Upbeat collection of news nuggets to brighten the day.
Café Culture
Paris city officials project that 4,000 temporary summer terraces will open in April, a festive annual sign that Spring has begun. While café and terrace culture is a classic part of Paris life, following the end of the first Covid lockdown the city government issued permits that allowed more establishments to open more and larger terraces. The seasonal terraces proved to be immensely popular with restaurant owners and customers - they are now allowed to remain open from 1 April 1 to 31 October.
Paris: Where Have All The Cars Gone? Paris has done as much as any city in the world to wage a war on cars amid a growing awareness of the damaging impact they have on cities, and the health and quality of life of residents. More...
Conservation Success
A 20-year conservation project has successfully brought mountain gorillas in Uganda back from the brink of extinction. In 1997 there were only 650 mountain gorillas in the wild, by 2018 there were 1,063, and conservationists expect another increase at the next census, reports New Scientist.
Surprising Find
For anyone who studies ancient Egypt - and even many who don’t - the name Ramses II looms large. Also known as Ramses the Great and Ozymandias. Ramses II died in 1213 B.C.E., and his celebrity status has endured ever since. And now, a new discovery is shedding light on perceptions of the ancient pharaoh during the Ptolemaic period, about 1,000 years after his death. Archaeologists have uncovered over 2,000 mummified ram skulls at a temple in the ancient city of Abydos, and the large number was “surprising even for Egyptologists.” These skulls may have served as votive offerings to accompany Ramses in the afterlife, says Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
Immigration Targets
For the first time in its history, Canada's population grew by over one million people last year and almost all of that was from immigrants, including over 133,000 Ukrainian refugees. The growth comes as the federal government makes a push to raise its 2025 immigration targets by almost 25 percent, reports the New York Times.
London Beavers
After a 400-year absence, beavers are coming back to London! Conservation groups have created the UK’s first urban reintroduction site for a breeding pair of Eurasian beavers that will arrive later this year. The project is one of 22 across the city that have been greenlit as part of the Rewild London Fund. "We are hoping to challenge perceptions, and demonstrate how London, too, can embrace these ecosystem engineers as we strive for a healthier, wilder future in which our capital can become a leader in urban rewilding," says Elliot Newton, Co-founder, Citizen Zoo.
NZ Progress
The proportion of teenage girls in New Zealand giving birth has halved in the last 10 years, and child poverty has fallen dramatically, with 77,000 fewer children living in low income households compared to 2018, and eight of nine child poverty measures seeing a statistically significant reduction during the same period, says the National Tribune.
“What day is it?” asked Pooh. “It’s today,” squeaked Piglet. “My favourite day,” said Pooh.
A.A. Milne
On this Day
5 April 1792: George Washington issued the first presidential veto in U.S. history; the rejected legislation concerned congressional redistricting.
Trump’s NFT collection is having a moment after he became the first former U.S. president to be criminally indicted. Read on...
Bloc Blocks Russian Toilets: Amongst the numerous sanctions imposed on Russia, it appears that the 'toilet wars' are being particularly successful. Down the drain...
Mood Booster
The Bowerbird's dramatic seduction technique.