Innehållsförteckning för April 2022/ Issue 31 från News Bites

GATHERING INTERESTING NEWS THAT CONNECTS YOUNG READERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD Hey there, News Biters! We hope all is well with you and our front-page trickery didn’t throw you too much! Yes, April 1st is a day that excites, fools and frustrates many people around the world – especially those on the receiving end of jokes, gags and set-ups. Wait until you see what pranks have been pulled in the past by organisations and businesses around the world in our April Fools feature on pages 12 and 13. Spaghetti Trees and Men in Bottles? Surely no one would fall for such stories We have all your other favourites in here too, needless to say. Check out our WWW News on page 6 and decide which ones you think are wacky,…

Spoilsport? When Nova, a one-year-old border collie in Texas, came across Abraham Lincoln in statue form, she tried to get him to throw her Frisbee. A video shows her trying repeatedly, looking up at him appealingly. But the president just didn’t want to play. Adorable Nova apparently loves nothing more than playing with her Frisbee, and often gets random strangers to throw it for her. People always oblige but her owner said: ‘Good ole Abe Lincoln kept his stone-cold gaze and continued to ignore her. Weird... I always pictured him as an animal person.’ Well, she was right – he was. Lincoln had a dog called Fido at the time he became president, and when he had to leave him in the care of a family friend he gave instructions…

Available on: Disney+ (from March 11) Rated: PG Starring: as the voice of Mei Lee, Sandra Oh as the voice of Ming Lee (Mei’s mum) Directed by: Domee Shi Meet Meilin (Mei) Lee. She wears what she wants and says what she wants. 24/7, 365. This is going to be the best year ever, and nothing’s going to get in her way. Yeah, right! Disney’s newest animation Turning Red is releasing this month via the Disney+ platform and it promises to be fun. In it, we meet Mei – a confident, dorky and rambunctious middle-schooler who has the world at her feet. However, when an ancient mystical spell – passed down from her Chinese ancestors – reawakens, Mei rises one morning to discover she has been ‘poofed’ into a giant…

La Voiture Noire 5 FAST FACTS 1. The Bugatti La Voiture Noire (which means the black car in French) became the most expensive car ever when it sold for $18 million. That price broke the previous record set by the $13-million Rolls Royce Sweptail in 2017. The record was broken again in 2021 with the sale of the $28-million Rolls Royce Boat Tail to superstar couple Jay-Z and Beyoncé. 2. The La Voiture design was inspired by the company’s 1936 model called the Type 57 SC Atlantic, of which four were made. Jean Bugatti’s one went missing during World War II and was never seen again. It was called ‘La Voiture Noire’. 3. The engine is essentially two V8 turbo-charged units. One V8 would be enough for most supercars but…

Giraffe Hello, down there! I am a giraffe, and I live in Kenya in East Africa. I’m so tall I could look into the upstairs windows of a two-storey building without even standing on my tippy toes. Early life When I was born, I fell almost two metres to the ground and landed on my head. Ouch! Don’t worry, though – I could stand within 30 minutes of being born and could run after a mere 10 hours. My mother protected me, hiding me in the long grass and fiercely fighting off any predators. I grew quickly, about 5 cm every day, and after two years in my mother’s nursery, I was big enough to look after myself. Lovely coat I have a beautiful pattern on my coat, which is…

Sport not to be missed this month The Masters April 4-10 The most coveted title in golf is up for grabs at Augusta National as the world’s best players compete for the famous green jacket. Hideki Matsuyama is the defending champion – the Japan star made history last year by becoming the first male Asian player to win a major. Manchester City vs Liverpool April 10 The destination of this season’s Premier League title could be decided at the Etihad Stadium. Man City were beginning to run away with the league at the turn of the year but Liverpool have since produced a brilliant run of form to close the gap. World Snooker Championship April 16 – May 2 Zhao Xintong travels to the famous Crucible Theatre buoyed by his…

SAVE THE PLANET Earth Day Special Every year on April 22 we celebrate Earth Day. This is a special day where we show our support for the environment. People all over the world will hold events such as talks and marches to raise awareness of the issues currently facing our planet, and how we can solve them. The 2022 theme for Earth Day is ‘Invest in Our Planet’. Businesses, governments and citizens will all be called upon to find ways to invest in our planet – to find ways in which we can create a prosperous and sustainable future for everyone, while also fixing the damage we have done to nature. If you are interested, there are lots of activities you can organise at home or in school to celebrate…

Is Something Out There? Space discoveries are always exciting – especially strange ones! Just recently, researchers in Australia discovered an unusual spinning object in the Milky Way. They also noticed that every 18.18 minutes it sets off a huge burst of energy. Astrophysicist Natasha Hurley-Walker said that this was ‘kind of spooky for an astronomer … because there’s nothing known in the sky that does that.’ But before you start thinking it might be aliens, it’s unlikely says Dr Walker. According to her team of scientists, they believe it is a natural event in the universe and not something created by humans or aliens. They are just not sure what it is at this early stage but promise to keep working on it. ISS to Retire The International Space Station…

