27/09/2016 Newsround

Good afternoon.

I'm Naz and this is Newsround.

First, the company that owns Alton Towers has been given

a massive punishment for making big mistakes that led to

a rollercoaster crash last June.

16 people were injured, five of them seriously,

when their carriage on the Smiler ride hit an empty one on the track.

Serious accidents like this are extremely rare, so there's

been a big investigation into how it happened.

Today a judge called the crash a "catastrophic failure"

and an accident that could have been avoided.

Merlin Attractions has been ordered to pay a fine of ?5 million,

a record punishment for a theme park.

Well, BBC reporter Sophie Long sent us this from Alton Towers.

Merlin Attractions, the company that owns Alton Towers,

was fined ?5 million today for what the judge called

a "catastrophic failure of health and safety rules."

Two teenage girls, Vicky Balch and Leah Washington,

both lost legs after the accident that happened on the Smiler

roller coasters here in June of last year.

One mother, who was on the ride with her two daughters,

says she is still trying to deal with what happened here last June.

The judge said the accident could have been avoided

if the company had proper plans in place, and he said that people

who were trapped on the ride were left there up in the air

for far too long, some of them for up to five hours.

The company apologised to the victims of the crash in court

today, and again afterwards, when they reacted to the fine

that they have been given.

But they say they have made changes here, so that something like this

can never happen again.

Next, to South Africa where there's been some important news

on the future of elephants.

Jenny has travelled there and sent us this report.

Hi Newsrounders.

I've only been in South Africa for a few hours, and already

I've seen a cheetah, some zebras and a baboon.

The wildlife here is just incredible.

I've travelled from Johannesburg up to the north-east of

the country, near the famous Kruger National Park,

that's where lions, rhino and elephants live.

Now, I'm in South Africa, because elephants are in danger.

Every year, thousands of them are killed for their ivory

in their tasks.

World leaders are meeting for the next eight days to decide

what is to be done about it.

Yesterday there was a vote on whether countries should be

allowed to buy or sell ivory in future.

And they voted not to.

Some conservationists are happy about this,

but some countries want to be able to sell ivory, they say to make

money to protect elephants.

There are a lot of decisions still to be made, and I'm

going to be right in South Africa reporting on them for Newsround.

Thanks Jenny.

Go to Newsround online for our guide on what the ivory trade is,

and how it's affecting elephants around the world.

You can also watch 11 things you never knew about the animals!

And something else you probably never knew, there are jets of water

on one of the moons circling the planet Jupiter.

These images of Europa, sent back from Nasa's hubble space

telescope, show what experts reckon is water spurting out

from the moon's huge ocean under the surface.

Doctor Sarah Crowther from the University

of Manchester explains.

There's lots of water on Europa.

But the surface is covered in a very thick layer of ice.

We know that water is essential to life.

Nasa was very careful to say they haven't found aliens, they

haven't found any life there yet.

But these jets of water erupting from under the ice surface might

make it easier to explore.

From another planet to a shining star, 15-year-old Ellie Robinson,

who stormed to gold in the pool at the Rio Paralympics returned

to school yesterday, and what a welcome it was.

The teenage swimmer was greeted by her classmates in a special

school assembly where they watched back her medal winning triumph.

So what's it like for the champion to be back at school,

and what do her mates make of it all?

It's just having one of my best friends back at school

and having someone to talk to.

We are all really proud of early and what she's done.

These are ridiculous!

This is so cool!

LAUGHTER.

It's quite nice seeing everyone come together, we were all cheering

on Ellie, and it's united us, it's really nice

and we can all cheer.

CHEERING.

It's great because I've been waiting to see these guys for ages,

and it's so nice to be back and talking to them.

We aren't even talking about Rio, to be honest!

Well done Ellie.

Well tomorrow we're speaking to another champion,

Bake Off champ Nadiya Hussain will be here and we want your

questions and baking photos.

Go online now to send them in.

We're back at 7:40am tomorrow morning.

Have a great evening.