This week's UK news: 29 September 2014
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30 September 2014


Victoria Beckham opens first fashion store

Fashion designer Victoria Beckham's first shop opened last week, in London. Her husband, footballer David Beckham, was at the opening ceremony but Victoria was not. She was speaking to the United Nations general assembly in New York.

Victoria Beckham became famous for being in the pop band The Spice Girls. She has been designing clothes since 2008 and gets very good reviews for her work. The shop has been specially created and has a huge staircase running up the middle.

 

UK gets rid of parrots

Plants and animals which are set free in countries where they don't naturally live can cause lots of problems. Here in the UK, the Government has been trying to get rid of a bird called the Monk Parakeet.

The birds, which are originally from Brazil and Bolivia, were probably brought to the UK as pets but then escaped in London. People like them but these birds can cause big problems, including power blackouts. This is because they build huge nests for lots of birds, often on electricity pylons.

The government has spent GPB 260,000 since 2011 trying to get rid of the birds and now thinks there are only 50 left.

Another type of parakeet will be allowed to stay, because there are so many that it would now be difficult and very expensive to get rid of them.

 

Girl born with no blood starts school

A little girl who was born with no blood in her body has surprised doctors by starting school as normal.

Maisy Vignes was born six weeks early in 2009 after her mother thought something was wrong. Doctors found she had no blood at all in her body, which they had never heard of before.

They thought Maisy might suffer brain damage, but she has developed normally.

 

Man sleeps by the Roman coins he found

Laurence Egerton is a builder who spends his spare time looking for metal objects in fields. He uses a metal detector to look for interesting things - but most often finds ring pulls from drinks cans and other rubbish.

But last year, he found 22,000 Roman coins in a field in Devon. It is the biggest find of 4th century Roman coins found in Britain. The coins are on temporary display at the British Museum in London.

Mr Egerton started by finding two coins, but the metal detector indicated there was more iron below. He dug down and found coins which "spilled over the field."

When the experts came to check the site and remove the coins, Mr Egerton stayed in his car at night to guard the coins. He will now be able to have half of their value. He says he would like to be able to keep one coin.

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