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Occupy Toronto Protesters Peacefully Leave St. James Park

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For more than a month, the people of Occupy Toronto staged a peaceful protest on behalf of what they call “the 99 per cent.”

They built a tent village in St. James Park in downntown Toronto and camped there.

They set up a media centre, so TV news stations, newspapers and websites like Teaching Kids News could get information about them and their cause.

They used “social media” tools like Twitter and Facebook to communicate with each other.

This allowed them to talk to each other and let people know what was happening at all times.

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Environment News

TKN Exclusive: How Thailand’s Floods Have Affected Me

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Nat Atherton is a Canadian living and working in Thailand. He gave TKN a first-hand account of the day-to-day havoc this year’s floods have caused.

The flooding here has been horrible. It hasn’t yet come into the centre of the capital (Bangkok), where I live, but has affected many of the people I work with.

Many of the poorer Thais live in the surrounding areas, which are flooded chest deep (1.5 metres) in some places.

I know a great many people who have lost their houses.

Many others haven’t been able to go home to check on their homes since rivers of dirty water separate their work from their houses.

Many well-known tourist districts have also been affected, including the world’s largest outdoor market, Chatuchak.

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News Politics

Quebec Gets A New Political Party

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A brand new political party, the Coalition pour l’avenir du Quebec (Coalition for the Future of Quebec), was launched last Monday.

A coalition is a group of people, often from different backgrounds, with the same goals.

This makes six registered political parties in the Province of Quebec, where the Liberals are in power and the Bloc Quebecois is in second place.

The leader of the the new party is Francois Legault.

He is known to Quebecers as a separatist, someone who would like to see Quebec separate from Canada to become its own country.

But last week Legault spoke as though separation was not as important to him as it once was.

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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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News

The Small Horse With The Heart Of Gold

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Hickstead, the stallion, was not Eric Lamaze’s pet.

In fact, Lamaze wasn’t even Hickstead’s owner. But he was Lamaze’s work partner and best friend.

So after a race last week in Italy, when Hickstead began to fall over with Lamaze on his back, the horse turned to make sure his rider was clear before he fell all the way down. He didn’t want to hurt his best friend.

The gold medal-winning Hickstead died instantly of heart failure, without pain.

Hickstead and Lamaze were a good match. Both came from troubled backgrounds. Horse experts said Hickstead was too small for international competition and had a temper that no one could tame. Many said he would never be a winner.

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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 Politics

What’s Happening In Europe?

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A number of countries in Europe are having problems with their finances and their leaders.

This year, four prime ministers in Europe have quit their jobs or been forced out of office.

That’s because their countries have spent more money than they make and now they can’t pay their debts.

Some of the countries are making deals with other countries in Europe and the International Monetary Fund for a “bailout.”

A bailout is a loan to a country to keep it from going bankrupt.

The richer countries agree to put in more money to save the poorer countries.

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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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