Brandy Norwood, star of ‘Moesha’, a killer!

On the 30th December at roughly 10:30am Brandy Norwood was driving at 65 mph on the 450 freeway in Los Anglos , when she rear ended Awatef Aboudihaj, which led the Toyota driver spun and hit another four cars, Awatef was taken to medical care near by the accident and died that night. Awatef was a married woman with one child .

The car that Awatef hit was a 1989 Toyota Trecle and at that moment was being driven by 81 year old Donald Lite that then lent to cause Awatef to slide in the freeway. This then hit the
fourth car which was driven by 50 year old Mallory ham . While Mallory ham was left in minor injuries awatef was critical and taken to a near by hospital holy cross hospital near mission hills . she was then treated for pelvic injuries. It was the when she died later that evening doctors say it was because blunt force trauma.

Brandy, who was not arrested in the following incident, was not found in possessions of drugs or alcohol during and after the accident . Courtney Barnes, publicist for Brandy Norwood’s , had this to say for her self .
“She wishes to publicly express her condolences to the family of the deceased “also adding that “Brand would wish that you would respect the privacy of everyone that was evolved in the accident “ .

The police say that they would like brandy to be charged the sentence will be 1 year juvenile and a $1000 fine .although people think she should sever a minuim of 15 years . because she was not under drugs so should have known what to do . But the press say that she will be likely to be going to a county jail for 1 year .

Are Teens Reading Enough ? By Amy Fitzpatrick

Are Teenagers Reading enough books?

Are teens in the UK reading books enough these days? 19% of 15 year olds think that reading books is a waste of time and 29% 15 year olds hardly ever read. 35% only reading because they have to. Most teenagers like watching TV and playing video games rather than picking up a book and reading it, even though reading books can improve your English and help with spelling, punctuation, vocabulary. Through reading books you can also have a laugh, use your brains, get some free advice, escape noise and tension and boredom, and it can also make you discover new interests. Other things that teens do which puts them off books is judge it by its cover , because it looks boring, or looks really nice and it might be really rubbish, which would put you off books.

As well as teenagers not reading books, libraries are facing crisis as less and less people are borrowing books from library’s and just going to library’s to borrow CD, DVD’s, video’s and use the internet. The amount of people borrowing books has gone down by a third in the last 9 years. Some teenagers like reading books that they can relate to or about people the same age as them and it can help them to sort out problem of their own by reading what the characters are going through in the stories. Books by Jacqueline Wilson, Melvin Burgess are good if you want to be able to relate to them and are written in the 1st person so you can get to know what the character thinks and feels. Young people like reading books from authors like JRR Tolkien, JK Rowling, and Jacqueline Wilson.

Some of the top books for teenagers nominated by teenagers are: The Lord of the Rings - JJK Tolkien voted the UK’s best book), Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen and Harry Potter and The Goblet of fire – J.K Rowling. Allot of people aged 12 – 15 like reading scary books such as Goosebumps and Adventure / Fantasy books by authors like J.K Rowling, J.J.K Tolkien, Jacqueline Wilson and Roald Dahl. I did a survey to find out what type of books people aged 12 – 14 liked and did a table, I also found out that some of there favourite authors were: Louise Rannisson, Jacqueline Wilson, J.K. Rowling, Marian Keyes, Constance Briscoe And Sue Mayfield




Genres Results

adventure 1
horror 3
biographical 3
romantic 3
fantasy 1
historical 1



Personally I think that teens and young children should be encouraged more to read books by the families, and at school to help boost there education. I also think that they should try reading different types of books until they find types of books that suite them and they love.

Could the army have prevented this tragic event from happening?

A gulf war veteran admits to killing four members of his family. After leaving the army he shot them dead. David Bradley went to a police station and admitted murdering his two cousins’, wife, and uncle with a handgun fitted with a silencer.

The 41 year old cannabis smoking loner, David Bradley, who spent eight years serving his country in the Gulf, Northern Ireland and Bosnia, was described as “exemplary” by his commanding officers.

Soldiers are allowed to keep some trophy items if they want to when they leave the army, before leaving, they are usually searched to check if they are carrying any weapons. In 1995 before he quit the army the Ministry of Defence (mod) unexpectedly said they weren’t sure if the searched on Bradley had been carried out.. The gun that he had taken from his barracks was the weapon used in the terrible attack against his family.

It has now come to light that David Bradley exchanged a packet of cigarettes from a man in Bosnia for a CZ pistol with a silencer.

Two years passed, and David Bradley became more depressed and became a recluse not ever coming out of his bedroom according to his family.
Northumbria police and his Doctors have now confirmed that David Bradley was

suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

David Bradley’s family did not realise that he was hiding weapons in their home, until it was too late.

PTSD is a stressful experience which some members of the army experiencing symptoms of nightmares, flashbacks, emotional detachment, dissociation, insomnia, irritability, hyper vigilance, memory loss, startle response, clinical depression, anxiety.

I’m not excusing David Bradley’s actions for what he did but could it have been prevented?


Could the army help solders more who are suffering with Post-traumatic stress?

Why was the family not told of David Bradley condition?
By sara samra 9M

Father Prepares 8 yr old daughter for Marathon by Daniela Suarez

Father Prepares 8 yr old Daughter for Marathon!

We might think that a few hours of sport at school is too much. However, have a think about Zhang who’s running a marathon every day for fifteen days.

