Room 613 Student Blogs - 2005/2006

March 12, 2006

QUEEN ELIZABETH II

Filed under: Newsbreak - Week 4, 6L Newsbreak, International Newsbreak, RonP —— ronniep @ 9:32 pm

 

Queen Elizabeth II is with Prince Philip [and] arrived in Australia for five days. She will be at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne on March 15. Queen Elizabeth’s first visit to Australia was in 1954 and her last was in 2002. It is amazing that several hundred well wishers went to greet her arrival. This may be her last overseas tour,and she will be turning 80 next month. I found this at this website.      

Hopes fade in Turkey bus plunge

Filed under: Newsbreak - Week 4, 6L Newsbreak, International Newsbreak, TylerN, 6L —— tylern @ 12:12 pm

A bus driving from Istanbul to Van with passengers crashed. The bus drove into a fast moving Kelkit River in Tokat provinces, 200 miles east of Ankara . The company operating the service said 39 people bought tickets but they say more people could have been on board, but it is not very clear how many people on the bus. One passenger managed to free himself and walk to a near by village to find help. A rescue team and divers found 16 bodies, most of them inside the bus. Some of the 16 bodies found were 12 miles down the river.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4789480.stm

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1705675&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

Rescuers work to free people from a bus in a river in Turkey

Chile’s First WOMAN President!!!!

Filed under: Newsbreak - Week 4, 6V Newsbreak, International Newsbreak, AllieB, 6V —— allieb @ 11:49 am

Michelle Bachelet, just sworn in yesterday becoming Chille’s first woman president. Ms. Bachelet is a medical doctor and was previously a defence minister. Michelle and her mother were held and tortured by Chille’s dictatorship. They ran away to Australia after being released and lived mostly in Sydney and spent time in Melbourne.”Our strength will be the women,” Bachelet, 54, told a large crowd(mostly female) of thousands downtown as she made her initial address as chief of state from the presidential palace, La Moneda. “In Chile, there will be no forgotten citizens. This is my promise.”

“We want a more prosperous, more just, more equal, more inclusive future,” Ms. Bachelet told thousands of cheering Chileans from the balcony of the government palace in Santiago.”I shall keep my word. I shall tell you what I think and I shall do what I say. I give you my word as a woman,” she said. Dr.Bachete is only the second elected female leader in South America!

This is where I received my information,

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/chiles-leader-takes-pragmatic-line/2006/03/12/1142098343668.html

March 11, 2006

North Korean Missiles

Filed under: Newsbreak - Week 4, 6V Newsbreak, EmelieV, 6V —— emeliev @ 4:04 pm

We’ve all heard about Iran planning to develop nuclear weapons, but what about North Korea? On Wednesday, North Korea fired two short-range missiles in the direction of China, this raised suspicion in the United States as to whether this was a test, it certainly did seem to be. Even though North Korea claims they have nuclear weapons, the U.S. officials are hesitant about jumping to conclusions, considering what happened in Iraq, I don’t blame them. Surprisingly enough, countries around North Korea don’t judge them as a threat. Even South Korea doesn’t think of them as a big danger. China has a reason to be nonchalant about North Korea’s missile launching, since they are its last main supporter. So should we all panic? No, well at least not yet. The short range missiles aren’t a big hazard to anywhere that’s more than 60 miles away from their launch sight. If North Korea ever developed long range missiles, then we’d have a little problem. These missiles could reach Alaska, Hawaii and other Western states.

March 9, 2006

Run Sled Dog Run!!!

Filed under: Newsbreak - Week 4, 6V Newsbreak, AJC, 6V —— ajc6v @ 10:50 pm

March 7 a musher of a dog sled team died on March 7. His name is Noah Burmeister. People say [he was operated on] Tuesday and stayed in the hospital. Then on Thursday morning 6:00 he died. I don’t know what will happen to his dog sled team. But I bet the team will be ok.

March 8, 2006

50 Officers Kidnapped in Iraq

Filed under: Newsbreak - Week 4, 6L Newsbreak, SamM, 6L —— samm @ 10:29 pm

In Baghdad, Iraq, gunmen dressed in camouflage kidnapped 50 security workers. Later Iraqi officers and US found 24 bodies scattered around the capital. The attackers went to the al-Rawafild Security Co. at 4:30 in the afternoon and forced the workers into cars. The people that did the kidnapping were a mix between Sunni and Shiite from eastern Baghdad.  While police were patrolling other areas gunfire and explosions killed several others. American Patrols found 18 more bodies in a building. All of them were men. In other parts of the city six more bodies were found. After all of this, on February 22, there was a bombing on an ancient Shiite shrine. Then there was a car explosion and killed 2 officers and injured 5 other people.

I found my information at

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,187139,00.html

The Kiwa Hirsuta… ever hear of it?

