A group of strangers offered up squeezes yesterday on downtown streets, and got surprisingly positive responses.
On a cold winter day, the offer of a free hug from a stranger is often all it takes to warm the heart. They carrying large signs saying “Free Hugs” and left more than a few feeling a little better about the world. (Read more in the Toronto Star)
The effort was inspired by the Australian sensation on YouTube. Watch the music video that started all the Free Hugs on GNN-i here.
A club for youth to exchange ideas on peace, to be established in all schools of secondary and above levels in Sudan’s strife-torn Darfur region, was launched this weekend by the African Union – United Nations joint peacekeeping operation there (UNAMID).
Over 100 UNAMID members attended the opening of the first Peace Club at the Model Secondary School for Girls in El Fasher. The Peace Club will bring youth together through activities like debates and poetry competitions to focus on an end to war, as well as sporting and cultural activities.
The current economic crisis is offering many people the “opportunity” to change jobs and career fields. The American Association of Community Colleges has joined with organizations across the country to provide new directions in employment specifically for people over 50. (Listen to the story at Nat’l Public Radio)
When I think of comfort food, I think of the times a friend or neighbor has brought over a meal after a newborn joined our family or before a funeral. Thanks to Quail Lakes Baptist Church in Stockton, CA, and a host of 60 volunteers, the load is lightened for families who would otherwise need to prepare meals at critical times. (Read more in The Record) Thanks to GNN-i fan Mohay Rix for submitting the story.
The extremely rare mountain gorillas of Virunga National Park seem to have prospered during turmoil and fighting by rebel groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to new census results. The population—made famous by a series of murders in 2007—has grown by nearly 13 percent in the last 16 months, despite having no protection from civil war or poaching for 15 months, park rangers said Monday.
The count showed that the number of gorillas had increased to 81, compared to a count of 72 in 2007.
Bowing to months of pressure from political allies, Iran’s former reformist president, Mohammad Khatami, on Sunday declared he will run in the June presidential vote.
The black-turbaned cleric – who won landslide victories in 1997 and 2001 on the promise of restoring the rule of law, loosening social restrictions, and ending Iran’s isolation – will now be aiming to restore his political reputation while challenging Iran’s arch-conservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. (Read the full story at Christian Science Monitor)
A team of Monash University researchers in Sydney has made a major breakthrough in the international fight against malaria, which claims the life of a child across the world every 30 seconds. The scientists were able to deactivate the final stage of the malaria parasite’s digestive machinery, effectively starving the parasite of nutrients and disabling its survival mechanism. This process of starvation leads to the death of the parasite. The research , published this week, lays the scientific groundwork to further develop a specific class of drugs to treat the disease. (Read more at Physorg.com)
Nourishing premature babies with high does of omega-3 fatty acids significantly decreases the risk of developmental disorders, according to Australian researchers.
Of 657 premature babies tested in a trial involving five Australian hospitals, about 50% fewer infants on the fortified diets had significantly delayed mental development. (Read more at Sciencedaily.com)
Photo courtesy of Sun Star.
Two Jews and two Palestinians in the U.S. launched a website on Thursday that allows you to make a small loan directly to women entrepreneurs in the Palestinian Territories.
The new site, Lend for Peace, works with US government-approved microfinance institutions on the ground to deliver your capital along with training and guidance to low-income individuals who are interested in starting or expanding their own small businesses. Your loan for as little as $25.00 is repaid over a set period of time as your micro-entrepreneur builds economic self-sufficiency and a stake in peace.
Browse through photos of craft makers and seamstresses, farmers and grocers, to make a loan and a personal connection with women like Safa, pictured above, who is is producing and selling homemade pickles and meatballs to local restaurants.
A two year-old pomeranian chose to become a loving mother to one baby orphan monkey. The two are inseparable — mother nursing, baby traveling on her back and the pair sleeping together. The Reuters video may take a moment to load…
Laughter yoga — a new form of exercise that, like yoga, also started in India, that gives you spiritual satisfaction, stress relief and better health, has been gaining followers in the United States and around the world.
Last year, the Lebanese physiotherapist, Liliane Akiki, took it one step further. As the first “laughter therapist” in Lebanon and the Middle East, she launched classees for refugees suffering from a wide-range of trauma, according to the AFP report below.