H is for … HUNGARY Official Name: HungaryPopulation: 10 MillionCapital: BudapestOfficial Language: HungarianArea: 93,030 km²Money: Hungarian forint Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by Slovakia, northeast by Ukraine, southeast by Romania, Serbia and Croatia, southwest by Slovenia, and to the west by Austria. Mostly flat Hungary is mostly flat and the Great Hungarian Plain covers over half of the country. The soil is rich in most parts of the country and suitable for farming. The main crops grown include wheat, maize, sugar beet, potatoes, sunflower seeds and fruit. There are some mountains near the border with Slovakia, including Kékes, the highest point of Hungary, at 1,014 m above sea level. The Danube The busy River Danube flows through the middle of Hungary…

Bran Castle Famous Feats of Engineering #31 Bran Castle is a large castle in the Carpathian Mountains in central Romania, Europe. It was built alongside the border of the historic regions of Transylvania and Wallachia, and it overlooks the picturesque village of Bran. The castle is perched atop a 70 metre-high rock. It is 762 metres above sea level and is surrounded by valleys and hills. The first building on the site – a wooden fort constructed around 1212 – was destroyed in 1242. It guarded a narrow pass on a busy trade route across the mountains. In 1377, King Louis I of Anjou ordered the construction of Bran Castle. It was built by residents from the nearby town of Brașov at their own expense. Bran Castle was completed by…

Spectroscopy and Space Each different material that makes up the Universe interacts differently with light, and so scientists can use light to understand what everything is made of – even the stars! It all began with prisms A prism is a piece of glass or other see-through material that has several flat sides called faces. It has two ends that are exactly alike – these are called its bases. If the bases are triangular, it’s a triangular prism, if rectangular it’s a rectangular prism – and so on, all depending on the shapes of the bases. Many prisms have three long faces with triangle-shaped bases, such as those that are hung as decorations from chandeliers. If you can get hold of some prisms, you can hang them in your bedroom…

Barcelona Retain League Title Barcelona Women crushed rivals Real Madrid 5-0 to be crowned league champions for the third season in a row. The one-sided winover Real was Barcelona’s 24th successive league victory as they built an unassailable lead at the top of the Primera Division. Barca have won the league a record seven times, and last season they lifted the UEFA Women’s Champions League for the first time. They have scored over 130 goals in the Spanish league during this campaign, more than double the tally of their nearest rivals, with Barca trio Asisat Oshoala, Lieke Martens and Alexia Putellas battling it out to be top scorer. Man Utd’s Trophy Drought Manchester United’s hopes of winning a trophy this season are already over, following their UEFA Champions League exit…

Moto-Croc is Free! Indonesia For six years, a crocodile in Indonesia swam around with a motorcycle tyre caught around its neck. Poor croc! The reptile was seen every so often in the River Palu. Observers estimated that it was about four metres in length. They called it ‘buaya kalung ban’, which means crocodile with a tyre necklace. Other than certainly feeling uncomfortable for the croc, there was another fear. People worried that as the animal grew, it would eventually be choked by the motorcycle tyre! Several unsuccessful attempts were made to capture the crocodile, before finally a young local man named Tili came up with a plan. Using a rope tied to a log, he added bait to the trap, and the croc couldn’t resist. It took Tili three tries,…

Hans Christian Andersen No doubt you’ve seen Disney’s The Little Mermaid and are looking forward to the live-action version (now delayed because of Covid-19). But did you know it is based on a fairy tale published in 1837 by the world-famous Hans Christian Andersen? His original story had a sad ending, but Disney changed it to have a happy one. No surprise there! Place of Birth Hans Christian Andersen (the Danes call him H.C. Andersen) was born in the city of Odense on April 2, 1805. Odense is on Funen, the third largest of the Danish islands, but at the time of Andersen’s birth it belonged to the Kingdom of Norway and Denmark. Family Andersen’s father was a shoemaker and his mother washed clothes for wealthy people. Hans was an…

CROSSWORD TIME ACROSS 4 The river in which Tili the croc lived (4) 5 The national sport of Hungary (5,4) 7 Samsung’s five-year sustainability plan is called ‘Galaxy for the ___________’ (6) 8 Zara __________: the youngest woman to fly around the world solo (10) 10 A famous international restaurant chain that sells Mexican and Tex-Mex foods (4,4) 11 This river flows through the middle of Hungary (6) 12 Debris found in space is known as________(5,4) 14 In crickets and katydids, the ‘ears’ are called the__________organs(8) 16 The ingredients of spaghetti: wheat flour and_______(5) 17 The director of Disney’s newest animation (5,3) DOWN 1 This fast-food chain announced a new item for April Fools’ Day in 1998 (6,4) 2 Makers of La Voiture Noire (7) 3 Japanese tennis sensation Naomi…

People Working in our Community A Mechanic A mechanic is someone who repairs and services vehicle engines and other machinery. They have a responsibility to make sure that cars are safe to drive and that they run smoothly. With so many cars on the roads, mechanics are very busy people and they play a very important part in the community. Most mechanics work in garages so they are in the same place every day. Many of the jobs they do are similar, but will be carried out on different vehicles. A new mechanic will start off with simple tasks like repairing punctures and checking the pressure in the tyres. They will also top up or change the oil in the engine and check and replace spark plugs. As a mechanic…