3 quick-thinking women may have prevented an attempted rape

Three women are being celebrated online after authorities say they may have stopped an attempted rape while they were dining in a Santa Monica restaurant on May 26. According to their Facebook post, Sonia Ulrich, Marla Saltzer and Monica Kenyon spotted a fellow customer — whom police have identified as Michael Hsu — putting something in his friend’s drink.

http://time.com/4351812/women-stop-sexual-assault/?xid=newsletter-brief

How the Internet works for these villages in Madhya Pradesh, India

Aham Bhumika, a registered NGO in the region, trains the children of these remote villages on the outskirts of Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh, in arts and craft, and sells their products online. Further, in collaboration with another NGO in the area, they have organised classes conducted by three very skilled artisans from different regions of state, to teach the women embroidery.

The art, craft and embroidery of this region is very distinctive...

http://www.thebetterindia.com/56579/aham-bhumika-bhopal-gonda-art/?utm_source=The+Better+India+Newsletter&utm_campaign=d7b52fb492-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_cd579275a4-d7b52fb492-74060141

Message in a bowl

Rajkunwar was 14 years old when she married Chuni Singh, an army man. In 1945, Chuni sent his 15-year-old wife a money order for Rs 50, which was a princely sum in those days. Chuni left the defense forces in 1950 but when he died in 1951, he didn't leave any documents behind. Thus began her battle for survival with the one-month-old son her husband had left behind along with six bighas of land, two goats and a hut in Neem Ka Thana, Sikar district, in Rajasthan. All she had was a payee's slip for that one money order and an army mess bowl. For 64 years since her husband's death, Rajkunwar had had to return empty-handed every time she visited the district Sainik Kalyan Board seeking a defence widow's pension.

Finally, Group Captain S.S. Dholia, a retired air force officer in charge of the district Sainik Kalyan Board, decided to take the matter up. He knew he had a mountain to climb but climb it he did and the result is that now 86-year-old Rajkunwar will receive a monthly pension of Rs 4,000.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1160530/jsp/frontpage/story_88386.jsp#.V0u2FZF97IU

Who doesn't love a hamburger

Comfort food at its best. National Hamburger Day was on Saturday. Let's take time out to find out the history of this all-time favorite food.

http://time.com/4342423/national-hamburger-day-history-origins-inventor/

Braai

Braai “is one thing that can unite us irrespective of all of the things that are trying to tear us apart,” Archbishop Desmond Tutu, an anointed patron of National Braai Day, proclaimed at an event that kicked off the movement.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/25/dining/braai.html?emc=edit_th_20160525&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=58824118&_r=0

What is it about Champagne?

Champagne holds the imagination like no other drink. Whether we can afford it or not is immaterial. One can always imagine.....and dream...

http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20160526-why-were-drinking-more-champagne-than-ever-before

US veterans going back to live in Vietnam

It is estimated that tens of thousands of veterans have returned to Vietnam since the 1990s, mostly for short visits to the places where they once served. Some had difficulty adapting to civilian life in the US. Others have gone back in the hope of atoning for wrongs they believe were committed during the war.


http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-36363537

Olive Ridley Turtles in Odisha, India

Olive Ridley Turtles come back year after year to the place of their birth on the beaches of Odisha, to mate in the waters along the shore and lay their eggs in sandy nests. Conservationists and scientists are now educating the locals to help protect these endangered marine reptiles, and with the communities as a whole getting involved in the protection and conservation of these wonderful creatures, there is hope for the Olive Ridley sea turtle to survive and thrive in the future.

http://www.thebetterindia.com/55513/olive-ridley-turtles-odisha-coast-fighting-for-survival-endangered/?utm_source=The+Better+India+Newsletter&utm_campaign=03f1b316ed-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_cd579275a4-03f1b316ed-74060141

The only one God left alive

The 13-year-old boy sits on a mat in a darkened hut not far from Leer Town in South Sudan, his skeletal knees pressed against his ears, and tells the story of what happened to him and more than 50 other men one day late last year.

http://time.com/leer-south-sudan/?xid=newsletter-brief

The World Bank Group’s new Gender Equality Strategy

Ending poverty means closing the gaps between women and men.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ending-poverty-means-clos_b_10029280.html?section=india&utm_hp_ref=world

An adventurous family

Graeme Bell, 41, with wife, Luisa, 40, and their children, Keelan and Jessica back in 2009 set out to traverse the entire world, one continent at a time. In the seven years since, they have logged more than 100,000 miles, driven through 30-odd countries, and tried to live on the equivalent of £40 per day.

“We’re at our best when we’re travelling,” says Graeme who describes his family as “longtime nomads” who prefer the backroad journey to the actual destination.

http://www.bbc.com/autos/story/20160517-the-neverending-road-trip

The Sunderbans, West Bengal

In 2009 when cyclone Aila swept through the Sunderbans, West Bengal, it made the entire land area uncultivatable and killed 70 percent of the cattle population, leaving total desolation in its wake.


Servals Automation Pvt Ltd, a social enterprise based out of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, stepped into the picture. They provide sustainable energy efficient cooking solutions to consumers at the bottom of the social pyramid.

http://www.thebetterindia.com/26664/servals-cooking-stove-innovation-sunderbans/?utm_source=The+Better+India+Newsletter&utm_campaign=ca9a6a4e16-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_cd579275a4-ca9a6a4e16-74060141

Sensitive move

A popular Auckland primary school has installed a unisex toilet to help a 6-year-old transgender pupil feel safe and accepted.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11639240

Incredible women

1. Khadija Omar, founder of Pepo La Tumaini, has transformed Isiolo, a desolate, outback town. She and a group of dedicated women work tirelessly towards spreading messages of hope for those abandoned and banished from society because of HIV.

