br />

23 February SOUTHBANK CENTRE, london, uk: Anthony Horowitz and Michael<br />

Morpurgo (above) were among a host of literary stars at The Book People’s glittering evening to<br />

celebrate all that is great and good about children’s literature. Each gala guest provided a copy of their<br />

own favourite book from childhood, including HRH The Duchess of Cornwall, with the Just So Stories.<br />

Michael Morpurgo took The Elephant’s Child. Jamie Oliver prepared the fantastic food.<br />

26 February Kathmandu, NEPAL: Chandra Bahadur Dangi, a 72-year-old Nepali,<br />

poses with his certificates after being declared the world’s shortest man by Guinness World Records<br />

officials. Dangi is just 54.6 centimetres (21.5 inches) tall.<br />

26 February RABAt, Morocco: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Morocco’s<br />

Foreign Minister Saad Eddine Othmani and the Mayor of Rabat Fathallah Oualalou took part<br />

in a ground breaking ceremony for the new US Embassy. Clinton was winding up a tour of<br />

North African countries that also took her to Tunisia and Algeria.<br />

For more pictures and videos go to www.firstnews.co.uk/news-in-pictures


6<br />

<strong>First</strong><strong>News</strong> Issue <strong>299</strong> 2 – 8 march 2012<br />

SPECIAL REPORT<br />

46% of you wanted<br />

to read with your parents<br />

more often<br />

40% of<br />

young people<br />

don’t have<br />

anyone reading<br />

to them at all<br />

89% of young<br />

people thought that<br />

being able to read<br />

was very important<br />

96% of 7 to<br />

14-year-olds had read<br />

a book in the last week<br />

More reading, please!<br />

<strong>First</strong> <strong>News</strong> teamed up with ITV’s Daybreak to survey more than a thousand<br />

7 to 14-year-olds about reading. The results were resounding… you love reading and would like your<br />

parents to read with you more often!<br />

Reading together<br />

Unfortunately, it seems that many young<br />

people (40%) don’t have anyone reading<br />

to them at all. That’s not because you don’t<br />

want to read with someone, though… 46%<br />

of you wanted to read with your parents<br />

more often.<br />

Despite all the distractions of modern life,<br />

from computer games to mobile phones,<br />

96% of young people said they had read a<br />

book in the last week and 89% of you said<br />

you thought being able to read was<br />

very important.<br />

Viv Bird, the head of the Booktrust, said:<br />

“Reading books together as a family is<br />

incredibly important, not only to help<br />

children develop the habit of reading for<br />

pleasure – so essential for building good<br />

literacy skills – but also as quality time<br />

together. It’s encouraging that such a high<br />

percentage of the children surveyed place<br />

such a high value on reading. It’s up to us<br />

adults to make sure that this passion thrives<br />

through supporting shared reading.”<br />

Jonathan Douglas, Director of the<br />

National Literacy Trust added; “Parents can<br />

have a great influence on the achievement<br />

of their children by simply reading to them.<br />

We’re delighted that Daybreak is helping to<br />

raise this issue with parents. It’s crucial that<br />

they understand the importance of reading.<br />

In fact, we have just launched www.<br />

wordsforlife.org.uk to help and encourage<br />

parents to read with their children.”<br />

Get Britain<br />

Reading<br />

Show<br />

this to<br />

Your<br />

parents!<br />

On Monday (27<br />

February) Daybreak<br />

launched the Get Britain Reading<br />

campaign, to highlight the importance of<br />

reading and to encourage people to make<br />

time to read for themselves or others. The<br />

campaign would like parents to pledge ten<br />

minutes of their time to read with their<br />

children every day.<br />

Famous<br />

supporters<br />

Get Britain Reading is supported<br />

by famous faces from the world<br />

of politics and showbiz, including<br />

Prime Minister David Cameron,<br />

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg,<br />

Labour leader Ed Miliband, London<br />

Mayor Boris Johnson, as well as Jonathan<br />

Ross, Dermot O’Leary, Phillip Schofield and<br />

Zoe Ball.<br />

TV presenter and mum of two Tess Daly,<br />

who launched the campaign, told Daybreak<br />

of the importance of reading that she has<br />

discovered since she became a mother:<br />

“Since having my own children, the value of<br />

reading has taken on a whole new meaning.<br />

As a family, we make time to read and<br />

explore books every day and my children’s<br />

idea of heaven is spending half an hour<br />

in the children’s department of our local<br />

bookstore. I get a real kick out of seeing them<br />

enjoy books as much as I did at their age.<br />

Daybreak’s Get Britain Reading campaign<br />

is a great way to reiterate the importance<br />

of reading. Whether it’s Roald Dahl or Harry<br />

Potter, reading is an experience you can take<br />

throughout your life.”<br />

How can you help?<br />

Daybreak will also be asking the public<br />

to give a book at their local Morrison’s<br />

and Waterstones branches. These will be<br />

collected and distributed by The Salvation<br />

Army, Booktrust and Dyslexia Action, and<br />

will go on to projects, children’s centres<br />

and various schools supported by these<br />

charities, to give others the opportunity to<br />

enjoy a wide variety of books.<br />

More information<br />

Get Britain Reading, Daybreak, ITV1,<br />

27 Feb – 2 March 2012, 6-8.30am.<br />

www.itv.com/daybreak<br />

Tell us what you think at www.firstnews.co.uk


<strong>First</strong><strong>News</strong> Issue <strong>299</strong> 2 – 8 march 2012<br />

OUR STORIES<br />

For more home news, pictures and videos go to www.firstnews.co.uk/news<br />

7<br />

England<br />

Nature sites<br />

Twelve areas across England have<br />

been selected to become the<br />

first Nature Improvement Areas<br />

(NIAs) in the country. These new<br />

areas will share £7.5m worth of<br />

Government funding, which will<br />

be used to protect and improve<br />

wildlife ecosystems. They include<br />

peat beds in Cheshire, salt marshes<br />

along the River Thames and<br />

heathland in the Midlands.<br />

Home <strong>News</strong><br />

Scotland<br />

St Andrews<br />

Research prize<br />

A research unit in Scotland has<br />

been awarded for its contribution<br />

to the protection of the world’s<br />

oceans. The Sea Mammal Research<br />

Unit (SMRU) at the University of St<br />

Andrews was awarded the prize in<br />

the Queen’s Anniversary Prizes for<br />

Higher and Further Education. It<br />

is the only Scottish school to win<br />

in the Diamond Jubilee honours,<br />

which were attended by The<br />

Queen herself.<br />

Book winners<br />

More than 23,000 children from<br />

Scotland have voted for their<br />

favourite books in the Scottish<br />

Children’s Book Awards. The<br />

winners were Ross Collins for Dear<br />

Vampa, Ross MacKenzie for Zac<br />

and the Dream Pirates and Nicola<br />

Morgan for Wasted. A quarter of<br />

all Scottish schools took part in<br />

the voting.<br />

Cardiff<br />

Concert announced<br />

It has been announced that a<br />

free concert for 16,000 people<br />

will be held at Cooper’s Field in<br />

Bute Park as part of a four-day<br />

Olympic celebration. The event<br />

is being hosted by Coca Cola to<br />

celebrate Cardiff being one of<br />

the host cities for the Olympic<br />

Torch. The concert will be held<br />

on 25 May.<br />

Scotland<br />

Fairtrade nation<br />

Scotland could become one<br />

of the world’s first Fairtrade<br />

nations soon, says External Affairs<br />

Secretary Fiona Hislop. So far, 62<br />

towns, 171 schools and 14 local<br />

councils have been awarded<br />

Fairtrade status. This means<br />

they support and use Fairtrade<br />

products, which offer a better<br />

deal to workers in developing<br />

countries. Only 14 more councils<br />

are needed to turn Scotland into a<br />

Fairtrade nation.<br />

England<br />

Heritage site funding<br />

Local historical sites around<br />

England are set to get funding<br />

from the Department for<br />

Education. The sites will get new<br />

staff with history experience<br />

to help schoolchildren learn<br />

about their local area and what<br />

significance it has in English<br />

history. There are more than 400<br />

English Heritage sites around<br />

England that are open to the<br />

public at the moment.<br />

London<br />

Save NHS rally<br />

This week, a rally is being held in<br />

central London to campaign to<br />

save the National Health Service.<br />

Campaigners are against the<br />

Government’s Health and<br />

Social Care Bill, which will mean<br />

changes to the NHS.<br />

York<br />

Roof knitters<br />

A church in York is asking local<br />

people to take part in a sponsored<br />

knit to raise money and create a<br />

woollen imaginary roof for their<br />

church. The charity drive comes<br />

after thieves stole parts of the roof<br />

for scrap metal. So far, £50,000<br />

worth of damage has been done.<br />

Knitters are being asked to knit<br />

10cm squares to replicate the<br />

roof out of wool. Reverend Jane<br />

Nattrass says: “In our imaginations<br />

we’ll be wrapping up our church<br />

to keep it warm.”<br />

Cornwall<br />

Deer boom<br />

The population of deer in<br />

Cornwall has risen by ten times<br />

the amount in the last ten years.<br />

Herds of 10-20 deer are now<br />

regularly spotted together, where<br />

in the past few years it was only<br />

usual to see one or two at a time.<br />

Experts think this could be due to<br />

the outbreak of foot and mouth<br />

disease in 2001, which killed off<br />

lots of local livestock.<br />

THE WEEK IN NUMBERS<br />

600,000 pounds is how<br />

much money singer Charlotte Church<br />

has been awarded as compensation after<br />

it was revealed that her voicemails and<br />

phones were hacked when she was 16<br />

by the <strong>News</strong> of the World newspaper.<br />

6.5 million pounds is being spent<br />

on creating a new primary school in<br />

Durham. It will open in 2013.<br />

31,500 pounds has<br />

been donated to turn a disused<br />

piece of land into a flowering<br />

wildlife sanctuary in Stockton.<br />

74 farms in England have<br />

been hit with a virus called<br />

Schmallenberg, which affects<br />

the birth of young in sheep<br />

and cattle.<br />

11,600 pounds worth<br />

of parking fines are being refunded<br />

to residents in Oxfordshire after new<br />

parking charges were not properly<br />

signposted.<br />

4,000 tonnes of wooden<br />

pellets were on fire this week in a<br />

power station blaze at Tilbury Power<br />

Station in Essex.


