One of the problems facing the world in the fight against global warming is the rapidly expanding carbon footprint of inhabitants in newly industrialised countries like India and China. Anna Botting reports from Mumbai, India, on a growing population's insatiable demand for private transport.
Last week Virgin Galactic unveiled SpaceShipTwo and plans to take paying customers for a two-and-a-half hour trip into sub-orbital space as early as next year. This Newsy video looks at perspectives from different media sources. See transcript.
COMMMENTS See my earlier post on this topic. It looks like I may have been wrong about the environmental impact. According to France24: "... it is designed to be gentle on the environment and aims for zero carbon output". My apologies to Sir Richard.
Tiger Woods has admitted for the first time to his infidelity. Writing on his website, he says he's taking an indefinite break from professional golf to try to save his marriage. It follows allegations about a number affairs. Sky's Julie-Anna Needham reports.
President Obama has received the Nobel Peace Prize. In his acceptance speech he said there were many people in the World more deserving of the honour than him.
COMMENT
You can read the full text of the speech here and see a Guardian picture gallery here.
South Africa has had its first look at a film about Nelson Mandela used to sport to help heal his divided nation. Invictus tells the story of how he joined forces with Springbok rugby captain Francois Pienaar. Sky's Jeremy Thompson went to meet Pienaar.
Today's CNN Student News for Thursday 10 December has a fascinating report on gender and learning comparing single-sex and co-ed classrooms. As usual, click on the links to see a transcript.
Last week I featured Taiwanese tabloid news site Apple Daily's wonderful animated recreation of the Tiger Woods car crash. Now they've produced three more videos, which are even more hilarious—even if the English is a bit dodgy in places. This one's my favourite.
COMMENTS It certainly makes a change from CNN and Sky News! You can see the other videos here and here. Is it any surprise that Woods's sponsors are beginning to distance themselves from their tarnished brand ambassador?
LESSON IDEA Get your students to spot the mistakes in the English.
Richard Branson is planning to launch the world's first commercial manned spacecraft. Sky's Julie-Anna Needham reports.
COMMENTS Not the most environmentally-friendly tourism project, I would have thought. And unveiling a gas-guzzling spaceship during the Copenhagen climate summit is not very good PR. That said, this report has lots of facts and figures and would make an excellent subject for class discussion. Here are some possible questions: • If someone offered you a free flight, would you accept? • Will this business be a success? Why (not)? • What will be the environmental impact of space tourism? • Wouldn't it be better to spend the money on something more useful? What?
LESSON IDEA Get your students to design a poster or brochure advertising the trips into space.
TRANSCRIPT REPORTER: The future is nearly here : space travel for tourists. This is the first glimpse of Richard Branson’s Spaceship 2. 60 feet long, about the size of a small jet. Flown by two pilots, it can take six tourists into space. A mother-ship will take it up 60,000 feet, where it will detach, travelling from nought to two and a half thousand in ten seconds. But Spaceship 2 won’t be landing on the Moon. After 3 days of training, aspiring astronauts will be going up just 68 miles, far enough to experience weightlessness and get unparalleled views of the Earth. The flights will last two and a half hours at a cost of £120,000 per person. Tickets have been on sale for the past four years. 65,000 people have registered their interest in going on a flight; 300 have already paid a deposit. And on the first flight will be the man who dreamt up the project.
SIR RICHARD BRANSON: I will be the first to go into space. I will be bringing my children Holly and Sam, and my parents Ted and Eve. So I’m obviously a believer.
REPORTER: This was the test flight of the prototype in 2004 in California’s Mojave desert. This latest spaceship has been under construction for the past five years. But when exactly will this be ready to take passengers? Virgin Galactic will spend the next 18 months testing Spaceship 2. They’re hoping the first flight will be ready to launch in 2011. Julie-Anna Needham, Sky News.
This Newsy report examines how media sources are reacting to the scandal over leaked e-mails (aka Climategate) that some thought showed scientists knowingly exaggerated global warming's effects. Transcript here.