Filed under: Newsbreak - Week 4, 6E Newsbreak, EmilyM, 6E, Science —— emilym @ 10:23 pm

Could you believe that this… ugly thing resembles a lobster?

Kiwa Hirsuta

Well, it does and it was found near Paris, France by some American-led divers in the south pacific. Scientists named the animal the Kiwa Hirsuta. The animal is also said to be so distinct from many other species, that they made a new family and genus for it. The Kiwa Hirsuta was found in waters 2,300 meters - or 7,540 feet - deep at a location 1,500 kilometers - or 900 miles - south of easter island last year. This crustacean is 15 centimeters long and is white. CNN reports that it is about the size of a “salad plate”. One suprising characteristic is that it has “sinuous hair-like strands on its pinchers. The Kiwa Hirsuta is also blind and its family is named Kiwaida. Thats all the info I could get, but I’ll let you know if there is anymore on the Kiwa Hirsuta.

Whats going on?

Filed under: Newsbreak - Week 4, 6H Newsbreak, CelesteI, 6H —— celestei6h @ 5:50 pm

 

 

Muslims all around the world are angry. They have been protesting, for about a week, because, there have been cartoons that are showing the muslims prophet Muhammad in a bad way. The cartoons first started in a newspaper last September, in Denmark. Then, other newspapers in Europe started printing them. Muslims do not allow anyone to publicate pictures of Muhammad. Muhammad was born in 570 in Mecca, which is now Saudi Arabia. Muslims beleive the angel Gabriel, gave Muhammad the words of god, which are now in the Koran. The Koran is the Islam holy book.

The Sun: The 11-Year Cycle (It’s A Hit)

Filed under: Newsbreak - Week 4, 6V Newsbreak, JohnC, 6V, Science —— johnc @ 5:42 pm

In Washington, studies in science labs have come up that sun-spawned cosmic storms that have caused havoc with orbiting satellites and power grids have been thought to be 50% stronger in the next 11-year solar cycle than the last one!  Astronomers have volunteered to do a long-ranged forecast to find any solar activity that might start now in 2006 or later in 2008, but they didn’t give any predictions on any of the solar storms.  The astronomers still hoped to create early warnings to power companies, satellite operators, and other power and satellite companies around the world to prepare for these storms. These solar storms can be more than a happening, they can cause satellite failures, disruptions in electrical grids and blackouts, and can be a living nightmare for astronauts in outer space [where they] can be severely violent.  To all astronauts, be very careful and stay on Earth, who knows what might happen up there.  This is a newscast from yours truly, John.

                               

March 7, 2006

Solar Cycle

Filed under: Newsbreak - Week 4, 6H Newsbreak, RyanB, 6H, Science —— ryanb6h @ 5:59 pm

 

Every 11 years the sun will reverse its magnetic field causing a cycle of solar flares, sunspots, and magnetic storms having effects on earth. Scientist[s] think that the next solar cycle will be in the late 2007 or early 2008. The storm will be 30 to 50 percent stronger then the last. These storms can effect satillite orbit, disupt telecommunication, and can take down electric power grids. The scientist[s] predicted this by using a new computer made by the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Using this computer Scientist[s] said that “For the first time, we can predict the strenght of the 11-year solar cycle.” The other time we had a solar cycle peak was in 2001. This new model can predict when the next solar cycle will come.

I found my information from this website.

March 5, 2006

The Maldives

Filed under: Newsbreak - Week 4, Social Studies, 6H Newsbreak, KimE, 6H —— kime6h @ 6:28 pm

We all know the Maldives as small little islands, but they have a huge history. Some of that history is what you will learn right now. Map of Maldives

Here is one historic event that happened. (About how they got a republic government.) First, the Maldives went under a British protection in 1887, and were a dependency of the then-colony of Ceylon(now known as Sri Lanka) until 1948. Although the independence agreement with Britian was signed on July 26, 1965. For centuries before the island was adopted by a republican form of government in 1952, but the country was restored by 1954. Later, in 1968, a result of a referendum, the republic was once again established in a recently independent country(the Maldives). Also, in 1978 Ibrahim Nasir (authoritarian president since 1968) was removed and replaced from office. Ibrahim Nasir was replaced by Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. (A more progressive person.) Gayoom was later elected to the sixth, five year term in 2003.

On December 26, 2004, a really powerful tsunami occured in the Indian Ocean, which devastated twelve Asian countries. The Maldives soon reported 82 deaths. Also, they suffered enormous damage. Seventy-nine islands were left with unsafe water. Last, a Parliament was voted in June, 2005 to shift to a multiparty democracy, President Gayoom agreed and supported the move.

So that’s a story of the Maldives history. More information of the Maldives is that the capital is Male. Also, the people speak 2 different languages in Maldives, which are, Maldivian Divehi and English. Speaking of people, the population of the Maldives is probably more than 300,000! That’s a lot! Anyway, here is a picture of the Maldivian flag.

