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HOME  CULTURE

Good News Stories From Around the World That Will Brighten Your Day
Compiled by James Hadley and Tim Hulse, Reader's Digest International
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We've rounded up the most heartwarming and inspirational good news stories from across the globe.
1 / 101Good news - Stumpy the Golden Lab
PHOTO: PET BLOOD BANK UK
The Golden Labrador Who Keeps on Giving
Stumpy (above) is a handsome labrador who was destined for a career as a guide dog. Sadly, problems with a deformed leg meant it wasn’t to be. But then Stumpy found a new way to help others: by giving blood.

The nine-year-old labrador has saved more than 100 canine lives since the age of one by donating blood for emergency transfusions.

Stumpy has been crowned the United Kingdom’s most prolific blood-donor dog. He has a negative blood type which is especially valuable because it allows his blood to be given to any dog.

Stumpy’s owner, vet Elly Pittaway, says: “Stumpy obviously has no idea what he’s doing it for, but if he did, I’m sure he’d be very proud of himself.” [Source: Daily Mail, BBC News]

Check out these heartwarming stories of dogs who saved their owners’ lives.

2 / 101Good news - free conversations in Barcelona, Spain
PHOTO: FERRAN NADEU
The Art of Conversation Lives On
In front of Barcelona’s Arc de Triomf, 26-year-old Adrià Ballester (above) sets up two foldaway chairs and a sign in large letters that reads: “Free conversations!”

Anyone is welcome to stop, sit and chat with him in Spanish, English or Catalan about anything they like. “The idea is just to talk freely for a while,” the 26-year-old writer and storyteller explains. “We have lost the art of conversation,” agrees a young Italian psychology student among the day’s visitors.

“We live in a world where it’s often easier to send a message to someone from another country than to say good morning to our neighbours,” says Ballester, who uses Facebook (Free Conversations Movement) and Instagram (@freeconversations) to promote his project. He posts photos of himself and those who choose to chat along with their reflections and sometimes startling revelations.

At times he feels like a therapist. “You hear good, positive stories and really tough ones, too. A lot of people will tell you about a tricky episode in their life, maybe heartbreak or a job loss. There’s a bit of everything,” he says. A 70-year-old Lithuanian woman even talked about the years she spent in a Russian concentration camp.

During the coronavirus crisis, Ballester took the conversation online, setting up randompenpals.com, a site that invites users to “get a quarantine PenPal in 10 seconds”. He plans to publish a manifesto and aims to spread his initiative to other major cities around the world. [Source: El Pais]

Read the inspiring story of how COVID-19 taught one man how to be a better friend.


3 / 101Good news - the hero of HMS Argyll
PHOTO: OLIVER SPITERI / SHUTTERSTOCK
Sailor Braves Waves to Save Crew of Burning Ship
HMS Argyll (above) was sailing towards Plymouth after nine months in the Asia-Pacific region when it picked up a mayday call. The Grande America, a 28,000-tonne merchant ship was in flames, belching toxic smoke in the Bay of Biscay, 240 kilometres off the French coast. Its crew had abandoned the ship, but their lifeboat’s engine was damaged when it hit the water.

The Argyll’s Leading Seaman David Groves, went into action, battling the “worst conditions” he had ever faced. In a night-time swell of around six metres, with wall-like waves, Groves used a small sea boat to “nudge” the lifeboat half a mile towards HMS Argyll. After four exhausting hours, he had saved all 27 crew, some of them suffering from smoke inhalation. “The whole thing went by in a matter of seconds in my head, even though it ended at four in the morning,” said Groves later. He was awarded the UK’s Queen’s Gallantry Medal for his bravery. [Source: BBC]

Don’t miss these incredible stories of real Canadian heroes.

4 / 101Good news - Honey bees at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris
PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK
Notre-Dame’s Bees Keep Buzzing Through Crises
When fire ravaged Paris’s Notre-Dame cathedral last year, many presumed that the three colonies of bees living on its sacristy roof had perished. But against all odds, the bees survived the inferno and continued to thrive through the coronavirus lockdown.

“There’s nothing wrong with them at all,” reports beekeeper Sibyle Moulin, who looks after some 30-45,000 insects in the three hives. “The behaviour of the colonies is perfectly normal.”

The beehives are just 30 metres below Notre-Dame’s main roof but were untouched by the flames. “The mystery remains,” says Moulin. “All that smoke, heat, water…” She kept visiting the bees through the coronavirus crisis. As humans stressed over COVID-19, Moulin reported that the bees were “completely unbothered”. [Source: The Guardian]

Find out what you can do right now to help save the bees.

5 / 101Good news - plastic bottles for recycling
PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK
Mutant Enzyme Heralds Breakthrough in Recycling
Scientists have created an enzyme that can break down used plastic bottles for recycling in a matter of hours. Engineered from bacteria found in leaf compost, the enzyme reduces PET bottles (made from polyethylene terephthalate, a form of polyester) to their chemical building blocks, which are then used to make high-quality new bottles.

Existing recycling technologies usually produce plastic suitable only for clothing and carpets. Carbios, the French startup behind the breakthrough, aims to be recycling at an industrial scale within five years.

“This represents a significant step forward for true circular recycling of PET,” says Professor John McGeehan, director of the UK-based Centre for Enzyme Innovation.