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KING’S EYE ON THE WORLD Issue 7

Volume Four

10th January 2014

Editors:

Adam Bartlett

Chloe Morgan

Journalists:

Sheil Sethi

Tom Ramsbottom

Rob Batson

Jordan Willis

Kal O’Connor

Alistair Smellie

Owen Parsonage

Jack Mills

George Bell

Jamie Berry

Francesca Angel

Will Cotgrove

Harry Jaquiss

CURRENT AFFAIRS ENRICHMENT………………READ ALL ABOUT IT!

A new calendar year brings a new Current Affairs group. We

are all excited and eager to put our wide and varied points of

view through this long-running magazine. In this edition we

explore the dark depths of black holes and find out about the

latest technology with Jamie in the Consumer Electronics

Show. Continuing the theme of science and technology, many

Britons will have a chance to see the incredible Aurora

Borealis from the comfort of their own homes. In our most

serious article we discover the events leading up to the

release of a prisoner from Guantanamo Bay who has been in

the prison for 12 years, but has never actually been on trial.

We hope this will spark debate amongst our readers and help

them think about the controversial issues in the world at the

moment.

Black hole to ‘swallow’ gas cloud Owen Parsonage, ShJJ

A black hole is set to swallow a huge gas cloud in the centre of the galaxy.

The black hole at the centre of our galaxy, Sagittarius S1*, is preparing to

swallow the gas cloud G2, which is hurtling towards it. If the black hole

‘bites’, the cloud will be sucked into it by the huge gravitational pull, which is

so strong it traps even light.

It is believed that if this

happens, ‘fireworks’ will fly

and be visible from earth.

Astronomers are urging as

many people as possible to

see it, because it will be

visible with the naked eye.

Many astronomers are

preparing to watch it, as it offers a fantastic chance to see one of the great

mysteries of the universe. They are so dense they trap everything, including

light, hence the name, ‘black’ holes. The event, set to occur in spring, will

give valuable insight as to the size of the black hole.

The gas cloud, G2, is three times the mass of earth. In 2011 it was spotted

being drawn towards Sagittarius A* - the item holding our galaxy together

with its gravitational pull. As the gas cloud is drawn in, it will release large

amounts of x-rays and ‘spaghettify’ (become longer) as the front is drawn in

faster than the tail due to it being closer than the tail to the black hole. The

head has a stronger force of gravity on it, which draws it in faster; the speed

continues to increase as it gets closer. Dr Leo Meyer and his team from the

University of California are waiting at the Keck observatory in Hawaii to

observe this phenomenon, which he says could be “Our black hole’s biggest

meal in hundreds of years”.

Black holes, one of the mysteries of the universe, are created when huge

stars collapse under their own gravity. They are the centres of most galaxies.

Once anything crosses the ‘event horizon’, the ‘point of no return’, it is there

for good – not even light can escape. Consequentially, they are invisible, only

visible because of what the viewer cannot see - a patch of blackness in the

sky gives the chance of the presence of a black hole. Some, called quasars,

give out bursts of electromagnetic radiation, which makes them visible to

some telescopes.

Michael Schumacher excessive

speed Harry Jaquiss, 3HL

“Mr Schumacher is evidently an extremely good skier, but one of his skis hit a rock that was sticking out... it caused him to fall and he hit his head on the rock” - Patrick Quincy

French investigators say Michael Schumacher was not skiing at excessive

speed when he fell and smashed his head on a rock, leaving him critically ill in

hospital. This happened in the French Alps when he was skiing within his

resorts regulations. The Formula 1 legend remains in a critical condition in

hospital following the Dec 29 crash. He will probably need a lot of time to

recover

Corinna Schumacher has pleaded with the media to leave the Grenoble

Hospital and to be left in peace as her husband continues to fight for his life.

'Please leave our family in peace,' says the distraught Corinna Schumacher

Yet, amid further speculation about the extent and rate of Schumacher's

recovery, Kehm released another update late on Monday night in which she

clarified that the 45-year-old is not yet out of danger.

Michael Schumacher won seven world championships and secured 91 race

victories during his 19-year career.

