World News Today – Not All Is Bad

The school administration was able to evacuate 900 kids to higher ground in only fourteen minutes before the mudslide hit, which is perhaps the most remarkable news today. And of course, the crowning of a new King in Norway.

Africa

South Africa

South Africa says it needs about R120 billion for additional classrooms and school sanitation as enrollment grows. The education ministry says the shortage is particularly acute in communities where schools already face overcrowding and inadequate facilities.

East Africa

New geological modeling has identified a vast upwelling of hot mantle rock beneath East Africa that may help explain unusual movement along the East African Rift. Researchers found that forces from the deep African Superplume appear to be acting together with shallower tectonic forces as the continent slowly separates.

Ghana

Farmers around Ada are calling for an investigation after large numbers of newly planted tomato seedlings began dying. The issue is being treated as an agricultural problem requiring investigation rather than simply another poor harvest.

Asia

China

Chinese science museums recorded more than 30 million visits during the summer holiday period and organized more than 100,000 educational and interactive activities. Museums are increasingly replacing display-only exhibits with hands-on science programs aimed particularly at children and families.

Singapore

Singapore is significantly expanding financial support for couples having children, with some families potentially receiving benefits worth around S$90,000 (about US$70,000) through combined grants, tax measures, leave and childcare support. The measures come as Singapore continues trying to reverse one of the world’s lowest fertility rates.

Kyrgyzstan

The World Nomad Games have opened in Bishkek, bringing traditional sports and cultural competitions from nomadic societies together in one international event. Competitions include horseback sports, wrestling, archery and traditional strength events.

Nepal

A school administrator managed to evacuate more than 900 students with only about 14 minutes’ warning before floodwater and debris destroyed their school. The students had been moved to higher ground before the building was swept away.

Australia & Pacific

New South Wales

Motor neurone disease becomes a notifiable disease in NSW today. Doctors and laboratories must now report diagnosed cases to health authorities. The change follows concern in Griffith, where the reported rate of MND has been about seven times the national average, and will allow health authorities to track cases systematically.

Tasmania

The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery is facing substantial staff reductions. Staff say nearly 20 full-time-equivalent positions are threatened. The museum, gallery and herbarium hold almost one million objects in Tasmania’s state collection.

Queensland

Researchers have mapped submerged landscapes beneath the southern Great Barrier Reef where Aboriginal people once lived. Sonar mapping revealed ancient rivers, lakes, estuaries and beaches submerged as sea levels rose about 7,000 years ago. More than 20 seabed cores were collected, with Darumbal and Woppaburra Traditional Owners participating in the research.

Cook Islands

The United States and New Zealand will finance a major reconstruction of the World War II-era port at Penrhyn Atoll. The project is intended to make ship landings safer and improve access to supplies and transport for the isolated northern Cook Islands.

Middle East

Oman

Scientists have completed a major environmental assessment of Wadi Dawkah, Oman’s UNESCO-listed frankincense landscape. The study establishes a new ecological baseline for the area’s Boswellia sacra trees and will be used for future habitat, biodiversity and conservation planning.

Engineers and researchers from eight countries are meeting in Salalah this week to present more than 22 scientific and technical papers on clean-energy infrastructure, resilient electricity systems and energy-transition technology.

Jordan

The annual Fuheis Festival is using historic houses, church buildings and early-20th-century architecture as venues for art and cultural events. This year’s program also includes artists with disabilities and exhibitions devoted to the city’s architectural heritage.

Europe

Scandinavia & Nordic / Arctic

Greenland

Narwhals are being used to collect oceanographic data in Greenland’s Scoresby Sound. Scientists fitted six animals with sensors measuring temperature, salinity and depth. Their dives produced measurements from deep fjord waters that are difficult for research vessels to access.

Nordic Arctic

Arctic universities, Indigenous representatives and young people are meeting in Brussels today and tomorrow for the EU Arctic Forum. Participants include the Arctic Six university network, Indigenous organizations, researchers and policymakers, with research cooperation and northern communities among the subjects being discussed.