8<br />

<strong>First</strong><strong>News</strong> Issue <strong>299</strong> 2 – 8 march 2012<br />

SCIENCE<br />

For more science news, pictures and videos go to www.firstnews.co.uk/discover<br />

Getty<br />

Hubble finds<br />

Do rich<br />

people have<br />

fewer morals?<br />

a NUMBER of studies have<br />

shown that the richer you<br />

are, the more likely you are<br />

to cheat or ignore the needs<br />

of others.<br />

The report, published in<br />

Proceedings of the National<br />

Academy of Sciences, is made up<br />

of seven different studies, which<br />

look at different areas of behaviour,<br />

greed and morals.<br />

The first two studies were carried<br />

out on the roads of San Francisco.<br />

Hidden observers made a note<br />

of the age, make and appearance<br />

of cars that approached a busy<br />

junction and a pedestrian crossing.<br />

They found that drivers in the new,<br />

expensive cars were much more<br />

likely to either cut off other cars at<br />

the junction or refuse to stop and let<br />

a pedestrian cross the road.<br />

The scientists also got volunteers<br />

in lab tests to fill in questionnaires<br />

that revealed their attitudes to<br />

things like cheating and greed. In<br />

some of the tests, they found that a<br />

person’s attitude to greed was the<br />

best way to predict whether they<br />

would cheat to get more winnings<br />

from a game. The researchers claim<br />

that because richer people have<br />

more money and independence,<br />

they put their own wellbeing ahead<br />

of other people’s and start to think<br />

that greed is a good thing.<br />

However, one study asked poorer<br />

people to think of the benefits of<br />

greed. These people were then<br />

just as likely to cheat in the tests.<br />

The scientists say this means that<br />

all people have the potential to be<br />

greedy and unethical, they just have<br />

different instinctive feelings about it.<br />

know?<br />

Did you<br />

The blue-tongued skink<br />

(see right) will use its bright<br />

tongue as a warning to rivals<br />

or predators. The giant bluetongued<br />

skink found on New<br />

Guinea hisses so loudly when<br />

it is threatened that locals call<br />

it ‘ular kaki ampat’ or ‘snake<br />

with four legs’.<br />

The blue-tongued skink<br />

has become immune to the<br />

poison found in cane toads<br />

Saved by poison<br />

Getty<br />

new type of<br />

planet<br />

the Hubble Space Telescope has helped to confirm the existence of a new and mysterious type of planet.<br />

The planet, known as GJ 1214b, is an odd<br />

waterworld with an atmosphere filled with<br />

steam and a scorching surface temperature of<br />

230°C. It lies around 40 light years from Earth,<br />

in the constellation of Ophiuchus (which is<br />

Greek for ‘serpent bearer’, as the constellation<br />

is said to look like a man holding a snake).<br />

Telescopes on Earth first spotted GJ 1214b<br />

A population of lizards in Australia has been saved from death by a<br />

poisonous plant that has become part of the creatures’ diet.<br />

The blue-tongued skink is one of many<br />

Australian animals that has suffered a<br />

drop in numbers due to the cane toad.<br />

These toads were introduced to the<br />

country in the 1930s to control beetle<br />

numbers, but swiftly became a problem of<br />

their own. Toads are a common meal for<br />

many animals, but because cane toads are<br />

so toxic, they have killed huge numbers of<br />

Australia’s native creatures.<br />

However, scientists writing in The<br />

American Naturalist have reported how<br />

in 2009, but Hubble had to be used to confirm<br />

what scientists suspected about the planet’s<br />

murky atmosphere.<br />

The new planet has a diameter around 2.7<br />

times that of Earth and weighs almost seven<br />

times as much. It is so hot there because the<br />

planet orbits its host star at a distance of just<br />

two million kilometres, which is 75 times<br />

blue-tongued skinks in Queensland<br />

and New South Wales have developed<br />

immunity to the cane toads’ poison. This<br />

is because the skinks have been eating<br />

a plant called mother-of-millions, which<br />

produces a poison that’s very similar to the<br />

one found in cane toads. The plant was<br />

introduced from Madagascar in the 1940s,<br />

before spreading rapidly into the wild.<br />

Scientists say it is a very unusual<br />

example of one invasive species helping<br />

to protect against the threat from another.<br />

Golden dangers<br />

scientists and doctors working in Nigeria<br />

have helped to work out why hundreds of<br />

children in Zamfara were falling ill and dying.<br />

Lots of the children in the region became drowsy and<br />

had seizures, but there were no obvious diseases around.<br />

Scientists quickly realised that some kind of poisoning<br />

was most likely. They took blood samples from people in<br />

the area and found that they contained incredibly high<br />

levels of lead.<br />

Lead is very harmful, especially to young people. That’s<br />

because it blocks the actions of vital minerals and can<br />

have an effect on every part of the body. Even if a person<br />

recovers from lead poisoning, they are still likely to suffer<br />

brain damage or other life-changing conditions.<br />

The lead was found to be coming from small goldmining<br />

operations. Families could earn up to ten times<br />

their usual wage by helping to get gold out of rocks<br />

dug up by miners, so it has become a popular way to<br />

make money. However, the rocks were ground up using<br />

pestles and mortars,<br />

then ‘cooked’ in pots<br />

and pans to release<br />

the gold. All of the<br />

utensils and pots were<br />

also still used later on<br />

to cook food in.<br />

The people in<br />

Zamfara are now<br />

being treated, as<br />

well as given advice<br />

about how to mine<br />

for gold safely.<br />

Getty NASA, ESA, and D. Aguilar (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)<br />

An artist’s impression of the new<br />

planet, GJ 1214b, which is like<br />

nothing in our solar system or any<br />

other known planetary system<br />

closer than Earth is to the sun.<br />

“GJ 1214b is like no planet we know of,” says<br />

astronomer Zachory Berta. “A huge fraction<br />

of its mass is made up of water. The high<br />

temperatures and high pressures would form<br />

exotic materials like ‘hot ice’ or ‘superfluid<br />

water’, substances that are completely alien to<br />

our everyday experience.”<br />

Workers help to clear lead<br />

from the ground in Zamfara


<strong>First</strong><strong>News</strong> Issue <strong>299</strong> 2 – 8 march 2012<br />

GLOBAL STORIES<br />

For more world news, pictures and videos go to www.firstnews.co.uk/news<br />

9<br />

SNIPPETS<br />

Around 50 schoolkids in<br />

Germany escaped unharmed<br />

after their bus caught fire near<br />

Soltau. Some of the students<br />

had to climb out of the windows<br />

to escape the blaze.<br />

USA<br />

Training crash<br />

Seven US Marines have died in<br />

training, days before they were<br />

due to head to Afghanistan.<br />

The troops were aboard two<br />

helicopters that crashed in<br />

mid-air during a routine training<br />

exercise. An investigation is being<br />

carried out, but it is thought that<br />

dust kicked up during take-off<br />

and landings may have made it<br />

difficult to see in the area.<br />

Honduras<br />

Prison hero<br />

A prisoner who helped to save<br />

250 fellow inmates from a<br />

fire has been hailed as a hero.<br />

Marco Antonio Bonilla took keys<br />

abandoned by a fleeing guard<br />

and opened cell doors as the<br />

fire raged. 360 prisoners died<br />

in the blaze. The president has<br />

pardoned Bonilla, a convicted<br />

murderer, but the law says that<br />

murder cannot be pardoned.<br />

Bonilla says that he hopes the<br />

president will stick to his word,<br />

otherwise he faces finishing the<br />

final 14 years of his sentence.<br />

Getty<br />

Getty<br />

World <strong>News</strong><br />

Sweden<br />

France<br />

No more mademoiselle<br />

Women’s groups have scored a<br />

victory by removing the use of the<br />

word ‘mademoiselle’ from official<br />

forms. For years, women have<br />

been told to use either ‘madame’ if<br />

they are married or ‘mademoiselle’<br />

if not, whereas married and single<br />

men just use ‘monsieur’. Women<br />

said that it was sexist. It is like Mrs<br />

or Miss in the UK where<br />

men just say Mr.<br />

Pizza present<br />

A woman who nearly cracked her<br />

tooth in a restaurant was surprised<br />

to find the culprit – a pearl that<br />

had been tucked inside one of the<br />

oysters on her pizza. Pamela Levi<br />

must be having a lucky week, as<br />

she also won £50 on the lottery<br />

just days earlier.<br />

Eat more rabbit<br />

A scientist has said that Swedes<br />

should breed more rabbits for<br />

food. Carl-Gustaf Thulin says that<br />

increasing meat consumption has<br />

put land and resources under strain.<br />

He says that rabbits turn their feed<br />

into muscle more efficiently than<br />

cows and don’t need as much land.<br />

Train tragedy<br />

Argentina has suffered its worst<br />

train crash since 1970. A commuter<br />

train arriving into Buenos Aires<br />

failed to stop and crashed into<br />

buffers, killing 50 passengers and<br />

injuring hundreds more. The driver<br />

is in intensive care, so it is still<br />

unclear why he didn’t stop the train.<br />

Germany<br />

Bad ad?<br />

A man who hired a £33,000 BMW<br />

and deliberately drove it through<br />

a deep pond has tried to blame a<br />

TV advert. The man said that the<br />

car spluttered and died in 50cm<br />

of water, so the hire company<br />

sued him. The man refused to pay,<br />

saying that the BMW ad on TV<br />

showed the same model driving<br />

through water with no problems. A<br />

judge has said that the man was at<br />

fault and will have to pay.<br />

USA Argentina Afghanistan<br />

Public anger<br />

More than 20 people have died<br />

during protests against US forces,<br />

after American troops accidentally<br />

included copies of the Koran (the<br />

Muslim holy book) in waste material<br />

that was being burnt. In one violent<br />

incident, two US troops were shot<br />

and killed by an Afghan soldier.<br />

Indian Ocean<br />

Ship adrift<br />

An Italian cruise ship was left<br />

drifting in the Indian Ocean with<br />

more than 1,000 people on board,<br />

following a power failure. It was<br />

being towed to a small island<br />

in the Seychelles as <strong>First</strong> <strong>News</strong><br />

went to press. A fire in the ship’s<br />

generator caused it to lose power.<br />

The ship is from the same fleet<br />

as the Costa Concordia, which<br />

capsized off the Italian coast in<br />

January, killing 32 people.<br />

China<br />

Lakes disappearing<br />

Human activity has caused the<br />

number of lakes in Hubei province<br />

to drop by nearly 60% in just 50<br />

years. Draining lakes to make way<br />

for housing or factories has been<br />

a major problem. The governor of<br />

Hubei, Wang Guosheng, says that<br />

local and national government<br />

need to work together to combat<br />

the problem.<br />

SNIPPETS<br />

Kids at Warner Elementary<br />

School in Houston, US, got a<br />

shock this week, when a small<br />

passenger plane crash-landed<br />

in the playground. No-one was<br />

hurt in the crash.<br />

Getty<br />

Getty<br />

A KID’S WORLD<br />

Name: Tom Age: 13 Lives: UK<br />

‘<br />

“When I was growing up, home never felt safe. Ever since I can remember, my dad would threaten my mum, sister and me.<br />

He would hit, slap and kick us and slam doors in our faces.”<br />

“I wasn’t sure if it was normal or not. It was quite scary, and I was frightened.<br />

One day I sat in the car crying because I thought it was my fault.<br />

“Mum made the brave decision to leave our dad and I realised that what he<br />

had been doing wasn’t right. I got angry at him but because he wasn’t there I<br />

would shout at my mum and sister. I felt bad as I knew it wasn’t their fault.<br />

“Then I found CLEAR, a project that uses Sport Relief cash, and things<br />

changed. With CLEAR I had creative activities and someone I could talk to. I<br />

found it easier, because it gave me someone to talk to. I’ve learned how to deal<br />

with my emotions. My mum is happy now. It’s been a life-saver.”<br />

Young people who have lived with domestic violence can feel very isolated<br />

To find out more about Sport Relief visit www.sportrelief.com/mile<br />

and alone. CLEAR uses Sport Relief money to support them with intensive<br />

counselling and creative ways they can discuss their experiences, so they can<br />

have a safer, more positive future.<br />

As many as 700,000 children are acting as carers in the UK. Family<br />

Action uses Sport Relief cash to give the children a break from their extra<br />

responsibilities by hosting a range of fun events and activities for them to do.<br />

Get involved by entering the Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Mile, taking place on<br />

Sunday 25 March.<br />

Sign up at www.sportrelief.com/mile.