He won two titles with Benetton, in 1994 and 1995, before switching to

Ferrari in 1996 and going on to win five straight titles from 2000.

Mark Duggan’s killing lawful Tom Ramsbottom, 3AI

Mark Duggan’s death (he was killed in Tottenham by

a police officer and his death sparked the riots in

England during August 2011) has been deemed lawful

by a majority of 8 to 2 jurors in court.

Following the inquest at the Royal Courts of Justice,

his aunt, Carol Duggan, has said he was “excecuted”.

Outside the court there were angry scenes and Mark’s supporters were

chanting “Murderer” at Assistant Comissoner Mark Rowley. The jurors

concluded that Duggan did not have a gun when he was killed by officer

“CVZ” but the officer had said that he was pointing a gun at him and

threatening to shoot. The gun was found about 6ft from where the killing

took place, so it is possible that he threw it from the car he was in before the

shooting. The members of the jury were abused in court by members of the

public.

Outside court, his aunt, Carole Duggan said: "The majority of people in this

country know that Mark was executed.”

The Duggan’s family lawyer, Marcia Stewart said “We cannot believe this

outcome. He had no gun in his hand, yet he was shot, he was murdered”.

The Duggan family are applying for the decision to be reviewed.

Outside court, Assistant Commissioner Rowley attempted to read a statement which said the force had sympathy with Mr Duggan's family.

"No officer sets out at the start of the day to run an operation that results in someone dying," he said.

“We know not everyone shares our trust. I will be offering to meet the Duggan family to express our sorrow”

There is an in depth police investigation in Tottenham but people in the Tottenham area are reported to be calm about the high police presence.

The Duggan Family after the decision.

Colour from the cold By Kalyan O’Connor 3AI

Aurora Polaris, traditionally known as the northern lights, are normally

situated in the Arctic or Antarctica. However, today, on the 10th of January

2014, the northern lights are going to appear in the British skies tonight

between 0:00-3:00 am.

The northern lights have been sighted in Whalsay, Shetland only as a dim,

green glow. Tonight, Aurora Poloris could be much clearer than the sighting in

Whalsay, provided that skies are relatively clear and viewers have a good

view of the north horizon, the direction from which the Northern Lights will be

appearing.

The Northern lights are only really visible from the Northern countries, such

as the Arctic, Scandinavia and on a good day, even Scotland. The Northern

lights are a collection of colourful lights originating from the surface of the

sun. This is actually a gas cloud coming from the

surface of the sun.

When it reaches Earth, after 2 to 3 days of travelling

from the sun, it collides with the Earth’s magnetic

field creating many chemical reactions. These

reactions create charged particles which flow along

the lines of the magnetic pole to the polar regions.

When the gas reaches the polar regions, it collides

with the Oxygen and Nitrogen in the Earth’s

atmosphere to make the light. This is the reason

why you can only see this collection of lights in the

poles.

It is more likely for Scotland to see it, as the MET

Office states, but some northern cities in England

will be able to see them, so Chester might just get a

sighting. Last night, the Northern lights appeared but were not clear because

the skies were cloudy and the lights were weak. Today, they are to be quite

bright and quite visible from the north horizon.

It is very rare to be able to see these lights in the UK. In my opinion, it is a

once in a lifetime chance to see these lights appearing in the British skies and

everyone should take advantage of this sighting.

The Scott expedition Robert Batson 3RC

On the 25th of October 2013 two British

adventurers, Ben Saunders and Tarka

L’Herpiniere, started their 1,800 mile

expedition to the South Pole and back.

The expedition is a four month return

journey from Scott’s Hut on the coast of

Antarctica to the South Pole. They will

face -50°C temperatures and pull sledges

of up to 200kg.

The adventurers are retracing the steps

of Captain Robert Falcon Scott who died

on the way back from the pole. The

expedition has never been completed

since 1911-12 by a British adventurer. On

December 1st after having one month

skiing on the Ross ice shelf, they climbed

the Beardmore glacier. It is one of the

world’s largest glaciers, measuring over

8000ft and it connects with the Antarctic plateau as well as heading straight

for the South pole.

