May 14, 2010

WHAT'S GOING ON

Rescue plan for Europe

The European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have come up with 750 billion euros to help European countries that are having some money problems. There are some countries in Europe whose governments have spent more money than they have been making in recent years. As a result, these countries have borrowed money and have accumulated a big debt. 

Greece was the first EU country whose debt problem became a very serious issue. Greece did not have money to pay back part of its loan that was due this month. When a country is unable to pay back its loan, it makes it harder for the country to get more loans. It can also reduce the value of its currency. Greece's debt is a concern for some other European nations as well because Greece and 15 other European Union (EU) countries use the same currency called "euro". If the euro's value goes down, it will financially hurt these other countries as well. 

The problem is even bigger since there are other countries that use the euro as a currency and also have large debts - for example, Spain and Portugal. That is why the EU and IMF have created a pool of money that countries who need help can borrow money from. In return, these countries will have to reduce the money they spend in the coming years so that they can start reducing their debt.  

The euro (sign: €) is a relatively new currency - it was introduced on January 1, 2002. Since then, the euro has been adopted by 16 European Union countries and a few non-European Union countries as their currency. For example, Greece gave up its drachma to adopt the euro. The IMF is an international organization that lends money to countries with big financial problems.

China and Taiwan get friendlier

Taiwan and China made history by opening their offices in each other's lands for the first time in over 60 years! Even though the two are just separated by a water body, they have had a history of disagreements. China's President Hu Jintao and Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou have both been making an effort to improve relationships.

In the 1940s, there were two main political parties in China - the Nationalists and the Communists. Most of the country was controlled by the Nationalist Party, but the Communists were growing stronger. Soon after World War II, there was a civil war in China and the Nationalists were pushed out. They fled to Taiwan and created a government there, calling themselves the Republic of China (ROC). The Communists, in the meantime, took control of China and called it the People's Republic of China (PRC). Thus, two different parties claimed to be the official government of China! For over 20 years, the United Nations recognized the ROC as the government of China, but switched to the PRC in 1971. Taiwan participates in some international events such as the Olympics under the name "Chinese Taipei". China still considers Taiwan a part of its territory.

Both lands have done very well economically, but their governments are very different. Taiwan is a democracy and China is a communist country. Even though the two governments haven't gotten along in the past, there is a lot of business that happens between them. Many Taiwanese go and work in China. China is Taiwan's number one trading partner. 

There is certainly one interesting thing that's common between Taiwan and China - the tallest building in each has exactly the same number of floors - 101! (left: Shanghai World Financial Center, right: Taipei-101).

Newton tree goes to space

On May 14, a tiny piece of a tree is going to space on board a space shuttle. What's so special about this piece that it gets to go to space? Well, the tree that this piece belongs to helped us discover gravity! You've probably guessed it, but we're talking about the apple tree that inspired Isaac Newton to come up with the idea of gravity about 300 years ago. When Newton saw apples falling from this tree, he began to wonder why they didn't go up or sideways - this led him to discover his law of gravity.

Newton's law of gravity says that every object in the universe attracts every other object with a force called gravity. So you are actually being pulled towards every piece of candy in a candy store . But the attraction depends on how large the objects are and how close to each other they are. Since the Earth is so massive, it attracts the apples on the tree, and they fall towards the Earth when they break from the tree. Unfortunately, we humans are quite small in comparison - those candies won't be coming flying towards us any time soon! The distance explains why astronauts float in space - they are too far from the Earth to get pulled down by gravity. So the piece of tree that played a role in discovering gravity will finally get to experience "no gravity" in space!

Isaac Newton was born in a small town in the United Kingdom, and lived from 1643 to 1727. He is one of the greatest scientists of all time. He made many discoveries in mathematics, optics, and physics. The space shuttle is on its way to the International Space Station, a large research facility being put together in space, for a 12 day mission.

ALSO IN THE NEWS

The United Kingdom (UK) has a new prime minister, David Cameron. Elections were held in the UK to choose the 650 or so members of parliament. Each member belongs to a political party, and the leader of the party with the most number of members usually becomes the prime minister. No one party won by enough of a majority to win the elections. Therefore, two political parties have joined and the leader of one of them has been chosen to be the next prime minister.

