OGN Friday

Editor OGN Daily
10 hours ago
3 min read

What better way to celebrate the end of the week than a global round up of upbeat news stories?

flying fox, wings outstretched, as it dips into a river to stay hydrated — Credit: Hardik Shelat

Flying Fox Hydrating

Wildlife photographer Hardik Shelat has once again shown that perseverance pays off with his incredible flying fox photo. Shelat photographed these exceptional animals, also known as Indian fruit bats, while they got a reprieve from the summer heat by splashing in a river. It's an exceptionally rare moment to capture, as these animals are nocturnal. His photograph in Gujarat, India, shows a flying fox, wings outstretched as it dips into the river to stay hydrated, and gives us a sense of their grandeur as one of the largest bats in the world. With a wingspan that stretches anywhere from 4 to 5 feet, it's an impressive sight.

Food Supplies

Global grain supplies are expected to reach a record level of 3.6 billion tons during the 2025-26 season. World Bank forecasts food prices are expected to decrease by 7 percent during 2025. This will be the third consecutive year that production increases. During 2026, prices are expected to fall slightly further. Staying on the subject of food...

Whey to Go

Two companies have collaborated to create a plastic-free cheese packaging that biodegrades in 300 days, not 1,000 years. As an alternative to single-use plastic wrapping, Ogilvy Colombia and Nestlé Central America created 'Self-Packing Cheese' that’s entirely made from cheese waste and whey. “The new packaging has a double-edged impact, reducing plastic waste and giving discarded whey a second life,” they said in a joint press release. A standard pack of cheese singles contains 24 slices, all individually wrapped in 24 pieces of plastic and packaged again in a larger sleeve. According to a Simmons National Consumer Survey, 30.45 million people eat a pound or more of cheese singles per week - and that’s just in the United States.

Taxing Times

Taxpayers in Guatemala were asked to sign an honesty pledge before filling in their tax return because "nudge theory" research showed that doing so would "drastically" lower rates of fraud, said The London Times. But it had absolutely no impact. "Compelling evidence" has since emerged to suggest that the Harvard Business School academic behind the honesty research had "manipulated her results".

15 pairs of twins at a Long Island high school — Credit: WPLG Local 10 | YouTube screenshot

Seeing Double

A high school in the suburbs of New York City will be seeing double on graduation day this weekend: Among the nearly 500 students in its graduating class, 30 are twins. It’s a tight knit group. Some of the students at Long Island’s Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School have known each other since kindergarten, their parents meeting through a local twins club. Some even still plan family vacations together. These days, some of the 15 pairs of twins are on a group text chain, which has helped them cope with their newfound fame as graduation day approaches.

Historic Benchmark

South America has become the first continent in the world without planned new coal power plants. Renewable energy sources have become economically superior to coal across the continent. Speaking of which...

Ireland Ends Coal

Ireland has become the sixth European country to end its use of coal (joining Austria, Belgium, Sweden, Portugal, and the UK) with its scheduled shut-down of the Moneypoint coal-fired power plant six months earlier than originally planned. “This is the end of coal in Ireland and the start of a cleaner energy future,” said Paddy Hayes, ESB’s chief executive officer. As renewables make up an increasing share of the world’s power generation, coal is becoming obsolete as a fuel source.

“Human beings must always be on the watch for the coming of wonders.” E.B. White

On This Day

Joshua Slocum arrives in Newport, Rhode Island aboard his yacht 'Spray'

27 June 1898: Canadian-American adventurer Joshua Slocum arrives in Newport, Rhode Island aboard 'Spray', completing the first solo circumnavigation of the globe. He did it, he wrote, “because I was amused by the assertions that it could not be done.”