News around the world

Five-year-old mayor loses re-election

A five-year-old boy who served as the mayor of the tiny town of Dorset, Minnesota lost the most recent election to a 16-year-old boy, ending his streak as mayor.

Robert - also known as "Bobby" Tufts was only three when he became the first elected mayor of Dorset. Dorset is a small town with a population of between nine and 28 people about 250 kilometres (155 miles) north west of Minneapolis. It has no formal city government, so the mayoral election is purely for fun and fund-raising!

Dorset residents can vote as many times for whatever candidate they want for $1 per vote. Ballot boxes are placed around town and all money raised goes towards putting together the annual Taste of Dorset festival, where the next mayor is decided by pulling a name out of one big ballot box.

This year the winning name was that of Eric Mueller. Bobby is ready to step aside. "It was fun, but it's time to pass on the vote," the almost-six-year-old said Monday. "He really enjoyed being a kid in some festivals, not having to perform," said his mom Emma of Bobby's return to his job as a regular kid. Instead of throwing candy at festivals, Bobby now gets to be the one catching it.

Internet

Fourteen-year-old swims across Lake Ontario!

A 14-year-old girl from St. Catharines, Ontario is the youngest person to swim across Lake Ontario! Trinity Arsenault completed the 52-kilometre (32-mile) swim from Niagara to Toronto, Ontario in less than 24 hours!

Trinity's mother Christine also completed the swim a few years ago. Not only is Trinity the youngest person to complete the swim, but is also a part of the only mother-daughter duo to do the swim.

In 1954 Marilyn Bell became the first person to ever swim across the lake. When Trinity finished her swim, Bell called to congratulate her!

"She said I remind her of herself with a dream and that she hopes we become good friends," Trinity said Bell said during their call.

"I can't believe Marilyn Bell just said that to me!"

The record was previously held by Annaleise Carr who swam the same route when she was 14 years and 158 days old in 2012. Trinity completed her swim when she was 14 years and 70 days old.

- Internet

New fossil suggests dinos had feathers

A newly discovered species of plant-eating dinosaur has lead scientists to believe that all dinosaurs had the ability to grow feathers! Kulindadromeus Zabaikalicus was discovered in eastern Siberia and lived about 160 million years ago, around the same time as the Aurornis Xui, the oldest-known relative of modern birds. It was about the size of a turkey and had a scaly tail and shins and short bristles on its head and back.

But the most exciting feature of the dinosaur is the feathers on its arms and legs, which would have given it the same down look as some modern chicken breeds, like the Silkie.

Until now, the only dinosaurs known to have feathers were meat-eating Theropods who are believed to be the direct ancestors of modern birds. But Kulindadromeus was a plant-eating dinosaur and belonged to a group of dinosaurs called Ornithiscians, which included duck-billed Hadrosaurs, Stegosaurs and Ankylosaurs.

- Internet