I got my information at http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107755.html. Another site you could go to for other information about the Maldives is http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/mv.html.

(more…)

February 13, 2006

Kemal Ataturk Letter

Filed under: Ataturk letter, Social Studies, 6L Newsbreak, KatarinaQ —— katarinaq @ 10:55 pm

1938

Dear American friend,

As you know I am a citizen of Turkey. Much has happened that you have yet to hear. So without further ado, let me tell you! You know those hats that men would always wear? They were called a fez. Men started wearing them when an Ottoman sultan demanded his officials and soldiers to where fezzes. This was actually an advantage for the Muslim men because when they prayed, their hats reached the ground and made it easier for their foreheads to reach. Then in the year 1925, Mustafa Kemal (our president of the Turkish republic) showed up with a hat that had no brim, and western clothing. So being the dictator he is, Mustafa made all men wear these hats. Yuck! These poor men then had to give up their lovely fezzes because Mustafa made it a law that they shall no longer where fezzes. Many men disliked this law and wished the could have their fezzes back! If I had to do that, people might have thought I’d given up my religion! But for us, we just had to wear veils. So I thought! He then took our veils away. He was like taking everything away from us! Then we got to go to school, get jobs and vote! That was pretty good. But all this was new to us so we adapted pretty slow. Wouldn’t you? All of this took part after World War One. But Mustafa carried on again about how he wanted more changes to our government.

You know Mustafa gave the idea of western clothing? Well guess what else he did, he moved the capital from Istanbul to Ankara, showed an alphabet that was related to the Roman alphabet for Western European languages. Then he printed new covers of newspapers, books and street signs in his own style. You may recognize this name Mustafa came to be known by, Ataturk. That means “Father of the Turks.” Pretty cool name! The government changed many times over the past five decades after Mustafa’s death, this year.

Well I’m out of time!

Write back as soon as you get a chance!

Hope all is well in America!

~ Katarina

February 12, 2006

Shawn White sweeps the Gold

Filed under: Newsbreak-Week 3, 6V Newsbreak, HeatherA, 6V, Uncategorized —— heathera @ 12:33 pm

The 2006 winter olympics is being held in Torrino, Italy. The U.S. snowborder Shaun White, competed in the olymics snowboarding the Half Pipe. The Half Pipe is a snowmade pipe with it’s top cut off.

//www.freestyleterrain.com/pics/pipes/olympic_half_pipe_big.jpg

The red head from California, 19 years old, spead down the HalfPipe at 46.8 seconds, recieving the gold medal. The U.S. was hoping for a repeat of the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, where they received gold, silver, and bronze medal. But instead a guy from Finland took bronze. Silver went to another U.S. competitor, and Gold was received by the Flying Tomatoe, A.K.A Shaun White. This is what you said after receiving the gold medal, ” I’m a little overwhelmed right now. I can’t explain it.” Shawn was a favorite in the Olympics, and expected to take first. Congrats on your first olympics medal Shaun!

February 8, 2006

The Smallest Fish

Filed under: Newsbreak-Week 3, 6L Newsbreak, International Newsbreak, AlexK, 6L —— alexk @ 10:10 pm

Did you know about the smallest fish called Paedocyris Progenetica? The fish is in the carp (family) and lives in acidic tea colored water in Sumatra in Indonesia. Its body is completely see-through. Its head has no strong bones. It has bizarre grasping fins. It is about a quarter of an inch long. It is a male angle fish and its habitat will disappear. If you want more information about it go on http://www.timeforkids.com

February 7, 2006

SUPER COMMERCIALS!

Filed under: Newsbreak-Week 3, International Newsbreak, AmandaM, 6E —— amandam @ 5:02 pm

I bet that you loved the Super Bowl but did you love the commercials? Did you know that for just 1/2 of a minute you would have to pay a big price of $2,500,000!!!Furthermore that’s for only 90,000,000 (people) to watch that one commercial. Just think how many commercials some people have. Some have more then 5. Even more, some people are starving and our world is more in-tuned with commercals! Long-time watcher of the bowl, DoreneM says ” People need to know what’s happening in the world so they can help and help other people.”

Newsbreak 3-Who’s that girl?

