Features | Online edition of Daily News

Egypt, officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia. Covering an area of about 1,010,000 square kilometers (390,000 sq mi), Egypt is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the North, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the East, Sudan to the South and Libya to the West.

Egypt is one of the most populous countries in Africa and the Middle East. The great majority of its estimated 76 million live near the banks of the Nile River, in an area of about 40,000 square kilometers (15,000 sq mi), where the only arable agricultural land is found. The large areas of the Sahara Desert are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypt’s residents live in urban areas, with the majority spread across the densely-populated centres of greater Cairo, Alexandria and other major cities in the Nile Delta.

Egypt is famous for its ancient civilization and some of the world’s most famous monuments, including the Giza pyramid complex and its Great Sphinx. The Southern city of Luxor contains numerous ancient artifacts, such as the Karnak Temple and the Valley of the Kings. Egypt is widely regarded as an important political and cultural nation of the Middle East.

Egypt possesses one of the most developed economies in the Middle East, with sectors such as tourism, agriculture, industry and service at almost equal rates in national production.

Consequently, the Egyptian economy is rapidly developing, due in part to legislation aimed at luring investments, coupled with both internal and political stability, along with recent trade and market liberalization.

Courtesy: Wikipedia

Hiroshima Day today

Dear Children,

Most of you children are too young to remember the words Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Your parents and grand parents would certainly remember. It was a Red Letter day in the world which brought the news of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A day that history would never forget.

Hiroshima Day is observed in many parts of the world with special vigils and peace marches.

It is held to commemorate the dropping of the first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.

Three days later a second bomb fell on the city of Nagasaki. These are to date the only attacks with nuclear weapons in the history of warfare.

The bombs killed as many as 140,000 people in Hiroshima and 80,000 in Nagasaki by the end of 1945, roughly half on the days of the bombings. Amongst these, 15-20 percent died from injuries or the combined effects of flash burns, trauma and radiation burns, compounded by illness, malnutrition and radiation sickness.

Since then, more have died from leukaemia and solid cancers attributed to exposure to radiation released by the bombs.

Corazon Aquino

Let us now remember former Philippine’s President Corazon Aquino who died on August 1, 2009. What is so special about Corazon Aquino is not only was she the first female President of the Philippines but she became Asia’s first female President in 1986. Corazon Aquino who was famous for her yellow attire was a housewife who propelled to power in 1986 People Power Revolution after ousting President Ferdinand Marcos.

This amiable woman was widely respected for her simplicity, charm and great character. Corazon Aquino who was known as ‘Mother of Democracy’ in the Philippines is a person worth emulating.

By the way how did you all manage the Term tests? I am sure you all need to take it easy after all the studies and revision work that you waded through. Bye for now.

Aunt Anji

Weird symptoms -Part 48

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 gang up the rest of her pack. There she reveals a secret that could hold the key to all the goblin’s troubles...

As the episodes involving the children, the goblins, Ruwi and Sachi were unfolding in this manner, trouble was brewing elsewhere. A sudden turn of events has struck the pixie camp, leaving the creatures breathless with amazement and horror.

It all began with the return of Ruwi’s friend, Dina, back from a leisurely holiday in the South with her family. Dina did not belong to the area but she enjoyed the happenings and climate of this part of the world and had decided to stay on with her aunt.

The other pixies and mythical creatures (with the exception of the goblins who did not even welcome a member of their own clan as there were various complaints of insufficient food to go around and who would get the juiciest bit) have welcomed her open arms. But Dina had been breaded to lead a charmed life.

Though she did her bit and was pleasant enough at the beginning, her lifestyle became quite different from her cousins in the West. For one thing she hardly took things seriously, even in matters of importance. She lived for pleasant incidents like the annual colour-changing event when the pixies had to decide which colours had to be added to the buds which are to bloom in the spring and how many different kinds of flowers should spring up each year.

The process of putting these decisions to action were not appealing to her because the pixies had to work with the brownies, a strong headed group who had their own ideas about ways to improve the colour techniques of the flowers. It was an arduous task for both parties but in the end things almost always turned out for the best and everyone was happy.

However the kind folk of the woods overlooked these small drawbacks from Dina’s part while the goblins sneered in the backdrop. Dina was lively and hardly anyone cannot help being charmed by her big blue eyes. But then disaster struck!

Soon after her trip to the North the unspeakable happened. Though it started off with a slight show of temper at a hedgehog who had accidentally pricked her while passing each other on the bridge, the situation became worse within a couple of hours so much so that even chief Jay had to be noted. Weird symptoms began to develop. Dina began changing at an alarming rate.

(To be continued)

Man’s prime duty is to serve mankind

“Service is the tax we pay for living on thus earth”. We are born to this world alone. But can we live alone? No, out of all the creatures living on this earth man takes the longest time to stand on his feet. From the time an infant is born the mother feeds and nurtures him until he is able to walk. Then she supports and guides until the age of five. When he goes to school the teachers takeover the responsibility of showing him what is right and wrong and also educate him.

Once an adult what do we have to do? We have a duty and responsibility towards the society. That is to serve the others that served you. Whom do we serve? Parents, teachers and elders of course! As a human being it is our paramount duty to help all mankind. There are enough people who need your help. Think of home. Your mother, your father, your siblings need your help. This does not mean that all your time, effort and money should be spent on them. But being kind and thoughtful makes a whole lot of difference. Doesn’t it?

There are natural disasters that befall man like floods, landslides, bushfires, accidents or cyclones. One of these that come to our minds is the tsunami that destroyed enormous property and human lives. We heard that many people helped a lot even risking their own lives, but there were some others who grabbed valuables from the dying without helping a little bit.

Humans are the most intelligent of all creatures. So he can use this intelligence to think and serve mankind and not hurt each other. Think of our own country, the soldiers who sacrificed their future for our present. For that matter the Armed Forces, Army, Navy, Air force, Police and Special Task Force, how they coordinated and marched forward with only one aim; that is to liberate our Motherland from a power crazy Prabhakaran who destroyed most precious lives and property and crippled the economy of our country. Thanks to them that saved us by serving the mankind, we are a happy and a proud nation today.

B. Gopallawa /Ceylinco Sussex College / Kurunegala

Reading

Reading is a way of passing the time,
Novels, essays and poems that rhyme
Reading is a way of gaining brains,
You can read about robins,
sparrows and even cranes.

Maths, Science, English and Social Studies,
Study these and the teacher and
you will be buddies,

Oliver Twist, Black Beauty and Harry Potter,
Books like this can thrill you for hours

Famous Five, Comics and Secret Seven
After reading these you’ll think
they are from heaven.