10 <strong>First</strong><strong>News</strong> Issue <strong>299</strong> 2 – 8 march 2012<br />

ANIMAL NEWS<br />

For more animal news, pictures and videos go to www.firstnews.co.uk/news<br />

Stand<br />

up for<br />

animals<br />

ANIMAL charity the RSPCA has made five new pledges that they<br />

hope will stop cruelty to animals in the UK forever.<br />

This week they announced they are committing to stand up for animals and<br />

their welfare, including trying to end the euthanasia of any animal that could be<br />

rehomed. This means that they want all healthy animals to be rehomed instead of<br />

being put to sleep.<br />

RSPCA chief executive Gavin Grant said: “For far too long, animals in this country<br />

have suffered from people’s cruelty, ignorance or neglect and, unfortunately,<br />

some of those problems are getting even worse.<br />

“Enough is enough and that’s why we’re committing to doing our level best<br />

over the next five years to tackle some of these issues.”<br />

There are more than 900 million farm animals raised in the UK every year and<br />

currently more than 22 million pets!<br />

What do you do to help animals? Tell us online at www.firstnews.co.uk.<br />

Feeding help<br />

HUNDREDS of kilos of fish are being bought by<br />

Russian officials to try to save a colony of rare<br />

Dalmatian pelicans.<br />

Hundreds of the vulnerable birds are facing starvation after<br />

the Caspian Sea has frozen almost completely over. The inland<br />

sea lies between Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan and<br />

Turkmenistan and hasn’t frozen over for many years.<br />

So far, about 20 birds have died from hunger, although locals<br />

are doing all they can to help feed them. Even the local market<br />

is helping out by offering sprats, although lots of people have<br />

been stopped from feeding the birds inappropriate food like<br />

bread, which is bad for them.<br />

Dalmatian pelicans are the largest pelicans in the world, and<br />

around 1,400 of them live in southern Russia.<br />

Bear rescue<br />

A DATE has been set to rescue the mistreated<br />

circus bears in Belgium.<br />

Blue welcome<br />

THE Blue Reef Aquarium in Newquay, Cornwall,<br />

has welcomed their namesakes, nine blue reef<br />

fish, to the aquarium.<br />

The fish are actually called blue reef chromis and are part<br />

of a breeding programme. They usually live in large shoals<br />

close to coral reefs, as seen in the picture above.<br />

Very little is known about the breeding habits of the<br />

bright blue fish, which is why staff at Blue Reef Aquarium<br />

are so excited to have some on display. They hope to study<br />

them and find out more about their behaviour.<br />

The trio will move to their new home at Scotland’s Five<br />

Sisters Zoo at the end of March. They will leave Belgium on<br />

28 March for the two-day journey to West Lothian.<br />

Suzy, Peggy and Carmen (pictured) have been the<br />

subject of a fundraising appeal for five months, since<br />

Five Sisters Zoo heard of their plight. The Zoo pledged to<br />

rehome the bears and have built a new enclosure at the<br />

zoo just for them.<br />

The former circus bears touched hearts around the<br />

world when it was revealed they have spent the last ten<br />

years living in cramped conditions as part of a travelling<br />

circus show. A massive £56,514 pounds has been raised<br />

so far to help move and rehome the bears, which will cost<br />

£80,000 in total.


<strong>First</strong><strong>News</strong> Issue <strong>299</strong> 2 – 8 march 2012<br />

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12<br />

<strong>First</strong><strong>News</strong> Issue <strong>299</strong> 2 – 8 march 2012<br />

ENTERTAINMENT NEWS<br />

with Serena Lacey<br />

SHHH!<br />

GARY BARLOW<br />

Gary Barlow and Sir<br />

Andrew Lloyd Webber are<br />

teaming up to write a song<br />

for the Diamond Jubilee.<br />

Individually they have written<br />

some of the best-selling<br />

songs of all time, so we can<br />

only imagine how amazing<br />

their joint effort will be. Gary<br />

says he plans to create a song<br />

that shows what the Queen<br />

means to everyday people.<br />

He said: “This is probably the<br />

biggest challenge I’ve ever<br />

taken on musically!”<br />

BLUE PETER<br />

The new Blue Peter<br />

Garden has been opened<br />

officially by Princess Anne.<br />

The new garden is at the<br />

show’s new home in Salford.<br />

Princess Anne planted a tree<br />

and unveiled a plaque to<br />

celebrate.<br />

SELENA GOMEZ<br />

Selena Gomez has<br />

laughed off rumours that she<br />

is engaged to Justin Bieber.<br />

The actress was recently<br />

given a ring by her 17-yearold<br />

pop star boyfriend, but<br />

the singer and actress insist<br />

it is just a friendship ring. This<br />

month Selena will appear in<br />

the last episode of Wizards<br />

of Waverly Place on The<br />

Disney Channel.<br />

Amazing 1D<br />

FRESH from their win at the BRIT Awards<br />

last month, One Direction have even more<br />

reason to celebrate.<br />

The boy band have just released What Makes You<br />

Beautiful in America and it has become the highest<br />

charting debut release in the US for a UK act in over<br />

14 years. The single, which won Best Single at the<br />

BRIT Awards, charted at number 28 in the US Hot 100,<br />

which is similar to the UK’s top 40.<br />

The band have also released tickets for the UK<br />

arena tour in 2012. At one point, 1,000 tickets were<br />

selling a minute!<br />

Check out The Voice<br />

HERE’S a first look at the set for the new<br />

BBC talent contest, The Voice!<br />

Jessie J, Tom Jones, Danny O’Donoghue from The<br />

Script and Will.i.am make up the celebrity coaches.<br />

They will pick contestants purely on their vocal talent<br />

after hearing, but not seeing, them sing.<br />

Danny says: “I’m so excited about it, I’m like a<br />

giddy kid.”<br />

The show will start on BBC1 at the end of March<br />

and will be presented by Reggie Yates.<br />

Best of fri<br />

Shake It Up! stars Zendaya and Bella Thorne team up in the fab and funny new D<br />

We catch up with the duo to talk funky fashion, fat suits and dancing.<br />

How would you describe your characters<br />

in Frenemies?<br />

Zendaya: My character is a girl called Halle –<br />

and she’s the epitome of geek chic. She wears<br />

cool geek glasses and she has some really<br />

awesome accessories. She mixes it up a little, so<br />

sometimes she wears funky high-tops and then<br />

she’ll wear Oxford shoes. She’s geek with a little<br />

chic. It’s great.<br />

Bella: My character is a girl called Avalon and<br />

she’s very high fashion. She looks like she’s just<br />

stepped out of Teen Vogue!<br />

How does your personal style differ from<br />

your characters?<br />

Zendaya: I think I have a lot in common with<br />

Halle. She wears lots of outfits that I’d love to<br />

have in my wardrobe – but then there are a few<br />

A scene from Shake It<br />

Up! season 2<br />

things that I don’t like at all. I think I’m more of<br />

a grungy rocker than Halle, but I love her geek<br />

chic style, too.<br />

Bella: I think my own personal style is a<br />

mixture between Avalon’s and CeCe’s, who is<br />

my character in Shake It Up. CeCe is more of a<br />

hipster who wears street fashion, but Avalon is<br />

way chic. I like to mix the two styles. Some days<br />

I’ll wear something rocker chic and other days<br />

I’m more stylish. It’s fun to mix it up!<br />

The film features lots of cool outfits. What<br />

has been your biggest ever fashion mistake?<br />

Zendaya: When I was little, my parents let me<br />

pick my own clothes. They wanted me to be<br />

independent – but when I look back at old<br />

pictures, they’re not good at all. There’s a photo<br />

of me wearing about 60 different colours at the<br />

An on-set adventure!<br />

<strong>First</strong> <strong>News</strong> was invited down to the world-famous Aardman studios for an on-set<br />

visit and to meet the geniuses behind the studios’ latest adventure.<br />

TOP TELLY!<br />

Big time fun<br />

This month, check out brand new<br />

episodes of the brilliant Big Time Rush.<br />

This week, James almost ends up<br />

marrying a foreign princess. Big Time<br />

Rush, Nickelodeon, Saturday @ 5.30pm.<br />

The final dance<br />

The finalists have been picked and<br />

now it is up to the public to choose<br />

their winner! Got to Dance: Final, Sky1,<br />

Sunday @ 6.00pm.<br />

Charity dance-off<br />

Olly Murs and Dani Harmer strap on their dancing<br />

shoes to take part in this week’s Sport Relief<br />

dance-off! Let’s Dance for Sport Relief, BBC1,<br />

Saturday @ 7.00pm.<br />

Aardman Animations is one of the most wellknown<br />

and respected studios in the world of<br />

film. They are the animation geniuses behind<br />

successful films like Wallace and Gromit’s The<br />

Curse of the Were-Rabbit and Flushed Away, so<br />

imagine how excited we were when <strong>First</strong> <strong>News</strong><br />