Tarka l’herpiniere

grew up in the

French Alps with

a love of

mountaineering,

skiing and

climbing. In 2007,

he was the first person to walk the entire length of the Great Wall of China.

Ben Saunders was one of three to solo ski to the North pole, he also holds the

record for the longest arctic journey by a Briton.

After two months in Antarctica they arrived at the South pole on the 27th

December. They are now on their way back to Scott’s hut with the Beardmore

Glacier soon to be on the horizon next week.

The Brits are back Jordan Willis, 3ML

Yesterday on the 9th January the Brit nominations were announced, Bastille,

Disclosure and Ellie Goulding were all up for nominations: four exactly.

David Bowie is up for the Best British Male and also best album .Others would

have thought Arctic Monkeys would have been nominated for this award:

obviously not.

Other acts performing at the show include Bruno Mars, Bastille and

Rudimental , whereas the new artists feature London Grammar, John

Newman, Lorde, Drake and Haim are all receiving their first nominations.

Bastille are a band made up of four guys who met up in Leeds university.

Their hits include “Pompeii” and “Things we lost in the fire” (it went straight

to the top of the UK charts in March and ended up being the year’s 11th best-

selling album).

Disclosure is made up of two brothers, Guy and Howard, from Surrey.Their

album, “ Settle” featured guest vocals from other Brit nominees such as Sam

Smith.

The singer who featured in the song “La La La” by Naughty Boy is up for best

singer.Ellie Goulding is also nominated in the best single category, for the

dance-pop anthem “Burn” and she also had a collaboration with DJ Calvin

Harris in the song “ I need your love “.

David Bowie is possibly the strongest contender for best British male, even

though he had alleged health problems. The star celebrated his 67th birthday

last Wednesday. He is also up for the best British album.

This year there will be no outstanding contribution award for the second year

running.

Since 2002 the award for the best British video has been resurrected, so One

Direction is expected to do well because they have a very avid fanbase.

This year it promises to be a very good awards show.

Heart attack “leaves cellular trace” Francesca Angel, ShJJ

US researchers say patients who have heart attacks have unique cells floating

in their blood.

They studied 111 people and published their findings in the journal, “Physical

Biology”. The researchers could spot the difference between healthy and

heart attack patients. Investigations are taking place into whether testing for

unique cells can be used to predict patients who are about to have a heart

attack.

The British Heart Attack Foundation thought it is unlikely that this

investigation will change the practice in the short-term. The team, at the

Scripps Research Institute in California, explored for circulating endothelial

cells in the blood of the patients.

Heart attacks occur when fatty plaques build up on the surface walls of blood

vessels and can rupture, releasing fragments of the plaque into the blood

stream. Sometimes this will block the blood in the vessels around the heart

and can cause a heart attack. Researchers have claimed that during this

procedure endothelial cells are also released into the blood.

Tests on 79 patients after a heart attack were compared with 25 healthy

people, who haven’t experienced a heart attack and aren’t likely to, and seven

patients having treatment for diseased blood vessels. “The goal of this paper

was to establish evidence that these circulating endothelial cells can be

detected reliably in patients following a heart attack and do not exist in

healthy controls, which we have achieved our results were so significant

relative to the healthy controls that the obvious next step is to assess the

usefulness of the test in identifying patients during the early stages of a heart

attack.” claimed one of the researchers, Professor Peter Kuhn.

Dr Mike Knapton, from the British Heart Foundation, expressed: “In the short

to the medium term, it is unlikely to change how people in the UK are treated

as we already have good ways to treat and diagnose heart attacks, and

targets to ensure rapid pain-to-treatment times. This study appears to be

laying the groundwork for future research to see if this test could be used to

identify patients in the early stages of a heart attack.”

In my opinion the findings are not sufficient at this stage, however in the

future if there was further research into the unique cells that confirmed their

disadvantages, I would agree with using these cells as a prediction for heart

attacks.

School sport spoiled by over

enthusiastic parents Jack Mills, ShJJ

We all know the feeling of being embarrassed on sports day when your

parents are being a bit over enthusiastic: just imagine how you would feel if

your parents actually got involved with the sport.

