- The grand finale of a National Spelling Bee took place in the US. The spelling competition is a big annual event in the US and is broadcast on television. This year two young spellers were declared co-champions for the first time since 1962. Sriram from New York and Ansun from Texas were both named champions after correctly spelling 12 words in a row.
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- The private company SpaceX has unveiled its new craft designed to ferry astronauts to and from space. The Dragon V2 has room for seven astronauts inside and a swing-down computer screen for the pilot to use. US space agency NASA is looking for new ways to get its astronauts to and from space – and now big businesses are pitching their ideas. NASA used to use space shuttles which were a bit like planes. They would blast off attached to a rocket, and glide back down to Earth to land. The shuttles were retired in 2011 and since then the US has had to use Russian rockets. Unlike the old shuttles, the Dragon V2 doesn’t need a runway to land. It can use side thrusters to land vertically, like a helicopter.
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- There’s a warning that many children are playing online games without realising they’re actually adverts promoting unhealthy food. A study from the University of Bath suggests these ‘advergames’ can affect what kids choose to eat and drink. The researchers are calling for tighter rules and want a labelling system for the advergames. But one sweets company, Swizzels-Matlow, said that its advertising does not directly target children. The Local Government Association which represents councils, wants these games to have pop-up health warnings. Adverts promoting food and drink products that are high in salt, sugar and fat are banned around children’s TV programmes.
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- More than 300 climbers broke two world records at once on Australia’s iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge. Not only did they break the record for the most people on the bridge (340), they then went on to smash the record for the most number of flags flown off it (219). A group led by the famous US TV host Oprah Winfrey set the previous record for most people on the bridge in 2011.
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- The Kolkata Knight Riders has clinched the Indian Premier League (IPL) title for the second time after defeating Kings XI Punjab by three wickets in Bengaluru on Sunday. Despite an impressive unbeaten century (155) by Wriddhiman Saha, which took Punjab to 199-4, however, Kolkata’s Manish Pandey scored 94 off 50 balls to lead his team to 200-7 and a second IPL trophy.