was invited to visit the set of Aardman’s latest<br />

Design sculpt of the Pirate Captain on the set of<br />

Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!<br />

film, Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!, to<br />

find out exactly what goes into the making of<br />

such a film.<br />

The film tells the tale of Pirate Captain (voiced<br />

by Hugh Grant) and his adventurous quest to<br />

win the coveted Pirate of the Year Award… but<br />

getting it is not going to be plain sailing. With<br />

rival pirates and the entire forces of the piratehating<br />

Queen Victoria up against him, Pirate<br />

Captain and his crew face quite a challenge.<br />

The film has taken a jaw-dropping five years<br />

to finish. This is mainly due to the fact that the<br />

film is shot in stop-motion style, which means<br />

instead of just using a computer to create the<br />

animation you see on screen, Aardman use real<br />

models and real sets.<br />

Stop-motion filmmaking involves moving an<br />

object, like a model character, a tiny amount<br />

and taking a photograph of that movement, so<br />

that when all the shots are put together, it looks<br />

like the object is actually moving! A bit like the


ends<br />

isney Channel movie, Frenemies.<br />

same time. It’s terrible!<br />

Bella: Once, I had to wear a fat suit on Shake<br />

It Up and that was really funny. CeCe was<br />

supposed to be elderly in the fat suit episode. It<br />

was hilarious!<br />

TV, FILM, MUSIC AND THEATRE!<br />

GAME ZONE<br />

With Julien Game tester<br />

Dicing<br />

with<br />

death<br />

13<br />

What is the best thing about being on<br />

Shake It Up?<br />

Bella: I enjoy getting to dance with my best<br />

friend – Zendaya! It’s a really big set and we’re<br />

all a really tight family. We’re all best friends<br />

which is really nice! I love being able to live my<br />

dreams, because I’ve always wanted to be a<br />

dancer and I’ve always wanted to act, and now<br />

here I am.<br />

Zendaya: I really like the fact that I can step into<br />

someone else’s shoes and just forget who I am.<br />

It’s nice to be someone else for a while.<br />

The show has been a huge success. Were<br />

you surprised by that?<br />

Bella: I have always had faith in the show and<br />

I was always hoping that it would do well! I<br />

think Shake It Up has real heart and meaning.<br />

When you have a show that everybody puts<br />

everything they have into it, you are bound to<br />

produce a great show.<br />

Zendaya: Yes, completely. We all wished for it to<br />

be a success, and it’s what I always wanted, so<br />

it’s a dream come true, really. It is a show about<br />

real people living their dreams. I think kids can<br />

relate to it. I think they can really see themselves<br />

as one of the characters, which is important. It’s<br />

great that they can learn from our experiences<br />

and just have a good time too.<br />

Do you think anyone can dance, or do you<br />

have to be born with it?<br />

Bella: I don’t think people have to be born with<br />

Zendaya and Bella<br />

in Frenemies<br />

anything – they can always learn! I wasn’t born<br />

with the ability to dance. I was never a dancer<br />

before Shake It Up. I have always wanted to<br />

be a dancer, though, and now I am. I think<br />

having natural love for something counts and<br />

I love to dance.<br />

Zendaya: I think anyone can dance. Dancing<br />

is a universal language, anyone can do it. It<br />

doesn’t matter if you’re just snapping your<br />

fingers or rocking backwards and forwards,<br />

whatever your version of dancing is, you should<br />

just go for it.<br />

We hear Justin Bieber is a big fan of the<br />

show. What would it be like to film with him?<br />

Zendaya: That would be pretty incredible.<br />

He’s huge right now! It would definitely be an<br />

amazing experience – it would be great if it<br />

happened.<br />

Bella: That would be amazing! It would be such<br />

an honour to work with somebody like Justin!<br />

Frenemies premieres on The Disney Channel<br />

on 2 March at 6pm and Shake It Up airs<br />

Monday-Thursday at 4.35pm.<br />

SSX (Xbox 360)<br />

it’s been a while since the last SSX game, which seems to<br />

mean that EA have put a lot of effort into this one.<br />

Julien says: “The newest game in the SSX<br />

series allows players to once again defy<br />

the laws of gravity, pulling insane overthe-top<br />

tricks, while you rocket down the<br />

side of mountains all over the world on a<br />

snowboard. The story of SSX (not that it<br />

needs one, with this level<br />

of awesome), is based<br />

around Team SSX trying to conquer the<br />

nine deadly descents, the most dangerous<br />

snowboarding routes in the world. It’s<br />

a lot of fun travelling all over the world,<br />

unlocking new characters and<br />

eventually completing a deadly<br />

descent, even if a few of the<br />

routes can be frustrating to get<br />

the hang of. Whether it’s escaping<br />

an avalanche or doing a 1080<br />

nose-grab over the great wall of<br />

china, SSX<br />

never fails to<br />

excite and<br />

impress.”<br />

RATED!<br />

9/10<br />

More black and white<br />

moving story in a flick book. For example, when<br />

you see Pirate Captain speaking on screen,<br />

an animator had to attach different mouth<br />

shapes on to the models for every syllable that<br />

he spoke, then take a photograph every time<br />

to make it look like the model was speaking.<br />

In fact, Pirate Captain had more than 1,300<br />

different mouths during the course of filming.<br />

As a result, the film required a lot of sets to<br />

be built and an even larger number of model<br />

character puppets and props to be made, many<br />

of which we got to see during the set visit. A<br />

total of a whopping 250 puppets and 220,000<br />

props were used in the film.<br />

While at the studios, <strong>First</strong> <strong>News</strong> was treated<br />

to a sneak peek of the film, and let’s just say,<br />

A-arrrrrrr-dman have done it again!<br />

The Blood Island set<br />

FASCINATING FILM FACTS!<br />

320 people worked on this film, including<br />

33 animators.<br />

The pirate ship was completely hand crafted<br />

and made up of 44,569 parts. It took 5,000<br />

hours to complete (that’s over 200 days)!<br />

Queen Victoria’s treasure room contained<br />

more than 400,000 gold coins.<br />

More than 6,818 puppet mouths were<br />

created for this film.<br />

Catch Pirates! In an Adventure with<br />

Scientists! in cinemas from 28 March.<br />

To see more pictures from the set visit and<br />

to watch the trailer online, head to<br />

www.firstnews.co.uk.<br />

pokémon Trainers who loved the Black and White games have a treat<br />

in store, as Pokémon Black Version 2 and White Version 2 will both be<br />

released in autumn this year.<br />

Unfortunately, Nintendo haven’t<br />

released any more details yet, but we do<br />

have these cool new images of the Black<br />

and White Kyurem from the game. Enjoy!<br />

See the latest SSX trailer at<br />

www.firstnews.co.uk/bored!


14 <strong>First</strong><strong>News</strong> Issue <strong>299</strong> 2 – 8 march 2012<br />

THE BIG INTERVIEW<br />

For more interviews and clips go to www.firstnews.co.uk/discover<br />

Dance queen butterflies<br />

WE talk to Pussycat Doll and Got to<br />

Dance judge Kimberly Wyatt about<br />

the MOVE IT dance show and getting<br />

before performing.<br />

You’re appearing at the MOVE IT dance<br />

event – tell us a bit about it.<br />

I’m excited to be a part of MOVE IT this<br />

year. I think it is a great way for anyone<br />

and everyone to be immersed in dance<br />

and the idea of what it is all about. I will be<br />

performing, it should be a lot of fun – a lot<br />

of high-energy dancing and a lot of different<br />

styles. I’ll also be doing a signing and meeting<br />

anyone who wants to come up. Dance is such<br />

a great way for kids to keep fit and not really<br />

feel like they are working out. It’s a great<br />

introduction to a healthy lifestyle, so I jumped<br />

at the chance to get involved. Plus, any time I<br />

can get on stage, I’m there!<br />

What makes you want to get involved<br />

with an event like MOVE IT?<br />

I’ve been dancing since I was seven, so<br />

anything that gives me a chance to be a<br />

part of a world that is so much like my own,<br />

I jump at the chance. It is a wonderful event<br />

for anyone who wants to learn more about<br />

dance. We’ve got shops, shows, workshops,<br />

Q&As and all sorts of things.<br />

Are you surprised at how popular and<br />

mainstream dance has become?<br />

Kimberly with her fellow Got To Dance judges, Adam Garcia and<br />

Ashley Banjo. The Got to Dance final is on Sky1, 4 March at 6pm<br />

Absolutely, yes! I think it’s really exciting.<br />

I don’t think there can ever be enough<br />

opportunities for people to shine, so the<br />

fact that it has become so mainstream,<br />

meaning more people get to see dance and<br />

to appreciate it more, to be a part of that is<br />

huge for me.<br />

What will you be performing?<br />

Adam and myself performed on Got to Dance<br />

and we did a tiny bit of what I will be doing<br />

at MOVE IT, then the week before the show<br />

I will jump into rehearsals. I think being a<br />

professional dancer you learn to put shows<br />

together in very little time. I think all my<br />

experiences took care of me for a situation<br />

like this.<br />

You’ve been a dancer for a long time, but<br />

do you still get nervous?<br />

Yes, I do get nervous, but I embrace the<br />

nerves. I get butterflies and that is the<br />

moment I live for. If they’re not there, I don’t<br />

feel that the show is going to be amazing.<br />

It’s the excitement and the nerves that I like<br />

to feed into, it’s the energy that gets you<br />

pumped up and ready to go on stage and<br />

give a good show.<br />

Do you have any tips for kids with<br />

stage fright?<br />

Definitely. I think it is all about finding<br />

your own personal way to get through it.<br />

I think rituals before you go on stage are a<br />

wonderful thing. Whether it is just taking<br />

deep breaths, eating a banana or saying a<br />

prayer. I think all of those are great ways to<br />

fight nerves. It’s also remembering to have<br />

fun and not get wrapped up in the nerves<br />

too much. I always love before I go on stage<br />

to do a “one, two, three, let’s do this,” with<br />

the people I am dancing with. Being there<br />

for one another is a good way to battle<br />

nerves as well. Just remember to have fun.<br />

Do you remember the first dance show<br />

that you did?<br />

I absolutely do! It was on stage for a recital<br />

and it was to Madonna’s Spotlight. I was<br />

wearing a lime green and black half-top and<br />

leggings with a bright green visor!<br />

Is there a style of dance you still want<br />

to learn?<br />

I have honestly trained in almost every style<br />

of dance, so I don’t know about learning, but<br />

I would love to brush up on my tapping. I<br />

used to tap quite a lot growing up and since<br />

then all of my work has been every other<br />

style but tap!<br />

This series of Got to Dance is coming to<br />

an end – how has it been?<br />

This year has been the best year we’ve<br />

had yet. The talent has been immense and<br />

inspiring. To see every group and dancer go<br />

on a journey to that final moment and that<br />

final stage, it’s heart-wrenching. It is definitely<br />

an emotional roller coaster. I feel honoured to<br />

see all these incredibly talented people get<br />

on stage and share a piece of them, a piece of<br />

their heart and soul.<br />

Kimberly<br />

Wyatt<br />

Sometimes it looks really hard to give a<br />

red light. Do you ever feel guilty?<br />

Yes, I wish I could give everyone a gold star,<br />

but that is not the name of the game. I mean<br />

the audition process is not as hard, because<br />

the difference between good and great<br />

is quite obvious, but when you get to the<br />

semi-finals you’re just picking them apart in<br />

order to find reasons to give red stars. But<br />

I am there as a judge and I have to put my<br />

technical head on and be true to what I feel.<br />

What tips do you have for readers who<br />

want to be dancers?<br />

I think the most important tip for someone<br />

who wants to be a dancer is to never take<br />

no for an answer. It is not easy at all and it<br />

isn’t always going to be gold stars, it’s going<br />

to be red stars more often than not. Getting<br />

used to, and handling, rejection is a very big<br />

part of becoming a professional dancer. I<br />

really do keep that in mind as a judge. I am<br />

not only preparing them to be a winner in<br />

this competition, I am preparing them for<br />

becoming a professional dancer, if that is<br />

what they want to be!<br />

Kimberly Wyatt will be appearing in<br />

association with D.inc Wear at the<br />

UK’s biggest dance event MOVE IT<br />

(www.moveitdance.co.uk) from 9-11<br />

March at London Olympia.<br />

www.firstnews.co.uk and www.firstnews.co.uk/tv<br />

Vote now!<br />

Have your say in our weekly<br />

polls at<br />

www.firstnews.co.uk/polls<br />

This week!<br />

Should PE be<br />

compulsory?<br />

Can you name the firstnews.co.uk member?<br />

Can you work out the<br />

name of this<br />

firstnews.co.uk member?<br />

Go to www.firstnews.<br />

co.uk/bored to see if<br />

you are right!<br />

Answer:<br />

The <strong>First</strong> <strong>News</strong> Team<br />

Deputy Editor Keilly Swift<br />

Entertainment Editor<br />

Serena Lacey<br />

Writers Ian Eddy, Ian Prince<br />

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Kirsty Macdonald<br />

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Greenfield<br />

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Issue 274<br />

10 - 16 February 2012 Issue 296<br />

Write the answer, the section of the paper and the page number where you found the information.<br />

ALL these questions are about stories in the news this week.<br />

Can ALL you these find questions the article are and about find stories the information?<br />

the news this week.<br />

When you are trying to find the<br />

Can you find the article and find the information?<br />

Q6 Who has just started a new job in the<br />

Q1 What does WSPA stand for?<br />

information, Falkland in Islands? which section of<br />

Q2<br />

Q1<br />

When<br />

What<br />

did<br />

are<br />

the<br />

being<br />

Conservative<br />

smothered<br />

Party<br />

by<br />

elect<br />

mussels<br />

Margaret<br />

in Wales?<br />

Thatcher<br />

the newspaper Q7 What do is the you first think structure that to be<br />

as their first female leader?<br />

news awarded story might a Blue feature?<br />

Peter badge?<br />

Q2 Who was bitten by a green anaconda (pictured) on live television?<br />

Q3 Sainsbury’s will be changing the name of their tiger bread<br />

Q8 Daniel Radcliffe plays which<br />

to what?<br />

Q3 Which Antarctic animal was found on a beach in New Zealand,<br />

character in the new film The Woman in<br />

3,000 miles from home?<br />

Black?<br />

Q4 Researchers are said to have improved the performance When you are trying to<br />

of helicopters<br />

Q4 What does<br />

after<br />

BSL<br />

getting<br />

stand<br />

inspiration<br />

for?<br />

from what?<br />

find the information,<br />

Q9 By how many runs did England lose<br />

in which section of the<br />

the last match of the Test series against<br />

Q5<br />

Q5<br />

Jersey<br />

How<br />

Royal<br />

much<br />

potatoes<br />

food do<br />

were<br />

astronauts<br />

first developed<br />

on the International<br />

how many years<br />

Space Station<br />

ago?<br />

consume per day?<br />

newspaper do you think<br />

Pakistan?<br />

that news story might<br />

Q10 Fozzie the bear was the favourite<br />

Q6<br />

Q6<br />

Who<br />

What<br />

has<br />

type<br />

just started<br />

of natural<br />

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cycle<br />

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the<br />

Niño?<br />

feature?<br />

Falkland Islands?<br />

Muppet character of which actress?<br />

Cockles<br />

Home <strong>News</strong>, page 7<br />

Steve Backshall<br />

Entertainment <strong>News</strong>, page 12<br />

An Emperor penguin<br />

<strong>First</strong> <strong>News</strong> Headlines, page 1<br />

British Sign Language<br />

Special Report, page 17<br />

1.7kg<br />

Science, page 8<br />

Name:<br />

Weather<br />

Science, page 8<br />

Janet Esteves<br />

Crazy But True, page 16<br />

The Legoland town of Miniland<br />

Crazy But True, page 16<br />

Over one million<br />

The <strong>News</strong> in Pictures, page 6<br />

Hurricane Irene<br />

<strong>First</strong> <strong>News</strong> Headlines, page 2<br />

www.firstnews.co.uk<br />

<strong>First</strong><strong>News</strong> Issue <strong>299</strong> 2 – 8 March 2012<br />

