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A Round-Up Of Uplifting News, Because We Just Need It Sometimes Fer Chrissakes (And Also A Bunch Of Puppies)

By Petr Navovy | Lists | November 17, 2017 |

By Petr Navovy | Lists | November 17, 2017 |


I feel the need to preface this with very little. There’s a lot of bad shit happening around the world, and a lot of dark, horrible stuff being uncovered from the past. Sometimes, in between fighting injustice, we need to be reminded that good things happen too. After all—what’s the use in fighting, if we can’t even remember what we’re fighting for?

So here is a round-up of news of a more uplifting variety:

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An Iranian Olympic weightlifter is auctioning off his medal to help victims of a terrible earthquake.

Last week a devastating earthquake hit the Iranian-Iraqi border. Over 400 people were killed. More than 10,000 injured.

Kianoush Rostami, 26, an Iranian of Kurdish descent and the winner of the Olympic gold medal in weightlifting at Rio 2016, has announced that he will be auctioning off his medal to help those in need. In an Instagram post, he wrote:

I am returning my Rio 2016 Olympics gold medal - which actually belongs to them - to my people. I will put my medal up for auction. All the proceedings will go to those hit by the earthquake.

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A train in Tokyo left 20 seconds early. The company responsible apologised for this.

According to NPR:

The train was traveling northbound on the line that connects Tokyo’s Akihabara station with Tsukuba to the northeast — a trip that takes less than an hour. After passengers had boarded, the crew didn’t check the time, resulting in the slightly early departure “around” 9:44 a.m., the company said.

The train had arrived at the station on time, at 40 seconds past 9:43 a.m. It was supposed to leave one minute later, at 9:44:40 — but instead, it left at 9:44:20.

“We deeply apologize for the severe inconvenience imposed upon our customers,” the Metropolitan Intercity Railway Company said, in a translation by Sora News 24.

The company also added in its statement that it had received no complaints for the incident. On the other hand, here in England, our atrocious, over-priced, fractured privatised rail network means that a train might still be considered kinda on time if it’s 20 minutes late; there probably wouldn’t be any apology for it; and we would certainly complain about it.

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In another ray of hope coming from an unlikely place, a baby was found alive and well, buried in rubble, three days after the Iranian-Iraqi border earthquake struck.

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In Kerala, India, the life of a 58-day old baby suffering from a critical heart condition, hung in the balance. The baby was due for a critical transfer from one hospital to another. Because of the child’s condition, however, air ambulance was a no-go. The roads were the only option. Time was precious, and Indian traffic would not make things easy. But then the whole state came together via social media to clear traffic and to ensure an easy passage for the ambulance.

According to India Times:

The whole operation went on so smoothly that the ambulance driver Tamim said he just had to stop the vehicle for 15 minutes on the way, only to feed the baby and nowhere in between.

The thousands who were glued to their phones for hours had a sigh of relief when Rinto the paramedical staff onboard sent out the message that the ambulance has reached its destination successfully.

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Australians recently voted overwhelmingly to legalise gay marriage. Because in the end love will always win. This was certainly good news for Arthur Cheeseman, 85, and John Challis, 89, who have been together for 50 years, and who will now get to marry.

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A Scottish dog, who lost his tail after too much wagging, has finally been adopted.

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The first hijab-wearing Barbie is here, in honor of the American Olympic fencer, Ibtihaj Muhammad.

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And because you can’t ever say I don’t love ya, here are some Friday puppies:


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Petr Knava lives in London and plays music