Tuesday's bundle of good news nuggets.
In Thailand, it’s the all-important tourism sector that has jumped to the head of the Covid-19 vaccination line, with the country’s most popular resort island embarking on a mass inoculation programme two months ahead of the rest of Thailand. The island of Phuket aims to deliver shots to at least 460,000 people - the majority of its population - as it gears up for 1 July, when vaccinated overseas visitors will no longer be required to quarantine.
New York debuts America's first vaccination passport. Consider it a fast pass of sorts: A safe and efficient way to return to Broadway theatres, concert halls, sporting arenas, and other big group settings by simply presenting a QR code as proof of either full COVID-19 vaccination or a recent negative test. That’s the idea behind New York’s Excelsior Pass, which launched last Friday, making it the first state to debut a vaccine passport.
Mummy parade: 18 kings and 4 queens - mummified members of ancient Egyptian royalty - paraded through downtown Cairo last weekend on their way to a new museum.
Pop singer the Weeknd has donated $1m in food aid to Ethiopia. The singer was born Abel Tesfaye in Canada to Ethiopian immigrant parents and his most recent album, After Hours, has been a global success. Its lead single Blinding Lights became the first song in history to spend a year in the US Top 10.
British summer micro-festivals: With the big events not covid secure, boutique micro-festivals for all the family are popping up.
10 percent of the world’s electricity now comes from wind and solar, according to a new analysis by London-based thinktank, Ember. In the EU, wind and solar power made up almost 20 percent of all energy generation in 2020, twice the global average. This meant that renewables generated more energy than fossil fuels in the bloc for the first time ever last year.
Hempcrete: It's an innovative concrete-like building insulation that's better for people and better for the planet.
A quarter of the CO2 we emit every year washes into the ocean, and some falls to the floor as sediment, where it stays safely away from the atmosphere for millenniums. Except when industrial fishing trawlers run over the ocean floor every year. The good news: The creation of protected marine areas would help keep down this carbon, while improving both fisheries and marine life, according to a new study. The authors included the distinguished Jane Lubchenco, who’s since taken the White House’s highest-ranking climate-science adviser position.
Grabbing viewers' attention from both sides of the Bund in Shanghai, car company Genesis put on a spectacular show that involved a dazzling 3,281 drones - earning itself the top title in the category of Most Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) airborne simultaneously in the Guinness World Record book. Genesis' drone show took place on 29 March, displaying its logo high in the night sky, in a clear marketing stunt.
How about a 2 minute drone excursion over Thailand's truly stunning Phang Nga Bay?