World News for Schools:Fri 11 Mar

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Hi there, I'm Hayley from the BBC World News for Schools. It's Friday the 11th of March.

Coming up:

  • A massive earthquake hits Japan.
  • Europa League action.
  • And Bieber fever hits the UK!

First, an enormous earthquake - measuring 8.9 - has hit Japan, triggering a devastating tsunami. 32 people are known to have died and many more are missing. Huge waves have swallowed up everything in their path, destroying houses, cars, boats and engulfing massive swathes of farmland on the country's eastern coast. Meanwhile, in the capital, Tokyo locals were left shaken after the tremor ripped through the city. At this supermarket cartons and bottles crashed from the shelves...

CLIP: FX of quake.

These locals were travelling to work, when the quake struck...

CLIP: " I thought I would die - it was really huge." "I was on the train, and it was the biggest quake I had ever felt. It was very frightening."

And it's not just Japan that's been affected, ten meter high waves are due to hit the Philippines at any time. In fact, countries across the entire Pacific coast are on red alert and big evacuations are taking place. So how can the tsunami affect such an enormous area? Here's earthquake expert, Dr Brian Baptie...

CLIP: "If the earthquake actually moves the seabed, if it pushes it up, it acts a bit like a gigantic wave machine, and that wave can travel huge distances, thousands of kilometres, and that causes the tsunami."

And if you've been affected by the earthquake and you want to tell us about it you can e-mail us at

OK, some more of the day's stories now. It was a big night in the Europa League, with 8 matches being played. Results included a 2-0 defeat for big money team Manchester City, at the hands of Ukrainian side Dynamo Kiev...

CLIP: "Gusev is in, and Gusev volleys the ball into the top right hand corner. Kiev increase their advantage. They lead Manchester City by 2 goals to nil"

The night also saw Portuguese side Braga beat Liverpool 1-0 in the 1st leg of their last 16 tie.

Now, hiccups are really annoying at any time, but imagine getting them when you're live on air! That's what happened to one news reader in Australia. You've got to hear this...

CLIP: "It's three o'clock (hiccup). Good morning. I'm Kate Wilson. Libya leader, Muammar Gaddafi has urged his supporters not to believe the lies he says are being told about (hiccup) what's happening in their country."

Ah, I hope that never happens to me!

Finally, check out the reception Justin Bieber got when he turned up for a concert in Liverpool, England...

CLIP: Bieber fans.

There were so many Beliebers they had to close off a whole street and stop traffic. Crazy!

Just before we go we have the answer to yesterday's question. We asked you when space shuttle Discovery was first launched? And the answer is...1984!

OK, that's all from the World News for Schools team. We're back on Monday.


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