Wimbledon and British Grand Prix lead UK sport

The UK's major tennis tournament, Wimbledon, is now in its second week. There has been some great tennis and people are very happy because Andy Murray, our national champion, is still in the competition. It is a very unusual competition because it is played on grass, which makes the ball play in a very different way to other surfaces.

This weekend we have also had the British Grand Prix - and the winner, Lewis Hamilton, is also from the UK. In a third bit of sporting good news, the English women's football team came third in the World Cup.

New airport runway to be built at Heathrow - or is it?

Business people and the government say the UK needs more airport space in the south of England. In other words, we need another runway. The argument has raged for years about where the runway should be. Five years ago the government cancelled plans for a third runway at London Heathrow Airport. Then it asked for a report into where an extra runway should be built.

The report has just been published, and it recommends a new runway at… Heathrow. This would mean knocking down more than 700 homes, including most of one village. It would also be very unpopular in parts of London. 

Now there is a big political battle to come over where the runway is actually built. 

Heatwave hits UK

The UK had its hottest July day ever last week. Temperatures reached 36.7 degrees at Heathrow Airport, and the English UK was hotter than Miami, Los Angeles, Rome and Barcelona. Trains were ordered to go slower, in case tracks were damaged by the heat. The heatwave ended with huge thunderstorms with hail and spectacular lightning around the UK. Weather forecasters say the very hot weather may return later this month. 

Royal family in the news

This weekend the new royal baby, Princess Charlotte, was seen in public for the second time. The Princess was being christened (a ceremony to name her and welcome her to the Church) near her family home in Eastern England. 

Lots of people waited to see the family go to and from the church, and the news has been full of pictures of them, especially Prince George, who is nearly two. Two items of the Crown Jewels were  removed from London especially for the service, and the baby Princess was pushed to the service in a pram used by the Queen's younger sons in the 1960s.