Filed under: Newsbreak-Week 3, International Newsbreak, MeghanM, 6L —— meghanm @ 11:11 am

The French citizens are ready for a new leader who is honost, and in touch with their daily life. Well, I think they have a winner! This person isn’t going to be like other presidents, because this person is a woman! This ladies name is Segolene Royal. Royal is a mother of four and is speaking for her heart against television violence, pornography, pedophilia, and teen pregnancy. Although she has not won yet, she looks like she will. Coming shortly after the surprise election of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero (in Spain), supporters of Royal began reffering to her as “la Zapatera”.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11182515/site/newsweek.com

February 5, 2006

Tasmanian Devils Mouth Cancer

Filed under: Newsbreak-Week 3, 6H Newsbreak, International Newsbreak, BriannaL, 6H —— briannal6h @ 5:12 pm

 These black scavengers live in Tasmania, Australia, and this is their only habitat. In the 1990’s there were 140,000 of these fox sized creatures, today it has decreased to 80,000. Scientists believe that this is due to Devil Facial Tumor Disease. This desease creates grotesque tumors on the Tasmanian Devil’s snouts, which leads to starvation. Some scientests believe this is a contagious disease that is spread when they bite eachother when they are fighting over carcasses,which is a natural behavior. When they bite eachother it’s usually on the face. A cytogeneticist, Anne-Marie Pearse found out that the chromosomes in the cancer cells were the same in every tumor. “Finding a vaccine would be the ultimate goal” said Pearse. She suspected that the continual line of cancer cells would attract researchers of human cancer. The only cancer that was like this one happened in dogs, but it was overcome by the dogs immune system. The devil’s desease cannot be overcome by it’s immune system though. Then a pathologist professional Conrad Muller said, that it was too early to tell what the ramifications of the discovery would be. Muller also said, “if the tumors are all common, then one potential approach would be some sort of vaccine therapy”. Hopefully they can find a cure and fast!

I Found this information at http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,183755,00.html#top

An unhealthy Tasmanian Devil

an unhealthy tasmanian devil

Find a healthy Tasmanian Devil at the website too, their really cute!!

February 4, 2006

Iraq Civilian Tragedies

Filed under: Newsbreak - Week 2, 6V Newsbreak, International Newsbreak, HeatherR, 6V —— heatherr @ 4:03 pm

Just recently a young woman of only 28 years old at the time of her death was killed in Iraq. People say she was far better known in iraq because of her establishment in being fearless and to succeed on her task to draw attention to civilians who have been killed or wounded in Afghanastan and Iraq. about two years ago she set up a organization called the campaign for ” victims of conflict”. Patrick leahy a D-VT as a result of her lobbying pursuaded congress to approve a $20 million compensation to help wounded civilians of this conflict. it was very painful for many people in both countries to think back to the tragic road bomb that took her out of their lives. the us military refuses to tally any deaths and most go unnamed. Yet almost everyday there are one or more people killed assassinated, or kidnaped . these are rarley reported yet they affect the lives of the victims families.
http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0405/223107.html

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Steeler (The Horse)

Filed under: Newsbreak-Week 3, 6H Newsbreak, International Newsbreak, CelesteI, 6H —— celestei6h @ 3:31 pm

You can’t keep a good horse down, especially a horse named after a super bowl team. This pacer (kind of horse) survived a Novemer car crash-the trailer he was in got rear-ended. Steeler (the horses name) got loose and galloped on the highway-and has finished second twice in the three 2006 starts. Of course, second isn’t what the other Steelers are after.

For more information and a video about Steeler, click here.

Just Stars

Filed under: Newsbreak - Week 2, 6V Newsbreak, International Newsbreak, ForrestG, 6V —— forrestg @ 3:22 pm

Two stars were surprisingly kicked out of the Milky Way! These stars are of a new type of object astromoners have said to be “exiles”. These are stars that were once part of a binary system that moved too close to the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. The pair was torn apart, and the star was triggered off on a tragectory that will take it out of our galaxy. These events happen every 100,000 years (we were pretty lucky).

Go to fullsize image

Oil tanker has small spill in Alaska

Filed under: Newsbreak-Week 3, 6L Newsbreak, International Newsbreak, JaimeH, 6L —— jaimeh @ 3:11 pm

Seabulk Pride Oil Tanker - photo from Anchorage Daily News

Photo by MARC LESTER / Anchorage Daily News

The A575 foot tanker loaded with 4.9 million gallons of gasoline plus other petroleum products. Less than 100 gallons of the ships cargo spilled that was from pumping equipment that was used to fill the hold. Petty Officer Steve Harrison said the ship made a soft landing, running aground on silt rather than rocks. Tugboats later secured the ship. This accident happend when the dubble hulled Seabulk Pride was being pumped up with cargo in Cook Inlet of Nikiski, and about 80 miles from Anchorage.A ice floe had struke the Seabulk which caused its line to break. It drifted for nealy an hour before running aground a half a mile away. There were no injuries reported among 34 members. The cargo included oil products similar in consistancy to asphalt. If you would like to fined more about this oil tanker please go to:news.google.com and click business.