A headmaster at St.Aubyn’s Preparatory School in North London has

expressed his concern that children’s sports are being ruined by very

enthusiastic spectators.

Leonard Blom, a former international

cyclist, who is now a headmaster, has

asked parents to “control their emotions”

while watching their children participate in

sports days and other external events.

Mr.Blom also reminded parents in the

Independent Association of Prep Schools

magazine that “children do sports for their enjoyment not that of their

parents”.

The magazine gave some examples of parents misbehaving while observing

sporting events at their child’s school. One example was when a father got so

involved in a rugby match that he grabbed the ball and took the throw in for

his child’s team. The magazine also

reported a mother who “collapsed” because

she was continuously pacing along the side

of a swimming pool where her daughter

was competing in races. Mr Blom added

that the girl “never excelled at swimming”.

Also in the magazine article Mr Blom added

that, “sometimes we need to step back and

not get too emotionally involved”, and, “the

real winners in sport - and life itself - are those who persevere and behave

with dignity, whether they win or lose”.

The FA has shown interest in the issue by saying that school sports days

should have a “touchline manager” to control the behaviour of spectators.

Thomas Hitzlsperger comes out Will Cotgrove, 3PS

Ex German international footballer, Thomas Hitzlsperger is the first top-flight player to come out as gay. The 31 year old ex Aston Villa player who retired in September because of injury, revealed that he is gay on Wednesday. This is something that doesn’t happen very often at all in professional football, however confidence to be honest is

being encouraged by Hitzlsperger himself,

"We still have a long way to go because we fear a reaction and we don't know what will

happen."

Hitzlsperger also said he thought about coming out while he was still playing. However he thought against it because it would make him more in the media light off the pitch rather than on the pitch. One of the reasons for Hitzlsperger to come out was to try and make other gay sportsman feel confident in coming out. Recently, Tom Daley a well known diver from Great Britain has come out. Mainly people have reacted well to it but there has still been some controversy. They were both trying to start a change in tides and make more

people come out and be proud of their sexuality.

"Towards the end of my career, I was pretty sure I was gay, that I wanted to be with a man and live with a man," Hitzlsperger said.

This shows that Hitzlsperger wasn’t sure throughout his life but finally realised

when he was about 30 years old.

He could be respected for many things, but most of all he is an inspiration to every gay person out there. In my opinion, he sends a message around to

everyone and shows you can be pleased and confident to show who you are.

CES: New attachments on phones:

‘Medical Scanners’ Jamie Berry, ShHB

The phone is not enough for some consumers and many companies have

made attachments to these which make them into ‘stun guns’ or Star-Trek-

Like tricorders, turning your phone into a medical diagnostic kit or a thermal

vision camera.

All of these are being promoted at the CES (Consumer electronics show) as

add-ons which provide the more demanding phone users with some more

professional equipment. Most of the things which are being shown at the CES

will go on sale this year.

But one expert said the ambition of many of the companies was to see

themselves taken over by one of the big manufacturers. One company called

Authentec went to CES for many years and was purchased by Apple having

been recognised for its fingerprint technology for the iPhone 5s.

Tricorder tech was promoted by Scanadu and is designed to be held up to a

person’s head and then deliver a medical diagnosis straight to the owner’s

smartphone.

The scanner is packed with lots of sensors called Scout, which checks their

vital signs. This Scout tech says that it will measure heart rate, skin and core

body temperatures, respiratory rate and blood oxygen levels as well as other

readings.

The only problem found with this technology is that it has got to be partnered

with a phone and does not have its own screen. This scanner can potentially

warn the owner of any chronic conditions. "The Scanadu Scout is the first of

many products to come," Walter De Brouwer told the BBC. There are other

developers creating software and hardware which diagnose medical

conditions like San Diego’s Sensor Jacket, which has an infrared thermometer

that doesn’t have to touch the skin.

US snowstorm affects millions George Bell, ShJJ

As you probably know America has been hit by one of the worst snowstorms

in its history with temperatures of -26 degrees Celsius and snowfalls of up to

21 inches (53 centimetres). Thousands of flights have been grounded. The US

Emergency Services are urging people to stay inside. However, hospitals are

still full of people that have been injured in the snow.

