World News for Schools:Tue 29 Mar

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Hi there, I'm Leah from the BBC World News for Schools. It's Tuesday the 29th of March.

Coming up:

  • Ricky Ponting quits as captain.
  • A poisonous cobra is on the loose.
  • And 'spiderman' scales the world's tallest building!

But first to Libya, where the rebel forces trying to remove Colonel Gaddafi have been stopped outside his home city. Anti-government rebels had been making good progress but Gaddafi's troops are putting up a more of a fight than expected. Meanwhile, U.S. President, Barack Obama has been telling people why he thinks it was right for countries like America and Britain to send war planes into Libya...

CLIP: "At this particular moment we were faced with the prospect of violence on a horrific scale."

Now China's set to be top of the class when it comes to science, if new research is anything to go by. The country that invented the compass, gunpowder and paper is set to overtake the U.S. as world leaders in science by 2013 - that's far earlier than expected. China is producing more and more scientific papers and even though America still produces more, at the rate China's going it will soon leave the U.S. trailing.

Big news now in the world of cricket. Australia's captain, Ricky Ponting has quit! Despite being the games most successful skipper ever, Ponting has faced a lot of criticism after his team lost the Ashes to England and then were booted out of the World Cup. But even though he won't be leading his team, Ponting says he still wants to play...

CLIP: "I think I've got a lot to offer as a player and certainly as a leader for some of the younger guys around, if and when required."

The new captain hasn't yet been announced, but all eyes are on Michael Clarke.

Next the the hunt is on for a deadly snake that's escaped from its pen in a New York zoo! The Egyptian cobra's been missing since Friday, and with venom so deadly that it can kill within seconds, the race is on to find it.

Now this next one isn't for listeners who are scared of heights. The French climber, Alain Robert - also known as spiderman - has shimmied up the world's tallest building in Dubai. It's over eight hundred metres high, it took him six hours and he was forced to wear a safety harness. So why does he do it?

CLIP: "I am having fun. You know, I guess for me life is made to be something funny. When I wake up in the morning I think I will enjoy the day because for me that's life!"

And for today's question we want to know what the name of the world's tallest building is? Yesterday, we asked you what country has the most tigers? And the answer is....India!

OK, that's all we've got time for, we're back tomorrow but before we go we want to say a big hello to Calvin who got in touch from Myanmar, in south east Asia, and to all the pupils at Bobby Orr Public School in Ontario, Canada - and if you want to get in touch you can e-mail us at


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