Find a Laughing Yoga class in your area by searching at: www.laughteryoga.org
(WATCH the Gulf News and AFP reports below)
Recommend to your Friends and Followers… (below)
In 2008, more wind power was installed in the EU than any other electricity generating technology. Statistics released by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) today show that 43% of all new electricity generating capacity built in the European Union last year was wind energy, exceeding all other technologies including gas, coal and nuclear power.
For the first time, wind energy is the leading technology in Europe. A total of 64,949 MW of installed wind energy capacity was operating in the EU by end 2008, 15% higher than in 2007. “The figures show that wind energy is the undisputed number one choice in Europe’s efforts to move towards clean, indigenous renewable power”, said Christian Kjaer, EWEA Chief Executive.
On average, 20 wind turbines were installed for every working day of 2008.
Productivity of US workers rose 2.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008, and overall gained 2.8 percent for the year.
Hourly wages rose 5.0 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 following a 4.2 percent increase in the third quarter. When the steep drop in consumer prices was factored in, real hourly compensation jumped 15.6 percent during the fourth quarter. This was the largest increase in real hourly compensation since the beginning of the series in the second quarter of 1947. (Read the details at HRBHR.com)
Thanks to GNN-i member, Graeme Thickins for the heads up!
Overland Park university seniors called 30 bars around Lawrence, Kansas asking them if they recycled glass. None of them did, so their new group, Students for Bar Recycling, leapt into action delivering 145 pounds of glass to a recycler last Saturday — bottles collected from a single bar on a Friday night.
Andrew Stanley started the group in December to find innovative solutions that would make it easy and attractive for bars to go green. Read the story at the University Daily Kansan.
Leslie Hagen’s performance evaluations at the Justice Department had the highest possible ratings — “outstanding” in each of five categories, yet she was fired by a top aide in the Bush administration based on rumors that she was gay, even though discrimination based on sexual orientation in the department is illegal.
On Monday, Feb. 2 she was rehired based on the fact that she was the “best person for the job,” after a nationwide search to fill her position. (National Public Radio)
Preity Zinta was going to treat herself to a new imported car for her 34th birthday but she realized she could do something much more worthwhile with the money. She adopted a whole classroom of children – thirty-four orphan girls – from the Mother Miracle orphanage in India.
“Yes, I have adopted them and will be completely looking after their education, food, clothes, etc,” she admits, “It`s an amazing feeling to be part of their lives. I’m going to make it a point to visit them at least twice a year. They are my children, my responsibility now.” (Bolly Spice)
Bank of America, the biggest U.S. bank by assets, said its January performance was “Encouraging”, as turmoil in the credit markets eased. “At least for the moment, the extreme dislocations in the capital markets we suffered last quarter seem to have moderated,” said Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Lewis. (Bloomberg News)
Hollywood couple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt visited Myanmar refugees in a Thai camp listening to them describe difficulties faced while living two decades in closed camps. Jolie, a goodwill ambassador for the UN refugee agency, spent Wednesday in Thailand with Pitt, and called on the Thai government to grant Myanmar refugees in northern Thailand greater freedom of movement.
Jolie’s visit came at a time of worldwide attention to the large numbers of Rohingya migrants fleeing Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state in rickety boats. (Jolie, right, in UNHCR photo)
“Visiting Ban Mai Nai Soi and seeing how hospitable Thailand has been to 111,000 mostly Karen and Karenni refugees over the years makes me hope that Thailand will be just as generous to the Rohingya refugees who are now arriving on their shores,” Jolie said.
Do you want to buy the sexiest hybrid on the road? The Fisker Karma’s 4-door gives you over 100 miles per gallon and costs $80,400 after the hybrid tax credit. Even Colin Powell is interested.
Private companies with charity for the world’s poor as their sole focus are rare. But, refugee camps and disaster areas all over the third world benefit from the products produced by Denmark’s Vestergaard-Frandsen: PermaNet, a mosquito net impregnated with insecticide; ZeroFly, a tent tarp that kills flies; and the LifeStraw, a filter worn around the neck that makes filthy water safe to drink. (New York Times)
