Disney fights over Winnie-the-Pooh royalties

A company founded by the man who had worked with creator of Winnie-the-Pooh is taking Disney to court. This is because they want to get some apparently unpaid royalties. Stephen Slesinger who had come up with the idea of the red t-shirt for the bear had been allowed by a federal judge to sue Disney for royalties. A spokesman said that Disney owed a lot of money. Stephen had purchased the distribution rights for the US and Canada from A.A Milne in 1931. Eight years after Slessingers death in 1961 Disney got the rights that meant that they could films, TV series and toys.

Eric George who was a lawyer for Stephen said that that Disney owed his family 1.5% to 2.5% in royalties. Disney has said that the latest legal action is "baffling". Judge Florence-Marie Cooper made a decision on 25th September that rejected Slessingers company's claims. We still don't know the full outcome of this case but when we do we will hopefully be doing an update on the blog so watch out for it!

Anti-bullying Week 2009 kicks off on Monday

From 16th to 20th November 2009 is Anti-Bullying week 2009. The event which happen every year aims to raise awareness of bullying of children and young people. This is mainly in schools but they have events elsewhere. This year it will focus on Cyberbullying which is increasingly becoming a problem. There slogan is 'Stay Safe in Cyberspace'.

Various TV programs will be having special programs about it. Newsround will have a program on Monday. This won't just be about cyberbullying but all sorts of types of bullying. But it's not just kids that have been bullied. In the past it has happened to celebrities as well. these include Aston Merrygold from JLS, dancer George Sampson, boxer Joe Calzaghe and CBBC presenter Gemma Hunt.

Cyberbullying can happen to almost anyone and happens online and sometimes by texts on mobiles. Online it can happen on Chat rooms, Email, Instant messaging. A Canadian study found that most of the people who said that they had been bullied by text didn't know the person who had text them. Coincidentally the event is followed the next day by Children in Need 2009 which helps children around the UK, possibly with problems due to bullying. So we will have a busy week of charity events next week. I'm looking forward to it!

First ever female Red Arrows pilot does first display

The RAF has had its first ever female Red Arrows pilot. Kirsty Moor from RAF Scampton has finished her first week of training and done her first display today. She will start being in the Red Arrows team from next year. She is staying with the team until 2012. This will mean that she will only just feature in the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony.

Around forty pilots apply each year and only nine of those are sent to training in Cyprus. Around 60 out of 2,040 train pilots in the RAF are women. It’s the 45^th anniversary of the team this year so they do lots of displays. Kirsty said that she had been inspired to join the RAF by her father who was a Tornado navigator in the RAF. She joined in 1998 after studying aeronautical engineering at London’s Imperial College.

She had said that the day she was selected was one of the best days of her life. She has also completed combat missions in Iraq. The RAF said “we do have female aircrew in all our squadrons and this is a great way of getting the message across to women thinking of joining the Red Arrows,”

“She is very calm under pressure but Red Arrow pilots also have to be able to do the job on the ground as well as the flying job and she has a very calm and level-headed approach.”

She will join the other pilots who are based in Lincolnshire next year. She said it was an honour to be chosen. This will be a change for Kirsty as she has been based at RAF Marham in Norfolk before this. We’ll be watching out for her!

Millions of Xbox Live users cut off

Millions of Xbox Live users may be cut off for changing their Xbox to play pirated games. Microsoft said they had banned “a small percentage” of the twenty-million users that they have. They have said modifying the console is against the rules of the service. They haven’t yet announced how they will choose which users to ban. According to reports the ban will stop them using the Xbox Live service but not the actual games.

It has been thought that piracy of video games costs the people who make the games in the first place as much as £740 million a year. The games haven’t been downloaded from their own service but from illegal downloading sites which means that the users are breaking the law as well. In a statement from Microsoft they said “All consumers should know that piracy is illegal and that modifying their Xbox 360 console to play pirated discs violates the Xbox Live terms of use, will void their warranty, and result in a ban from Xbox Live”.

Millions of users might get a bit of a surprise when they turn their Xbox’s on soon. When the user switches the console on their user ID will be collected and they will be banned forever. It’s a bit mean but a good way to stop people from breaking the law. The problem is that people can still get pirated Xbox games if they know where to get them. This can’t be stopped just yet as it would be a pretty big operation to take on. The banning has already started so if you haven’t been banned already and use this then expect it some time soon!