GREEN NEWS<br />

with Keilly Swift<br />

Oil from the Arctic<br />

GREENPEACE are protesting against oil company Shell’s plans to drill for oil<br />

in the Arctic Circle this summer.<br />

The Greenpeace campaign<br />

is called Save the Arctic. Eight<br />

of their members staged<br />

a protest at the famous<br />

National Gallery in London,<br />

where Shell was holding<br />

an event.<br />

The environmental activists<br />

climbed to the roof of the<br />

gallery to hang a banner with<br />

a picture of an oil rig and the<br />

words ‘It’s no oil painting.’<br />

They also set up a life-sized<br />

electronic model of a<br />

polar bear.<br />

Greenpeace are protesting<br />

because they believe that the drilling will badly affect the people and animals, such as whales,<br />

walruses and polar bears, that live in the Arctic. Activist Hannah Davey said: “The region is too<br />

fragile to risk an oil spill that experts say would be almost impossible to clean up.”<br />

Shell is the first big company to announce plans to drill in the Arctic, but there are fears that<br />

other companies may want to start drilling there now as well. Last week, Shell’s plans for how<br />

they would deal with an oil spill were approved by the US government.<br />

Greenpeace say that to meet the current worldwide demand for oil, the oil reserves in the<br />

Arctic would only last about three years, but that the drilling would cause carbon emissions<br />

and pose a big risk to the environment.<br />

For more green news, pictures and videos go to www.firstnews.co.uk/discover<br />

Joining forces for rainforests<br />

HERE’S your chance to help the rainforest while you shop!<br />

Supermarket chain Tesco has teamed up<br />

with the RSPB on a project to help protect<br />

rainforests.<br />

The project, which is called Together for<br />

Trees, aims to make people aware of the need<br />

to save rainforests and to raise funds to help<br />

rainforest conservation.<br />

Shoppers at Tesco will be able to donate<br />

Clubcard points and vouchers, or give money<br />

directly to the RSPB. Tesco will also donate<br />

£75,000 from the sale of reusable bags.<br />

It is hoped that in its first year alone,<br />

Together for Trees will raise more than a<br />

million pounds for the RSPB.<br />

The charity will use the money to fund its<br />

rainforest projects across the world, from<br />

Harapan Rainforest in Indonesia to Gola<br />

Rainforest in West Africa.<br />

An area of rainforest the size of a football<br />

pitch is cut down every four seconds. This is a<br />

15<br />

major cause of global warming, as trees that<br />

are cut down can no longer take in carbon<br />

dioxide from the atmosphere.<br />

Martin Harper from the RSPB said:<br />

“Rainforests are amazing places and saving<br />

them has never been more urgent. Current<br />

efforts to try to prevent the loss of these<br />

special places are not enough.”<br />

With 20 million people visiting a Tesco store<br />

each week, it’s hoped that Together for Trees<br />

might help to make a difference.<br />

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!<br />

What do you do to help fight climate change? How do you get your friends, family and school<br />

to do their bit too? Tell us and <strong>First</strong> <strong>News</strong> readers. Log on to www.firstnews.co.uk/discover,<br />

or write to newsdesk@firstnews.co.uk or the address on page 19.<br />

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16<br />

<strong>First</strong><strong>News</strong> Issue <strong>299</strong> 2 – 8 march 2012<br />

ASK ESTHER<br />

With<br />

thanks to<br />

I’m Esther Rantzen, President of ChildLine, which helps 2,500 children<br />

every week. If there’s something worrying you, please write to me at<br />

the address below.<br />

Swimming fear!<br />

We are starting swimming lessons at school next term and I am having nightmares<br />

over it. I can’t swim and I’m worried that my friends will laugh at me.<br />

It sounds like you are quite worried about<br />

this and it’s having a negative impact on<br />

you with your nightmares. I wonder, have<br />

you spoken to your PE teacher about your<br />

concerns? Maybe they can offer some<br />

suggestions on how to overcome this.<br />

Maybe you could speak to your parents<br />

to see if they would be willing to take you<br />

swimming a few times, just to allow you<br />

to adjust to something new? Try not to<br />

keep thinking about it, as it can make you feel worse and heighten your anxiety about<br />

swimming. Good luck!<br />

I want to ask her out…<br />

I fancy a girl in my class. None of my friends has a girlfriend and I know if she<br />

agrees to go out with me my mates will all laugh. But I really like her.<br />

Fancying a girl is perfectly normal, whether your friends have girlfriends or not. How<br />

do you feel about it? Do you know your mates will laugh, or is this something you just<br />

think may happen? Have you spoken to any of your friends to see what they think? How<br />

would you feel if she did agree to go out with you? Have you thought about talking to<br />

her and telling her how you feel, or you could even write to her? Good luck and I hope it<br />

all goes well!<br />

WIN<br />

ENTER<br />

NOW!<br />

tickets to Drayton<br />

manor theme park!<br />

Drayton Manor Theme Park, in<br />

Staffordshire, is one of the UK’s<br />

most popular destinations for a<br />

day of family fun and adventure.<br />

It’s packed with incredible rides and<br />

attractions, including the Ben 10: Ultimate<br />

Mission roller coaster. There are also some<br />

fantastic whiteknuckle<br />

thrill rides<br />

for those feeling<br />

brave, such as<br />

Apocalypse, a 54m<br />

drop tower, and<br />

Shockwave, a standup<br />

roller coaster, as<br />

well as a zoo.<br />

But that’s not all. There’s also a cool 4D cinema,<br />

which this year is showing The Little Prince. Visitors<br />

will watch the movie in 3D while seated in specially<br />

designed chairs that react to scenes in the film, by<br />

moving and releasing sprays of water and bursts of air.<br />

Families can also turn their day out into an overnight trip by staying at the<br />

Drayton Manor Hotel.<br />

We have five family passes (two<br />

How tall is the Apocalypse ride?<br />

adults, two children) up for grabs.<br />

To be in with a chance of winning,<br />

just answer the following question:<br />

A) 52 metres B) 54 metres<br />

C) 56 metres<br />

MARK YOUR ENTRY dRAYTON<br />

www.firstnews.co.uk/competitions or see page<br />

21. The closing date is 15 March 2012.<br />

Jealousy<br />

Does it ever feel like other people are always doing better than you? Or does a<br />

friend always seem to have the coolest new stuff long before you?<br />

From time to time, everyone gets a bit<br />

jealous of how other people are getting on.<br />

It’s normal to measure ourselves against<br />

people we know – and even people we don’t,<br />

like celebrities.<br />

But sometimes it can get out of hand.<br />

Jealousy can start to get in the way of a happy<br />

life when we spend too much time measuring<br />

ourselves against other people. Some people<br />

start being mean to others just because they<br />

have more things.<br />

It could be stuff like clothes, gadgets or a<br />

bike. Or it could be someone’s family, if they<br />

just seem too perfect. It could be that a mate<br />

is going out with someone you fancy.<br />

The main thing is to recognise when your<br />

jealousy-ometer is going off the scale and<br />

you need to cool down and get things into<br />

perspective.<br />

Okay, so some people will always seem to<br />

be better-looking, richer, more popular than<br />

us. That’s just how life is.<br />

But, if we take a moment to think about<br />

the good stuff in our own life, it’s likely there’s<br />

quite a lot. And there are probably other<br />

people looking at you and thinking: “Wow, I<br />

wish I was them.”<br />

And, if you really do think life is going down<br />

the dumper, don’t just stew on it. Talk to<br />

someone – a mate, someone in your family,<br />

another adult you trust, or ChildLine at www.<br />

childline.org.uk or 0800 111, and let some<br />

of that envy out before it turns you green<br />

permanently!<br />

How do I open a bank account?<br />

How do I open a bank account with a debit card?<br />

Every bank has different rules for under-18 accounts. In some cases it is possible to get a debit card<br />

but, in others, they only give cards for use at cash points. It’s worth having a look at the websites for<br />

banks such as Santander, Lloyds TSB etc, or you could Google ‘under-18 bank accounts’. Have a look<br />

at what branches are available locally and then you can see what suits you and what’s available. It is<br />

advisable to talk to a parent or other trusted adult before you do this. In some cases you may need<br />

their permission to open a bank account. Hope you manage to find something suitable.<br />

by Sarah Jane Thomson, co-founder, <strong>First</strong> <strong>News</strong><br />

Join me each week as I interview some of Britain’s most successful entrepreneurs.<br />

We’ll learn everything from how they started out, to who inspires them the most.<br />

Plus, I’ll be asking them to share their advice on just how to succeed in business!<br />

This week I quiz art lover Raphaëlle. Raphaëlle is founder of ArtSpotter, an interactive<br />

mobile art map. Their products allow art lovers to discover, explore and interact with<br />

exhibitions anywhere in the world.<br />

When did you first set up a business<br />

and what inspired you?<br />

We’re quite a young business as we officially<br />

set up last April, so about a year ago. I’ve<br />

worked (and lived) in a gallery for a long<br />

time and I’m passionate about the art<br />

world. Originally it was just a project to<br />

work out how to make an iPhone app, but<br />

then people got interested and I realised it<br />

could be something bigger.<br />

Who was your biggest inspiration?<br />

My grandmother. She was the first female<br />

psychoanalyst in the UK and I remember<br />

her telling me when she was at school<br />

the jobs she wanted to do were only for<br />

men. When she told the headmistress she<br />

wanted to be a doctor, the headmistress<br />

said: “You mean a nurse?” My grandmother<br />

turned back and said: “No, I mean a doctor.”<br />

She’s always made the impossible possible<br />

in my mind.<br />

What is the<br />

best thing<br />

about running<br />

your own<br />

business?<br />

That no-one can<br />

tell me what<br />

to do. Well,<br />

technically not<br />

quite true, but as all the decisions are mine,<br />

it’s such a great feeling when you achieve<br />

something you dream of and<br />

it’s real.<br />

What is the single most important<br />

piece of advice you would like to pass on<br />

to <strong>First</strong> <strong>News</strong> readers?<br />

Keep dreaming, you’re only limited by your<br />

imagination.<br />

To read the full interview, go to<br />

www.firstnews.co.uk.