February 2, 2006

Driving SUV’s While People Starve

Filed under: Newsbreak - Week 2, 6E Newsbreak, International Newsbreak, EmilyM, 6E —— Mr. Hetherington @ 10:35 pm

President Mwai Kibaki’s government had spent $12.2 million on brand new SUV’s. Nearly half of this amount was used to buy fifty-seven Mercedes Benz and the rest of the government had gotten four-wheel-drive SUV’s. Even when this happened, about 32 million could not afford a good meal. What happened was that after three years of horrible rains, Kenyans were almost at the point of starvation. “The part that’s annoying is that they’ve come in on a platform of change, but they have shown the same extravagance, the same disrespect of the people as the previous regime,” Maina Kiai, the chairman of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, said.

My resource was www.cnn.com quote from cnn too

Horse Olympics

Filed under: Newsbreak - Week 2, 6H Newsbreak, International Newsbreak, AliR, 6H —— alir @ 2:10 pm

The horse olympics are very fun to enjoy watching and going to them! I have only watched the olympics on tv I have never really have gone to the olympics but I really want to some time. They are really cool. The riders need to have a lot of stength to ride in the olympic games. A lot of the olympics are in greece and that is where I saw them. the only olympics I have really known about were the jumping olympics. But there are dressage olympics and enderance and lots more. The next olympics will be held in august this year. THe offical Name for the riding olympics is the equestrian events.The pictures below is of jumping olympics! This is the cource for the olympics last year!!

It sure take a lot of effort to jump all thoughs tramendisly high jumps!! Picture Below

But sometimes you fall off!! Picture below

So stay up and running and do your best. And jump like you have never jumped before!!! Picture below

By: ~Ali R.~

February 1, 2006

Two Newsmen Injured in Iraq War

Filed under: Newsbreak - Week 2, 6V Newsbreak, International Newsbreak, NatePD, 6V —— natepd @ 9:34 pm

Bob Woodruff and James Vogt are newsmen for World News Tonight and they were both injured by a bomb that went off on a roadside in Iraq. They were both there to cover the news of the war and they were riding in an armored vehicle when the bomb went off. The men were in the hospital in Iraq, then moved to a military hospital in Germany and now they are in the United States but still in a hospital and still seriously injured.

The two newsmen had been traveling in a United States Military Humvee but then they saw Iraqi soldiers in armored vehicles and the men asked the U.S. soldiers if they could travel with the Iraqi soldiers. The American soldiers hesitated but then they agreed and only 10 minutes later, the men were blown up in the bomb.

This is an example of the dangers that are killing soldiers and civilians in Iraq. The military reports that the roadside bombs in some areas are numerous because there were lots of them made in Iraq when Saddam Hussein was in power. The bombs are left over and are still active. No one knows where the bombs are and they blow up unexpectedly. there is no time to react because these are sudden and powerful explosions.

Earth’s “Relative” Reveled

Filed under: Newsbreak - Week 2, 6L Newsbreak, International Newsbreak, ElianaF, 6L —— elianaf @ 9:52 am

Over the past year, a group of astronomers (who are scientists that major in the study of space) called “planet hunters” have found numerous Earthlike planets outside the Milky Way Galaxy.

One of which was discovered around June 15, 2005 and it is similar to Earth in several ways. It is referred to as “Super-Earth” because it is 7.5 times larger than Earth and it doesn’t have an official name at the present time. This planet has a star about one-third the size of our sun it revolves around called Gliese 876. According to National Geographic, it is the “smallest known star to host orbiting planets”. “Super-Earth is most likely never going to have any tourists of any species due to it’s rocky and arid climate that can reach temperatures that are well over 500 degrees Fahrenheit! This newly discoverd planet has a 48 hour long year because it is very close to Gliese 876, so it can orbit the star faster. In addition to being called “Super-Earth”, it has also been called “Earth’s bigger cousin” by Paul Butler,who is an astronomer at Carnegie Institution of Washington D.C.

Well, for now we live on the only inhabited “Earth” that we know of. Who knows,maybe Earth doesn’t just have a “cousin” , maybe it has a whole “family” of planets that are just waiting to be discovered in our continues, infinite universe. If you want to learn more about “Super-Earth” then check out the site below..

 http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/06/0615_050615_planet.html   

                           

January 31, 2006

Michelle Kwans Best Shot

Filed under: Newsbreak - Week 2, 6L Newsbreak, International Newsbreak, MaxH, 6L —— maxh @ 8:20 pm

kwan2.jpg

With a smile on her face Michelle Kwan stepped onto the ice at her home rink in front of a panel of judges. These judges would decide if she would go to the 2006 Olympics or not. Michelle Kwan performed, the judges would take a 45 minute break to make their decision. The decision was yes, Bob Horen chairman of U.S. Figure Skating said “It is truly the opinion of the monitoring team that Michelle could win the Olympics!” Michelle will skate with recent national event winner Sasha Cohen, and 16 year old Kimme Meissner on the U.S. Team.

