Ensuring the week gets off to a bright start with today's global round up of positive news stories.
Female Directors
UK firms are leading the way for gender equality with women now occupying 43 percent of boardroom roles. That’s according to the FTSE Women Leaders Review, which also showed that women hold 35 percent of leadership roles at firms listed on the FTSE 350 index. Of the G7 nations, of which the UK is one, only France performs better for female representation with women occupying 45 percent of boardroom roles. Emma Walmsley (pictured) is CEO of GSK, a FTSE 100 company. As of 2024 in America, there were only 52 female CEOs in Fortune 500 companies, which is about 10 percent of the total. Dozens of studies have found that diversity of all kinds is good for business. McKinsey research shows companies with more gender diversity in their top teams are more profitable than average, while Morningstar found companies with equal numbers of men and women on their boards achieved higher stock returns.
Denmark's Phone Ban
Following the recommendation of a “wellbeing commission,” the Danish government is banning phones in schools. Set up in 2023 to investigate growing dissatisfaction among young people, the Danish commission has made 35 recommendations aimed at achieving a better balance between digital and analog life among young people. The government said it would change existing legislation to force all folkeskole - comprehensive primary and lower secondary schools - to become phone-free, meaning that almost all children aged between seven and 16-17 will be required by law not to bring their phones into school. The commission also recommended that children under 13 should not own a smartphone or tablet.
Prescient Prediction: Over one hundred years ago, English cartoonist and caricaturist W. K. Haselden did a strip on "pocket telephones".
Europe’s Wild Predators
There's been a stunning resurgence across numerous species. Since 2016, golden jackal numbers have surged by 46 percent to 150,000, wolves have increased by 35 percent to 23,000, brown bears by 17 percent to 20,500, and Eurasian lynx and wolverine populations expanded by 12 percent and 16 percent to 9,400 and 1,300 animals respectively. The best recovery? Iberian lynx numbers are up from 100 at the turn of the century to over 2,000 today.
New Wildlife Corridor
Long-dormant Toronto airport is to be reborn as wildlife corridor. After decades of struggle against development, Rouge National Urban Park will grow by thousands of hectares, preserving part of a wildlife corridor connecting Lake Ontario to protected land northeast of Toronto. The corridor allows wildlife - including species at risk - to move between habitats, giving them a stronger chance of survival.
Jackie and Shadow
Eyes from all over the world are on beloved bald eagle couple Jackie and Shadow, who are tending to three new eggs. At any minute now, the chicks could start “pipping,” or making tiny cracks from inside the eggs - a sign an eaglet is getting ready to join the world. It's all being captured live on web cameras pointed at the eagle family’s nest overlooking Southern California’s Big Bear Lake.
St James’s Palace
St James’s Palace is preparing to open to the public for the first time in its 500-year history, following trials in 2022 and 2023. Small guided groups will be able to take a tour of the historic royal palace, including the Throne Room where King Charles III was formally named monarch. St James’s, which is the most senior royal palace in London and the official seat of the Royal Court, was built between 1531 and 1536 on the orders of King Henry VIII. The £85 guided tours are expected to last around one hour and 45 minutes. While no monarch lives at the palace, it retains an important ceremonial function. The Accession Council meets at St James’s following the death of a monarch and the accession of a new monarch is also announced here.
By The Numbers
UNICEF has released a reminder of some of its successes from investing in children over the past decades:
Since 1990, annual under-five child mortality has declined by 60 percent
Safe water is available to 2.1 billion more people compared to 20 years ago
In the past 25 years around 1.9 million deaths and 4 million HIV infections have been averted among pregnant women and children
Over 68 million child marriages have been prevented in the last 25 years
23 million more girls finish high school each year compared to a decade ago
Vaccines have saved 154 million lives in the last 50 years
"What to do with a mistake: recognize it, admit it, learn from it, forget it." Dean Smith
On This Day
3 March 1923: The first issue of the American weekly news magazine Time was published, becoming the first weekly news magazine in the United States.
Today's Articles
Geothermal Energy: German town to be a proving ground for the vast potential for extracting clean energy from underground.
26 June 1974: The birth of the now ubiquitous bar code in a supermarket in the small Ohio town of Troy - becoming a seismic event in the world of commerce.
Mood Boosting Video
Don't Wait For Winter: Surely a contender for one of the best car commercials ever made.