<strong>First</strong><strong>News</strong> Issue <strong>299</strong> 2 – 8 March 2012<br />

SPECIAL REPORT<br />

by Sherry Adhami from Beatbullying<br />

17<br />

Lots of children are affected<br />

by cyberbullying<br />

Aston Merrygold supports<br />

the Beatbullying charity<br />

Cyberbullying<br />

Yesterday, Beatbullying, the UK’s leading anti-bullying charity, led more than one million people from all corners<br />

of the globe in The Big March 2012 – the world’s first global virtual march for children’s rights. They were calling on<br />

the United Nations to protect young people from all forms of bullying and child-on-child violence. Cyberbullying<br />

has become a very serious but common form of bullying affecting children today. Sherry Adhami from Beatbullying<br />

tells us more about it and offers some very helpful advice.<br />

Aston Merrygold campaigns<br />

to stop cyberbullying<br />

What is cyberbullying?<br />

Cyberbullying is when people are targeted and bullied<br />

online by friends, classmates and sometimes strangers, who<br />

are trying to deliberately hurt someone’s feelings. This could<br />

include getting nasty comments on social networking<br />

sites, horrible emails, or even having online hate pages set<br />

up. When people are targeted online by people they do<br />

not know, this is ‘trolling’ – when people send horrible and<br />

offensive comments, pictures, emails and messages under<br />

false names or even from anonymous accounts. Another<br />

worrying side to cyberbullying is when people receive<br />

images of a sexual nature via email or text message.<br />

Why is it so harmful?<br />

Cyberbullying can be more harmful than physical<br />

bullying in many ways. Nasty comments or messages about<br />

someone can be put on a website for the whole school or<br />

even anyone on the internet to see. Even worse, you may<br />

not know who it is that is doing it to you, because they<br />

could be hiding behind fake names.<br />

Another horrible side to cyberbullying is that there’s often<br />

no escape. Before, you may have been able to go home and<br />

be safe from playground bullies, but now that everyone is<br />

online and has smartphones it can be easy for the bullying<br />

to follow you to where you’re normally safe – at home.<br />

Natalie’s story<br />

Natalie knows just how harmful cyberbullying can be.<br />

When Natalie started secondary school she was bullied<br />

because of her weight and her thick hair. It started, like<br />

most cyberbullying does, in the playground and at school<br />

but then it followed her home and she became a victim<br />

of cyberbullying.<br />

Over a period of two years, Natalie was a victim of<br />

constant abusive messages that would say horrible things<br />

like she was fat and ugly, and some even told her that she<br />

should kill herself.<br />

“I became so depressed,” says Natalie. “I ended up in<br />

hospital after having a dizzy spell at school. My heart<br />

was racing and I collapsed – I was diagnosed with manic<br />

anxiety.” This was the point at which Natalie decided it was<br />

time that she should tell her parents what was happening.<br />

“The first two years at school had been horrendous, but I<br />

didn’t talk to anyone about it. I was embarrassed and I didn’t<br />

want to worry my parents.”<br />

“My saving grace was a site I discovered after I collapsed<br />

called CyberMentors.org.uk. There were people there<br />

who were the same age as me, who had also experienced<br />

bullying. I was able to speak to them confidentially and get<br />

advice. The bullying didn’t stop straight away but I was able<br />

to find a way to deal with it.”<br />

Natalie<br />

Are you being<br />

cyberbullied?<br />

Here are five daily confidence tips from<br />

Beatbullying to keep bullying at bay:<br />

1) Communicate. Find the time to sit down and talk to<br />

someone. If you don’t feel like you can speak to your<br />

parents, friends or teachers, CyberMentors is an army of<br />

young people working to keep their peers and friends<br />

safe by giving advice and support online at<br />

www.cybermentors.org.uk.<br />

2) Believe yourself confident. Stand tall and project selfconfidence<br />

– nobody knows that you may be nervous<br />

on the inside.<br />

3) Channel your experiences into something positive.<br />

Turn your experience with bullies into something<br />

positive. You understand better than anyone what it<br />

feels like to be bullied, so use this knowledge to support<br />

younger peers who are going through the same thing.<br />

You could even become a CyberMentor.<br />

4) You are not alone. Remember that there will always<br />

be someone you can talk to. Our recent survey of young<br />

people found that 1 in 13 young people have been<br />

victims of ongoing cyberbullying, and just under a<br />

quarter of them said it lasted more than a year.<br />

5) Walk the high ground. Know that you are better<br />

than anyone who uses intimidation as a form of<br />

communication.


18 <strong>First</strong><strong>News</strong> Issue <strong>299</strong> 2 – 8 march 2012<br />

CRAZY BUT TRUE<br />

Lemon<br />

For more crazy news, pictures and videos go to www.firstnews.co.uk/news<br />

RECORD OF<br />

THE WEEK<br />

The longest cat<br />

castle<br />

At 123cm (48.5in) long, Mymains Stewart<br />

Gilligan (aka Stewie) is the world’s longest<br />

domestic cat. The five-year-old feline is<br />

owned by Robin Hendrickson and Erik<br />

Brandsness (USA) and was measured on<br />

28 August 2010. He also has the longest<br />

domestic cat tail at 41.5cm (16.34in).<br />

This amazing picture shows a castle made entirely out of oranges and lemons for La Fête du Citron (Lemon<br />

Festival) in Menton on the French Riviera.<br />

The annual festival is celebrating its 79th anniversary this year and<br />

runs from 17 February until 7 March. The festival includes parades,<br />

brightly-lit floats and fireworks to celebrate the award-winning<br />

lemons produced in the region.<br />

Every year, more than 250,000 tourists flock to the town to see the<br />

sculptures made of fruit. There is even a story, told through giant<br />

by Serena Lacey<br />

decorations made of lemons in the town’s Biovés gardens.<br />

Have you ever made a sculpture out of fruit? Tell us and see more<br />

amazing pictures online at www.firstnews.co.uk.<br />

UK gum crime Goat faster!<br />

EVERY year there is a hotly-contested<br />

A POLICE officer has<br />

race between Oxford and Cambridge –<br />

revealed that thieves<br />

the Oxford and Cambridge goat race!<br />

are targeting UK<br />

Held at Spitalfields City Farm, a goat called<br />

supermarkets and<br />

Oxford races against a goat called Cambridge<br />

stealing chewing gum<br />

in one of the city’s hottest sporting events of<br />

to use as money.<br />

the year.<br />

Now in its third year, the race attracts a busy<br />

An officer from West Mercia<br />

audience and is fiercely competitive, with the<br />

Police is investigating the<br />

goats in training months before the actual race.<br />

crimes, which have spread<br />

So far, Cambridge has won the race every year,<br />

across the UK. Hundreds of<br />

although in 2011 Oxford was almost at the finish<br />

pounds worth of chewing<br />

line when he stopped to do a quick poo.<br />

gum has been stolen so far.<br />

The day of the race itself is a big event, with<br />

The investigation has<br />

warm-up races by stoats and comedy contests<br />

revealed that, in Romania,<br />

for spectators. Tickets are limited as the animal<br />

chewing gum and small<br />

antics are actually a fundraiser to help raise<br />

sweets are often given<br />

money for the city farm, which has limited<br />

as change instead of lowvalue<br />

coins!<br />

held on 7 April.<br />

space for spectators. This year the race is being<br />

Tell us what you think at<br />

What do you think? Tell us online at<br />

www.firstnews.co.uk.<br />

www.firstnews.co.uk.<br />

For info on this record<br />

and hundreds more, go to<br />

www.guinnessworldrecords.com<br />

QUICK<br />

CHUCKLES<br />

Q: Which king felt a fraction of himself?<br />

A: Henry 1/8th<br />

Q: What do you call a man who forgot to<br />

put his pants on?<br />

A: Nicholas!<br />

Upload your jokes to our website at:<br />

www.firstnews.co.uk<br />

©Facebook.com/thegoatrace<br />

Written and illustrated by Paul Palmer


<strong>First</strong><strong>News</strong> Issue <strong>299</strong> 2 – 8 March 2012<br />

YOUR NEWS<br />

For more news crew, pictures and videos go to www.firstnews.co.uk/news<br />

19<br />

NEWS VIEWS<br />

Check out what our readers<br />

are saying about the news on<br />

www.firstnews.co.uk.<br />

Family holidays to be<br />

banned in term time<br />

This is absolutely silly.<br />

pipro (Age 10)<br />

LEGOLAND Windsor hires six<br />

junior concierges<br />

The new hotel is wicked!!-<br />

Molly “soon to be concierge”<br />

Wilson :-)<br />

mwils4 (Age 9)<br />

Would you eat a burger<br />

grown in a laboratory?<br />

At least it stops cow slaughter<br />

js7501s (Age 9)<br />

Children in Christchurch<br />

release butterflies to<br />

remember earthquake victims<br />

What a sweet idea. Rest in<br />

peace to those poor victims. :(<br />

Twilight13 (Age 11)<br />

Dog TV launches<br />

Dogs don’t watch tv!<br />

Edenboots (Age 12)<br />

www.firstnews.co.uk<br />

We want to<br />

hear what your<br />

school is up to<br />

Are you doing<br />

something sponsored<br />

for charity? Starting your<br />

own school newspaper?<br />

Or putting on a show?<br />

Email your report (including<br />

pictures) to newsdesk@<br />

firstnews.co.uk. If we print<br />

your story we’ll send you<br />

a copy of the paper and a<br />

<strong>First</strong> <strong>News</strong> certificate to be<br />

presented to you in assembly!<br />

Don’t forget to include your<br />

name, age, and your school’s<br />

name and address.<br />

By writing to <strong>First</strong> <strong>News</strong><br />

you give consent to <strong>First</strong><br />

<strong>News</strong> printing details and<br />

photographs of those involved<br />

in the report.<br />

SUBSCRIBE<br />

FOR school<br />

Term time only subscriptions<br />

from £45.60 per year (P&P included).<br />

Call: 0844 8560 634 Quote: SPA<br />

www.firstnews.co.uk/teachers<br />

Learning<br />

to DJ<br />

Last year we were lucky enough to be<br />

invited to Ministry of Sound – to learn to DJ.<br />

The event was to promote a massive DJ competition.<br />

When we arrived, we<br />

were given a grand tour of<br />

the club. It has five main<br />

areas. When the club is<br />

open at night there are<br />

different DJs working in<br />

each of the areas, so you<br />

get lots of different music<br />

to dance to.<br />

Next, we were split into<br />

groups and introduced to<br />

by Joe Flanagan and William Lewallen<br />

Learning<br />

to spin<br />

the discs<br />

our tutors - some of the country’s top DJs. Our first tutor was Ray<br />

Keith – a vinyl (record) expert. He showed us the basics, which<br />

included being able to fast forward and rewind tracks using our<br />

fingers. It felt really cool, but it would have been better if we’d had<br />

a crowd to perform to!<br />

Next we had a session with Jazzy M (who was the Ministry’s<br />

first ever DJ!) where we learned to DJ using CDs – which was<br />

considerably easier. Jazzy taught us how to count BPM (beats<br />

per minute) and mix two tracks together, so that the transition<br />

between them was as smooth as possible.<br />

After a few goes each we had to come up with DJ names – after<br />

much consideration, we became DJ Joe-Ker and DJ Will Power!<br />

Then, after more practice, it was off to the box to perform in front<br />

of all the other groups! It was quite nerve-wracking but, with the<br />

music pounding, really exciting.<br />

It was a fantastic experience and Jazzy said we did a great job.<br />

Turns out we were the youngest DJs to ever DJ at the Ministry of<br />

Sound, and hearing that really made our day!<br />

Ripley’s Believe<br />

It or Not!<br />

When I went to Ripley’s I saw a lizard man, a robot dragon, the<br />

Olympic torches, and two horses made out of cooking utensils<br />

like spoons and forks. And that was just on the first level!<br />

by Asher Heyman<br />

junior<br />

JOURNALIST<br />

We went up to level<br />

five in a lift and saw<br />

some really weird<br />

animals, such as ones<br />

with two heads, some<br />

with legs growing out<br />

of their backs, a giant<br />

T. rex, a huge chair<br />

and not to mention<br />

a mini car covered<br />

in crystals in the<br />

patterns of famous<br />

American landmarks.<br />

Some of my favourite things included the spinning tunnel, the mirror<br />

maze, the laser race and, above all, the shrunken heads.<br />

The shrunken heads were my favourite exhibit because they were some of the<br />

best specimens in the world. There was also a video playing of how they made<br />

the heads. It was a bit gruesome!<br />

One of the levels was set up like a library and had a model of a man that<br />

weighed over 400kg when he was alive. I stood on the scales next to him and I<br />

only weighed 32kg! It was a great day and Ripley’s is definitely worth a visit.<br />

