Upbeat News Tuesday

4 minutes ago
3 min read

Today's bite-sized chunks of tasty news nuggets.

Simple head and shoulders shot of Oscar-winning actor Cate Blanchett — Oxford's new visiting professor

Professor Blanchett

The Oscar-winning actor Cate Blanchett has promised to cause a “creative rumpus” in her latest role, as visiting professor at the University of Oxford. The Australian star is the latest in a long line of celebrated thespians to be appointed as the Cameron Mackintosh visiting professor of contemporary theatre at St Catherine’s College, Oxford. The role, which covers the 2026-27 academic year, will require Blanchett to take part in a programme of conversations and lectures, engaging with students as well as the wider university community. She follows in the footsteps of Stephen Sondheim, Arthur Miller, Tom Stoppard, Diana Rigg and Deborah Warner, among others who have held the role, which was established in 1990 through a gift from the theatre producer Cameron Mackintosh.

Gorgeous Gecko

Tanzania’s native turquoise dwarf gecko was once a popular pet in Europe; this became a problem when collectors started stripping them from forests to feed the foreign market. Listed as critically endangered in 2012, the gecko was subject to an international trade ban, and now gecko numbers in Tanzania have bounced back to pre-trade levels.

Free Education

Zambia makes free education a legal right. Zambia has passed its first law guaranteeing free public education, turning a 2021 policy into a legal entitlement for every child. The reform bars schools from denying learners a place because they can’t pay fees, and makes reversal harder for future governments. Since fees were abolished, enrolment has surged, and over 41,000 teachers have been recruited.

Two young girls from Ugandan dance troupe Ghetto Kids — Credit: CNN

Born to Dance

The members of Ugandan dance troupe Ghetto Kids are preparing for the performance of a lifetime, showing off their moves alongside Colombian superstar Shakira at the World Cup Final halftime show. After the group’s joyful choreography caught the singer’s eye on social media, she extended an invitation to join her on stage. “Just know that words can’t express or explain how happy we are,” said Madwanah Ssegirinya, one of the Ghetto Kids. “It was a dream come true.”

a recently erected 26-storey residential building in China — Credit: Board Group

26 Storeys in 5 Days

100 workers in China put up a 26-storey residential building in five days. Five days! No concrete poured. No welders. The modules arrived on flatbeds, 12m x3m x2.4m each, the exact footprint of a 40-foot shipping container - pre-wired, pre-piped, pre-furnished, and locked together like the world’s tallest piece of IKEA furniture. 208 apartments built in less than a week, all with four-paned windows, insulation, AC, and drinkable tap water. The skeleton is stainless steel, not concrete; the construction company claims a 1,000-year service life. Plus, the whole thing can be unbolted onto a truck and reassembled somewhere else, if you want to move it.

Electric Engine Room

Asia is likely to be the engine room of this next, electric century, because it now generates more than half the world’s electricity, accounts for three-quarters of demand growth since 2000, and manufactures over 95 percent of solar panels, 85 percent of batteries and 75 percent of wind turbines, reports independent think-tank Ember. The region’s fossil fuel weakness may become its advantage: with only 4 percent of global oil and gas reserves and a $1.1 trillion annual import bill, electrification now offers the cheapest and quickest path to energy security and economic growth.

"The legal system can force open doors and sometimes even knock down walls. But it cannot build bridges. That job belongs to you and me." Thurgood Marshall

On This Day

23 June 1868: Christopher Latham Sholes patents the Sholes and Glidden typewriter. It is historically monumental as the first commercially successful typewriter and the origin of the standard QWERTY keyboard layout.