Author: Joyce Grant

Kids News

Toronto School Bans Balls

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Students at Earl Beatty Public School in Toronto aren’t allowed to play with balls in their school playground any more.

The school has banned balls – including soccer balls, footballs, baseballs and tennis balls – from its playground.

Kids can only play with soft, foam balls such as Nerf balls.

The ban was put in place after a parent was hit in the head with a soccer ball and suffered a concussion.

The school’s principal, Alicia Fernandez, said kids were often getting hurt by balls in the playground.

She said they were sometimes scared.

She also pointed out that the school has a very small outdoor play area.

Some parents say the ban is an overreaction.

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Breaking News News

Occupy Toronto Staying Put – For Now

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On Monday, the “Occupy Wall Street” protesters at Zuccotti Park in New York were evicted.

“Evicted” means made to leave. Anyone who didn’t leave the park was forcibly removed by the police.

The people in the park had been there for months. It was a peaceful protest against what they see as the gross differences in wealth between the “one per cent” of very wealthy people and everyone else (the “ninety-nine per cent”).

Zuccotti Park is owned by a company called Brookfield Properties. Brookfield had allowed the protesters to camp there since September.

Now that the protesters are gone, Brookfield is cleaning up the park. Brookfield said in a letter to New York’s mayor the park had become “unhealthy and unsafe.”

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Health Technology

Remote Community Gets High-Tech Pharmacy

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Curve Lake is a First Nations community half an hour north of Peterborough.

People who live there no longer have to go all the way into the city when they run out of their medicine and need a prescription filled.

They can get their medicine from a machine, similar to a bank machine – except that what comes out isn’t money, it’s pills.

Curve Lake gets a lot of snow in the winter.

In bad weather, it can be difficult for the community’s residents to get to the nearest pharmacy if they run out of their medication.

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News Science Technology

Phobos-Grunt Mission To Mars Misfires

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In the 1970s, a space project called the Phobos-Grunt project was proposed by Russian space experts.

At the time, it represented a dream for the Russian space program. To build a vehicle that could go all the way to Mars, to collect information from one of its moons, Phobos. It would be Russia’s first deep-space mission, developed entirely in the post-Soviet era.

The project had lots of problems over the years. They include mismanagement, political issues and serious technical problems, according to Russian journalist Anatoly Zak.

However, the Russian space agency persisted, and eventually the Phobos-Grunt became a reality.

The Phobos-Grunt launched on Nov. 9.

Unfortunately, the unmanned vehicle would not make it to Mars.

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News

Toronto To Get New Streetcars

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Toronto is getting 204 new streetcars.

The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) says riders wanted better streetcars.

They wanted more seats and better accessibility for people who are physically challenged.

The new streetcars have a floor that is lower, so they are easier to get on and get off, especially for people with physical challenges.

They have more seats, larger windows and wider doors, including a third door for bicycles.

They are about twice the length of the current streetcars, and can handle 251 passengers.

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Breaking News Politics

Italy’s PM To Step Down

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Italy’s prime minister is stepping down.

On Tuesday, Silvio Berlusconi announced that he will resign.

His announcement came after a key vote in parliament indicated that he does not have the support of the majority of parliament.

Italy is in the midst of an “economic crisis” – the country has borrowed more money than it can pay. It has too much “debt.”

Other countries, like Ireland, Portugal and most recently Greece have had similar crises.

However, Italy’s problem is much bigger and arguably more of a problem for the whole European Union (EU). The European Union is a partnership of 27 countries in Europe.

Italy is more than $2.6 trillion in debt.

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News

Flood Wreaks Havoc In Thailand

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For months, Thailand has been experiencing a devastating flood.

The waters are wreaking havoc in 25 provinces, flooding farmlands, homes and businesses.

The water gathers in the country’s central plains and makes its way south to the sea, going through Thailand’s capital city, Bangkok, on its route.

More than 500 people have died in the floods.

It is estimated that more than three million people have been affected.

At least a fifth of Bangkok is now under water. Bangkok has many canals and rivers that cut through it.

The polluted water is a health hazard; it is up to chest-high in some areas of the city.

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Entertainment Lighter

Toronto’s Mayor Gets A Surprise Visit

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Toronto’s mayor, Rob Ford, was caught off-guard by a comedy team called This Hour Has 22 Minutes.

One of the fictional characters on CBC’s This Hour is Marg Delahunty.

She plays a “warrior princess journalist” who often confronts politicians in a funny way.

She “ambushes” them and talks to them about the issues of the day. It’s meant to be funny but often insightful, too.

Last week she tried to ambush Toronto Mayor Rob Ford in the driveway of his home.

There are two sides to the story of what happened next.

According to Marg Delahunty (comedian Mary Walsh in real life), their camera crew ambushed the mayor at 8:30 a.m., in daylight, and in her typical loud-mouthed way she started offering the mayor some advice.

She was trying to tell him that “we bombastic buffoons should stick together.”

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Science

The First Mummy In 3,000 Years

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The body of Alan Billis, who died of cancer recently will be the first one in the modern world to be mummified like the ancient Egyptians were.

While he was terminally ill with lung cancer, Billis—a taxi driver in the UK—signed up for the procedure.

Dr. Stephen Buckley is a scientist who has been working for nearly 20 years to figure out how to mummify bodies in the same way Egyptian bodies like Tutankhamun’s were preserved.

His process was filmed for a television documentary on Britain’s Channel Four TV station.

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News Politics

The World Gets A New Country

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The most recent country to be formed in the world is called the Republic of South Sudan. It was formed on July 9, 2011.

Before July, South Sudan was part of Sudan, a country in the north-east of Africa. (Sudan itself used to be part of Egypt, but became independent in 1956.)

South Sudan was formed following two civil wars, one in the 1970s and—following an 11-year ceasefire—another which began in the 80s. The southern part of Sudan demanded independence.

When the new country’s independence was declared, its citizens took to the streets of Juba, the capital, to celebrate.

Salva Kiir Mayardit (pictured here) is the president of the new country, which has 10 states.

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