This week we have some interesting news for you. There's a Deli Market competition which you would love to take part in. We been talking so much about nature and how to preserve it and how to keep the city clean. Now here's your chance to show the country how to keep it clean by sending your ideas through paintings.

We also have news of a kite festival. As you know the month of August and even September are famous months for making kites. Here we have a selection of some wonderful kites. May be you too, would have gone to Galle Face and seen this beautiful sight. If you had please do write in and tell us about it.

Until next time
Aunty Sunshine

• My Mother
• U.N's commitment to peace - Stamp News 32
• Planet of Doom
• Save the trees that save us
• Water insects and beetles

My Mother

Sometimes she's a friend,
Sometimes she's a sister,
Teaching me all the good things
With love and kindness.

All the created things,
In this world,
Will obey you.
Because of your great love,
And sensitive kindness.

My dear mother,
You are my life
And you are my spirit.
I can't estimate you,
And your value.
With a poem like this.

And finally, I tell you.
My dear mother,
From my heart,
''I Love You.''

Ayomi Doolwela,
Pushpadana Girls College,
Kandy.

Stamp News 32

U.N's commitment to peace

By Uncle D. C. R.

"We the peoples of the United Nations determin to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war..." thus begins the preamble of the Charter of the United Nations which heralded the birth of an international organisation created to maintain world peace and security and to work for social progress.

The process began in August 1941 when US President Franklin D Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill held a secret meeting on board a battleship in the Atlantic Ocean to discuss a plan for a world without war and announced the Atlantic Charter on 14 August 1941. It culminated in the San Francisco Conference when representatives of 50 countries met and drafted the Charter between April and June 1945. The Charter came into force on 24 October 1945.

The Veterans (War Memorial) building in San Francisco where the Charter was signed on 26 June 1945 was depicted on the first UN commemorative stamp released on 24 October 1952.

There are four main purposes of the United Nations:

1 to keep peace throughout the world.

2 to develop friendly relations among nations.

3 to work together to help poor people live better lives, to remove disease and illiteracy in the world, and to encourage respect for each other's rights and freedoms.

4 to be a centre for helping nations achieve these goals.

The pursuit of peace being one of the main objectives of the UN, this theme is often used on UN stamps. Since 1981, the third Tuesday of September, the opening day of the regular session of the General Assembly is observed as the International Day of Peace. 1986 was declared International Year of Peace.

The success of UN peace keeping efforts has saved countless lives and billions of dollars in resources and has been recognized in the awarding of the 1988 Nobel Peace Prize to the UN Peace-keeping forces.

Under the UN Charter, the Security Council, one of the six main organs of the UN, has been given the prime responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. It can be convened at any time whenever peace is threatened. Member States agree to accept and to carry out its decisions. In the event of armed conflict, the Council tries to secure a cease-fire. It may send peace-keeping units (observers or troops) to troubled areas, with the consent of parties involved, to reduce tension and keep opposing forces apart.

Two stamps were issued on UN Day 1957 (24 October) to commemorate the Security Council.

Planet of Doom

From the beginning of civilization man co-operated with his surroundings : trees, animals, water ways, mountains, earth and practically every object he came across and lived with as a part of him. They feared, and at times worshipped some of these objects. They knew by experience that they were part of the environment and that they profited by harnessing, not harassing their surroundings.

With technological advancement the gap between nature and man widened. Population expansion, industrialization, mass scale agricultural projects and greed are the causes of this breach. In order to achieve their own selfish goals, man either neglected or misused the environment. He cleared the virgin forests for mass agricultural projects, commercial purposes, industries and towns. These so called "advanced activities" slowly and steadily destroyed nature and its peaceful co-existence with man.

Thinning of the ozone layer is a direct result of our own foolish activity. Thousands of people are dying or suffering for this mistake. The destruction of forests has caused problems to human life. Drought, earth slips, floods and soil erosion are some of the consequences of this. In Sri Lanka most of the water ways are polluted, a direct result of human neglect. Dumping of chemicals and garbage into the water ways have caused many hardships for all of us. The cities are polluted by millions of tons of poisonous gases which are emitted by vehicles and factories.

