Upbeat News Monday
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Ensuring the week and a new month get off to an upbeat start with today's global collection of positive news nuggets.
Sensational Comeback
Serena Williams is planning a sensational comeback on the grass courts of Queen’s Club on 6 June - and no one goes to the trouble of doing that unless they have Wimbledon in their sights. The 23-time grand slam singles champion, generally agreed to be the greatest player of the modern age, has been out of the game since an emotional departure at the 2022 US Open. But Williams - who is 44 - re-entered the anti-doping testing pool last year, in the first significant hint that she was ready to reconsider. Now, having completed her mandatory six-month period in that pool, the American is understood to have asked for a wild card into the Lawn Tennis Association’s flagship event in London. For the moment, it is believed that Williams has only applied to enter the doubles draw. Meanwhile, a few miles away...
Beavers Stop Tube Floods
Until two years ago, West London’s Greenford Tube station used to flood whenever it rained heavily. Then the Ealing Beaver Project got a licence to resettle a family of five beavers in Paradise Fields, a former golf course turned urban-forested park near the Greenford underground station. After the beavers felled a few trees and built a dam to make a pond from the golf course creek, flooding stopped at the tube station, and new species started moving in. The council has now scrapped its expensive plans for a reservoir and levee.
Free Admission
The Canada Strong Pass is back for summer 2026. The Government of Canada is offering free admission and a 25 percent discount on fees for camping and overnight stays from 19 June 19 to 7 September.
Mister Rogers
Back in 2018, the U.S. Postal Service released a batch of 12 million Mister Rogers stamps - and sold them all within weeks. Now, you have another chance to get yourself a sheet or two: The beloved stamp design was reissued alongside a new souvenir sheet at the Boston 2026 World Exposition, and will be available at Post Office locations nationwide and online at The Postal Store starting today.
Mister Rogers Quotes: America’s favorite neighbor was known for teaching children and adults alike the importance of helping one another and loving yourself on his television series Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.
First Time Ever
Wind and solar just hit a major global milestone: For the first time ever, they generated more electricity than gas for the full month of April. According to new analysis from independent energy think tank Ember, wind and solar produced 22 percent of the world’s electricity in April 2026, compared to 20 percent from gas.
Mini Motor
A Georgia man has come up with a novel way to circumvent soaring petrol prices in the US: doing his errands in a toy car. Balking at the cost of filling up his Mercedes, 30-year-old handyman Mali Hightower “stuck a two-gallon, one-piston engine from a power washer into a broken pink Power Wheels Barbie Dream Camper” and even “installed a rack on top for groceries”, said the New York Post. “One pull of the lawnmower-like rip cord and he’s off to the supermarket”, albeit with “knees at his ears”.
Printed in 34 Days
Europe's largest 3D-printed apartment building has been completed in France. Containing 12 social housing apartments spread across three floors, the project's printing process was carried out in just 34 days. It's positioned next to another very similar building by the same developer, which was constructed using traditional techniques and took three months longer to complete. According to the developers, it's the first building in France in which both the load-bearing structure and all walls were printed directly on-site. "The curved facade and rounded floorplan are only economical because of 3D printing, complex geometries that would add significant cost with conventional formwork come at no premium," they say. "On-site concrete production further reduces transport emissions. The optimized form also saved approximately 10 percent of concrete volume."
“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” Henry David Thoreau
On This Day
1 June 1967: EMI releases The Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band nation-wide in the UK; it goes to number one for 22 weeks. It was released the next day in the US, and spent 15 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Top LPs chart (now the Billboard 200).
Today's Articles
Australia Milestone: An electric semi-trailer truck just hauled 49 tons from Canberra to Sydney on a single charge.
Motivational Quotes: Perhaps one of these quotes will give you the inspiration to get the week off to a flying start.
Professor of Ageing: Observations from a doctor for the over 65s that are interesting for both young and old people.
Mood Boosting Video
New Venus Garden: The transformation of Windsor Castle's east terrace - opens this summer to visitors.