For opening times, prices and more information visit www.ripleyslondon.com.<br />

junior<br />

JOURNALIST<br />

O2 VIPs<br />

Ever wondered what Beyoncé, JLS,<br />

Rihanna or your favourite pop star<br />

gets up to before they go on stage at the O2<br />

Arena? Charlotte and I got to experience life<br />

as a VIP and were given exclusive access to<br />

all areas of the O2.<br />

by Abbie Bainbridge & Charlotte Hewens<br />

The Arena can hold up to 22,000 people, but<br />

normally 18,000 seats are available as this allows<br />

more room at the event. Events are very varied,<br />

from pop concerts, Strictly Come Dancing, award<br />

ceremonies such as The BRIT Awards, National Television Awards or<br />

sporting events such as basketball and gymnastics. The Paralympics<br />

will also feature here after the Olympics.<br />

The arena is so versatile that within four hours it can be turned into<br />

an Ice rink ready for Disney on Ice and Dancing on Ice tours.<br />

We were guided through the corridors behind the staging areas, which<br />

have wall-to-wall signed pictures of our favourite celebrities such as<br />

Beyoncé, Coldplay, Girls Aloud and many more.<br />

We were allowed access to the “Secret Room” which is so secret we aren’t<br />

even allowed to tell you its real name, but allows the pop star to have total<br />

chill-out time away from their manager and entourage. It has a very<br />

large comfy sofa, bookcases, sound systems, TV, Wii and a bar which<br />

has large sweet containers hanging above it.<br />

After the arena tour we were shown around the British Music<br />

Experience (BME) museum that celebrates British pop music from 1945<br />

to 2011. There are lots of interesting things to see and do and our mums<br />

were able to take a trip down memory lane!<br />

Charlotte and I designed and made our own BRIT Awards, then we<br />

were allowed to dress up in glamorous outfits. We walked down the red<br />

carpet to the rapturous sound of the cheering crowd and our acceptance<br />

speech was videoed for us to watch later.<br />

We had a magnificent day out at the O2 Arena and the BME and we<br />

hope to be able to go again next half term. It’s a fabulous day out for the<br />

whole family!<br />

We wrote a book<br />

A group of 11 talented Year 9<br />

students have managed to<br />

come together and release their<br />

own book!<br />

junior<br />

JOURNALIST<br />

Abbie & Charlotte<br />

with their BRITs<br />

SCHOOL<br />

NEWS<br />

by Holly Jenson and Holly Choules, Beaverwood School For Girls<br />

The story is an<br />

engrossing murder<br />

mystery which captures<br />

you at the first page. All of<br />

this hard and rewarding<br />

work started from just a<br />

simple dream, that every<br />

child in the world could hold<br />

a book in their hands which<br />

they had written.<br />

Each student created and wrote the parts for their own<br />

character and used lots of description to improve the quality<br />

of the story. The whole piece consists of over 30,000 words! This<br />

is astonishing, as we only had three days to complete such a<br />

huge task.<br />

There were also many other students involved with this<br />

project, such as proofreaders, editors, bloggers and, of course,<br />

journalists. The illustrations on the front and inside the book<br />

were also drawn by students, working over a period of just six<br />

separate sessions to complete the final pieces of artwork.<br />

The book was released at the beginning of the year on Kindle<br />

and will soon be available on Amazon.<br />

Considering the amount of time that was available to<br />

produce this piece, I would say that it is an incredible and<br />

outstanding achievement!


20<br />

<strong>First</strong><strong>News</strong> Issue <strong>299</strong> 2 – 8 March 2012<br />

FUN STUFF<br />

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Make sure your mum in a million is<br />

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Six lucky winners will be able to treat their mum with a Mother’s Day package of gifts<br />

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CAn you complete our crossword using the clues below? Send in your answers and three<br />

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1 Common name of Shrove Tuesday, which was<br />

celebrated recently (7,3)<br />

5 AC ___ : team that beat Arsenal<br />

4-0 in the Champions League (5)<br />

7 Hard (5)<br />

9 Winding around in a curve (6)<br />

10 Extremely (4)<br />

12 Cook (4)<br />

13 Saying nothing (6)<br />

16 Private teacher (5)<br />

17 Positions (5)<br />

18 The ___ / ___ : pop music<br />

ceremony that was held<br />

recently (4,6)<br />

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1 Large cats resembling lions (5)<br />

2 Yearly (6)<br />

3 Consumes food (4)<br />

4 Entertainment (9)<br />

6 City in central England (9)<br />

8 Sir Chris ___ : cyclist who won<br />

gold medals at the Track World<br />

Cup recently (3)<br />

11 Puzzle game composed of<br />

several pieces (6)<br />

12 Snip (3)<br />

5 - AC ___ : team that beat Arsenal 4-0 in the<br />

FIRST NEWS CHALLENGE<br />

Champions League (5)<br />

7 - Hard (5)<br />

Q1 How many times has<br />

Ryan Giggs played for<br />

Manchester United?<br />

Q2 What has the bluetongued<br />

skink become<br />

immune to?<br />

Q7 Kimberly Wyatt will<br />

be performing at which<br />

dance event?<br />

14 Long pointed teeth of elephants (5)<br />

15 This is put on roads before it snows (4)<br />

1 2 3 4<br />

5 6 7 8<br />

9 10<br />

12 13 14<br />

15<br />

11<br />

16 17<br />

18<br />

Across<br />

1 - Common name of Shrove Tuesday which was<br />

celebrated recently (7,3)<br />

9 - Winding around in a curve (6)<br />

10 Q5 - Extremely How many (4) hours did<br />

12 it - Cook take (4) to complete the<br />

13 pirate - Saying ship nothing that (6) was used in<br />

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16 - Private teacher (5)<br />

film, Pirates?<br />

17 - Positions (5)<br />

18 - The ___ / ___ : pop music ceremony that was held<br />

recently Q6 What (4,6) is cyberbullying?<br />

Q8 £6.5 million is being<br />

spent on what in Durham?<br />

Down<br />

1 - Large cats resembling lion<br />

2 - Yearly (6)<br />

3 - Consumes food (4)<br />

4 - Entertainment (9)<br />

6 - City in central England (9)<br />

8 - Sir Chris ___ : cyclist who<br />

Cup recently (3)<br />

11 - Puzzle game composed<br />

12 - Snip (3)<br />

14 - Long pointed teeth of ele<br />

15 - This is put on roads befo<br />

Q9 What are the names of<br />

the three circus bears whose<br />

new home will be Scotland’s<br />

Five Sisters Zoo?<br />

To be in with a chance<br />

of winning, just answer<br />

this question.<br />

Mother’s day is<br />

celebrated in which<br />

month this year?<br />

a) May b) March<br />

c) June<br />

Q3 Who will be joining the<br />

Queen and the Duke of<br />

Edinburgh on the Queen’s<br />

Diamond Jubilee Tour ?<br />

Q4 What percentage of<br />

young people thought that<br />

being able to read was very<br />

important?<br />

Q10 A passenger plane that<br />

lost a wheel has landed safely<br />

at which airport?<br />

Visit www.bycarteblanche.com and www.metoyou.com<br />

ENTER<br />

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21. The closing date is 15 March 2012.<br />

LAST ISSUE’S ANSWERS:<br />

<strong>First</strong> <strong>News</strong> Challenge 1) 13 2) 10% 3) A satellite<br />

4) Jacqueline Wilson 5) Twickenham 6) 28 February 1991 7) Encore<br />

8) Madagascar 9) 13 10) 27 February to 11 March spot the<br />

difference Kermit’s tongue is larger, extra eye has been added,<br />

shirt is a different colour, teeth are missing, extra petal on flower<br />

What on earth Hair dryer, clippers, hair clips, scissors, comb<br />

R E D K N A P P S T U B<br />

U I I O U R<br />

S R G C L O<br />

H U A P E L<br />

H E H K I W<br />

C T E P S<br />

S C A E<br />

T M T H S I<br />

A T E P<br />

A A E N<br />

R R R G<br />

A E A N I N<br />

D C E S L G<br />

I K N<br />

V T T L N G<br />

A I A O O E<br />

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8 2 7 9 3 5 4 1 6<br />

4 6 9 8 1 7 2 3 5<br />

1 3 5 2 4 6 7 8 9<br />

7 1 4 5 2 9 3 6 8<br />

3 8 6 1 7 4 9 5 2<br />

5 9 2 6 8 3 1 7 4


<strong>First</strong><strong>News</strong> Issue <strong>299</strong> 2 – 8 March 2012<br />

FUN STUFF<br />

HOW TO<br />

ENTER<br />

send your finished puzzles to Puzzles <strong>299</strong>, <strong>First</strong> <strong>News</strong>, Shand House, 14 - 20 Shand<br />

Street, London, SE1 2ES. The closing date for puzzle entries is Friday 9 March 2012.<br />

WIN stabilo fineliners & Fibre tip pens<br />

CAN you spot the five changes to this picture from the new Disney Channel film Frenemies? Send in your answers and three lucky winners will<br />

each receive a Stabilo Colorparade pack of point88 fineliners and a wallet of six pen68. Starting to think about exams and tests? Improve your<br />

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21<br />

A<br />

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22<br />

<strong>First</strong><strong>News</strong> Issue <strong>299</strong> 2 – 8 MArch 2012<br />

THE BOOK CORNER<br />

MY WAY CAMPAIGN<br />

Book reviews www.<br />

redhouse.co.uk<br />

Wonder<br />

R J Palacio<br />

reviewed by Sebastian Westwood<br />

To his parents and sister Via, August Pullman,<br />

called Auggie for short, is a wonder. To other<br />

people, he is a boy with a deformed face, and<br />

he has to overcome prejudices and stereotypes<br />

wherever he goes. When he starts at school, things are particularly<br />

tough for him, and a camping expedition tests his strength to the<br />

limit. However, everyone emerges from it for the better and lots of<br />

people learn something, not just Auggie. This was a novel I devoured<br />

in one go. Auggie, his family and friends are very engaging and convincing characters, and I<br />

couldn’t wait to see how he gets on at his new school. When I read the last page, I was sorry to let<br />

Auggie go! Thoroughly recommended for all readers over the age of ten.<br />

Falling Fast<br />

Sophie McKenzie<br />

reviewed by Humnah Abdullah<br />

True love never did run smooth, and that saying<br />

couldn’t be truer for River and Flynn. When<br />

River auditions for a part in an inter-school<br />

performance of Romeo and Juliet, she finds she’s smitten by the boy<br />

playing Romeo, Flynn. But he comes from a damaged family and can<br />

River really expect him to give her true love? Falling Fast is the first<br />

in the Flynn series. When I received this book I was eager to start, as<br />

Sophie McKenzie is a great author. After the first page, I was hooked,<br />

and finished it in an hour! I love this book and would recommend it for girls in secondary school.<br />

