Good News

BULLETIN 4 February 

Good afternoon, here is your Good News:

# One of the world’s most popular social media platforms, Facebook, is celebrating its 21st birthday today. Originally created as a social platform for college students, Facebook was launched by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004. The platform has nearly three billion users registered on its network, with 350-million photos uploaded daily. India currently has around 260-million users, which is the highest number of active Facebook users globally. Facebook is the third most popular site globally behind Google and YouTube.

# Fresh off winning three Grammy Awards including album of the year, Beyoncé is set to embark on the much anticipated Cowboy Carter tour. The 22-show run will kick off in April with four nights at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium and proceed to Chicago, London, Paris, Texas, and Washington, and end in Atlanta on the eleventh of July. The critically acclaimed Cowboy Carter album celebrates and contextualises the black roots of country music. Ticket sales for the tour go on sale next Friday.

# East Africa Marine Transport has launched Lake Victoria’s first scheduled roll-on/roll-off freight vessel, MV Mpungu. Built in Uganda, the vessel cuts transport time from days to 18 hours, providing a safer, greener alternative to road freight. With a capacity for 21 trucks, it aims to boost regional trade and reduce emissions. Uganda’s prime minister, Robinah Nabbanja, hailed it as a milestone for economic and environmental progress. The vessel will operate between Uganda and Tanzania, with future expansion planned.

# Swimming: Twelve-time surf-ski world champion Oscar Chalupsky plans to tackle the coming weekend’s annual Midmar Mile in KwaZulu-Natal together with his 87-year-old father, Paul. Chalupsky is still defying the odds since being diagnosed with bone marrow cancer in 2019 and given only six months to live. He says he’s feeling good and training is going well. Chalupsky says it didn’t take too much to convince his father to join him in the iconic open water event. Paul Chalupsky will be the oldest of the estimated 12-thousand swimmers.

# And finally: More than 30 endangered froglets have been born at London Zoo after a dramatic eleven-thousand-kilometre rescue mission. The Darwin’s frog, named after Charles Darwin, faces extinction after the introduction of a deadly fungus to their habitat. However, bringing the endangered amphibians to the UK was no easy task, requiring a trip to Chile and a painstaking hunt for the tiny creatures, with the fully-grown fathers coming in at less than three centimetres. The 33 froglets were carried and brooded by 11 of the male frogs, until they were ready to be born.

Stay tuned for more news………….