Nestle in discussion with Fairtrade about making Kit Kat Fairtrade certified

Kit Kat makers Nestle are in discussion with Fairtrade about making the chocolate bar Fairtrade certified. Kit Kat is already Britain’s best-selling chocolate bar which would make it the biggest single Fairtrade-certified brand if it does get the go ahead. Earlier this year Nestlé's rival company Cadbury’s made Dairy Milk Fairtrade so Nestle have come possibly a bit to late.

The two companies haven’t decided what to do yet but with Cadbury’s already selling Fairtrade products it looks likely that Nestle could become Fairtrade soon. The company has been criticized over it’s so this would be a good thing to please the people who have criticized them. Although it plans to send thirty-eight million disease resistant cocoa plants to Third World farmers over the next ten years but the plan will cost £275 million. The agreement with the Fairtrade Foundation is probably going to take a while longer to sort out so you won’t be seeing the little logo for Fairtrade on Kit Kat’s any time soon.

Campaign to ban Airbrushing in magazines launched

Doctors have asked magazines to label images that have been airbrushed to make people look good in the magazines. This happens a lot and makes people worry about how they look. The magazines can make people looks thinner or give them better looking skin or whiter teeth. Instead of labelling the pictures some politicians want it banned all together. At the moment it’s still allowed but the people who monitor the adverts say that if they can get proof that this happens that will all change.

A group of experts have put together a report which they are hoping will convince the people who monitor adverts to ban or label the photos in the future.

Above is a Photo taken from gw-photography.co.uk which shows what airbrushing can do. For example the spots have been removed. The research that has been submitted to the ASA (Advertising Standards Agency) has been written up by Dr Helga Dittmar from the University of Sussex and Dr Emma Halliwell from the University of the West of England. It’s been backed by forty-two other people. The Paper has been organized by the Liberal Democrats as part of a campaign against the use of airbrushed or retouched images in advertisements. The results of this will probably be on here when they are announced. For now we will have to wait.

Berlin kicks off celebrations for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall

Tomorrow people around Germany and possibly around the world will celebrate the 20^th anniversary of the Berlin wall falling down. There was a performance at the MTV Europe music Awards from U2 to mark the anniversary. The wall stopped Germans emigrating from one side of Germany to the other. When it fell down about 5,000 people tried to escape over it which resulted in between one-hundred and two-hundred deaths.

Today they have had a “Festival of Freedom” which will include over 1,000 foam dominos that are over eight feet tall being stacked along the route of the wall. They will then be toppled. In the United States, the German Embassy will coordinate a public diplomacy campaign with the motto “Freedom without walls”. The campaign is focused on promoting awareness of the fall of the Berlin wall among current college students and students from over twenty universities will take part in “Freedom without walls events”.

The events will be happening over the next couple of days and I will hopefully be keeping track of any news.

Euromillions winners reveal themselves

The two Euromillions winners from Friday night’s lottery draw have claimed their money. This makes them the UK’s largest ever lottery winners. One there claims have been checked and validated they will get £45.5 million each. It’s possible that with the money they win they could become as rich as Jamie Oliver, Sir Michael Caine or Kate Moss.

With the total amount of £45,570,835.50 they could buy Portsmouth football club or a 40-acre island in the British Virgin Islands. They can also get a place in The Sunday Times Rich List, the first British lottery winners to have a place on there. One thing is that they won’t have any problems with the recession. There claims won’t be validated until tomorrow when the banks open.

The National lottery will have its fifteenth birthday this month on 19^th November. Since then they have created 2,300 millionaires. The winning numbers in Friday’s Euromillions were 11, 19, 34, 43 and 45. The lucky star numbers were five and nine. Once the wins are confirmed the new millionaires will be directed to a “winners’ adviser” who will help them negotiate with private bankers and financial advisers.

In August a former nurse had told an Edinburgh court how he had lost three or four million to a fraudulent business partnership. Another winner was investigated for benefit fraud after winning £77 million. She was forced to go into hiding after receiving death and abduction threats. She eventually bought a mansion and had state-of-the-art security and hiring separate post vans to deliver requests for money. The two recent winners are in the safe hands of experts so shouldn’t have problems. We will just have to wait and see.