The eight-year-old girl, from China, has been asked by her father to run 33 miles a day so she can prepare for the Olympics in 2016.
She began her huge challenge on Thursday, with her father Zhang Jianmin riding along side her on his bicycle.
As other secondary school students have started a life of free time during their winter holiday, 8-year-old Zhang Hunmin is even busier than ordinary because her father has asked her to endeavour a 60-km run every day. Zhang Huimin, from south China's Haikou city, flabbergasted the public with her routine during the New Year's Day marathon. The girl crossed the finish line after 3 hours, 28 minutes and 45 seconds, only 19 seconds after the winner of the race. Realizing his daughter's ability in sports, Zhang Huimin's father Zhang Jianmin explained his 60-km/day exercise plan to a journalist from Nanguo Metropolitan Newspaper. As he explained, she begins running at 6:30 in the morning every day, taking a break after running 45-km. From 2 to 3 o' clock in the afternoon she embarks on the second part of her training, finishing up the remaining distance for the day. On the whole, the goal is for Zhang Huimin to run a total of 800 km within half a month. Zhang Jianmin told the journalist that he was very proud of his daughter and is there to help her and prepare her all her favourite foods. However some people are worried that so much running is bad for Huimin's health. Also, many have suggested that Zhang Jianmin should give up his strict regimen, because of the severe pain it is causing the little girl. They have said that he can not afford to risk his daughter suffering any further harm during her training. Though not supported, Zhang Jianmin claims his plan was made according to his young daughter's true skill. He adds that she looks good after her daily training and that nothing bizarre has happened yet. But, this forces him to conclude that his daughter is not putting enough effort in her training, and that perhaps he should boost her daily goal! Nanguo Metropolitan Newspaper interviewed a PE teacher at Hainan University, Xiao Shuiping. Xiao who says marathon training can help young people to persevere more. But, on the other hand, it's not a fine idea to make a child do great amounts of exercise, which could cause too much stress on their heart.
In England, generally running clubs wouldn't admit members under the age of 11 and you can't enter most marathons unless you're 18.
But Mr Zhang says he is not forcing Huimin to run, and that she can stop at any time she likes.
"I believe to be successful you have to practise from an early age," he said.

Personally I disagree with this because if I knew I had the same skill as this girl I would train but I wouldn’t train as much because it might ruin my health. Also I think that the father is being a bit to strict with the girl, she’s only eight maybe if she was older, then maybe it might be okay. I reckon that through this training she’s doing she will do well in the Olympics if she takes a rest and stops running as much as she is now because it could be dangerous, but at the end of the day her father knows what he’s doing.

By Daniela Suarez

Shilpa Shetty admits that Jade was Racist?

Shilpa Shetty admits that Jade was Racist?


The alleged racist comments made against ‘Big Brother’ contestant and Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty were raised in the House of Commons on Tuesday by the NRL Labour MP Keith Vas, saying such behaviour is ’unacceptable’.
In an Early Day Motion, Vas said, “That this House views that concern the comments made about Big Brother contestant Shilpa Shetty by the other housemates, believes that Big Brother has a role to play in preventing racist behaviour in the Big Brother House, regrets that these comments have been made, and called on the programme to take urgent action to remind the housemates that racist behaviour is unacceptable.

Celebrity Big Brother winner, Shilpa Shetty admits that Jade Goody was bullying and racist. The 31 year old told the Sun in an interview that “I am human like everybody else and I do have feelings. I just didn’t show them all in the house”. Shilpa suffered jibes from Danielle Lloyd, Jo O’Meara, Jade Goody and Jackiey Goody that sparked world wide rage. There were 46,000 complaints to Ofcom and when Shilpa was told this she said “that it was one big compliment”.

As Shilpa was watching all the things that had happened during Big Brother she said “I can’t believe some of these people, who I thought were my friends, said that behind my back”. The only person who tried to stop the argument between Jade and Shilpa was Jermaine Jackson.

Shilpa and Jade made up on the day she was evicted. When Jade went up to Shilpa and said “Can we talk please? I need to tell you something.” Shilpa followed Jade to ‘Nowhere’ and they both sat down and started talking.

Jade explained how she ‘had the hump’ with Shilpa and asked Danielle what her second name was and Danielle didn’t know so Jade said Shilpa Shatiton, Shilpa Makintose and then Jade said Shilpa Poppadom.
Shilpa then said that was ‘alright as long as you told me that you didn’t mean it in a racist way”.

Personally, I don’t think that Jade Goody was being racist. What she said was uttered in anger. Perhaps she ought to think more before she speaks – what do you think?

By Drew Williamson

Are models too skinny? by Maia Nicholls

Are models too skinny?

Some of the main headlines in the news at the moment like “Ban on gambling TV adverts to be lifted… Schoolboy killer's sentence raised” but the one that stood out the most to me was “London Fashion Week won’t ban skinny models”.

At the moment there are a lot of people who want to be skinny. the cause of this is making many people, mostly women are being diagnosed as anorexic. A lot of girls see in the media that a lot of the celebrities a skinny, e.g. Nicole Richie, Calista Flockhart, Mary-Kate Olsen and Victoria Beckham. These celebrities are always on TV or magazines and seen by all of our young population. When youths see this they read that the celebrities are so called perfect. Because of this they think ‘I need to be slim, people will accept me, boys will like me and I can wear short tops without feeling self-conscious.’

There is nothing wrong with being slim but when you take it to another level you either become anorexic or bulimic.

London’s fashion industry refused to ban ultra thin models from the catwalk even though they refused they said they would use healthy models between a weight of 18.5-25.
In Madrid they were a Go Go for the new idea they said they would agree to the terms.
Sir Philip green head of Top shop he said he would not use skinny models anymore.

By Maia Nicholls

Welcome to Maria Fidelis Weblog.

On January 30th 2007, 6 students from Maria Fidelis Convent School created a blog of news and topical affairs.
We hope you enjoy reading this and look forward to reading your comments.