Kids News

Compiled by Husna Inayathullah

Expressing Opinion: Learn to write ‘Editorials’

Dear Teens,

Here’s an opportunity for you to express your opinions on a given topic. This is for the bigger guys, in the age group 12-16 yrs. We will give you a topic and you give your opinion on it as a short 'Editorial’ comment as in a newspaper. Your first topic (for next week) is 'Dealing with Floods'. Please write your opinion according to the following guidelines:

* Think about the recent floods.

* Seek new ideas and aspects on this subject from your friends and grown-ups.

* Identify what concerns you the most in this situation of floods.

* Write your 'Editorial Comment' on this subject with a length of 150-200 words.

* The best editorial of the week will be proudly published in the Junior Observer.

Certify your ‘Editorial’ by your teacher and send it with your name, school, grade and your photograph to: [email protected] or by post to “Junior Observer Editorial”, Lake House, No. 35, D. R. Wijewardene Mawatha, Colombo 10.

Distribution of text books and uniforms

Under a special disaster relief program organised by the Ministry of Education for schoolchildren affected by the recent bad weather, the first stage of despatching school uniforms, textbooks and exercise books to the provincial and zonal offices started recently at the book stores complex at Pitipana, Homagama. It started under the patronage of the Minister of Education, Akila Viraj Kariyawasdam. In addition, steps are taken to distribute the material to the Ministry of Education. Two sets of school uniforms will be provided to each affected child.

Doctors want Olympics moved due to Zika

An open letter from more than 100 leading doctors and scientists has called for the Rio Olympics to be moved.The letter was sent to the World Health Organisation, which had rejected the idea of moving or postponing the Olympics.The WHO believes the Olympics will 'not significantly alter' the spread of the virus, which is linked to serious birth defects.

The Zika outbreak began in Brazil a year ago, but now more than 60 countries and territories have been affected. While Zika’s symptoms are mild, it causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads and may also cause a rare and sometimes fatal neurological syndrome in adults.

Insect poo turning Taj Mahal green

The Taj Mahal in India is turning green due to insect poo. Swarms of small insects are using India’s top tourist attraction as a toilet. The problem is caused by insects breeding in a polluted river nearby and there’s been a rise in their number. Cleaners have been hired to scrub Taj Mahal’s walls every day, but there are worries that their elbow grease could ruin the beautiful marble and mosaics.The insect is a type of fly that looks like a mosquito.The Taj Mahal is a huge tomb built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, in memory of his wife, in the 1600s.It is visited by millions of people every year.