Good News
Updated: Sep. 28, 2018
Some of the positive stories coming our way
Norway Equalizes
Sport While some sports, such as tennis and athletics, usually reward international male and female competitors equally, others have been slow to address the gender pay gap. And nowhere is this more true than in football. Top male stars earn millions, while leading female players receive a relative pittance.
But the Norwegian Football Association wants to change that. It has agreed to pay all its international players the same amount—with the men even making a financial sacrifice to help the women’s team.
“Norway is a country where equal standing is very important for us, so I think it is good for the country and for the sport,” says players’ union chief Joachim Walltin. “It will certainly make a difference. Some of the women’s team (pictured above) have to hold down jobs as well as play football, and so then it’s hard to improve.”
Caroline Graham Hansen, a member of the women’s team, saluted her male counterparts: “Thank you for taking this step for female athletes, and for making it a bit easier to chase our dreams,” she said.
Chocolate Goes Pink
Food The romantically inclined celebrate Valentine’s Day in many countries on the 14th of this month, and roses and chocolates will be much in evidence. But what if the chocolates could match the color of the roses? In future, this could be possible, because a Swiss cocoa processing company, Barry Callebaut, has invented and plans to market pink chocolate.
The new product is made from a special ‘ruby’ bean grown in Ivory Coast, Ecuador and Brazil and is said to be the first new natural color since the introduction of white chocolate 80 years ago. But chocaholics will have to wait before they get their first fix—the new ruby chocolate won’t be available until later this year at the earliest.
A New View of Rome
Heritage The upper tiers of Rome’s Colosseum have been opened to tourists for the first time in 40 years, following a major restoration. The guided tours of the fourth and fifth levels of the amphitheater, originally the cheap seating for spectators watching gladiatorial contests, now offers superlative views over the Italian capital.
Nurse Saves Life at 30,000 feet
Heroes British nurse Emma Channing (pictured) was flying back to London after a holiday in Mexico when an announcement was made: “Are there any qualified doctors or nurses on board?”
Channing made herself known, and was taken to a passenger suffering from breathing difficulties. “You could tell immediately it was serious,” she says. “I have to admit to being a bit scared.”
But Channing’s nursing instincts took over. The man had suffered a broken rib on holiday and she realized he could be suffering from potentially fatal sepsis. She told the pilot they needed to land, and the plane diverted to Newfoundland, Canada, where paramedics were waiting on the runway to treat the man.
“You never expect something like that to happen to you on holiday,” says Channing. “You just do everything you can.”
Sources: Sport, The Guardian, 7.10.17. Food, The Local (Switzerland), 7.9.17. Heritage, The Local (Italy), 3.10.17. Heroes, Liverpool Echo, 20.9.17
