Readable, teachable news.
Wednesday, December 25, 2024
U.S. President Barack Obama has a reputation for being an eloquent speaker.
When he was first elected in 2009, he won the hearts of American voters with his smart, straight talk.
His opponent in the American presidential race this time around is Mitt Romney.
On Wednesday night, the two men who want to be president squared off in a debate.
Each debater spoke for two minutes on topics such as healthcare, the American economy and how they would create new jobs for Americans if they are elected.
People around the world will soon be able to see what life in a small northern community looks like, thanks to Google Street View.
The hamlet of Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, was photographed for Google Street View in August.
Street View is a feature of Google Maps which allows users to see panoramic street-level photographs of the places on a map.
In Street View, the user can click on arrows and “travel” along the streets, seeing the buildings, houses and sidewalks.
Many places around the world have been mapped by Street View but Cambridge Bay, which is located on the southeast coast of Victoria Island in Canada’s Arctic, is the farthest north so far.
The Pan American Games are coming to Toronto, Ontario in 2015.
The Games are like the Olympics, but only athletes from North, South and Central America and the Caribbean compete.
It is different from the Olympics because it celebrates culture as well as sports. And that’s where the pianos come in.
The Games don’t start for another three years, but last July a Pan Am project called Play Me, I’m Yours, put 41 painted pianos around Toronto.
The pianos stood for the 41 countries and protectorates belonging to the Pan American Sports Organization. (Protectorates are countries that have their own government but also get protection from stronger countries.)
Each piano was decorated by an artist who lives in Canada but was born in one of the 41 countries.
The pianos were placed in public parks, streets and squares.
Play Me, I’m Yours invited everybody to play. It didn’t matter if you were piano teacher or could only play Chopsticks.
The Pope’s butler is on trial.
The Pope is the leader of the Catholic Church around the world. The current Pope is Pope Benedict XVI.
The Pope’s butler is named Paolo Gabriele.
His job is to look after the personal needs of the Pope—for instance, serve the Pope his meals and help him dress.
Naturally, he has access to some very private areas of the Vatican, like the Pope’s bedroom and other rooms.
For months, Italian media have been publishing private information about the Catholic Church. No one knew where the media got the information.
It looks like the butler may have done it.
The Bank of Canada recently unveiled the country’s new $20 bill.
The bills, like the recently updated $100s and $50s, are made of a polymer (a type of flexible plastic) instead of paper.
The new bills have a transparent “window” in them.
The new $20 bills are more environmentally friendly than the old bills, because they are more durable so they won’t have to be replaced as often. The government says they last 2.5 times longer than paper bills.
Canada has hundreds of offices around the world in many different countries.
Recently, Canada and the United Kingdom (UK) signed an agreement to share some of their embassies.
The two countries have a “common history and shared values,” Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said in a press release. He said the new arrangement will help Canada save money on office space and resources. It will also allow Canada to have offices in countries where they don’t already have them.
“Canada will be sharing space, as we do with other trusted countries, to get maximum reach at minimal cost to taxpayers,” said Baird.
Baird’s UK counterpart agreed that the two countries share common interests. The most “pressing international issue on our common agenda” is the situation in Syria, said William Hague, the United Kingdom’s Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.
In any sport, referees sometimes make mistakes.
After all, no one’s perfect.
But major league football teams have been irritated by the unusually high number of bad mistakes made by the referees these days, including a bizarre call on Monday night.
The National Football League (NFL) is using stand-in refs.
The league’s usual referees are in a contract dispute and are unable to reach a new collective bargaining agreement.
So the NFL has brought in replacement refs that aren’t as well trained or as experienced.
And they’re making some bad calls.
On Monday night, there was an especially poor call made by a ref that directly affected the outcome of a game.
The start of the NHL season, and the season in general, may not happen as expected.
The NHL has locked out its players.
For the second time in eight years, the NHL is experiencing problems between its owners and players.
The Collective Bargaining Agreement between players and owners has expired.
Do you think you live in an average family?
According to the latest Census of Population, published by Statistics Canada, “average” has changed.
Every five years, Canadians are asked questions about their families and their life.
For instance, “How many people live here?” and “What are their ages?”
Some new information from the 2011 was recently published.
That census counted 9.4 million families in Canada, up 5.5 per cent from 2006.
The other thing a census tells us is what Canadian families look like.
For instance, in 1961 (according to that census) the average family comprised 3.9 people.
In 2011 (according to the most recent census) the average family comprises 2.9 people.
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford went to Chicago, Illinois in the U.S. this week.
He went to promote goodwill between the two cities and also to make some business deals. But he couldn’t shake the scandal that he’d left behind in Toronto.
The mayor has been accused of using city staff to help with his personal hobby of coaching football.
He has also been accused of charging the cost of his car and other expenses to the city, even when they are used for football.
