Children

Explore Our World

Cyprus

Capital - nicosia

Official language - greek and turkish

Ethnic groups - 77% greek, 18% turkish, 5% other

Demonym - cypriot

Population - 2009 estimate 793,963

Currency - euro

Cyprus, officially the Republic of Cyprus, is a Eurasian island country situated in the Eastern Mediterranean, South of Turkey, West of Syria, Lebanon and Israel, East of Greece, and North of Egypt.

Cyprus is the Mediterranean's third largest island, and one of its most popular tourist destinations, attracting over 2.4 million tourists per year. A former British colony, it became an independent republic in 1960 and a member of the Commonwealth in 1961. The Republic of Cyprus is one of the advanced economies in the region and has been a member of the European Union since May 1, 2004.

In 1974, following 11 years of intercommunal violence (1963 - 1974) between the Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots and an attempted coup d'état by Greek Cypriot nationalists who aimed at annexing the island to Greece and were backed by the Greek military junta then in power in Athens, Turkey invaded and occupied 37 percent of the island.

Courtesy: Wikipedia

XV NAM Summit

Dear Children,

As you may be aware the XV NAM Summit concluded on July 16 in Egypt. President Mahinda Rajapaksa joined Heads of State and leaders from 118 countries in the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm El-Sheik to discuss the issues their countries face due to the global financial crisis.

Let us learn a little bit of history about this important Summit. The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is an international organization of states considering themselves not formally aligned with or against any major power union.

The movement is largely the brainchild of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, former President of Egypt Gamal Abdul Nasser and former Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito. The Non Aligned Movement which began with the Bandung Conference held in Indonesia in 1955 has a membership of 118 countries today in addition to 17 countries with observer status.

It comprises almost 50 percent of the total population of the world. A majority of its members are developing countries.

The 15th Summit of Non-Aligned Movement opened, in search of more solidarity among developing countries to tackle major international and regional issues including the ongoing financial difficulties.

Cuban President Raul Castro, Chairperson of the 14th NAM Summit, declared opened the 15th Summit. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, took over the NAM Chairmanship from Castro for a three-year term.

Bye for now.

- Aunt Anji

Strange feeling in the air - Part 46

Uncle Sachi and Aunt Ruwi

The story so far...

Pramodaka, Nalaka, Champika and Chinthaka go on a trip to the woods with their parents for their school holidays. In the middle of the night the children are awakened by a strange noise. On following their dog, Scooby, Chinthaka is snared by the age-old spell of the ‘luring stones’. Pramodaka departs with Ruwi, a pixie, to recall a book of spell to cast off the spell while Nalaka, Champika and the dog remain behind with Sachi, a gnome who updates them on the life of mythical creatures.

Shamilka, a friend of the mythical creatures joins in and they begin hunting for Pramodaka and Ruwi as there is no sign of their return. Just as they were coming to terms with the fact that they were lost, six rabbits scamper along the way.

The rabbits take pity upon the children and agree to guide them part of the way. Meanwhile Sulo, the goblin who is always trying to make trouble for the mythical creatures, grabs a basket of goodies from a gnome named Russell and makes off.

Scooby scents her and attacks. Ruwi senses that Russell is in danger but she also gets the strange feeling that there is a mysterious link between Pramodaka. Suddenly a storm breaks out and Pramodaka, Nalaka and Champika are blown away with the wind. As they make their way back to their friends Sulo notices them and comes up with a nasty plan. She rushes off to gang up the rest of her pack. There she reveals a secret that could hold the key to all the goblin’s troubles...

Ruwi, Sachi, Shamilka, Zira and the rabbits were slowly making their way downstream. They made a funny group and passerbys (though there were not many) paused to stare after them.

“Here, where are you all heading? A petition?” Dudders, the hedgehog called after them as they rounded the corner by his hideout.

“Not at all, Dudders. Just taking a noon stroll with friends!” Sachi called back, having noted the sly look in Dudder’s eyes. The rabbits completely ignored Dudders while Ruwi, Shamilka and Zira gave him a short nod. Neither one of them could help but remember that Dudders had refused to aid them in one of their combats against Sulo. However it is safer to create less enemies at a time then a strange feeling had taken over the air.

“I wonder what chief Jay would make of these strange happenings... or Russell!” Ruwi heard Anu whisper to Kapu. She was walking at the head of the group, lead by Basu with Zira skipping beside her. Sachi has been regarding the cheery young gnome with interest. He, just moments ago, was walking beside Ruwi till the young scamp had trampled on his feet too many times and had even gone as far as to kick a pebble (quite accidentally, he kept on insisting) on his backside. The squabble had been put to rest by Shamilka’s stern look and Basu’s glare. However Sachi felt that it was better for his health to walk a safe distance behind the young rascal.

Suddenly Basu raised a hand, signing them to stop. Ruwi glanced over his shoulder, wondering what could possible have startled him. At first she couldn’t make out anything strange.

“Do you think we should...,” she began but the rabbit smacked a paw over her mouth, silencing her.

“There are some creatures out there by the river... Looks like humans...”

Sure enough there was a flash of light (which had reflected off one of the many badges on the sergeant’s uniform) and they heard a voice by the river not quite far off.

“That’s it boys. Search deeper... There has to be clue if even one of the kids survived the swim...” it barked.

“Oh, humans ... Grown-up humans!” Wasu groaned.

As they watched three more figured emerged out of the shadows near the river and approached the tall frame of the sergeant. There was sudden sound of running footsteps and the group had barely had time to take cover and hold their breaths when two more figured passed the area they had been moments before and made their way into the woods. “That was a close call...” Sachi exclaimed but Ruwi cut him short.

“Let’s not thanks our lucky stars yet, Sachi. There must be more of them. The fact that you and I did not sense trouble coming definitely indicated that there is something funny going on...” she cried.

(To be continued)

Waving Sunflowers

They seem like thousands,
Of bright yellow suns.
Though they can’t emit light,
They are such a bright sight.

High up in the hill country,
Everywhere without any boundary.
Watching the passing trains,
Morning to night for days,

The sunflowers wave at us,
When we go in the trains.
They will stay there forever,
Gleaming in the sun forever.

D. W. Lilani Anuruddhika - 8 H - Sanghamiththa Balika Vidyalaya - Galle

Pretty Bird

I saw a pretty bird
In my garden fence
Singing a nice song
You can fly away
But I’m not a bird
You are so lucky than me
To fly away in the sky

Chandana Polgampala 3 EB, Sujatha Vidyalaya, Nugegoda