The Amazon - the latest

View the causes and extent of Amazon deforestation

Benidorm - new ecotourism destination

Benidorm has changed from the sleepy fishing village to a major Spanish resort.
Read more here from the BBC

Junky Styling

Year 9 think about restyling your clothes .

China V Burma

Two disasters, contrasting reactions.Two Asian countries reeling from the horror of tens of thousands of people probably dead and hundreds of thousands more made destitute and homeless. Find out more from CBBC.

Infusion comes to Blackpool

Infusion is the world’s first suspended, looping rollercoaster completely over water, giving riders a whole new experience.
Blackpool tourist information.
http://www.blackpoolpleasurebeach.com/
http://www.blackpooltourism.com/

Hollywood stars on our doorstep.

A £300m film studio and education complex is planned for our home region.
It aims to make East Durham a location for national and international film-making and bring a significant level of investment to the area with huge employment benefits.

Thousands evacuated as Chile volcano spews ash

A volcano has erupted in southern Chile, scattering ash over the surrounding area and forcing more than 4,000 people to leave their homes.

All 4,000 inhabitants of Chaiten have been evacuated to nearby towns and cities, leaving only a skeleton crew of police, military and government officials to protect the abandoned properties.

A few locals have stubbornly refused to leave their city, which looks like a ghost town in television reports.

Angel and Wall in landmark victory

The Angel of the North is now the UK's most recognised landmark by Britons. Travelodge challenged 3,000 Britons to identify photographs of UK landmarks old and new. Just over 60% knew they were looking at the Roman Wall.

Bay of Bengal Cyclone Nargis Takes Aim on Myanmar

Winds of up to 190km an hour smashed into the southern Irrawaddy region, sinking ships, ripping down trees and destroying three out of four buildings.

Officials have declared five parts of the country, including Myanmar's main city Rangoon, as disaster areas. The Army and police are carrying out rescue operations. Find out more from CBBC .

Update

Sweatshop worker

You are invited to enter the world of the sweatshop and become a factory worker. Do you accept the challenge?

So what are biofuels?

From today petrol and diesel which is sold at UK pumps now has to include at least 2.5% biofuels.

Biofuels are renewable fuels, made from crops such as sugar cane, plam oil or maize, have been added to fuel sold around the country.

There are arguements against use of biofuels. Some people say they contribute more greenhouse gases than they save. Also it is said that current rise in food prices across the world is because some farmland is being used to produce biofuels instead of food crops.

What is the conflict in Darfur, Sudan, all about?

Read about Darfur on the CBBC site. Today a major campaign called Global Day for Darfur is being launched to highlight the problems being caused by the conflict for the children of Darfur.

Why is the cost of food rising around the world?

The first reason why prices are rising is growth in the world's population, which puts pressure on a range of resources, including land, water and oil, as well as food supply.
Secondly as countries such China and India gain economic growth they are generating consumers who buy more meat and food.
Thirdly all these extra people have put an environmental pressure onto the planet, as well as the impact of climate change. Desertification is accelerating in China and sub-Saharan Africa, while more frequent flooding and changing patterns of rainfall are already beginning to have a significant impact on agricultural production.
And global warming has played a significant role in another driver of rising prices because land is also being used to grow crops for biofuels instead of food. Find more details from the BBC here.

Fold Mountains

North York Moors

Year 10 are off to the North Yorks Moors this week. Have a look at what this national park has to offer visitors.

World population and me

Here is a link to the population site year 10 used today.

Play the free rice game.

FreeRice vocabulary game have already fed over 20,000 refugees from Myanmar who are sheltering in Bangladesh

Map of popular baby names.

Find out how popular your name is around the world. Some of us have rare names. This is a good example of GIS, adding data to a map.

Rwanda and DR Congo hit by earthquakes

A series of earthquakes has occured in Africa's Great Lakes region.
The two most powerful occurred hours apart in the Democratic Republic of Congo and neighbouring Rwanda, with magnitudes of 6.0 and 5.0 respectively.
Whilst this area is prone to seismic activity, it has mostly escaped major quakes in recent years.

Jobs joy at Nissan

UP to 1,200 new jobs will be created in our home region as car giant Nissan responds to growing demand for its Qashqai model.

A third production shift is to be added at the Japanese firm’s plant in Washington, bringing 400 permanent and 400 temporary new jobs to the site.

Meanwhile, Nissan’s expansion is expected to create a further 400 jobs through the company’s North-East based supply chain.

Look at the link here to see Nissan's timeline at Washington.