Tag: grade 8

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 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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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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Breaking News Politics

Financial Crisis In Greece Affecting EU

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Greece is having a crisis over its money and its leaders. Greece’s crisis is affecting other countries in Europe.

Over time, Greece has borrowed a lot of money–more than it can pay back.

The European Union (EU) is a partnership of 27 countries including Greece.

The EU countries have been working together to come up with a plan to help Greece repay the money it owes.

If Greece can’t figure out a solution for its problems, it may go bankrupt or be forced out of the European Union.

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News

Canada Trading More With India, China

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Canada has always done a lot of trading with the United States, the biggest buyer of the products and natural resources it sells.

But now companies in Canada are finding other countries to trade with, like India and China.

A new report written by experts at one of Canada’s biggest banks says that by the end of this decade — the year 2020 — Canada will only trade about 60 per cent of its goods with its neighbouring country, the United States. That’s down from 75 per cent right now.

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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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