Scientists Say: Climate Changes “Worse than Thought”

Filed under: 6E Newsbreak, Newsbreak - Week 2, International Newsbreak, RyanG, 6E, Science —— ryang @ 8:08 pm

In London, England, the threat of climate change might be a lot worse than everyone first thought. Scientists have recently reported changes in global warming, and it is advancing to melt ice caps.

The UK government- commission report found evidence that says scientists now have “greater clarity and reduced uncertainty” about the problematic impacts of a change in climate. This evidence was presented at a Meteorological Office conference on climate change last year. Tony Blair, in the meeting, stated that it was clear that “risks of climate change may be greater than we thought”. He went on to write: “It is now plain that the emission of greenhouse gases, associated with industrialization and economic growth from a world population that has increased six-fold in 200 years, is causing global warming at a rate that is unsustainable”.

“Temperatures rose by about 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.6 degrees Celsius) during the 20th century. Computer modeling predicts increases of between 2.5 degrees and 10.4 degrees Fahrenheit (1.4 degrees and 5.8 degrees Celsius) by the year 2100, depending on how much is done to limit greenhouse gas emissions” the U.N. backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change claimed. These scientists expected that global warming will intensify storms, raise ocean levels, shift climate zones, and spread disease. Scientists are also concerned about the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets melting and the Gulf Stream shutting down. These are known to the scientists as climatic “tipping points”.

Other problems have also occurred, one British report warned that the huge west Antarctic ice sheet may be starting to disintegrate, an event that could raise sea levels by 16 feet! Clearly, there is a real concern amongst a growing number of scientists worldwide!

For more World News go to cnn.com. Just Click here.

January 30, 2006

Bird Flu [A Race Against Time]

Filed under: Newsbreak - Week 2, 6E Newsbreak, International Newsbreak, KristinaS, 6E —— kristinas @ 9:48 pm

A deadly strain of bird flu was detected in Northern Cyprus. The deadly H5N1 strain of Avain flu has been confirmed in a dead bird. Cyprus began killing free roaming poultry and disinfecting vehicles coming in from the Turkish areas. Hong Kong has also found birds that tested positive for the H5N1 strain. The bird flu has killed 81 people since 2003. The world health organization estimates this virus, or one similiar, could target humans. If this happens it could spread around the world in 3 months killing 2 to 7.4 million humans. It’s like the last flu pandemic called the Spanish flu. It occured at the end of World War 1 killing 50 million people around the world. Some doctors and scientists believe this is why the government should be making a vaccine to combat this virus when it becomes necessary. This info is from google news [bird flu]

Roof Collapses in Poland

Filed under: Newsbreak - Week 2, 6L Newsbreak, International Newsbreak, OmayiaD, 6L —— omyiad @ 9:03 pm

Imagine this, you’re in an exhibition hall in Poland and there is snow on the roof. Suddenly, because of the weight of 1 foot of snow, the roof collapses and you’re buried under metal and snow. Well, that is exactly what happened to about 500 people on Saturday in Katowice, Poland. Somewhere around 160 people are injured and 62 are confirmed dead. Of the 59 corpses that have been identified, 7 were foreigners. A search for bodies using dogs trained to find corpses failed and officials have basically given up hope for finding more survivors. A new law is being discussed that will compel large building owners to remove ice and snow from their roofs. Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewica states that “The changes in the law will be based on raising penalties, including the closure of buildings whose roofs are not cleared of ice or snow.” I think that the new law should go thorough in order to keep people safe. Don’t you?

For more information, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5581549,00.html

Bird Flu Efforts in the United States

Filed under: Newsbreak - Week 2, 6H Newsbreak, International Newsbreak, MayaK, 6H —— mayak6h @ 8:47 pm

The Bird Flu is a deadly disease to all birds and the bird population. Right now the disease is in Asia and Europe. It’s interesting but in 2003 Asia had the Bird Flu as well, sweeping out the poultry and wild bird population. Now the Bird Flu is back and the United States is doing reserch to help our people and birds in need. Ron DeHaven of Animal and Plant Health Inspection service says “We’re going to increase surveillance of migratory birds because we know that is a potential pathway”. Animal and Plant Health Inspection think that migrating birds are spreading the Flu and they’re going to be studing and testing them to see if it’s true. They will also be testing commercial poultry so that they might be able to find a cure.The testing cost a good amount of money; wild birds cost between $35 to $80 and commercial poultry cost between $30 to $35. Testing can cost a lot of money especialy with a lot of birds. Well the the Bush fondation asked congress for $91 million to put towards monitoring wild birds, vaccines for poultry, and to come together with other countries to help our birds survive this awful desease. By Maya K.

 

 

January 29, 2006

The Olympics, Let the games begin!