Please go to:

http://www.pepolatumaini.org/who-we-are/



2. Norma Bastida, survivor of human trafficking,is a celebrated ultra-marathoner, known to have trekked 150 miles across the scorched deserts of Namibia or run double-marathons over an icy tundra in Antarctica. What is more amazing is how she has not only survived but WON over all that was dragging her down...she never gave up on herself, hard though it must have been...


http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/16/world/human-trafficking-norma-bastidas-triathlon-record/

Team of Sherpas scale Everest in 2 Years

For the first time in two years, humans stood on the top of the world.

A team of nine Sherpas, led by Sherra Gyalgen Sherpa, successfully scaled Mount Everest on Wednesday — the first climbers to do so since a deadly earthquake in 2015 and a fatal avalanche the year before made attempts to the summit impossible.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sherpas-mount-everest_us_5733fcb1e4b060aa7819643d?section=india&utm_hp_ref=world

Obama's commencement speech at Rutgers

Barack Obama delivered a stinging rebuke to a culture of isolationism and falsehood, and an adamant defense of facts and science, in his commencement address to the Rutgers University graduating class of 2016 on Sunday. 'Ignorance is not a virtue', he said.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/15/barack-obama-commencement-speech-donald-trump

"KeepFightingMichael" hashtag remains a daily prayer

More than two years on, everyone is praying this wonderful person will soon be back with us.

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/12/motorsport/formula-one-michael-schumacher-ferrari-di-montezemolo/index.html

Platform Patshala: Constable strikes deal with street children

One constant one sees at all railway stations in India, are the forlorn faces of children forced by circumstance to earn a living. There are no holidays for them, and certainly no future....

Thanks to one constable in Delhi’s Nizamuddin Station - Constable Dharamvir Singh - some of these children are getting a fighting chance at life.

http://www.thebetterindia.com/54886/educating-street-children-in-delhi/?utm_source=The+Better+India+Newsletter&utm_campaign=f42b33ed85-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_cd579275a4-f42b33ed85-74060141

The world is a diverse place

And beautiful

And for Australia-based photographer Alexander Khimushin, capturing this beauty became an exciting challenge that has already led him to explore 84 nations in his lifetime, camera in hand.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-world-in-faces-project_us_572b545be4b0bc9cb045cec9?section=india&utm_hp_ref=world

Two gamechangers

London elects first Muslim mayor

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/06/europe/uk-london-mayoral-race-sadiq-khan/

and

Ferguson Swears in First Black Police Chief

http://abcnews.go.com/US/fergusons-black-police-chief-delrish-moss-sworn-today/story?id=38980635

Mario Miranda: Genius cartoonist

India's western beachfront state Goa has been busy with celebrations to mark the 90th birth anniversary of one of the country's best-known cartoonists and illustrators, Mario Miranda. Mario's warm-hearted, often comic drawings of local characters and culture helped to popularize his native state, both across India and overseas.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-36220327

The Mexican Ambassador to India uses an autorickshaw as her official vehicle

Melba Pria, the Mexican Ambassador to India, has a beautifully done up autorickshaw as her official vehicle.

Millions of Indians use an autorickshaw, why wouldn’t an ambassador use an autorickshaw?” says Ambassador Pria.

http://www.thebetterindia.com/54699/mexican-ambassador-to-india-auto/?utm_source=The+Better+India+Newsletter&utm_campaign=5c4201762f-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_cd579275a4-5c4201762f-74060141

An unlikely cocktail?

Not really...

A group of New Zealand police officers has been showing off some dance moves in a new video.


Just fantastic!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/36201279

Russian orchestra plays concert in ancient Syrian ruins of Palmyra

The concert was held in a newly liberated area with ISIS nearby. The concert, "Pray for Palmyra: Music Revives Ancient Ruins," was dedicated to victims of the terrorist group. The concert itself was almost an hour long and featured music by Sergei Prokofiev, Johann Sebastian Bach and Rodion Shchedrin.

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/05/middleeast/syria-palmyra-russia-concert/index.html

We humans are capable of so much

And here is one person who proves this...

Gennady Tkachenko-Papizh

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/03/arts/music/gennady-tkachenko-papizh-georgias-got-talent.html?emc=edit_th_20160503&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=58824118

It's so much joy when barriers break down

The first U.S. cruise ship in nearly 40 years crossed the Florida Straits from Miami and docked in Havana on Monday.

http://time.com/4313726/first-cruise-miami-cuba/?xid=newsletter-brief

Guldasta

Vimla Kaul, at 81, still works, educating under-privileged children in India's capital Delhi.

"If I can lift even one child out of their circumstances, that's enough for me. But mostly, I want to give them a childhood. Some happy memories that they can look back on later in life."

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-36147973

We might be of different color, but here we are all equal

The Alsoupoli Intercultural School in Athens, Greece, is a bustling multilingual and multicultural community, one of the few educational facilities currently providing education specifically tailored to the children of migrants and refugees.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/athens-multicultural-primary-school_us_572261cbe4b0b49df6aab049?section=india&utm_hp_ref=world