Tuesday's Positive News
- Mar 31
- 4 min read
Some tasty bite-sized chunks of positive news to brighten the day.
Top Cultural Capital
Tourline, a Berlin-based online travel platform, set out to find the top cultural capitals in the world using a quantitative approach. While ranking the world’s best cities for art and museums, they found that the number one metropolis is neither in Europe nor the U.S. After browsing art, history, and science museums, as well as galleries in 50 cities that have built their reputations on culture, a clear winner emerged: Mexico City, Mexico. “In 2026, Mexico City is unmissable for museum-goers,” says Tourline. “The city balances remarkable institutions, household names, and a restless contemporary scene quite like no other city." With 44 art museums, 19 history museums, 14 science museums, and 110 galleries, the Mexican capital seems to be the place to be for art lovers. Even better: some, such as the Soumaya Museum, are free every single day.
Brilliant Idea
Some say that Gen Z can’t make phone calls, but a very wholesome phone experiment is forging friendships between Zoomers and Boomers living thousands of miles apart. Researchers recently stuck a payphone on the street near Boston University, no doubt confusing Gen Z students who’d never seen one in the wild. There’s only one number this phone dials, and it connects to a Nevada nursing home. Total strangers can pick up the phone and start chatting with someone 50 years their senior. What a lovely way to bridge generational divides and teach the youths about extinct methods of telecommunication. Talking of phones...
Bloomin' Marvellous
Japanese artist Takashi Murakami has been experimenting with a new medium: the phone accessory. The Flowers Bloom collection revolves around Murakami’s floral iconography, celebrating one of the artist’s most recognizable motifs. These smiling flowers transform into a vast assortment of offerings, including phone cases, grip stands, and wristbands, each covered with vibrant, blooming fields. Murakami has teamed up with CASETiFY to bring his floral creations to market.
State Investment
After more than a year of negotiations, the Italian state has bought a rare portrait by Caravaggio, the Baroque painter behind some of the world’s most famous artworks. The purchase, which clocked in at a whopping €30 million (about $35 million), stands as one of the country’s largest state investments for a single artwork, according to a statement from the Culture Ministry. Completed in the early 1600s, the portrait depicts Monsignor Maffeo Barberini, a son of a Florentine nobleman who, in 1623, was later crowned as Pope Urban VIII. Portrait of Monsignor Maffeo Barberini will be housed in Barberini’s permanent collection (part of Italy's Galleria Nazionale) and will be displayed alongside the institution’s other artworks by the Baroque painter.
Brazil's Forests
Brazil has a new climate policy centred on ending deforestation. The country has just updated its national climate plan to 2035, and it places forest protection at the core, aiming to eliminate deforestation by 2030 as the country’s primary emissions source. Land-use change accounts for nearly half of national emissions, reports Bloomberg.
Te Urewera: In a world-first law, one of the planet's most remote rainforests has been granted the same legal status as people.
Women in Africa
Women’s representation in African parliaments is steadily rising, reports Deutsche Welle. Women now hold at least 20 percent of parliamentary seats in 31 African countries, with standout cases like Rwanda exceeding 60 percent and recent reforms pushing representation above 25 percent in countries such as Sierra Leone and Benin. Higher representation is linked to gains in girls’ education and gender equality, demonstrating that political inclusion can translate into broader social progress.
Cleaner Steel
Steel production is responsible for 7 percent of the world’s emissions, and China manufactures more than half of that. So, it's very good news that China is cleaning up its steel industry with more than 80 percent of producers now having adopted ultra-low emissions processes, following a nationwide policy push. Upgrades have already reduced emissions by 34 million tonnes (equivalent to permanently shutting down eight coal-fired power plants).
Did You Know?
If you don't click on the OGN Daily newsletter in your email in-box for 5 consecutive days, you get knocked off the mailing list. Sorry, but it's a sort of tech hygiene thing. We over-ride it once a month - generally the last Sunday of each month. So, if you wonder why you suddenly stop receiving OGN Daily, that's why. You can, of course, just head to the website if you fancy an uplifting dose of good news. Better yet, don't get knocked off the list and wake up happy.
"The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits." Albert Einstein
On This Day
31 March 1889: Eiffel Tower officially opens for dignitaries and an award ceremony; designed by Gustave Eiffel and built for the Exposition Universelle. At 300 meters high, it surpassed the Washington Monument to become the world's tallest man-made structure, holding this record until the completion of New York's Chrysler Building in 1930. Today, it is the most visited paid-for monument in the world.
Today's Articles
Ooh, Yes Please: Enormous smartphone screen for better sharing. A truly simple bit of 'must have' tech.
Gilmour's Guitar: Pink Floyd guitarist's 1969 Fender Stratocaster becomes the most expensive guitar ever sold - by far!
Mood Boosting Video
Hilarious Commercial: Gag-packed British cider TV advert from the 1990s.
