Saturday 26 March 2016

Jet plane turned into classroom

Pupils at a school in Essex in England will soon be having lessons in a disused jet plane.
Cessna jet
Milton Hall Primary School bought the jet earlier this month.

The aeroplane was bought by Milton Hall School in Westcliff-on-Sea in Essex, earlier this month.
The school bought the plane because they didn't have a lot of space to build new classrooms.
It had to be carried by large crane on to the playing field, where it was gutted.
It still needs a lot of work before it can be used as a classroom, but the school hopes it will be ready by June.

From CBBC Newsround

Monday 14 March 2016

Man base jumps off The Shard with parachute

A man jumped off The Shard, the tallest building in London, with a parachute on Saturday morning and landed safely on a street below.

The Shard

The Shard in London is one of the tallest buildings in Europe
Witness Justin Knock captured images of the base jump and said the "dangerous" move was "skilfully" done with the jumper landing on his feet.
The base jumper landed at about 10.18am, police said, adding that no-one has been arrested.
Base jumper landing on street
The Shard stands at 310 metres and is one of the tallest buildings in Europe.
A spokesperson for The Shard said: "We are investigating an incident involving a member of the public this morning."
Eyewitness Mr Knock, said: "I was buying some cheese from the store opposite St Thomas's Street and looked up and this guy was coming down with his parachute.
"It was obviously a dangerous thing to do but he pulled it off skilfully."
He and another man bundled up the parachute within seconds of landing and left the scene. Police and staff from the building arrived at the scene soon after, Mr Knock said.

Saturday 5 March 2016

New Zealanders voting on whether to change flag

People in New Zealand have started voting on whether to change their national flag.

New Zealand flags
The country's prime minister wants to change to a design so that it looks different to the UK flag.
The current flag includes the Union flag - the United Kingdom's national flag, from a time when the country was controlled by the UK.
Voters are being asked to choose between the current design and a new flag based around the traditional New Zealand silver fern.
People have three weeks to vote. ( CBBC Newsround)
The proposed alternative New Zealand flag (right) is seen alongside the current flag during the cricket Tes between Australia and New Zealand in Wellington in February.
The proposed alternative New Zealand flag (right) is seen alongside the current flag during the cricket Tes between Australia and New Zealand in Wellington in February. Photograph: Dave Hunt/AAP

The final stage in New Zealand’s bid to change its flag has begun, with voters asked to choose between the current design and a silver fern against blue and black.
Silver Fern (Black, White and Blue), by Melbourne-based New Zealander Kyle Lockwood, was the highest-ranked of five designs in a referendum last year, with 50.58% of the vote.
The second referendum asks voters to choose between it and the current flag. Those correctly enrolled will receive papers in the mail between Thursday 3 March and Friday 11 March.
Voting in the referendum closes on Thursday 24 March with the preliminary result expected around 8.30pm local time. All votes postmarked by Wednesday 23 March will be eligible for the count. .


The final result will be declared on 30 March, after all votes received in time have been processed. If the vote is for change, there could be a transition period of around 12 months.


The referendum opens amid apparent flagging support for change, with the One News Colmar Brunton poll in late February finding that two-thirds of New Zealanders are in favour of keeping the current design.
“You can say a lot of bad things about the alternative flag, but probably the worst is that it makes the current flag look good,” wrote commentator Finlay Macdonald.
From The Guardian