Welcome to Good News Stories
Here at Good News Stories we bring you upbeat news stories from around the World.
UK heading for Mediterranean-style summer
Widespread reports in the press are suggesting that the next few summers in the UK will be some of the longest, hottest and sunniest on record. This is mainly attributed to the harsh winter and the oceanic and atmospheric phenomenon known as El Niño which occurs in the Pacific Ocean.
The pattern of El Nino is suggesting that Britain and much of Northern Europe will be in for a number of long and sunny summers which will come as welcome news after the recent ones.
Rainfall throughout Europe is predicted to be lower this summer too meaning BBQs will be enjoying plenty of use throughout the UK.
The Met office in the UK is usually pretty accurate with these long range forecasts and have predicted many hot days above 30C .
Sri Lankan army to protect civilians
From Good News Stories….
The Sri Lankan Government has announced an end to combat operations against the Tamil Tiger rebels and instructed the army to stop using heavy weapons and aerial bombardment that could harm civilians caught in the conflict zone.
A statement issued by the office of the Sri Lankan President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, last night said security forces would now “confine their attempts to rescuing civilians who are held hostage and give foremost priority to saving civilians”.
There was no explanation for the about-face but Mr Rajapaksa’s Government has been under huge pressure from overseas to halt fighting to protect civilians caught up in the conflict.
Olympic 2012 preparations going well
From Channel News Asia
The International Olympic Committee’s chief inspector said Thursday preparations for the 2012 London Olympics were “on the right track” after his team spent three days visiting the construction sites.
“We can confirm that London 2012 is on the right track,” Denis Oswald, the chair of the IOC’s coordination commission, told journalists.
“We had an opportunity to see the (Olympic) Park and for many of us it was the first time since May last year and we were deeply impressed by the progress made.
“The stadium is impressive, also the Olympic Village,” he added.
Earth Day celebrated by one billion
From CNN…
More than one billion people celebrated Earth Day Wednesday.
Since its creation by United States senator Gaylord Nelson in 1970, Earth Day’s reach has spread around the world and is now marked in about 175 countries.
Earth Day Network, the organizers of Earth Day, are launching the “Green Generation” campaign.
The campaign will last two years and Earth Day’s organizers hope it will raise awareness on how to reverse dangerous environmental trends.
Palestinian graffiti spreads message of peace
(From CNN)
Emblazoned on a long, tall, concrete barrier in the midst of a rocky Middle Eastern landsc
ape is this spray-painted message: “Mirror, mirror on the wall. When will this senseless object fall?”
It’s one of more than 900 graffiti messages that have been spray-painted by Palestinians on the controversial wall that separates Israel and the West Bank.
The painters take orders through a Web site that lets customers get a message on the wall. For the equivalent of $40, a Palestinian will spray paint the message and send three digital photos of it.
Anything goes — marriage proposals, jokes, notes to friends — as long as it isn’t extremist, hate-filled, or pornographic, said Faris Arouri, one of the founders of the site.
“Trying to imagine a clear view between Palestine and Israel,” one reads.
“If all humans are equal, why do they have to live separated?” says another.
And another simply shouts: “Get along with each other!”
Indonesian orangutan population discovered
From the UK Guardian
Conservationists have discovered a new population of orang-utans in a remote area of Indonesia, giving a rare boost to one of the world’s most endangered great apes.
A team surveying mountainous forests in eastern Borneo counted 219 orang-utan nests, indicating a “substantial” number of the animals, said Erik Meijaard, of the US-based charity The Nature Conservancy.
“We can’t say for sure how many,” he said, but even the most cautious estimate would indicate “several hundred at least, maybe 1,000 or 2,000 even”.
Eating chocolate can help improve your maths
If this isn’t a good news story then I don’t know what is?!
From the Telegraph (UK)
Mental arithmetic became easier after volunteers had been given large amounts of compounds found in chocolate, called flavanols, in a hot cocoa drink.
They were also less likely to feel tired or mentally drained, the findings, presented at the British Psychological Society annual conference in Brighton show.
Prof David Kennedy, director of the brain, performance and nutrition research centre at Northumbria University, and a co-author of the study, said that chocolate could be beneficial for mentally challenging tasks.
The findings suggest students who binge on chocolate when revising for exams may gain a real benefit from doing so.
Conficker worm fails to strike on April fools day
From BBC News
The chaos predicted by some as the Conficker worm updates itself have so far failed to materialise.
There had been concerns that the worm could trigger poisoned machines to access personal files, send spam, clog networks or crash sites.
Many of the infected machines are based in Asia where there have been no reports of unusual PC behaviour.
Social mobility being driven by new Universities
From BBC News…
New universities in England and Scotland are drivers of social mobility, according to research from the Million+ organisation.
The research tracked the social backgrounds of students and their occupations after leaving university.
It found that 8% of entrants in these universities were from professional families – but that three years after graduating 17% had professional jobs.
Million+ chair, Les Ebdon, says it proves the “pessimists wrong”.
Professor Ebdon argued that there was widespread political support for promoting social mobility – but this needed to be matched by funding.
New national park for UK
From BBC News
The South Downs area has been given national park status almost 60 years to the day since it was recommended.
The South Downs, which covers parts of Sussex and Hampshire, was among 12 areas identified for national parks in the 1940s.
Environment Minister Hilary Benn has said the area will become England’s ninth national park.
