5 Positive News Stories
It’s been a difficult few days, weeks and a year so far in 2020 and with the weight of the world weighing heavily on a lot of people at the moment, it is the perfect time for our Positive News Stories! We’ve got some great ones for you this week including a million dollar treasure hunt, hospitals allowing visitors and a man who was rescued from a well after spending six days trapped inside.
$1m Treasure Found in Rocky Mountains
If you hadn’t heard about the treasure hidden by Forrest Fenn in the Rocky Mountains, it’s now too late to go and find it! Fenn was a former US Air Force Pilot who became an arts and antiques dealer after he retired. Fenn was rather successful in his business, bringing in around $6m a year before he was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 1998. This diagnosis inspired him to hide a treasure chest in the Rocky Mountains filled with gold nuggets, gem stones, jewellery and more.
Fenn recovered from his cancer in 2010 and went on to release a book about his life which included hints and clues as to where this treasure could be found.
Thousands of people had come to the Rockies to try and find it in the decade that followed until it was confirmed last week that a man from the East Coast of America had successfully found it. Fenn wrote, "It was under a canopy of stars in the lush, forested vegetation of the Rocky Mountains and had not moved from the spot where I hid it more than 10 years ago… the poem in my book led him to the precise spot. I congratulate the thousands of people who participated in the search and hope they will continue to be drawn by the promise of other discoveries. So the search is over.”
This brought to a close one of the closely followed treasure hunts in America.
New Zealand is Virus Free
New Zealand successfully became virus free last week, as the countries COVID-19 restrictions were fully lifted. Whilst New Zealand’s borders remain closed to foreign nationals, restrictions within the country have been lifted meaning that people can now live an almost normal life again.
New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, has been praised for her handling of the Coronavirus crisis which saw the country go into a strict lockdown on 25th March when the country had just 200 confirmed cases. Since going into lockdown, there has been fewer than 1200 cases in the country and just 22 deaths.
UK Breaks Record For Coal Free Power
The UK passed another green milestone last week as it went two months without firing up its coal power stations. This is the longest the country has gone coal free since the Industrial Revolution.
With the demand for electricity falling by almost a fifth during the lockdown and renewable energy sources thriving, the demand for coal power has fallen massively. The UK had its first coal-free day in 2017 and the first coal-free fortnight last year in May. The latest milestone of two months without coal power shows how quickly the energy transition is happening in the country.
Hospitals Begin To Allow Visitors
One of the toughest things about the Coronavirus pandemic has been the fact that people have been unable to see their loved ones who are in hospital. With the risk of infection being deemed too high, loved ones have had to wait for updates from doctors or had to settle for speaking on the phone. From June 15th, this is set to change though as a number of hospitals begin to allow visitors.
East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust announced this afternoon that as of Monday (15 June), they will be able to “allow one visitor a day to see patients who have been in hospital for more than 48 hours."
British Man Rescued After 6 Days in Bali Well
A British man, Jacob Roberts, has been rescued after spending six days in a well in Bali. Roberts reportedly broke his leg falling into the well whilst running away from a dog in Pecatu Village.
The man spent six days in the well before his cries for help were eventually heard by a local man looking for cattle feed in the area.
South Kuta police chief Yusak Agustinus Sooai said “he looked thin and injured,” when he was lifted out of the well by three men, but he is reportedly well.
Luck was certainly on his side this time!
