Other News

Breaking News Politics

Mass Protests In Arab Countries

Recently, there have been many “mass protests,” particularly in countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

A mass protest is when many people (often hundreds of thousands) gather in a city to show their government that they don’t like it, or that they don’t agree with something it is doing.

In Tunisia protests began last December, to force the country’s president to leave. The people were upset because they had no jobs, food was too expensive and many people in the government could not be trusted. The protest worked and President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his family were forced to leave Tunisia. They are accused of having stolen money and property.

Animals Entertainment

A New Aquarium For Toronto?

Toronto has a huge sports stadium, a science centre and great museums. But there’s one attraction it doesn’t have, that some big cities have—a large aquarium.

Now, an aquarium may be built in Toronto. If it is approved by the City Council, it could be ready by July 2015.

The aquarium would be in a large building. It could include many thousands of fish and marine animals including sharks. One idea is to have a jellyfish room with special lighting and mirrors to make it look very exciting. Another idea is for a tunnel that people could walk through to see the fish swimming around and above them.

Sports

Young Canadian Makes Tennis History

At the young age of 20, Milos Raonic has become Canada’s highest ranked tennis player, ever. Raonic is from Thornhill, Ont.

He jumped from 156 at the end of last year to number 37 with an incredible two-week run that included a win at San Jose and a closely played loss to the number-one seed Andy Roddick in Memphis last weekend.

He didn’t get to where he is by luck–he’s gotten here by hard work, says his mother. She told CBC Radio this morning that her son has practiced long and hard to get where he is. In fact, when he started out he wasn’t even good enough to play with the other kids his age. The coach said he had to improve if he wanted to join the other kids. So that’s what he did, playing before and after school and on weekends until he was good enough to be allowed to work with a coach.

Entertainment Technology

Humans Take On Computer In Jeopardy!

In 1997, there was a very famous chess match. The world champion chess player, Gary Kasparov, went up against a special challenger: a computer. The computer was called “Deep Blue” and it was built by IBM just to play chess. Deep Blue won the six-game chess match.

This year, IBM came up with a new challenge. They decided to build a computer that could match wits with two humans on a game show called Jeopardy!. The computer is called Watson, and its “brain power” is equal to thousands of home computers.

Playing chess is something computers can do very well because it relies on quickly deciding between different moves. However, answering questions and understanding English is not something computers do well. In Jeopardy!, the questions may include riddles, puns and cultural references. These are things humans are good at, but computers are not.

Sports

Soccer Star Ronaldo Retires

A world-famous soccer player has retired.

World Cup star Ronaldo, who plays for the Corinthians soccer team in Brazil, is one of the most famous soccer players in the world. People call him “a legend.”

He has won two world cups with Brazil and has played on some of Europe’s best teams. He has scored more goals than anyone in the history of the World Cup.

Health Kids Lighter

New Kinds Of Playgrounds In Toronto

Playgrounds in Toronto are changing. Old, boring playgrounds made of wood are on the way out and new, more creative playgrounds are taking their place.

To build a new playground, many safety rules have to be followed. Sometimes, these rules can make the equipment boring and too simple.

Most old playgrounds have a slide, monkey bars and a climber. They are good for exercising the body but they don’t challenge the brain, so kids get bored and stop using them. If kids stop using them, they stop exercising their bodies and then they aren’t as healthy.

Animals Environment

Dwindling Sea Ice Hurting Polar Bear Population

Polar bears need to be really fat in order to have healthy babies. But because of global warming, the bears aren’t as fat as they used to be, and they aren’t having as many babies.

Polar bears get fat when they can hunt a lot of seals. They can only hunt seals when there is sea ice for them to hunt from.

Global warming is making the sea ice melt. The bears don’t have as much time to hunt because the ice melts too early. Once the ice is gone for the year, the bears have to go to the shore.

News

Insensitive SuperBowl Ads Draw Attention

During the SuperBowl, advertisers always run some really interesting or funny ads. Recently, some ads ran during the SuperBowl that have been creating some controversy.

The ads were for a company called Groupon. Groupon sells discounted tickets for events and products.

In one ad, well-known actor Timothy Hutton talks about Tibet. In Tibet, the people have faced many challenges such as lack of freedom to be an independent country.

Breaking News Politics

Toronto Celebrates With Egypt

People in Toronto are celebrating the news that Hosni Mubarak has stepped down as president of Egypt. Hundreds of anti-Mubarak protesters gathered in Toronto’s Yonge-Dundas Square last Friday to celebrate.

When Egypt’s vice-president, Omar Suleiman, told the people on Friday that the president would step down and end his 30-year ruling, everyone got very excited. Many people in Egypt had been gathering in the streets of Cairo to ask Mubarak to quit as president.