A collection of upbeat news stories from around the world.
Personal Effects
Margaret Thatcher commissioned an oil painting to mark her wedding to her husband Denis, it has emerged. The oil canvas by Rosalind Kent depicts the Iron Lady in the midnight blue velvet dress and wide-brimmed feather hat she wore to her wedding at Wesley’s Chapel in December 1951. The portrait is being sold today as part of a selection of 100 personal items from the Thatcher household. Daniel Hunt, the owner of Sloane Street Auctions, said: “These items are imbued with the spirit of the times and helped form the backdrop of some of the most historic moments in our nation’s political history of the past 50 years."
Designer Wind Power
What if renewable energy didn’t just power your building but also elevated its design? This is the bold vision behind Airiva, a company breaking barriers in how we think about wind power. Imagine sleek, modular wind turbines integrated seamlessly into urban architecture -not hidden out of sight, but celebrated as part of the aesthetic. Airiva is reimagining how wind energy can be beautifully and effectively incorporated into urban and suburban environments. Their modular wind energy system not only generates clean power but also redefines how renewable energy solutions enhance the built environment.
Will I Never
A Yorkshire man’s £180,000 fortune will go to a charity rather than his relatives after a will written entirely on food packaging was found to be valid at the High Court. Before his death in 2021, Malcolm Chenery started writing his will on the inside of a Young’s frozen fish fillets box. After running out of space, he finished it on a Mr Kipling mince pies box, and had neighbours witness it. The judge found that Chenery's estate should go to Diabetes UK, as he had stated, not to his sisters and niece. They supported the decision.
River Resurrected
For several decades, Ohio's Cuyahoga River was a dumping ground for industrial waste. By the 1960s, it had become a completely unregulated sewer. The river caught fire several times, with a particularly severe fire in 1952. Today, the situation is completely different thanks to remarkable conservation efforts as the river has undergone a dramatic improvement - transformed from being one of America's most polluted waterways to now having water quality good enough to reintroduce sturgeon. It's also now home to blue herons and bald eagles.
Multiple Benefits
Researchers at Australia's Monash University are close to solving one of the biggest challenges with eVTOL aircraft. The team's new lithium-sulfur battery tech is designed to deliver roughly twice the energy density of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, as well as speedy charging and discharging - enabling the sort of power delivery needed in the skies. Their breakthrough leads to faster charging and higher energy densities, as they noted in a paper published in Advanced Energy Materials. According to the team, the new batteries are not only faster and denser, but also significantly lighter and cheaper to produce.
America's First New Aircraft Category Since 1940s: Jumping into the era of eVTOL air taxis and multicopter cargo drones, the US FAA has issued new regulations that introduce "power-lift" aircraft.
Girls Getaway
Four friends have recreated a photo from their first girls getaway - more than 50 years ago. The women, who are now nearly 70, recalled their week-long stay in a seaside resort so fondly that they vowed to do it again to celebrate their 70th birthdays. The gang went on holiday together in 1972 to the town of Torquay, on England's south coast and, this year, the friends from West Yorkshire returned to the town to recreate their cherished getaway - and wore outfits as close to the original as possible.
"Life is like a 10-speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we never use." Charles M. Schulz
On This Day
29 November 1825: Rossini's comic opera "Il barbiere di Siviglia" (The Barber of Seville) becomes the first opera performed in Italian in US, staged at New York City's Park Theater.
Today's Articles
Reason For Optimism: Experts say that global emissions have or are about to peak - as per Paris Agreement in 2015.
Prized Antiquities: Cairo’s Grand Egyptian Museum finally opening and becomes the world's largest museum.
Mood Boosting Video
Flying Visit: Four minutes of spectacular Mongolian scenery.