OGN Wednesday

3 minutes ago
4 min read

Mid-week collection of positive news stories from around the globe to perk up the day.

Multi-Award Winner

The eye-catching image of a red fox poised to catch a crab mid-air on a seaweed-covered shoreline in Norway was captured at 2 am in broad daylight - and now it has just earned its 5th prize, awarded by the Society of International Nature and Wildlife Photographers. It previously won the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2025 title and earned recognition in three other competitions. Photographer Cecilie Bergan Stuedal shot the multi-award-winning image titled Aerodynamic Crab under the midnight sun in Finnmark - a phenomenon leaving the region with daylight for 24 hours a day.

twenty female Tri Delta students gather together for a selfie — Tri Deltas inspiring St. Jude story

Hats Off to Tri Delta

Thousands of college women have proven that small acts of kindness can add up to something truly extraordinary. Tri Delta, a college sorority with chapters across the United States and Canada, has now raised an astonishing $125 million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital after reaching another major fundraising milestone of $25 million. The achievement marks one of the most successful charitable partnerships of its kind and the group is already working toward raising another $100 million by 2038. "No act is too small to make a difference," Tri Delta said, pointing to the thousands of members who continue finding creative ways to support families facing childhood cancer. Perhaps most importantly, support from organizations like Tri Delta helps make it possible for families at St. Jude to never receive a bill for treatment, travel, housing, or food, allowing parents to focus entirely on helping their child heal.

First Time in 1,000 Years

Italy’s forests now cover a larger area than agricultural land - for the first time since the Middle Ages. Today, woodlands span 60,000 square miles of the Italian peninsula, primarily in the country’s mountain regions. Although Italy first achieved this milestone in 2020, the news was only just revealed in an official report. Beyond benefiting people and the environment, denser forests also provide safer habitats to vulnerable wildlife, including the critically endangered Marsican brown bear, which lives only in the central Apennine Mountains.

Aerial view of a huge maze in the shape of a mountain gorilla — Credit: Tom Maddick / SWNS

aMazing

One of Britain’s biggest mazes is celebrating Sir David Attenborough’s 100th birthday with a design in the shape of a mountain gorilla for 2026. Wistow Maze came up with the idea to pay tribute to the legendary broadcaster who hails from their local county, Leicestershire. The popular award-winning attraction features a labyrinth that stretches for three miles and takes around two hours to walk, and every year a new topical design is chosen. Last year, it was designed in the shape of a steam train to commemorate 200 years of the modern British railway system. It has also been shaped into a Crown to mark the Queen’s Jubilee, and a javelin thrower to mark the Olympics.

Teaser image of the rear of Bentley's forthcoming EV, the Torcal — Credit: Bentley Motors Limited

Torcal Teaser

Bentley has released a teaser image of its first fully electric car and the "world’s first true Luxury Urban SUV" and also revealed its name: Torcal. The official announcement cites the inspiration for the moniker as the breathtaking region of “El Torcal de Antequera in Andalusia, Spain,” but mentions that it’s “also derived from the latin ‘torquere,’ meaning to twist, and is the root from which the modern word torque also traces its foundation. Torcal therefore also implies effortless progression . . .” At least that’s the association Bentley hopes is made.

See How The Bentley Logo Has Changed Over The Past Century

Deer using the wildlife crossing underpass on The Delhi-Dehradun Expressway — Credit: Wildlife Institute of India, National Highways Authority of India

7 Mile Wildlife Crossing

The Delhi-Dehradun Expressway is a new six-lane highway connecting the national capital of India to Dehradun, near the Himalayan foothills. The expressway was designed so that wildlife could cross beneath it by way of a 6.8-mile corridor underneath it and the good news is that it is working. Researchers recorded over 40,000 images of animals using the crossing in the 40-day window before construction was even completed. “Notably, the study also recorded 60 instances of the elephants safely utilising the corridors, establishing that even the largest wild animals can navigate the new infrastructure to maintain their natural migration patterns.”

“The butterfly is a flying flower, the flower a tethered butterfly.” Ecouchard Le Brun

On This Day

8 July 1996: British girl group the Spice Girls release their debut single Wannabe in the UK. It spent seven consecutive weeks at the top of the UK charts and four weeks at number one in the US.