OGN Monday

Editor OGN Daily
Jul 21
3 min read

What better way to start the week than with some good news?

Highly Overrated?

Bruce Springsteen is bigger than ever. Despite Donald Trump calling the legendary classic rocker as “highly overrated” earlier this year, Springsteen has wrapped up the most successful tour of his career, pulling in a whopping $730 million and selling 4.9 million tickets along the way. According to Billboard, his 2023-25 tour grossed more than double his previous biggest run of shows.

New NDA Rules

Bosses in the UK will be banned from using NDAs to silence employees and cover up misconduct at work. The government’s overhaul of workers’ rights will create one of the toughest protection regimes in the world, giving millions of workers, including those in low-paid jobs, more confidence that inappropriate behaviour like discrimination and harassment in the workplace will be dealt with.

First-Ever Image

This is the first-ever image of a solar system beginning to form, located 1,300 light-years away from Earth. “For the first time, we have identified the earliest moment when planet formation is initiated around a star other than our sun,” says Melissa McClure, co-author of a paper on the findings. “We’re seeing a system that looks like what our solar system looked like when it was just beginning to form,” fellow author Merel van ‘t Hoff explained. “This system is one of the best that we know to actually probe some of the processes that happened in our solar system.”

Bottlenose dolphin surfing on the wake of a boat — Bottlenose dolphin

Dolphin Legal Rights

Bottlenose dolphins living off the coast of South Korea’s Jeju Island are threatened by boats, discarded fishing gear, construction noise, pollution and runoff from fish farms. But environmentalists and experts are campaigning for the dolphins to be given “legal personhood” status to better protect them. It is the first attempt by Korea to give an animal the status, and is part of an expanding movement to recognize the legal rights of nonhuman species.

Legal Personhood: 2024 was an important year for the rights of nature.

Olivia Smith, footballer — Credit: Arsenal FC/David Price

New Record

In a reflection of where the women’s game is heading, Arsenal have broken the women’s global transfer record with the signing of Olivia Smith from Liverpool for £1 million. “It’s a privilege and an honour to sign for Arsenal,” said Smith. “It’s my dream to compete for the biggest titles here in England and in Europe and I’m excited to get started... with Arsenal.” The first million pound footballer in the world was for Giuseppe Savoldi's transfer from Bologna to Napoli for two billion Lira (around £1.2 million) in 1975.

First Look

The official medals for the upcoming 2026 Olympic Winter Games and Paralympic Winter Games have been revealed at an event in Venice. Each medal is divided into two distinct halves, and said to symbolise the connection between the athlete and the support system that contributes to their success. Commonly known as Milano Cortina 2026, the international multi-sport event is scheduled to take place from 6 to 22 February 2026 at sites across Lombardy and Northeast Italy.

LA28: Organizers of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles have released the first look of the competition schedule.

Lump of reddish brown rock from Mars — Credit: Sotheby's

"Unbelievably Rare"

A piece of Mars - the largest ever found on Earth - has sold at a New York auction for a $4.3m. The meteorite known as NWA 16788 weighs 54lb (24.5kg) and is nearly 15in (38.1cm) long, according to the action hose Sotheby's. It was discovered in a remote region of Niger in November 2023. "This is the largest piece of Mars on planet Earth. The odds of this getting from there to here are astronomically small," said Sotheby's. "Remember that approximately 70 percent of Earth's surface is covered in water. So we're incredibly lucky that this landed on dry land." It remains unclear where the meteorite will end up as information about the sale will remain private.

“The potential for greatness lives within each of us.” Wilma Rudolph

On This Day

Politician Sirimavo Bandaranaike in 1960

21 July 1960: Politician Sirimavo Bandaranaike became the world's first woman prime minister when she took office in Ceylon (later Sri Lanka). She left office in 1965 but returned to serve two more terms (1970 - 77 and 1994 - 2000) as prime minister.