Getting the week off to a positive start with a bundle of good news nuggets.
Global Citizen Live, a 24-hour concert that featured performances from Stevie Wonder, Jennifer Lopez, Elton John and dozens of other stars, raised more than $1.1 billion over the weekend to fight extreme poverty. Broadcasting from sites on six continents, including New York’s Central Park (fronted by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex) and in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Global Citizen also secured pledges from France for 60 million COVID-19 vaccine doses for developing countries and corporate pledges for planting 157 million trees around the world.
People in northern parts of the US should look up into the sky tonight - there's a chance you'll see the northern lights. Usually, the aurora borealis sticks close to Earth's magnetic north pole, in the Arctic. But during geomagnetic storms, the sun sends out an increased amount of energy and charged particles, which bombards Earth's magnetic field. That can lead the aurora to drift south and it's predicted that, tonight, a moderate geomagnetic storm could lead the aurora to be seen "as low as New York to Wisconsin to Washington state."
A 450-mile long electricity cable connecting Northumberland, England with Kvilldal, Norway, started operating a few hours ago. The €1.6bn ($1.85bn) North Sea link draws power from Norway’s hydropower electricity system to provide power for up to 1.4m British homes. It's the fifth cable linking Britain’s power market with neighbours and will be able to both import and export power, helping balance out intermittent supplies from the UK's wind turbines. The new connection is one of the many fresh power sources being developed to help Britain cope with the huge increase in demand for low-carbon electricity.
More from Norway: The country has been a global leader in switching to electric vehicles and seeks to become the first to end the sale of petrol and diesel engines by 2025. It's well on its way to achieving this as, last month, battery electric vehicles made up a remarkable 77 percent of all car sales.
Four years ago, a heartbreaking assignment changed Lt. Brian Zach's life for good - and for the better. Zach responded to a welfare check in Kingman, Arizona, where he met 2-year-old Kalia. The little girl was covered in bruises, had a fractured skill and other injuries, reports CNN. As they waited for social workers to help get Kalia out of her abusive home, Zach made friends with his small charge. In fact, they got on so well that authorities later contacted him when they were searching for a foster family. Zach, along with his wife and two children, immediately said yes. They then went one better and decided to make her part of their family by adopting Kalia.
In the Netherlands, a country famous for successfully dealing with aquatic issues, an engineering company recently completed the world’s largest 3D-printed bridge. Built in Nijmegen, the bridge spans 95 feet (29m) across a canal, and helps demonstrate 3D printing advantages for both designers and policy makers. Among these are that 3D printers use far less material than traditional construction techniques, and offer greater creative possibilities for designers.
Jobseekers in the UK will get six months of free broadband to help them search for jobs. The telecoms company TalkTalk and the Department for Work and Pensions launched the initiative to tackle digital exclusion, which is a barrier to some people getting a job.
World's fastest EV charging station promises a full battery in under 15 minutes. Sweden's ABB will open the first station in Europe by the end of this year. Next year, it will expand to the US and around the world.
A statue of Wales’s first black headteacher has been unveiled in Cardiff. She is thought to be the first named, non-fictionalised woman to have a monument in her honour erected in an outdoor public space in the country. Mrs Campbell, who died in 2017 aged 82, has been immortalised in bronze for her ‘pioneering’ work championing equality and diversity.
In good news for those that would like their towns and cities to be less aesthetically cluttered, Sky is planning to switch from unsightly satellite dishes to being entirely online. On Thursday, Sky is expected to pull back the curtain on a series of tech innovations that could reshape the company for years to come.
Fun Fact: When you hear someone mention the “Windy City,” you immediately know they’re talking about Chicago. However, the “Windy City” name has nothing to do with Chicago weather. The city's nickname was coined by 19th-century journalists who were referring to the fact that its residents were “windbags” and “full of hot air.”
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