Ensuring the day gets off to a bright start with a global collection of upbeat news nuggets.
La Reine
The Queen of England's relatives have nicknamed her "Lorraine", a play on the French "la reine" (meaning "the queen"), according to a new book. Camilla "always saw the funny side" of the nickname, the book claims, but the King "did not". The "amusing revelation" is made in the latest instalment of Robert Hardman's new biography of King Charles, said the Daily Mail. The paper notes that Camilla's grandchildren have a different, "sweetly amusing" nickname for her - Gaga.
Malaria-Free
Cape Verde, an island nation off the coast of West Africa, has just been given the status by the World Health Organization as it has not reported a single case of local transmission in three years. Experts have hailed this as a major achievement. It's the first time a sub-Saharan African nation has been declared malaria-free in 50 years.
Bypassing Hungary
The European Union will, if needed, find a way to bypass Viktor Orbán's veto and approve the €50 billion ($54bn) special fund for Ukraine, says Ursula von der Leyen. The package, which is designed to provide Kyiv with financial support until 2027 and plug the government's ballooning public deficit, is being held up by Hungary, an impasse that has left Brussels effectively without any money for the war-torn nation. "My personal priority is to have an agreement by 27 (countries). And if this is not possible, we are prepared for an agreement by 26," the Commission chief said.
Role Model
The age range at Chawli primary school in northern India is wider than at other schools since 92-year-old Salima Khan enrolled. The great-grandmother - who is known as Amma - has turned up as often as she can to the school in Uttar Pradesh, alongside her great-granddaughter-in-law, Firdaus, 35, and has learned to read and write. Her enthusiasm for learning has motivated many young girls as well as married women in the area to enrol in school, including two of her daughter-in-laws. As her story has spread, Amma has become a source of inspiration for women across the wider region of Uttar Pradesh, where about 30 percent of women are illiterate.
Anyone Out There?
The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) received a major upgrade to detect signatures of advanced alien civilizations across an unprecedented number of cosmic sources. COSMIC, a new system architecture leveraging the National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s facilities, now enables scanning hundreds of thousands of stars rather than thousands for technosignatures like radio emissions. With machine learning improvements in the pipeline, this constitutes the most comprehensive hunt for alien technologies ever undertaken.
Japan's Moon Launch
Japan hopes to become the fifth country, after the US, China, Russia and India, to land an unmanned spacecraft on the Moon. The country is scheduled to launch its low-cost 'moon sniper' today.
Strange But True
A Chinese sightseeing destination is looking to hire a human Monkey King, CNN reported, with perks of the job including a "warm cave" and "plenty of bananas". In Chinese legend, the mythical character is able to "ride on clouds" and has "supernatural powers", but the successful candidate will need to "stay put" in the Wuzhishan Scenic Area, in the province of Hebei, and "hole up in a cave at the bottom" of Wuzhishan Mountain. The Monkey King will also be required to wear a monkey mask and costume and to accept "apples, instant noodles and, inevitably, lots of and lots of bananas" offered by visitors. No academic qualifications are needed for the job, which pays $842 a month, according to Shangyou News. But a manager told the state-affiliated broadcaster that "a certain talent for acting" was required.
“Few things are more satisfying than seeing your own children have teenagers of their own.” Doug Larson
On This Day
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