Historian Tom Holland has written a children's book that takes youngsters on a white-knuckle ride through Greek mythology and the Persian Wars. “The Wolf-Girl”, aimed at readers aged nine and above, weaves together myth and history to bring the story to life. The book contains no footnotes or bibliography and Gorgo, the story’s lead character, stresses her reliability as a witness. Holland’s skill lies in the way he interweaves the strands of myth and history, blurring the lines to create a memorable story that will stay in the memory, according to the Telegraph's review.
Four children from the indigenous Huitoto community in the Colombian Amazon jungle have survived for 18 days after their plane crashed and killed three adults. The children, the eldest of whom is 13, lived off fruit and drank river water while using sticks and branches to build a shelter. One of the three helicopters involved in the search received a message from the children’s grandmother, asking them to wait for help. The crash happened while they were travelling to visit their father in the capital, Bogota. The country's president Gustavo Petro described the rescue as a joy to the country.
Kelloggs Variety Packs were a childhood favourite for many in the 1980s, a rare treat of miniature cereal boxes. However, modern children would not see the appeal as modern parents less strict and supermarkets offer numerous sugar filled cereals, such as the recently launched KitKat cereal. Despite being loved by some, health charities have written a joint letter stating their fury about the cereal's quarter sugar content, claiming that the Government has failed to tackle unhealthy foods. However, Andrew M Brown in The Telegraph states obesity is rife due to bad parenting, not Government irresponsibility.
The Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton visited mental health charity Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families in north London to launch its new mental health services for schools on Monday. Part of its Mentally Healthy Schools scheme, the programme, called School in Your Pocket, provides access to online mental health resources and a new website to help raise awareness of issues surrounding mental health for schoolchildren, parents and teachers. The resources have been designed to complement the Mental Health Foundation’s annual Mental Health Awareness Week (14-20 May), which this year focuses on stress.
After a small aircraft crashed in the Colombian Amazon rainforest on 1 May, reports suggest that 4 children may have survived the ordeal. It is believed that the children escaped the crash and embarked on a journey to find help. Lesly Jacobombaire Mucutuy, Soleiny Jacobombaire Mucutuy, Tien Noriel Ronoque Mucutuy and Cristin Neriman Ranoque Mucutuy were found to have evaded the accident, as strands of the children’s hair, children’s scissors and a baby bottle were found in the jungle. After conducting an extensive search party over the past few weeks, Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced that the minors had been located and were in good health on Wednesday. However, hours later, he clarified that the Air Force and indigenous communities had established contact with the children, but their whereabouts remain unknown. Efforts to locate the four children in the dense jungle of Colombia’s Caqueta province will continue.
Book banning has returned to America, according to Reuters, which said battles over what children should read have reached the Legislative floor in Texas. In the current school year, nearly 40 bills have been put forward to control what get placed on library shelves, leading to some 438 books being banned in the state – more than anywhere else in America. Texas librarians have been vilified, accused of paedophilia and even threatened with violence, according to reports. PEN America, a nonprofit centred around freedom of expression, said in Texas there is a “larger, coordinated movement to ban books, ideas, and knowledge for students in schools.” The problem is spreading to the UK where a third of librarians have been asked to censor or remove books by members of the public, Cilip research showed.
Parents in the US have sued the state in some cases, while many of Texas’ lawmakers have made book bans a part of their campaign strategies, Reuters wrote. It quoted Tiffany Justice, co-founder of campaign group Moms For Liberty, which is organising petition drives and meetings with school officials across districts to censor reading lists, as saying: “Many books have been found to contain pornography and have nothing to do with education curriculum.”
Child mental health hospitals are failing to improve their patients’ mental health, according to the UK mental health charity Mind, which found that more than half of those surveyed reported negative experiences. The research calls for a public inquiry into inpatient mental health services and has revealed that almost half of children said their mental health got worse after they were admitted, while almost 70% said they did not have a positive experience of inpatient care. This comes after reports of “systemic abuse” from 50 patients across children’s mental hospitals.