I would rate it 10/10!<br />

For more book reviews and clips go to www.firstnews.co.uk/bored<br />

READING CHAMPIONS<br />

Everyone knows a Reading Champion – they’re people<br />

who inspire others to get reading. Each week, one of our champions tells<br />

you a bit about their favourite reads and what they think makes reading<br />

so appealing.<br />

Name: Michael Cox<br />

Michael is the author of numerous non-fiction and fiction<br />

books for children, including How to Drink From a Frog.<br />

His new book Big Cats is part of a series produced in<br />

conjunction with ZSL London Zoo.<br />

What books did you read when you were a child?<br />

Just William, My Friend Flicka, White Fang, Swallows<br />

and Amazons.<br />

If you could be a storybook character, who would you be?<br />

William in Just William because my childhood was a bit like his<br />

(but not nearly as posh) or Desperate Dan in the Dandy comic,<br />

because I’d get to eat loads of cow pies.<br />

What is the best thing about reading?<br />

Flitting to anywhere I want to in the universe and history while still in my comfy chair/time<br />

machine, then landing in places like Anglo-Saxon England (the Vikings are coming!), the<br />

Wild West (a mountain lion has spooked my horse), the Indian Ocean (we’re shipwrecked,<br />

the food’s all gone, we’re drawing straws to see who gets eaten first) and a thousand other<br />

places. Then meeting all sorts of awesome/horrible/terrifying/inspiring people, animals,<br />

elves, monsters etc and sharing amazing adventures with them, whilst also finding out tons<br />

of mind-boggling stuff about the world we live in, past, present and future.<br />

What is your all-time favourite book?<br />

I don’t have one because I never cease to be amazed by the brilliance of each new one I<br />

come across.<br />

How important is reading in life?<br />

Totally! I’ve been doing it from before I started school and still can’t get enough of it.<br />

Do you think you would make a good Reading Champion?<br />

Ask your school to sign up today at www.readingchampions.org.uk<br />

FIRST NEWS has been running a campaign for a year called My Way! It’s about<br />

getting people to understand that everybody learns in their own way. For some<br />

people school is easy but, for others, it might be harder. The important thing we<br />

want everybody to understand is that the way you learn has nothing to do with<br />

how smart you are. Around six children in each class have learning challenges but<br />

that doesn’t mean that they won’t be fantastically successful in whatever they<br />

choose to do. As My Way! champion, Hank Zipzer author Henry Winkler says: “Every<br />

child has brilliance inside them. Their job is to dig it out and give it to the world.”<br />

Here is Ben’s story.<br />

My name is Ben Cowling and I am 11 years<br />

old. When I was born I had tracheo-oesophageal<br />

fistula and atresia, which means I was unable<br />

to swallow.<br />

I was operated on when I was just 18 hours<br />

old and have made a good recovery. I am careful<br />

eating foods and always have a drink in case food<br />

doesn’t go down. During the winters I am more<br />

likely to get chest infections and this results in time off school.<br />

When I was about three, I was diagnosed with deafness. I have two hearing aids<br />

that I wear at all times, except in bed and swimming. At first I didn’t like wearing<br />

them but now I am used to it. I have grown my hair because of this so nobody<br />

can see them. The hospital has also given me digital hearing aids, which are very<br />

small nowadays. At first I struggled at school, but now I do well. Also, I can lip-read,<br />

which I do for quiet voices.<br />

All my friends accept me the way I am and I haven’t had any problems at<br />

school. I am looking forward to starting mainstream secondary school in<br />

September this year.<br />

Want to share your story?<br />

Find out how online at www.firstnews.co.uk<br />

WHAT’S IN THE SHOPS?<br />

10” Soft Toy - Miss Piggy<br />

www.toysrus.co.uk £9.99<br />

Now you can cuddle up to one of your favourite Muppet<br />

characters, the wonderful Miss Piggy. This fun soft toy<br />

version of the star of Disney’s The Muppets measures 25cm<br />

in height and comes complete with a gift box. Perfect for<br />

any fans of The Muppets!<br />

Animal Across the Body Bag<br />

www.disneystore.co.uk £16.00<br />

Every Muppets fan will be crazy for this cool bag!<br />

With an adjustable strap, popper fastenings and<br />

two inner zip pockets, this Animal-inspired bag is<br />

the perfect size to take to school or on your<br />

next trip.<br />

The Muppets: Original<br />

Soundtrack<br />

www.play.com £8.99<br />

CHECK out this fun-filled soundtrack to the latest<br />

Muppets movie, which sees the Muppets, with the<br />

help of three fans, reunite to save their old theatre<br />

from a greedy oil tycoon. It features the tuneful<br />

tones of Kermit the Frog himself. The CD includes<br />

31 tracks.


<strong>First</strong><strong>News</strong> Issue <strong>299</strong> 2 – 8 march 2012<br />

Sport <strong>News</strong><br />

23<br />

Glasgow<br />

in bid for<br />

Youth Olympic<br />

Games<br />

Lieke van Wijk of the Netherlands (left) challenges Argentina’s<br />

Victoria Cabut during the girls’ hockey final at the first Youth<br />

Olympic Games, which was held last year in Singapore<br />

the British Olympic Association (BOA) is bidding to bring the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) to Glasgow in 2018.<br />

One of the reasons behind the decision to back<br />

Glasgow’s bid for the YOG is that the city will already be<br />

hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2014. This means<br />

that a lot of the sporting facilities, athlete accommodation<br />

and transport links will already be sorted out.<br />

The BOA also says that hosting the Youth Olympic Games<br />

will help to increase the numbers of British kids taking part<br />

SPORT NEWS IN NUMBERS<br />

5.01 metres is the new<br />

world indoor pole vault record,<br />

which was set by Russian star<br />

Yelena Isinbayeva in Stockholm,<br />

Sweden (right), breaking her<br />

own record of 5m. Britain’s Holly<br />

Bleasdale was in second place,<br />

with a jump of 4.72m. Isinbayeva<br />

also holds the world outdoor<br />

record, which is 5.06m.<br />

900 is the number of<br />

times that 38-year-old Ryan<br />

Giggs has played for Manchester<br />

United. The Welshman’s amazing<br />

career continued this week when<br />

he scored a dramatic late winner<br />

against Norwich to keep United’s<br />

title hopes on track. United’s<br />

other goal in the 2-1 victory<br />

was scored by another veteran,<br />

37-year-old Paul Scholes.<br />

Getty<br />

Getty<br />

in sport, which is supposed to be one of the aims of the<br />

2012 Games in London.<br />

“The Youth Olympic Games have quickly established<br />

themselves as an important and inspirational event in the<br />

international sporting calendar,” said BOA chairman Colin<br />

Moynihan. “We know the bidding process will be highly<br />

competitive, but we are confident that in Glasgow we have<br />

4 games to nil was the<br />

score in England women’s<br />

Twenty20 series with New<br />

Zealand. Although England<br />

(below left) dominated, they<br />

were denied the chance of<br />

a 5-0 whitewash due to rain<br />

causing the fourth game to<br />

be abandoned.<br />

1 is the world ranking<br />

that Northern Ireland’s Rory<br />

McIlroy would have had if<br />

he’d won the World Golf<br />

Championships-Accenture<br />

Match Play. Unfortunately<br />

for McIlroy, he was beaten<br />

by Hunter Mahan in the<br />

final, meaning that McIlroy<br />

stays at No2 in the rankings,<br />

while England’s Luke Donald<br />

stays in the No1 spot.<br />

an outstanding candidate city.”<br />

The International Olympic Committee will produce a<br />

short list of cities in January 2013, before announcing the<br />

winner in the summer.<br />

The first ever YOG was held in Singapore in 2010, where<br />

39 British athletes won a total of 13 medals, including<br />

five golds.<br />

PICTURE OF THE WEEK<br />

Russell Westbrook dunks during the NBA All-Star Game, which pits<br />

the best players of the Western and Eastern Conferences against<br />

each other. The Western Conference won the game 152-149<br />

Getty Getty


24 <strong>First</strong><strong>News</strong> Issue <strong>299</strong> 2 – 8 march 2012<br />

ANIMALS<br />

CRAZY<br />

BUT TRUE<br />

GREEN<br />

Stand up<br />

for animals<br />

10<br />

Lemon castle<br />

18<br />

Joining<br />

forces for<br />

rainforests<br />

15<br />

Getty<br />

A tale<br />

liverpool have ended their six-year wait for a trophy,<br />

after triumphing over Cardiff City in the Carling Cup final<br />

at Wembley.<br />

The delight for Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard was obvious, but<br />

at the same time he had to comfort his cousin, Anthony, who missed<br />

Cardiff’s final penalty in the game’s dramatic shoot-out.<br />

The game finished 1-1 after 90 minutes, then goals from Dirk Kuyt and<br />

Ben Turner made sure that the teams were still even after extra time.<br />

Steven Gerrard took the first penalty of the shoot-out, which was saved,<br />

but Cardiff sent three of their five kicks wide of the goal.<br />

“It was always going to be the case that one of us was going to be<br />

sad and one would be celebrating,” said Steven Gerrard. “Obviously I’m<br />

delighted to have won a trophy for our supporters, but I feel for Anthony<br />

and Cardiff.”<br />

After so long without a trophy, Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish said that<br />

he hoped the victory would inspire his players to go on and win more<br />

titles in the coming seasons.<br />

However, with Liverpool 24 points behind Man City in the Premier<br />

League, it may be a while before Liverpool can add to their 18 league<br />

titles. What do you think? Will Liverpool be able to challenge for the<br />

league next season? Join our poll at www.firstnews.co.uk/polls and let<br />

us know how well you think they’ll do.<br />

of two<br />

Gerrards<br />

Getty<br />

Anthony Gerrard lines up<br />

a pass minutes before<br />

his penalty miss<br />

Steven Gerrard lifts the trophy. Far left: Anthony<br />

Gerrard sinks to the ground as his decisive<br />

penalty goes wide of Pepe Reina’s post<br />

Getty<br />

Waterfield defends Daley<br />

after winning a solo bronze medal at the Diving World Cup in London,<br />

Peter Waterfield defended his synchro partner Tom Daley.<br />

Last week, Daley was heavily<br />

criticised by GB performance director<br />

Alexei Evangulov for the amount<br />

of media work that he was doing.<br />

Evangulov compared Daley to the<br />

tennis player Anna Kournikova,<br />

whose fondness for media work was<br />

blamed by many for her failure to win<br />

as many titles as she could have done.<br />

Waterfield and Daley finished<br />

seventh in the 10m synchro event<br />

at the World Cup, but Waterfield<br />

said that injuries to the pair were to<br />

blame, not Daley’s media work.<br />

“We had a few injuries over<br />

Christmas and in January that<br />

stopped us training together and<br />

you can’t then expect us to turn up<br />

here and get medals.”<br />

Getty<br />

Waterfield (centre)<br />

celebrates his bronze medal<br />

Getty<br />

Six Nations destinations<br />

with half of the annual<br />

Scott Williams evades Tom Croft’s<br />

Six Nations tournament<br />

grasp to run in the winning try as<br />

Wales beat England<br />

already played, the men’s<br />

title still looks like it could<br />

be going home to one of a<br />

few countries.<br />

Wales increased their chances<br />

this week by beating England<br />

and winning the Triple Crown,<br />

which is awarded to the team<br />

that beats the other three<br />

home nations.<br />

Although Wales are ahead<br />

in the table, France could still catch up if they win their<br />

rearranged match with Ireland this Sunday (4 March).<br />

The women’s title looks like it will be going to either<br />

England or France, who face each other in a crucial<br />

match in Paris on Sunday 11 March. They have both<br />

won all three games so far, although England have<br />

scored 123 points compared to France’s 63.<br />

Getty<br />

Getty

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