Millions have been affected by the extreme weather and thousands of flights

have been grounded due to snow on the runway; 2200 flights were cancelled

on Thursday alone and

approximately 1000 were

cancelled this morning. The

snow fall closed three of the

major highways in New York

over-night while the local

authorities cleared the snow.

Mr. de Blasio said “We are

focused like a laser on

protecting the city and getting everyone ready, we have all hands on deck”.

Other US officials have said similar things stating that they are focused on

protecting the city and keeping it running as well as they can.

This storm has caused a lot of trauma with one man being killed by a 100ft

tall pile of salt that fell on him while he was working in a salt storage facility

in Philadelphia. There have also been

quite a lot of car accidents reported. With

one incident were a truck hit a bus

injuring 12 people and killing one.

But it is not all bad news. The cold

weather has also started a new trend,

throwing boiling water into the air and

watching it freeze almost instantly, with uploaded videos getting in excess of

a million views on YouTube. However, this isn’t risk free as there are reports

of people being scalded while doing this as they miscalculated the wind

speed, direction and temperature and were then hit in the face by boiling

water.

Carnivores in Decline

Alistair Smellie, ShRL

According to a new study, three quarters of the world’s biggest

carnivores are in decline including lions, bears and wolves. Scientists

have studied 31 of the world’s

biggest carnivores. They have

discovered that 3 in every 4 are at

risk of being extinct. They also found

that the meat-eaters were worst

affected in the Amazon, South-East

Asia and southern and eastern

Africa. Scientists say that the decline

is due to losing their habitat, being

hunted by humans and not being able to

find enough food to survive in the wild. A

researcher by the name of Professor

William Ripple said, “Globally, we are

losing our large carnivores. Their ranges

are collapsing. Many of these animals are

at risk of extinction, either locally or

globally. Human tolerance of these

species is a major issue of conversation.”

The researchers say the loss of these

species could be extremely damaging for

ecosystems all over the world. The puma has been declared extinct in eastern

US. The scientists say that much of the problem comes from an old fashioned

notion that predators are harmful and just a threat to other wildlife. The

authors say there needs to be a rapid recognition of the complex roles these

carnivores play and how much they are worth in economic terms. And when

people try to replicate the roles of these animals, they aren’t as effective. For

example, bears have a role in

the ecosystem to kill their prey

and be defensive from their

predators. I think that they

should set up charities to help

these animals and stop hunting

of them.

'Forever' Prisoner To Be Released from Guantanamo

Sheil Sethi, 3HL

YEMENI MAHMUD MUJAHID WHO WAS PREVIOUSLY CONSIDERED TOO DANGEROUS TO BE RELEASED IS NOW CLEARED TO BE RELEASED

FROM GUANTANAMO DETENTION CAMP.

Mahmud Mujahid, from Yemen, was taken to this detention camp in

Guantanamo Bay for the alleged terrorist attacks after being accused of being

Osama Bin Laden’s bodyguard.

The 33 year old, who has been in the facility since it opened in 2002, was

declared a ‘forever’ prisoner as it was thought

that he would never be released because he

would be too much of a threat to the US.

He has now been re-evaluated and it was

declared he no longer posed ‘a continuing

significant threat’ by a US government panel in a final effort to close the

prison. He is the first of dozens of so called ‘forever’ prisoners to be released.

Despite the fact that he was suspected of being Bin Laden’s guard and a

member of Al Quaeda, the US failed to prosecute him as the case wasn’t

allowed to come to court. The US panel still imprisoned him despite the fact

they had no conclusive evidence of the events that took place.

In 2010 he was one of 48 prisoners who were too dangerous to be released

but could not be charged because of a lack of evidence. Mr. Mujahid’s lawyer

has welcomed the news and is saying it has been long time coming.

Despite the approval, the panel said no decision has been made as to when

Mr. Mujahid is to be released or to which country.

I disagree with the decision to imprison him because if the Americans have no

evidence against him then he may not be guilty. This is an unjust act and

shouldn’t have happened in what is supposed to be a just society. It states in

the human rights act that every human on the planet has the right to not be

punished, without definite evidence.