English news for Friday, September 25, 2026

Two sea turtles have laid eggs on beaches in Huntington Beach, a city in California in the United States. NOAA, the US government agency^*1 for the ocean and weather, says this is the first time anyone has recorded a sea turtle laying eggs on the West Coast of the United States.

On September 16, 2026, lifeguards^*2 from the Huntington Beach Fire Department got a call about a sea turtle near Surfside and Seal Beach. The caller said the turtle was hurt. When the lifeguards arrived, they found the turtle laying eggs. Three days later, on September 19, another turtle was found laying eggs near the Huntington Beach Pier, a long walkway that goes out over the sea.

The turtles are olive ridley sea turtles^*3. They are the smallest kind of sea turtle. They weigh up to 100 pounds, or about 45 kilograms, and they are 2.5 to 3 feet long, or about 76 to 91 centimeters. In the Pacific Ocean, these turtles usually lay their eggs only in Mexico, Central America and Panama. This is the first time they have laid eggs in the United States.

Both nests are now surrounded by permanent fences, and signs have been put up. People who see a hurt sea turtle can call the city's hotline^*4 at (562) 506-4315.

Sea turtle eggs usually take 45 to 60 days to hatch^*5. A team will keep watching the nests until then.

1. *1 agency: a part of the government that does one kind of job
2. *2 lifeguards: people whose job is to keep swimmers safe at a beach
3. *3 olive ridley sea turtles: a kind of small sea turtle with a green-gray shell
4. *4 hotline: a phone number people can call to report a problem
5. *5 hatch: when a baby animal breaks out of its egg

On September 25, 2026, a group of experts^*1 met in Japan to talk about school lessons. The group is part of the Central Council for Education. This council gives advice to the Ministry of Education, the part of Japan's government in charge of schools. It was the group's 18th meeting.

At the meeting, the group looked at a draft^*2 of a new plan. The plan will say what schools in Japan should teach. The draft is very long. It comes in four files, and the first two parts together are about 400 pages. A third part with extra information makes it even longer.

The group talked about three big ideas in the draft. The first idea is a new system for adjusting^*3 class hours. The second idea is helping students become much better at information skills^*4. The third idea is about standard class hours^*5. This number may need to change because of the first two ideas. The draft also has a section on each school subject. One of them is a subject about information and technology.

The plan is still a draft. The group is still discussing it.

1. *1 experts: people who know a lot about one subject
2. *2 draft: an early version of a plan or paper that is not finished yet
3. *3 adjusting: changing something a little to make it fit better
4. *4 information skills: the ability to find, understand, and use information well
5. *5 standard class hours: the number of hours a school should teach each subject