Upbeat News Monday

Editor OGN Daily
13 minutes ago
4 min read

Ensuring the week gets off to a bright start with today's global selection of positive news stories.

Giant Snowman

If you're chionoandrophobic, we recommend looking away now. Standing about 62 ft (19m) tall, measuring roughly 46 ft (14m) long and 36 ft (11m) wide, 2025's largest snowman has been erected in northeast China. The smiling icy giant required some 124,000 cubic feet (3,500 cubic meters) of snow, and has already become a big tourist attraction in the city of Harbin. It took a mammoth effort to build, with a team of 64 sculptors and more than 100 construction workers involved in its 11-day creation, as well as some help from snow-making machines in order to make sure there was enough powder to finish the job. Now, the snowman stands six stories high, dwarfing nearby buildings. But, given the nature of his materials, the behemoth only has a temporary home in Heilongjiang province.

Otter swimming in a river — Signifier of river health

Charismatic Ambassador

Otters have been rare visitors in towns and cities across the UK but after decades of intense conservation work, that is changing. In the past year alone, the aquatic mammal has been spotted dragging fish along a riverbank in Stratford-Upon-Avon, plundering garden ponds near York and causing chaos in a Shetland family’s kitchen. Bans on harmful pollutants, improved water quality and a targeted reintroduction campaign have now helped their return. Dr Elizabeth Chadwick, the head of Cardiff University’s Otter Project, says: “If we can use otters as a sort of charismatic ambassador for river health, that can be really quite a powerful thing.”

Sign saying: Welcome to North Pole, Alaska — Credit: @jennyksf

America's North Pole

In addition to being the home of Santa Claus and his elves, the North Pole is the northernmost point on Earth, set upon sea ice in the Arctic Ocean. But did you know there’s another North Pole, located in the United States? About 20 minutes from Fairbanks, the village of North Pole, Alaska, lives up to its name, embracing the spirit of Christmas year-round and boasting an abundance of festive charm. It's also where numerous letters arrive each year addressed to Santa Claus, North Pole. And the lovely elves (aka post office staff) happily respond to the letters as best they can. Mind you, they get lots of letters in Santa Claus, Indiana, too.

Notre-Dame de Paris

At the Grand Palais in Paris, a new exhibition invites visitors to step inside the making of history. D’un seul souffle (In a Single Breath) presents the monumental preparatory works behind French artist Claire Tabouret’s new stained-glass windows for Notre-Dame de Paris, offering an unprecedented look at a contemporary project that is still very much in motion. The exhibition showcases monumental, 7-meter-tall (almost 30-foot-tall) paper maquettes that will eventually be translated into stained glass for the six chapels along the south aisle of Notre-Dame’s nave. Tabouret was selected to desgin the new windows as part of the cathedral’s post-fire restoration. Rather than unveiling finished objects, D’un seul souffle focuses on process. Here the public can witness the scale, labour, and experimentation behind the work before it is permanently installed in stone and glass.

Eggs And Heart Disease

Whether eating eggs is good for you is something that has been debated for decades. That they’re packed with beneficial nutrients, including high-quality protein, is offset by the frequently cited concern about cholesterol content and its impact on heart disease. Now, a new study led by Australia's Monash University researchers has revisited the subject of egg consumption, specifically examining its association with death from heart disease in older adults, an area in which research is limited. The study found that eating between one and six eggs each week significantly reduces the risk of dying from any cause but particularly from heart disease - even in people who have been diagnosed with high cholesterol levels.

Asthma Good News

A twice-yearly injection that promises to free thousands of severe asthma sufferers from the terror of life-threatening attacks is set to go on sale in Britain within months. Made by pharma giant GSK, depemokimab is the first "ultra-long acting" biologic treatment, which could revolutionise the way severe asthma is treated. These injectable drugs contain antibodies that dampen inflammation in the lungs.

Cruise ship sailing past Hawaii coastline — Credit: Pride of America | Norwegian Cruise Line

Hawaii Cruise Tax

A federal judge has cleared the way for Hawaii’s new tourist tax: an 11 percent levy on cruise ship passenger fares, prorated for days spent in port. The tax is the first of its kind in the US and will take effect in early 2026 to help fund climate resilience efforts like shoreline protection and wildfire mitigation. Officials estimate the tax will bring in $100 million annually.

"You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step." Martin Luther King

On This Day

29 December 1902: Scott Joplin copyrights The Entertainer and several other piano rag compositions with the US Copyright Office. Joplin's music was largely forgotten after his death in 1917 but rediscovered in the 1960s and 1970s. The film The Sting (1973) featured music inspired by Scott Joplin, and Marvin Hamlisch won an Academy Award for his soundtrack. His version of the The Entertainer then became a top ten hit.