27/03/2014 Newsround

Hi guys, I have everything you need to know this Thursday. On today's

show: How some birds may be smarter than you might think. Why millions

of Britain's pets are getting seriously overweight.

First then, do you think you could outsmart this bird? Well, according

to scientists New Caledonian crows are as good at solving puzzles as

seven-year-old kids. Crows are the only creatures to use tools, apart

from primates like apes and humans, and new research shows they can work

out complicated logic puzzles too. Check this out.

They're known for being pretty savvy but now scientists reckon that crows

can be as good at solving puzzles as seven-year old kids. These

particular crows are very good at tool use, but all members of the

crow family, the ones you see in your family is -- the ones you see

in your garden, are intelligent. In a series of tests, the crows had to

work out what to do to get treats. One of the tests where the crows did

well was this one. They were given a range of tubes with different

amounts of water in and a pile of rocks next to it. As you can see,

pretty soon they got the hang of it. So how does it work? It's all to do

with a scientific principle called displacement. If you drop a rock in

the water it sinks to the bottom, pushing some of the liquid out of

the way and raising the level of the water. The birds not only used this

tactic to get at food floating on the water, they also worked out

which items would float or not and knew which tube had the most water

in it. We did almost exactly the same is that gives children between

four and ten and we found that while children over eight were much better

than the crows, children between five and seven performed about the

same level as the crows. They were just as good in the apparatus. The

children did it just as well but the crows could not do it. So sometimes

children and animals can perform as well as each other, but they might

learn in different ways. Although they weren't as good in some of the

more complicated tasks, crows seem to me to be the birds "in the know".

Next, what happens when two of the most powerful men in the world meet

for the first time? Well, a lot of cameras start flashing, as you'll

see right now! The President of America, Barack Obama, met with the

leader of the Roman Catholic Church, the Pope, at the Vatican today. And

it seems they got on very well! President Obama, who's on a

week-long tour of Europe, told an Italian newspaper that he admires

the Pope's commitment to fighting global poverty, but he did admit

they don't agree on everything. It's BBC's School Report News Day

today, and thousands of you up and down the country have been taking

part. Ricky and Leah have been working with school reporters today

in London. What have you guys been up to today? Welcome to the hub of

the BBC in central London. This has been taken over by BBC School

reporters. Every corridor and meeting room has children wearing

their school ties. Thousands of children are sharing their stories

on radio, online and on TV. What have you been doing? Me and my

friend have been in the radio broadcasting remaking our bulletin

about stories we think matter. You chose the stories and put together

your own radio show, amazing. We have also been on the set of the One

Show. It was amazing to get our story on telly. We had a special

guest judge. You can see the whole thing at 7pm. Respirator button --

press the red button. Next, has your pooch got a paunch,

or does your bunny have a belly? If so, they may be prime candidates for

the Pet Fit Club weight loss competition which launches today.

Animal charity the PDSA, which provides veterinary care for pets,

says that millions of pets across the UK are far too fat, because

their owners are sharing their own eating habits. Foods like takeaways,

biscuits and chips are all making dogs, cats and even rabbits

dangerously overweight, which can lead to major health problems and

severely shorten their lives. The annual contest aims to find the best

pet slimmers and entrance is open now.

Make sure you head online to our new-look website, and check out both

our special programmes from this week. Yesterday's front line

Families, as well as the report on the uncertain future for kids living

in Afghanistan's capital city, Kabul. That's all from me,

Newsround's back just before 7pm.