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Current News for Kids 08

Aug 12, 2020

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Hi All, Here’s a mid-week episode with Current news for kids like us. Lots of things have happened in the world in the past 15 days since my last news episode. Ofcourse! Covid increases and Hong kong is seeing its 3rd wave. In this episode we also discuss about the Ayodhya temple which has been a very joyful news here in India. We discuss about the Elections in United states and how Kamal Harris is chosen as Jo Biden’s Vice President. And don’t miss out on how Scientists managed to wake up microbes that are 100 million years old. Phew…. I feel so inspired by these scientists. We also discuss the unfortunate blast in Beirut. On one end we have such scientists to inspire and the other end we have colossal carelessness demonstrated to the world. I really hope you enjoy this episode. Thanks.

Transcripts

[0.01] {Background Music}

[0.08] Siyona: Hello Everyone, welcome to my podcast, Little Mind Chats, Minds are little, not our thoughts. I’m your host Siyona. As promised, here’s our fortnightly news episode.

[0.19] Let’s begin with some Co-vid news as we haven’t discussed this for quite some time.

[0.25] The number of cases is still rapidly increasing around the world. It has crossed 20 million cases. But the recoveries are also up to 13 million cases. While India has gone up to 3rd place in the number of cases, New Zealand sees its first case after 102 days. On the other hand, Hong Kong is experiencing its THIRD wave. Oh My, is there ever an end to this virus at all?

[0.54] Moving on to a news that India rejoiced last week, the temple of Rama is finally being built in Ayodhya.

[1.02] India saw one of the most waited events happen on the 5th of august. It was the beginning of building a Temple for Lord Rama, A revered God in India for the Hindus. The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi laid the first brick.

[1.18] But why is it a big event??

[1.22] We’d have to know a bit of history to understand the significance. Lord Rama was born in Ayodhya in 5114 BC. A temple was built in his birth place. But during the Mughal regime in 1520’s, Babur brought down the temple and a Mosque was built over it. It stood there until 1990 when the Mosque was brought down by a Hindu Mob. A few cases were going on in various courts of India. After Nearly 140 years, the supreme court decided that the Hindus would be allowed to build their temple at the same place and the Muslims would be given land in a nearby place to build their mosque. What a long fight! I can’t wait to see the temple which is due to be completed in 2023 hopefully.

[2.15] Deadly blast in Beirut, Lebanon.

[2.18] An unfortunate blast in Beirut astonished the world last week. The catastrophic blast happened on August 4th leaving many dead and many more injured. The explosion was caused due to 2,700 tonnes of Ammonium Nitrate Stored in a warehouse port for over 6 years…

[2.38] What is Ammonium Nitrate?

[2.40] Ammonium nitrate is the ammonium salt of nitric acid. It is used as a fertilizer, an explosive and an oxidising agent. It is manufactured as little beads resembling cooking salt. But storing it for too long can make these beads absorb moisture and stick to each other and result in a Big rock! And if in case this gets exposed to intense heat or an accidental spark of fire, it can cause a huge blast which is probably what happened in Beirut.

[3.12] Guess what? Just a few days back, all the officials of the Lebanon Government were forced to resign meaning they won’t be running the country anymore.

[3.22] United State Elections.

[3.25] The Elections in the United States is due to happen in November this year. The two main parties are Democratic and Republican.

[3.34] Candidates running for the president from these 2 parties are Donald Trump from the Republican and Joe Biden representing the Democratic party.

[3.45] As you know already, Donald Trump is the current president of the United States. And is running for a second term.

[3.53] As a process of the election, they both get to choose another person to be their Vice President which partially helps their win.

[4.01] Today’s big news is that Jo Biden, who has been a favourite so far, chose the first woman of colour in the history of United States politics. And guess what? She has Indian roots. Her name is Kamala Harris.

[4.18]

[4.23] Scientists have woken up tiny life forms called microbes that are over 100 million years old. The microbes were found in samples pulled from deep under the sea floor beneath miles of ocean.

[4.36] Scientists have been studying Sedimentary layers for decades to collect information about what the world was like long ago. That sounds interesting!

[4.48]

[4.52] As plants and animals die in the ocean, they break down into smaller bits of matter. These bits, along with other dust, wind up slowly settling to the bottom.

[5.04] The bits that settle to the bottom of the ocean are called sediment. As this sediment falls, tiny microbes, such as bacteria, get trapped, and are packed up in the sediment at the ocean’s bottom.

[5.18] Ten years ago, Scientists from Japan and University of Rhode Island collected sediment samples from the sea floor. After studying these samples, they learnt that it had oxygen in them.

The scientists kept the samples in special conditions in a laboratory for over a year and a half. They were curious to see if the microbes in the sediment samples were still alive. Amazingly, 99% of the bacteria began growing and dividing. The scientists couldn’t believe it, as the bacteria were about 101.5 million years old.

[5.57] If the microbes had a thinking brain, I wonder what they’d think of our world today!

[6.05] Volcano on Pacific Ring of Fire erupts.

[6.10] Indonesia’s rumbling Mount Sinabung erupted on monday, sending a column of volcanic materials as high as 5km into the sky and depositing ash on villages

[6.24] Around 30,000 people have been forced to leave homes around Sinabung in the past few years.

[6.31] Mount Sinabung is among more than 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia.

[6.37] It’s the latest eruption along the Pacific Ring of Fire,

[6.41] But what is the Ring of Fire?

[6.44] The Pacific Ring of Fire is also known as the Circum-Pacific Belt. It traces a line of the meeting points of many of Earth’s tectonic plates. These tectonic plates are constantly moving. Bumping into or sliding above or below each other, creating fault lines in the Earth. This creates volcanoes, earthquakes and deep ocean trenches.

[7.12] It’s a 40,000km-long arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Ocean. The Ring of Fire is where 75 per cent of the world’s volcanoes are, where 90 per cent of earthquakes happen and includes the Mariana Trench, the deepest point on Earth.

[7.33] Well, as usual, there’s so much more happening around the world, like the Protests by students in Thailand, New dinosaur related to T. rex discovered on Isle of Wight and so many more interesting stories.

[7.47] I would definitely advice you to take help from your parents to read further and understand this news.

[7.56] Hope you enjoyed listening to news from around the world. And thanks to all those who started sending your ‘Grow your Greens’ competition entries. I really loved seeing them.

[8.09] Do keep sending pictures of your effort to siyona@littlemindchats.com Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

[8.17] Thanks a ton for listening… Bye!