Happy News Thursday
- 4 hours ago
- 4 min read
Today's smorgasbord of tasty news nuggets from around the globe.
Moving On
Japanese apparel retailer Uniqlo has ended weeks of speculation about who will dress British tennis star Emma Raducanu at her future tournaments by announcing the 2021 US Open winner as its latest global brand ambassador, after she quit Nike. Raducanu, who has been without a tournament win since her shock victory in the US Open in 2021, said she would go into Indian Wells and Miami - where last year she reached the quarter-finals - with the former British pro Alexis Canter, who oversaw her progression to the final of the Transylvania Open last month. “Right now I have Alexis in my corner,” she says. “He knows me as a person. He knows me as a player." She now also has Uniqlo in her corner.
Distinctive Coiffure
A four-week-old baby giraffe is becoming a bit of a social media sensation, thanks to his remarkable tuft of hair. Eugene, as he is now known after being chosen from public suggestions, was welcomed into the world at the Toledo Zoo & Aquarium in Ohio in mid January, joining the herd of seven other giraffes. Fans have fallen in love with Eugene’s distinctive mop of hair, reported the staff. “He’s got his little tuft of hair on top of his head,” said Jennifer Brassil from the zoo. “The public is just loving him.” Eugene and his coiffure are currently indoors, but he will make his outdoor debut this spring as temperatures rise.
"Extremely Rare"
In the late 1930s, the Nazis stole a 15th-century Jewish prayer book decorated with colourful illustrations of dragons, lions, unicorns and parrots. It had belonged to the Rothschild family, the famous banking dynasty. But in the years that followed, the volume was forgotten. After the illuminated manuscript’s recent rediscovery, it was returned to the family’s heirs, who decided to auction it through Sotheby’s. The book sold for $6.4 million. “Hebrew illuminated manuscripts are extremely rare because, to begin with, they are expensive items to create,” said Sotheby’s. “The fact that this has survived 600 years is nothing short of a miracle.”
You Couldn't Make It Up
Residents in a small town in Kent, south east England, were astonished to see a parking warden walk up to bus, parked at a bus stop, and issue it a penalty notice. One local said in a social media post: “I really couldn't believe my eyes earlier today when I saw our local traffic warden giving the bus a ticket at the bus stop in Tenterden! What’s going on?” Bosses at the local council are standing by the decision to issue a parking ticket to a broken-down bus at a bus stop. Meanwhile, chiefs at the bus operator say it could not be moved until recovery teams came to tow it to a depot. No doubt the legal fun and games will really kick-off now.
In Even Odder News...
Residents of Mumbai’s upmarket seafront have complained about the new anti-speeding measure that is forcing them to listen to Jai Ho on repeat. The modified 500m stretch of Coastal Road, unveiled earlier this month, has “grooves in the asphalt that act like a giant vinyl record”, said The Guardian. If motorists drive at the correct speed, the vibrations produce the Slumdog Millionaire hit. “More than 650 families have signed a formal complaint” about the “‘intrusive background noise’”.
Faster & Cleaner
In late 2024, commuters in Stockholm gained a novel way to cross the Swedish capital: a quiet, clean ‘flying’ electric ferry. Now, just over a year later, the project has been declared a resounding success by the Swedish Transport Administration following an evaluation of its pilot route. The ferry has cut travel times in half and, according to trial data, carbon dioxide emissions have been slashed too - by around 94 percent compared with comparable diesel vessels. Local politicians have declared the project a potential “paradigm shift” in how urban waterways are used.
“I wake up every morning at nine and grab for the morning paper. Then I look at the obituary page. If my name is not on it, I get up.” Benjamin Franklin
On This Day
26 February 1935: RADAR (Radio Detection and Ranging) is first demonstrated by Robert Watson-Watt and Arnold Wilkins in Daventry, England. Known as the "Daventry Experiment," they used BBC shortwave transmitters to detect a Handley Page Heyford bomber at a range of up to 8 miles, proving that radio waves could locate aircraft. The success of this demonstration led to the rapid development of the "Chain Home" radar network, which was critical for the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain in World War II.
Today's Articles
First Country Ever: Ethiopia makes history by becoming the first country to ban the sale and import of new internal combustion-powered vehicles.
'Vulgar Tongue': One man's years of research creates the world's largest slang dictionary, and is now available for free online.
Mood Boosting Video
Not Particularly Secret: The Top Secret Swiss Drum Corps performing at the Edinburgh Tattoo.