Colombian President, Gustavo Petro, has admitted that he was mistaken in announcing the rescue of four children whose plane had crashed in the Amazon Rainforest. On 1 May, the plane carrying seven people crashed killing three adults but the four children, aged 13, 9, 4, and 11-months-old were thought to have survived the impact. Petro tweeted that the children had been found after "arduous search efforts" by the military, however, he then deleted the tweet, saying he had received the information from the Colombian Family Welfare Institute but the rescue teams could not confirm the news. More than 100 soldiers, sniffer dogs, and helicopters were part of the search operation but so far there has been no confirmation of the children's survival or location.
Actor Johnny Depp has won his defamation lawsuit against his ex-wife Amber Heard, claiming that an article she wrote in The Washington Post about domestic violence was defamatory. The verdict follows a six-week trial in Fairfax, Virginia, and Heard is reportedly expected to appeal against the decision. The article about which Depp had complained was published in December 2018 and described Heard’s experience of domestic abuse without naming Depp. However, Depp has launched a number of legal actions in relation to allegations of domestic abuse, involving Heard, including suing The Sun newspaper for libel following an article which referred to him as a “wife beater”. In November 2020, Depp lost that case after a judge ruled that the allegations against him were “substantially true”.
UN warns that urgent funding needed to avert catastrophic hunger in northeast Nigeria
The Toronto Star
23-05-18 22:17
The United Nations has said that $396m of aid is urgently needed to prevent widespread hunger and malnutrition in northeast Nigeria from turning into a "full-blown catastrophe". Aid organisations have warned that they are seeing an unprecedented number of malnourished children in the northeast as hunger hits and food becomes scarce. Reports also indicate that the security forces are battling Islamic extremist rebels and jihadists that could result in the risk of famine increasing. More than 2 million people have been displaced due to the violence and at least 35,000 people have been killed by Boko Haram.
An Australian boy has set up his own free library at his home in Melbourne's north-west. Seth Chirau has loaned out part of his collection of 570 books to his neighbours and friends since February, under the venture "A library in Aintree". Orders can be placed online and members can access the service within walking distance from their homes. Membership and borrowing are free, but new members pay a one-time AUD20 ($14) bond that is returned when they leave the group. Wendy Rapee, chair of the Children’s Book Council of Australia, praised Seth's initiative as a "gold-star model".
A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel has recommended approving the first vaccine for Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) in infants. The Pfizer-manufactured treatment is aimed at mothers and is given during pregnancy. RSV is mostly a fatal disease for newborns and adults older than 60 but is often mild in adults. The advisory panel recommended the vaccine to improve efficacy by 14 votes to zero, with an efficacy of 10 to 4 based on safety. RSV causes airway inflammation and clogs airways with mucus. The vaccine has shown to have reduced severe illness in infants by 69% after six months.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has issued new recommendations on how government-run public schools should help combat America’s childhood obesity epidemic. The recommendation sparked outrage with some critics saying that it takes decision-making power from parents and gives it to unelected, unaccountable administrators. The AAP’s guidelines call for a “whole child” approach to solving obesity, which would place all medical records, access to healthcare, and social services within each k-12 school. The AAP recognises that many issues that contribute to weight gain—from divorced or single-parent homes, fast food heavy diets in the car, financial stress, to cultural habits, but calls for medical interventions and school-based care. The family is relegated to the fourth position in how effective “whole-child” healthcare can be provided. The days of nutrition, exercise, and educating parents on healthy nutrition are long gone, instead, families play an observant role, supporting the primary work of the school in caring for their children.
Surrogacy allows children to be sold like "designer hand luggage" and is not in children's best interest, according to this piece in the Times of Israel. Commercial surrogacy, especially international surrogacy, is covered by an industry that can cost upwards of $200,000. The article argues that in addition to the monetary fees, the newborn carries the highest cost of all. It explains that surrogate mothers do not use their own eggs to conceive the child they carry but surrogates and babies share a genetic bond through a process called fetal microchimerism where traces of the surrogate's DNA remain in the child.
