OGN Wednesday

Editor OGN Daily
May 7
3 min read

Mid-week collection of bite-sized chunks of good news to brighten the day.

World First

For the first time, an entire country’s top political roles are held by women after Trinidad & Tobago’s recent elections. Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s election victory means that she will become prime minister for the second time since 2010. Pennelope Beckles-Robinson will be sworn in as the opposition leader, reports Caribbean Life. Once they are sworn in by President Christine Kangaloo, the Caribbean island will, for the first time in history, have three women occupying the top constitutional offices simultaneously, making it the first country in modern history to have all top political positions filled by women. This fact has not been lost on most of the 1.4 million people in the republic, with most media houses ensuring that they have recorded this novelty fact. Interestingly, neighbouring Barbados also has two women holding the top constitutional positions with Prime Minister Mia Mottley as head of government and Sandra Mason as titular president or head of state.

Pedestrians crossing the road beside the Arc de Triomphe — Paris makes further adjustments to accommodate pedestrians

Parisian Pedestrians

Reuters reports that Parisians have voted to pedestrianise a further 500 of the city's streets, giving fresh momentum to efforts by the French capital to curb car usage and improve air quality. It eliminates 10,000 more parking spots, adding to the 10,000 removed since 2020. The 500 additional streets to be pedestrianised will bring the total number of these so-called "green lungs" to nearly 700, just over one-tenth of the capital's streets.

Dopaminergic Pathways

A new study from Boston's Northeastern University has found that "magic mushrooms" could be an effective treatment for concussions because of their brain-healing properties. The researchers said that the hyperconnected dopaminergic pathways could indicate neuroplasticity, the ability of the brain to reorganize itself in response to injury.

Final Act of Kindness

As Catholics around the world mourn the death of the late Pope Francis, more details are surfacing about his final days. One thing is more clear than ever: he will be remembered as someone who fought for the rights of prisoners. The official responsible for managing Francis’ charity and prison pastoral care in Rome said that before his death, the pope donated €200,000 (about $226,400 USD) to a juvenile prison in Rome. That last bit of his personal wealth specifically went to fund a pasta factory he’d maintained a close connection to throughout his papacy, which employs inmates to work toward reintegration in society and prevent recidivism. Throughout his time as pope, he was entitled to a papal salary of some €30,000 a month, but Pope Francis refused to collect it. Instead, he deferred it to various organizations, churches, and groups in need.

Lots of Ocelots

A record number of endangered ocelots have been recorded at a wildlife refuge in Texas. For the first time in decades, researchers have confirmed at least 22 individual cats roaming the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, a hopeful milestone for one of the continent’s most endangered felines.

Brazilian Amazon

Justice Flávio Dino of the Brazilian Supreme Court has directed the government to seize private lands where forests have been illegally razed. By one estimate, more than half of the forest lost in the Brazilian Amazon has been on private lands. The ruling also calls for halting the process known as regularization, by which land grabbers are granted title to stolen lands, even when they have illegally destroyed forest on those lands.

"Are you a politician asking what your country can do for you or a zealous one asking what you can do for your country? If you are the first, then you are a parasite; if the second, then you are an oasis in the desert." Kahlil Gibran

On This Day

7 May 1663: The Theatre Royal, built by the dramatist Thomas Killigrew for his company of actors and now commonly known as the Drury Lane Theatre, opened in London this day in 1663 and is the oldest English theatre still in use.