News Article 14

Pass Mark raised for GCSE's this September

Pupils will have to score more highly to gain a "good pass" in their GCSEs, under changes to England's exams.

Candidates will have to obtain a Grade 5, equivalent to a low B or high C now, as grading switches to numbers nine to one in exams to be taken first in 2017.

The aim is to make standards comparable to top-performing countries such as Finland, Canada, and the Netherlands. Education Secretary Nicky Morgan says raising the bar on GCSE exams will help pupils achieve in life. The new grading system, which replaces the A to G system with a new nine-to-one numbered scale, comes as new "more rigorous" GCSEs are being introduced for first teaching this September.

The new grading system has been designed to reveal the differences between candidates at the top end. Currently, candidates are expected to achieve a C to attain a "good pass", although grades below this are still officially considered passes.

New GCSEs

• GCSEs to be graded from nine to one, replacing A*-to-G grades
• Grade 9 will be highest
• Grade 5 will be considered a good pass, equivalent to a current low B or high C. It will be linked to standards in high performing countries
• Grade 4 will be equivalent to current low C grade
• Grade 1 will be lowest
• Introduced for new-style GCSEs in English and maths to be taught from September 2015
• First of new exam grades awarded summer 2017

I do think this is a better more reliable way to understand which students are more ready and will strive more from going on to take A-Levels. However I also think that it'll make it a lot harder for more students to achieve the grades they are aiming for as they'll have to work so much harder to even get a 4 (C grade) therefore making it more difficult to get into colleges or 6th forms which will stop them from going onto further education such as university. They'll have a lot less opportunities in life if they do not get the grades.

A2 Coursework idea

Q: How far does the 1st person shooter genre affect the attitudes and behavior of young people?

Research:

• Crimes previously blamed on games of this genre
• Statistics on positive and negative effects this genre typically has on people
• Controversy surrounding violent games such as Call Of Duty and not games that have potential violence such as The Sims
• Does this genre of games encourage people to use weapons
• Questionnaire/interview results? 

Primary Research

This will mainly surround specific 1st person shooter games such as CoD and Battlefield and research on how they affect young people depending on how much they play the games. I will look into how the aim of all these games is too kill as many people as possible and how this aim may affect different people perhaps based on different personality traits.

Secondary research

I will look at a range of different texts that will help me in my research. I will do this to triangulate my sources and make my conclusion to the question more reliable. I may include the opinions of different people on this genre compared to other genre of games.

News Article 13

Georgia Flood: Animals from zoo escaped

Heavy flooding in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, has killed eight people and officials are warning residents to stay indoors to avoid animals that have escaped from a zoo as many dangerous animals are still loose.

The missing animals include tigers, lions, bears and wolves. It is believed that a zookeeper is among the dead. A hippopotamus was cornered in one of the city's main squares and subdued with a tranquiliser gun. However other animals have been killed in the flood. Rescue workers are searching submerged homes to check for trapped residents. Dozens of people have been left homeless after their houses were damaged or destroyed. 

10 people have been reported missing and Mayor Davit Narmania said the situation was "very grave". Other animals have been recaptured or killed though it is unclear how many are missing. Helicopters are now circling the city as part of a search and rescue operation. Tbilisi's vice-mayor, Irakly Lekvinadze, estimated the preliminary damage at $10m (£6.43m).

I hope that they find the rest of the animals quickly for the safety of both the animals and the people of Tbilisi and continue to search for those reported missing in the hope that they may have survived this terrible flood.

News Article 12

Pitch Perfect 2 top US Box office charts

Pitch Perfect 2 has made an impressive $70.3m (£44.7m) debut at the US box office, storming ahead of George Miller's Mad Max reboot, Fury Road.

The comedy sequel earned more in its first weekend than the $65m that the first film pulled in over the course of its entire US run in cinemas. Universal's Nick Carpou described the musical sequel's success as "amazing". Directed by actress Elizabeth Banks, it marks the highest ever opening for a first-time feature film director.

"People loved the first movie and it resonated well beyond that $65m that the first film did," said Carpou, Universal's domestic distribution chief. "To be able to build on the first film and expand its popularity is pretty amazing."

The film sees Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson reprising their original roles, alongside newcomer Hailee Steinfeld, as the fictional a capella singing group The Barden Bellas. The story sees the Bellas square off against German aca-champions Das Sound Machine in an international singing contest.

Tom Hardy in his new role as Mad Max

Tom Hardy's turn as the reinvented Mad Max - filling the shoes of Mel Gibson 30 years on - racked up $44.4m, having received positive reviews when it premiered at Cannes Film Festival last week.

However the film remains a long way from profit. Pitch Perfect 2 cost a modest $29m to produce, while Mad Max: Fury Road carries a significant $150m price tag.