Norway

Norway has a new king. King Harald V died on Friday, August 28, aged 89, ending a 35-year reign. His son immediately succeeded him as King Haakon VIII, with Mette-Marit becoming Queen and 22-year-old Ingrid Alexandra becoming Crown Princess and heir to the throne.

Today, September 1, King Haakon VIII took his constitutional oath before the Storting. Norway does not hold a coronation; the monarch succeeds immediately upon the predecessor’s death. Haakon has retained the royal motto “Alt for Norge” — “All for Norway.” King Harald’s funeral will be held in Oslo on September 9.

Sweden

Sweden is preparing hundreds of events for its September 11–13 Cultural Heritage Days. This year’s program focuses on endangered buildings, objects, historic places and traditions. Last year’s program included 340 events attended by more than 30,000 people.

A 300-year-old Swedish warship has been identified off Germany’s Baltic coast near Rügen. The Postiljonen, built in Karlskrona and used during the Great Northern War, was discovered accidentally; researchers have now connected the wreck to historical Swedish naval records.

Finland

The EU Intellectual Property Office has ruled that Rovaniemi can retain protected status as the “Official Hometown of Santa Claus.” The decision allows the Finnish Lapland city to continue using the designation commercially after a challenge to the trademark.

Great Britain & Ireland

Ireland

A leading mathematics educator has resigned from Ireland’s Leaving Certificate maths reform group over the proposed curriculum. Dublin City University associate professor Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin says draft higher- and ordinary-level courses contain mathematical inaccuracies and could inadequately prepare students for STEM study and work.

Twenty-eight arts and heritage events are opening across Ireland during September. They include theatre, literature, opera, film and visual arts, culminating in Culture Night, when museums, libraries, galleries, theatres and public spaces hold free events.

Germany

German motoring organization ADAC is calling for restrictions on “parent taxis” outside schools. A new survey found concern about congestion and dangerous traffic situations created by large numbers of cars arriving directly at school entrances. Proposed measures include designated drop-off areas farther from school gates.

Housing costs are consuming an increasing share of German household income. Germany’s tenants’ association is warning particularly about the burden on lower- and middle-income renters as rents and associated housing costs rise.

Saxony-Anhalt

Remains believed to be those of Emperor Otto the Great are being reinterred in Magdeburg Cathedral today following scientific examination. Otto died in 973 and was the first Holy Roman Emperor of the Ottonian dynasty. Researchers have been examining the remains associated with his tomb.

Mexico

Mexico City’s Museo Tamayo has opened an exhibition bringing together more than 100 works by Rufino Tamayo, Carlos Mérida Nieto and Francisco Toledo, including privately held pieces being exhibited in Mexico for the first time. The exhibition examines artistic connections formed during their years in Paris.

Americas

Canada — British Columbia

The second phase of the Whey-ah-Wichen/Cates Park shoreline restoration project is beginning in North Vancouver. The Tsleil-Waututh Nation and the district are restoring eroded shoreline while timing construction around low tides and sensitive fish habitat.

Canada — Newfoundland and Labrador

Researchers are using an underwater camera to follow marine-habitat restoration in Placentia Bay, allowing scientists to watch a restored reef develop and document how marine life returns to the site.

Canada — New Brunswick

New Brunswick is beginning the school year with new restrictions on cellphones in schools and screen time in childcare centers. The changes are part of a broader effort to reduce children’s recreational screen exposure during the school day.

Ecuador

More than 1.7 million students and about 100,000 teachers are returning to schools across Ecuador’s Sierra and Amazon regions this week. Roughly 6,000 schools are reopening in stages, accompanied by expanded public transport, traffic and security operations.

Ecuador — Engineering

Researchers at Ecuador’s Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral and Britain’s University of Surrey have found that recycled concrete and mixed recycled aggregates can be used in structural-grade concrete without necessarily reducing its performance, provided specific engineering limits are observed.

Chile & Colombia

Research institutions in Chile and Colombia have created a new biodiversity partnership combining scientific research with Indigenous and local knowledge. The project will develop joint approaches to conservation rather than relying solely on conventional ecological research.

Quite a day!

See you tomorrow on Good News Wednesday!