ISSUe 299 - First News
ISSUe 299 - First News
ISSUe 299 - First News
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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 />
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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 />
a new<br />
cycle<br />
job<br />
is<br />
in<br />
El<br />
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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so close to the edge of extinction and if there’s anything we can do about it!<br />
There can be loads of reasons why certain species are endangered but, in many cases,<br />
humans are responsible. When we overfish, destroy natural environments or hunt wild<br />
animals, they become endangered and even can become extinct.<br />
Hang on a minute – we do eat a lot of cows, pigs and sheep, so aren’t they endangered?<br />
No, because these animals are farmed for eating and can multiply and reproduce quickly.<br />
Endangered species are wild animals who often struggle to replenish their numbers, so even<br />
taking a single animal can have a big knock-on effect.<br />
Now back to our fishy friends, even though sardines are overfished, they are able to<br />
reproduce quickly so are not in danger. Wild marine species like whales, sharks and manatees<br />
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The fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) is in<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 />
WIN<br />
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– london 2012 sports game<br />
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It’s a fact – mums are the best. Whether<br />
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her know how much you love her.<br />
Make sure your mum in a million is<br />
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With heartfelt Me to You gifts from only<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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Across<br />
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 />
Down<br />
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 />
Aardman Animations’ new<br />
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 />
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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 />
R Z O N Z N<br />
R O T Y R M<br />
K N E D E S<br />
I G N E L S<br />
6 5 1 3 9 2 8 4 7<br />
2 4 8 7 5 1 6 9 3<br />
9 7 3 4 6 8 5 2 1<br />
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 />
memory by adding colour to your notes using the STABILO point88 fineliners and pen68 fibre-tip pens.<br />
www.stabilo.co.uk<br />
21<br />
A<br />
B<br />
what on earth<br />
ALL of these items can be found in the garden. Can you guess what they are?<br />
WIN monkey tales games!<br />
Do you ever dream of having loads of monkeys to<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 />
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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 />
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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 />
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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 />
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Waterfield (centre)<br />
celebrates his bronze medal<br />
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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 />
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