KIDS News

Compiled by Husna Inayathullah

24th All-Island Schools Drama Competition

The awards and honours presentation ceremony of the All-Island Schools Drama Competition organised by the Ministry of Cultural and Aesthetic Affairs was held recently under the patronage of the Minister of Education. It was held in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and the Tower Hall Foundation.

Minister of Education, Akila Viraj Kariyawasam said most students avoid Arts due to technology and the strenuous life. "A monotony has been created in society and art renders an invaluable service," Minister said.

A large gathering including the Director General of the Tower Hall Foundation, Lionel Fernando, Director, Lal Rathnaweera and schoolchildren selected for the final round, principals and teachers attended the event. '

Bed bugs don't like certain colours

Bed bugs seem to have a strong preference for particular colours ! According to the Journal of Medical Entomology, the blood-sucking insects love black and red but hate yellow and green.

This information could help make better traps to lure and catch the bugs.

But it is too early to say if yellow sheets can stop them living on your bed. Bed bugs are tiny and like to live in the seam of your mattress and live close to their next meal - your blood.

Scientists carried out a series of experiments in their labs, placing bed bugs in dishes with different colour shelters made out of cards. Rather than taking cover at random, the bugs selected the shelters according to their colour, showing a preference for black and red.

Princess Charlotte turns one

Princess Charlotte has turned one! Four photographs have been released by Kensington Palace, taken by her mum - the Duchess of Cambridge.

In the pictures, one-year-old Charlotte is seen almost walking, pushing a wooden trolley full of blocks, in a light-pink dress and matching cardigan. She has to keep up with her elder brother, Prince George.

Princess Charlotte was born on May 2, 2015."The Duke and Duchess are very happy to share these important family moments and hope that everyone enjoys these lovely photos as much as they do," a Kensington Palace spokesperson said.

108-year old message in bottle

A message in a bottle found washed on a German beach has been confirmed as the oldest ever found.

The bottle was released in the North Sea between 1904 and 1906, and found by a woman on a beach in Amrum, Germany in April last year.

The bottle had been drifting on the North Sea for over 108 years.

The Guinness Book World Records said it was one of 1,000 bottles sent as part of an experiment in 1906 by British marine biologist George Parker Bidder to track ocean currents.

In each was a postcard that promised a shilling to anyone who returned it.

The retired postal worker who found it smashed the bottle and followed the instructions and sent it back to Mr Bidder, who had been dead for 60 years.

There was still hope to find more of the 1,000 bottles released by Mr Bidder.

The message beat the previous record, a bottle found in the Shetland Islands in 2013 that had been adrift for 99 years and 43 days.