Filed under: Newsbreak - Week 2, 6L Newsbreak, International Newsbreak, KatarinaQ, 6L —— katarinaq @ 3:07 pm

On February 10th the Olympics will officially start in Turin, Italy. In just 17 days 84 medals will be given out to many athletes. Whether its biathlon, bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, luge, ice skating, or snow boarding, only one will receive the gold. These games are not in only one spot. They occur in eight others, Bardonecchia, Pinerolo, Pragelato, Cesana-Pariol, Cesana-San Sicario, Sauze d’Oulx, Sestriere, and Torino followed by Claviere and Torre Pellice, the two training centers. Now that you know where it will take place and what you will see, lets move on to the judges. There will be 650 judges and referee’s. 10,000 journalists and media operators will be there to ketch every game. Back then the Olympics were nothing what you thought they were. They were only one day until 684 B.C. That’s when it extended to three days. But as the 5th Century B.C. came along, the Olympics moved its way to five days. What you would watch was, running, long jump, shot put, javelin, boxing, pankration and equestrian events. Men could participate and watch the games. But not all women could go see these games. Some of the women did not like this segregation and would dress up as men to watch the games. If they were ever to be found they would be thrown off the Mountain of Typaion. As listed in the rules. There were also regulations. 14 articles in the regulations had an article on corruption. If a judge or opponent made a corruption, they would serve their punishment by being whipped.

Well there you have it. All you need to know about the Winter Olympics is taken care of. Now all you have to do is watch them for yourself!

For more information on the 2006 Winter Olympics,

go to: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/winter-olympics-turino-preview.html or http://www.sportsline.com/olympics/winter/

Credit to ‘Columbia Crossroads’

It’s Godzilla!!

Filed under: Newsbreak - Week 2, 6L Newsbreak, International Newsbreak, SamM, 6L —— samm @ 2:49 pm

Well not exactly; But the skull of a 135 million year old sea monster was found. Scientists discovered this large fossil in southern Argentina in an area that was once part of the Pacific Ocean. The creature’s name is Dakosaurus Andiniensi (its nickname is Godzilla) and is a whole new species of ancient crocodilians, but unlike today’s crocodiles “Godzilla” lived entirely in water. The creature was measured 13 feet from nose to tail. “Godzilla” does not have feet but four flippers and a fish like tail to move threw the water. Something that makes this mighty beast stand out is it’s snout. Most crocodiles have a long snout with sharp, identical teeth, but “Godzilla” has a short high snout with jagged teeth. These traits lead scientists to what it ate. “Godzilla” ate large marine reptiles and other sea creatures. But don’t worry Tokyo this ones in South America.

Ref:Photo and story from National Geographic for Kids

January 28, 2006

Earthquake hits Eastern Indonesia

Filed under: Newsbreak - Week 2, 6H Newsbreak, International Newsbreak, KelleyL, 6H —— kelleyl6h @ 10:06 pm

Can you believe that on January 28 an earthquake stuck Eastern Indonesia? Well at 1:58 a.m it hit the Banda sea in Eastern Indonesia. The earthquake had a 7.7 magnitude,but a depth of 212 miles which made the impact less on the Earth’s surface. Even though you may think that this earthquake caused lots of damage it didn’t and there is no chance that a tsunami would occure.”Although it was quite strong, it was deep, so the possibility of casualties and damage is relatively small,” Yusuf, an official at the national earthquake center in Jakarta, told Reuters on Saturday. Earthquakes are common in Indonesia and its 17,000 thousand islands are located around the Pacific ring of fire,so that is why there are so many earthquakes! Now you know about the earthquake in Eastern Indonesia.

Ref:http://www.metronews.ca/reuters_international.asp?id=125629

January 27, 2006

Toga’s missing, but new chick coming!

Filed under: Newsbreak - Week 2, 6V Newsbreak, International Newsbreak, SaraH, 6V —— sarah @ 4:07 pm

A penguin named Toga has been stolen from the Amazon World Zoo.The Mother and Father of Toga are Kyala and Oscar, had laid an egg, It had hatched and then they were living happily togther, that is untill Toga the offspring was stolen from the zoo. The police figure that someone stole the penguin for a “present” for someone. After that Kyala and Oscar missed Toga alot and It showed but eventually they moved on and suprisingly they started to build a new nest and the staff of the zoo, were hoping that Kyala would lay another egg. She did lay an egg and It is supposed to hatch somewhere around 40 days. Even though everyone wishes that Toga will return, It’s still wonderful news that a new offspring is on the way. Kath Bright, the zoo manager, said yesterday: “This is fantastic. Kyala and Oscar seem a happy pair of penguins and we are keeping our fingers crossed”. Please hope the best for Toga and the new baby penguin coming!-SaraH.

January 26, 2006

Space dust collected!