News Article 11

Riots have broken out in London over election Result

There have been riots in London concerning the Conservatives getting into power for the next four years. Thousands of people went to London to protest against the Conservatives getting into power once again. It is said that the Conservatives did not receive the most amount of votes but received the highest amount of seats in parliament.

The people are rioting over some changed that the Conservatives have said they will make. Some of these changes will be privatising the NHS, scrapping the human rights act to replace it with the British Bill of rights and reducing annual benefits.

The Conservatives with leader David Cameron reached 331 seats in parliament, Labour had 232 seats and the Lib Dems only received 8 seats.
Mr Cameron's rivals Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage have all resigned after election disappointment.

I personally don't think these riots will change anything in the country and unfortunately wont get the Conservatives out of power but I think it's good that people are finally standing up for what they believe in. I'm unhappy that the Conservatives are in power and if I could vote would vote for Labour. I disagree with how power is granted and feel our votes should be the decider on who governs our country. Some of the changes that will be made such as privatising the NHS will ruin the county and it reinforces the idea that the Conservatives are only for the rich.

News Article 10

Nigerian Women freed by Boko Haram tell of captivity horror

Former hostages held by Boko Haram militants in northern Nigeria say some fellow captives were stoned to death as the army approached to rescue them.

The Military says many Boko Haram bases in the Sambisa Forest have been destroyed

The women said Boko Haram fighters started pelting them when they refused to run away as the army came nearer. A group of nearly 300 women and children was brought out of the vast Sambisa forest to a government camp.

The military says it has rescued more than 700 people in the past week in an offensive against the Islamist group. The women said several were killed in the stoning, but they did not know how many.

Others were killed inadvertently by the military during the rescue operation, they added. Soldiers did not realise "in time that we were not the enemies" and some women and children were "run over by their trucks", said survivor Asama Umoru.

The survivors said that when they were initially captured, the militants had killed men and older boys in front of their families before taking women and children into the forest. Some were forced into marriage. One woman, Lami Musa, 27, said she had avoided that fate. "When they realised I was pregnant, they said I was impregnated by an infidel [her husband] and they killed him," she said.

Other survivors said the militant Islamists never let them out of their sight - not even when they went to the toilet. "They didn't allow us to move an inch," one of the freed women, Asabe Umaru, told Reuters news agency. "We were kept in one place. We were under bondage."

One woman described how they were fed just one meal a day. "We were fed only ground dry maize in the afternoons. It was not good for human consumption," Cecilia Abel told Reuters. "Every day, we witnessed the death of one of us and waited for our turn," said Umaru, a 24-year-old mother of two.

Boko Haram is said to have abducted over 2000 women and children but of those released none of the freed women and children are thought to be any of the 300 school girls that were abducted more than 1 year ago. 

I think the events that have happened in Nigeria are absolutely awful and the rest of the captive need to be found and returned. What is happening in Nigeria is not aired on the news enough so people don't understand just how terrible the events have gotten. 

News Article 9

Nepal Earthquake: Rescue effort intensifies

Relief efforts in Nepal are intensifying after more than 2,000 people were killed in the worst earthquake there in more than 80 years.

Rescue missions and aid material have started arriving in the country. Seventeen people have been killed on Mount Everest by avalanches - the mountain's worst-ever disaster. Meanwhile a powerful aftershock was felt on Sunday in Nepal, India and Bangladesh, and more avalanches were reported near Everest. The 6.7-magnitude tremor, centred 60km (40 miles) east of Nepal's capital Kathmandu, sent people running in panic for open ground in the city.

As military helicopters hovered over Kathmandu and ferried relief supplies to victims of the earthquake in western Nepal, search and rescue efforts were going on in at least five locations in Kathmandu.

Near the prime minister's official residence, two bulldozers scoured the rubble of a flattened four-storey house. A bystander said it was the local tax office. The bodies of the four staff inside had been recovered minutes before. As the search and road-clearing efforts got under way at noon, a major aftershock sent people into a panic again.

At a nearby open space, people were camped out fearing further tremors. They were short of food and water - clearly hoping and praying that the aftershocks would stop and things would be normal soon.

The death toll from the original earthquake on Saturday could rise, as the situation is unclear in remote areas which remain cut off or hard to access. Many mountain roads are cracked or blocked by landslides. Scores of bodies have been ferried to hospitals in Kathmandu, many of which are struggling to cope with the number of injured. More than 700 have died in the capital alone.

I personally think this is a really upsetting that a natural disaster can cause such devastation for so many people over the world. I hope that the the areas cut off are cleared and reached so that any further deaths can be taken into account and families can be notified.