There is a hummus war going on between Israel and Lebanon! Hummus is a yummy dip made using mashed up chickpeas and sesame paste. It is commonly eaten in both Israel and Lebanon. Israel had held the world record for the biggest serving of hummus. Lebanon broke the record last October, but Israel won it back in January. On May 8, Lebanese chefs got together and made more than 10,000 kilos (23,000 pounds) of hummus, to win back the record. As if that wasn't enough, they created the world's biggest plate of falafels (fried balls made with lentils) the very next day!

Are you a Star Wars buff? Many people consider one of two days (May 4 or May 25) as "Star Wars Day". May 25 is celebrated because the first Star Wars movie was released on this day in 1977. May 4 is celebrated because "May the fourth be with you" sounds like a popular phrase from the movie series, "May the force be with you". 

Domain names can now be written completely in non-Latin script. Domains are web addresses such as "yahoo.com" and "mit.edu", and they have had to use at least some characters from the Latin alphabet (letters A to Z) along with numbers and the hyphen ("-"). On May 6, ICANN, an organization that manages internet domain names, announced that web addresses can now be written completely in Arabic, Tamil, Thai, and other scripts. The first three countries to get domain names in non-Latin scripts were Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Their domain names read from right-to-left since Arabic (the official language of these three countries) is written right-to-left.

Neil Robertson of Australia won the 2010 World Snooker Championship on May 4. The championship is played every year in Sheffield, UK. Snooker, like billiards, is played by using a long stick to hit a bunch of balls on a green table with holes. The most likely origins of snooker come from the British soldiers in India over a hundred years ago. They had invented a different version of billiards which got named after the term used for inexperienced soldiers - "snookers"!

Goodluck Jonathan became the new president of Nigeria. The last president had been ill and recently passed away. An interesting fact about Nigeria is that it is a country with one of the highest rates of twin births in the world. So if you think you are seeing double there, it might not be your imagination.

Viswanathan Anand of India won the World Chess Championship on May 11 by defeating Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria. The match was held in Sofia, Bulgaria, and was played in silence (a demand from Topalov). Anand has been the winner since 2007 and is 40 years old.

SOMETHING FAMOUS

Let's eat a McIntosh Red , a type of apple that originated in Canada. The McIntosh Red comes from the discovery of a few apple trees by a farmer in Ontario, Canada in the 1800s. All the trees he discovered died except one, and that one produced delicious red apples. The farmer named the apples the McIntosh Reds after his own name. All the McIntosh apples you eat today come from trees that descended from that one tree!

Apple, not the fruit but the company, named its computer the "Macintosh" (or Mac for short), after the McIntosh Reds!

DID YOU KNOW

Beirut and Jerusalem, the capital cities of Lebanon and Israel respectively are amongst the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.

Snooker gives us the slang word "snookered". In the game, it refers to a player being put in a position where he or she is unable to make a clean shot. It has now also come to mean a situation where one finds oneself trapped.

There are not enough kids being born in Spain. To encourage people to have more children, the Spanish government currently gives money to people who have babies. This is one of the things that might get cut as Spain tries to reduce the amount of money it spends.

FUNNY BONE

A school teacher asked a student, "John, will you please conjugate the verb 'to go' for the class?"
John began, "I go... um... you go... hmm... he goes..."
"How about a little faster?" asks the teacher.
John says, "Sure! I run, you run, she runs...".

Q: How do trees get on the internet?
A: They "log" in!

Teacher: Where is the English Channel?
Student: I don't know - I don't get it on my TV.

GREEN TIP

Try to buy products with the least amount of packaging.

GO FIGURE

A country mentioned in this edition is hidden in this sentence, can you find it?
"Soda is unhealthy, even if you drink just a can a day!"

How many times would you have to change your currency if you went on a trip through the following countries - United States, Canada, Egypt, Lebanon, United Kingdom, Spain, Greece, and Portugal?

FIGURED OUT

Puzzle from last edition: Match capitals to countries using the hints given...
Solution:
Hungary - BudaPEST
Uruguay - MonteVIDEO
Argentina - Buenos AIRes
United States - WASHington, DC
Denmark - CoPENhagen
Finland - HelSINKi
India - NEW Delhi

Puzzle from last edition: The Nordic countries share several similarities, but do you know what’s common across their flags?
Solution: All the flags have a similar cross on them. 

Credits: Baycrest for Taiwan-Shanghai building.
Please add "eNewspaper@OurLittleEarth.com" to your address book to ensure this doesn't go into your spam folder. Click here to stop your subscription.

Questions: questions@OurLittleEarth.com --- Feedback: feedback@OurLittleEarth.com

www.OurLittleEarth.com