Fortunately humans have realized the mistake they have made by destroying the environment. They have begun to correct their mistakes by re-forestation, conserving water and making people aware of nature. I hope and pray that they will succeed and make the world in the 21st century a better place to live in.

Lawanya Samarasinghe,
Mahamaya Girls College, Kandy.

Save the trees that save us

Trees are very important for our survival, because when we breathe out carbon dioxide it goes into the trees and the trees let out oxygen, which we breathe in. Trees also give us beauty, food and plenty of shade.

Without trees the temperature will go up and it will cause the polar ice caps to melt, which causes floods. This is called the green house effect. When there is not enough trees, heavy rains will cause erosion. Chopping down trees would cause many animals to become extinct. Also, the beauty that the trees give the land would not be there.

So chopping trees down is a very bad habit. If trees can be saved then animals and nature will be preserved. I wish that these trees will survive for many centuries.

Devasmitha Wijesundara,
Hillwood College, Kandy.

Water insects and beetles

Beetles are amongst the easiest insects to recognize. They have armoured bodies and appear to have no wings. Actually a pair of hind-wings are folded up beneath the horny fore-wings, called elytra. Most beetles can fly, and are often active at night, but mainly they spend their lives on the ground, or among vegetation. Some beetles also live in fresh water.

Beetles range in size from less than a millimetre long, to giants from the tropics such as the Goliath and Hercules beetles. They can grow to ten centimetres and weigh up to100 grams.

Beetles belong to the group called the Coleoptera. It contains the largest number of insects and there are some 25o,000 different kinds. Most are tiny and harmless,but some do a lot of damage, both to food and to property.

The grub of the click beetle, called a wireworm, damages grass and crops by attacking the roots. So does the grub of the cock thafer or maybug which zooms about the sky on summer evenings.

Bark beetles lay their eggs on the bark of trees. The grub then bores a system of tunnels in the bark which damages the tree. The woodworm damages furniture in the same way, while the timbers of older houses are invaded by the larger death-watch beetle.

Like the ''black beetle" or cockroach, many beetles are scavengers and feed on all sorts of rubbish, neglected food and dead animals. Burying beetles cover up a dead body by removing the soil from underneath so that it is covered. They usually work in pairs. The female then lays her eggs and will feed the young on the carcases.

The meal worm is the grub of another beetle which can do great harm to grain in store rooms. But it also has a use to man, and is bred in large numbers as food for cage birds and other pets.

The violet ground beetle has no wings but can run very fast. It is found in cellars and under logs. It hunts for its food, as does the green tiger beetle which is found in sandy places.

One of the more unusual beetles is the glow-worm. It is the female which is grub-like and able to give off a light. It does not travel much, and small colonies of glow-worms light up in the dark to attract the males which are able to fly. Its favourite food is snails.

Beetles of the pond

Not all insects that live in water spend their whole lives there. Dragonflies live in both water and air. The female lays her eggs at the waterside or drops them on the surface. The eggs which hatch out grow up as nymphs. They usually remain hidden among water plants. They have powerful hinged jaws which can be shot forward with great speed to catch a passing tadpole or fish. When fully grown in one or two years, the nymph crawls up a water plant into the air. The body slowly dries, splits down the back, and the dragonfly can crawl out. At first the wings are crumpled but they slowly spread out as blood is pumped into the veins. It can take an hour or two before the dragonfly is ready to fly away.

The water boatman has an odd habit of swimming upside-down. It swims with jerky movements, using its oar-like hind legs. Now and then it surfaces for air. Water stick insects and water scorpions are named after their shapes, but are also water bugs.

The great diving beetle is a fierce hunter. It is well built for swimming, with a streamlined body. There are few other water animals, including fish, which are safe from its attack.

A common sight in ponds are the whirligig beetles moving in circles on the surface. Here you can see the pond skaters walking on the surface film.

This film is invisible but strong enough to support these water bugs. It also works like a magnet for mosquito larvae can hang from the surface. There are two kinds of mosquito larvae. Only the larvae that hang horizontal to the surface carry the germs of malaria.

Two dangers which face water insects are freezing and drying up. However, they are safe under the ice during winter since water is always above freezing point. If the pond dries up they must fly away or bury themselves in the mud.

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