Today's Good News
- Editor OGN Daily
- Jun 24
- 4 min read
Tuesday's eclectic collection of uplifting news nuggets from around the world.
New Dawn?
It's an historic and symbolic time for sport, because in Lausanne yesterday, after plenty of handshakes and platitudes, the 41-year-old Kirsty Coventry has become the first female and first African president of the International Olympic Committee in its 131-year-old history. It has been, by any measure, a dizzying ascent. In 2016, Coventry stepped out of an Olympic pool for the final time in Rio. Now, nine years later, she is the most powerful person in sport. You don’t swim for hours every day in a cold pool, win seven Olympic medals and break five world records without being steely and determined. Commentators say that it would be wise not to underestimate her and her ability to transform the IOC for the better. A new dawn may be about to break.
Most Liveable City
In good news for the people of the Danish capital, the Economist Intelligence Unit has released its annual Global Liveability Index, an assessment of which cities offer the best and worst living conditions around the world. Vienna held the top stop for three years in a row, but 2025 marks a dethroning of the Austrian capital: This year, Copenhagen is the most liveable. The index looks at 173 cities and scores them based on 30 indicators broken up into five categories - stability, health care, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure. Copenhagen earned a perfect 100 on stability, education, and infrastructure, only falling behind Vienna on health care. The Viennese don’t need to fret too much, though, as their city was just bumped to the No. 2 spot, followed by Zurich, Melbourne, Geneva, Sydney, Osaka, Auckland, Adelaide and Vancouver.
Vaccine 'Godsend'
In one of the most mosquito-infested places on Earth, healthcare workers are calling the arrival of the malaria vaccine a 'godsend.' Mothers in Uganda's Apac district have been lining up daily since the launch in April, defying concerns that misinformation and stigma would slow uptake, reports GAVI. The initial phase of Uganda's rollout aims to reach 1.1 million children under the age of two, across 105 high and moderate transmission districts.
Indigenous Sovereignty
In a landmark win for Indigenous sovereignty in Canada, the Heiltsuk Nation in British Columbia has formally adopted its own constitution. The new constitution enshrines the power of both elected members and hereditary chiefs, and shifts control over justice, child welfare, and land management back to the community. "It’s not just this hatred or righteous anger at these historical and contemporary wrongs. It’s the love for our own people. We’re not turning our back from state recognition. We’re just saying we don’t need it. We need to recognize our law first."
Ecosystem Restoration
The UN has named its first three World Restoration Flagships, part of its global drive to scale up ecosystem restoration. The new flagships are: mangroves and coral reef ecosystems in Mozambique, Mexico's famous seabird islands, and Spain's Mar Menor Lagoon, Europe’s first ecosystem with legal personhood.
Rhino Relocation
Hundreds of white rhinos have been relocated from South Africa to Rwanda and Uganda, expanding the species’ range and strengthening long-term conservation efforts. 70 rhinos now call Rwanda's Akagera National Park home after completing a 3,400 km journey by road and Boeing 747 (!) and 48 rhinos now roam Uganda’s Ziwa Ranch, following a local extinction back in the 1980s.
272 Million Acres
China created its first national park ever just four years ago - almost 150 years after the U.S. established its first national park. In the years since, China has opened four more, totaling 57 million acres so far. It’s part of a larger national plan to create 49 parks covering 272 million acres by 2035 - triple the size of the U.S. National Park System. The parks it’s already established comprise alpine peaks, tropical rainforests, glaciers, deserts, and wetlands, and protect rare animals like the Giant Panda, Siberian Tiger, and Asian Elephant. They’re also preserving cultural heritage, boosting local economies, and encouraging tourism.
"The only people who see the whole picture are the ones who step outside the frame." Salman Rushdie
On This Day
24 June 1916: Mary Pickford becomes the first female film star to get a million dollar contract. Known in the 1910s and 1920s as "Queen of the Movies," she helped shape the early American film industry. She was a prominent actress, aside from her influence as co-founder of Pickford–Fairbanks Studios, United Artists, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Today's Articles
Passive Cooling: Sustainable fungi tiles with an elephant skin-like texture naturally cools buildings with impressive results.
Doing The Plank: Kick off your running shoes and put away your bike; the best way to tackle high blood pressure involves barely moving at all.
Toughest Tee Times: One of the most improbable stories in golf right now is a public course in the middle of nowhere.
Mood Boosting Video
Just Released: The first images from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. The stunning pictures from the new $810m observatory in Chile mark the start of what astronomers believe will be a game-changing period of discovery as the telescope sets about compiling the best view yet of the universe in action.