Canada is expected to bring in new sanctions on Russia during the 2022 G7 Leaders’ Summit, targeting Russian companies involved in military technology and sanctions on human rights violations, particularly the transfer and custody of Ukrainian children in Russia. The International Criminal Court accused President Vladimir Putin and Russian children’s rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, of abducting children from Ukraine. The summit will address geopolitical threats caused by China and Russia, with Canada pushing for support for Ukraine. G7 countries are expected to announce further sanctions, including the US, which plans to blacklist around 70 entities and sanction more than 300 individuals, entities, aircraft and vessels involved in Russia's defence industry.
Parents applaud push to close citizenship gap for foreign-born adopted children
CBC
23-05-19 08:00
Canadian lawmakers are examining changes that would give the foreign-born children of Canadian adoptive parents the same citizenship rights as those of children born in the country. A parliamentary committee has introduced proposals which might change a rule which bars internationally adopted children from automatically transmitting their citizenship by descent if they have children overseas. The law has been said to create an unjust unfair distinction between Canadian-born and international adoptees, with the latter sometimes facing negative effects on future study and work. In 2009, Canada introduced a “second generation cut-off” that meant automatic transmission of citizenship would stop if both parents were foreign-born. However, children from outside Canada who are adopted under the direct route are seen as the first generation born abroad, and so any children they have would count as the second, not classed as being born by descent.
Aunty B's House sitcom for preschoolers all about life in foster care
CBC
23-05-19 08:00
A new Canadian children's show about growing up in the foster care system, Aunty B's House, is set to air after recently wrapping production in Toronto. The show will follow a foster mom and her group of kids navigating difficult topics such as losing a parent and entering the foster care system but with humor. Aunty B's House creator Khalilah Brooks, who plays Aunty B, drew on her own experiences in the Nova Scotia foster care system to create the character. She hopes to help other children who have gone through similar experiences by demonstrating that families come in different shapes and sizes and that everyone's story is unique. Brooks is doing it with a TV show shot entirely in a Toronto studio with a cast of young children who play her foster children. Many of the show's topics will include themes of resilience and belonging, something Brooks believes will inspire viewers and "let them know that even in difficult conversations, there's somebody here to listen and someone here to see them through those."
The Duchess of Northumberland has opened a new $22.8m theme park dedicated to British folklore in Alnwick, Northumberland. Lilidorei Fantasy Adventure has been built on 17 acres and is based on the country's mythology, including goblins, fairies and elves. The theme park is meant to be "unsettling and disturbing" to children and adults. The main structure is a giant wooden castle called Elfwin Drin. The Duchess wants to expand the Lilidorei's concept to become a franchise with educational books and animated films. The theme park is expected to draw 250,000 visitors each year and make more than $15m for the local economy.
Russia is implementing the same tactics it used in Syria in its aggression in Ukraine. President Vladimir Putinist is using a well-tested strategy of attrition against civilians to force Ukraine to surrender and deploying similar callous disregard for the lives of civilians as it did in Syria. This development started with the appointment of General Sergei Surovikin, who is known for his brutal bombing campaigns in Syria, as the overall commander of Russia’s so-called special military operation in early October. The Russian bombardment is reminiscent of Russia’s actions in Chechnya and Syria where it has been widely condemned for war crimes involving tactics including attacking civilian hospitals to try and break desires of opposing forces.
Clinical trials in young children have shown that injection-free vaccine patches are as safe and effective as traditional jabs, according to researchers. Micron Biomedical's "microarray patches", which have the backing of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the US Centres for Disease Control, can be easily transported and simply applied with a minimal amount of training. As well as eliminating the need for needles, the patches are easier to store in large quantities and produce fewer waste
syringes and vials. Vaccine patches against Covid-19, seasonal flu, HPV, typhoid and rotavirus are at various stages of development.