Filed under: 6H Newsbreak, Newsbreak - Week 1, International Newsbreak, SarahD, 6H —— sarahd6h @ 11:03 pm

        

Hi, I’m here to tell you about (the) space dust collected! I wasn’t one of the people chosen to do the news blogs, but I thought I would anyway because not many people in 6h did them so I thought I might help out a little! On January 15th, the space craft, “Star Dust” returned to earth after a seven year journey that had a mission to collect dust from space to learn how our solar system was created which was 4,550 million years ago. They also obtained dust from the close encounter with a comet! It will be interesting to see the data that the scientist(s) obtained from this experiment. I know this is a little bit short but it still gives good and interesting information.

(second photo by Mr. H)

Hostage in Iraq

Filed under: 6E Newsbreak, Newsbreak - Week 1, International Newsbreak, StephanieR, 6E —— stephanier @ 10:50 am

In Iraq they have a USA reporter for hostage until we give them their 14 Iraq girl prisoners. If we don’t give them they (say) they will kill her. They sent us a tape of her. She is speaking but there are guys in black suits and black hats all around her with guns. As she stays there her family really misses her. As her mother speaks “We will always think (of her) and love her forever.”

January 25, 2006

A Space Mission To Pluto

Filed under: 6H Newsbreak, Newsbreak - Week 1, International Newsbreak, VickyM, 6H —— vickym @ 4:23 pm

On January 19, 2006 at 2:00pm a space probe started it’s 3 billion mile journey to Pluto. It left the Earth going 36,000 mph. It was powered by 24 lbs. of plutonium. It was supposed to reach Jupiter in about a year. The space probe will use the gravity of Jupiter like a catapult to get some speed. Because of the distance the scientists will not be able to be given any information about Pluto until July, 2015. The trip is going to take about a decade. I found this interesting because I never knew it was possible to go to Pluto!

I found the information for this article at http://www.foxnews.com

January 24, 2006

Owen and Mzee-An everlasting relationship

Filed under: 6V Newsbreak, Newsbreak - Week 1, International Newsbreak, SaraH, 6V —— sarah @ 9:41 pm

New news on Saddams trial

Filed under: 6L Newsbreak, Newsbreak - Week 1, International Newsbreak, KeithC, 6L —— keithc @ 9:27 pm

Trial Delayed?

by Keith C

saddam picture

Recently Saddam Husseins trial was delayed. Why you ask? Because in Iraq where the trial will be held a minor hold up has occured. There was a new chief of the trial panel appointed to the trial. Which caused bickering between the other judges. Which resulted in a 5 day delay of the trial which was scheduled to resume on Tuesday Jan 24 will now be resumed on sunday Jan 29. Judge Hussein Moussawi , says ” this is just an excuse to give the judges time for long disscusions”. These long disscusions are needed to resolve issues surounding the bump in the road from getting their panel mixed up. This panel has lost two other members in the month long recces. Some of Saddams lawyers have been killed by people that do not want him to get off. I feel Saddam has killed many people and should be convicted. I also feel that this delay of the trial is not neaded very much. If they’re professional judges they should be able to resume the trial on time no matter what goes on in their trial panel. Well now you know my opinion and most of whats going on in Iraq. If you want to look this story up further go to the link below:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-012406iraq_lat,0,2481443.story?coll=la-story-footer&track=morenews

January 23, 2006

Osama bin Laden Audiotape

Filed under: 6V Newsbreak, Newsbreak - Week 1, International Newsbreak, EmelieV, 6V —— Mr. Hetherington @ 6:32 pm

Osama bin Laden a known terrorist, who has been silent for more than thirteen months has spoken again. The Al-Qaeda chief has sent an audiotape, offering the United States a truce. President Bush rejected the offer immediately saying “We do not negotiate with terrorists. We put them out of business.” Although Osama bin Laden did promise there would be more attacks in the “heartland” of America, the United States will not raise the national alert level. “It is no accident that we have not been hit for more that four years”, insisted Vice President Dick Cheney. On the other hand Cheney does admit that U.S. citizens should be careful he claims that “the enemy that struck on 9/11 is weakened and fractured, it is still lethal.” Last week, an U.S. air strike in Pakistan killed eighteen people. Four of which were involved in Al-Qeada. One, the son-in-law of Osama bin Laden’s main deputy, and another a bomb expert. When asked if he agreed with attack Pakistan’s Prime Minister said, “Clearly every countries sovereignty needs to be protected and safeguarded.” Although the white house refused to comment on the attack, they said before the attack. “The terrorists started the war. And the president made it clear that we will end it at a time and place of our choosing”. I thought this topic was interesting because Osama bin Laden’s United States #1 enemy and we all thought he was forced into hiding. Then after thirteen months we get a tape from him imposing another threat on the U.S.

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