Animals understand what real friendship is

Animals with big brains such as elephants, horses, killer whales and some primates have close platonic friendships, according to the New Scientist. The friendships are not sexual, and are formed by animals in stable, community groups.

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-27608051

Lauding a girl child's achievement

A 13-year-old Indian tribal schoolgirl has become the youngest girl to climb Mount Everest. Malavath Poorna wants to be a role model for tribal children. She says,"For a tribal like me, opportunities are very rare and I was looking for one opportunity where I could prove my calibre."

She did and how!

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-27599570

I disappeared but I've never felt so alive

No text message, no tweet, no facebook post...indeed no instant communication...

A lone blonde woman, 26-years old, wrapped in a sarong, leads four camels and a little dog across one of the most uninhabitable environments on Earth - a nine-month expedition across the Australian outback.

In 1977, Robyn Davidson trekked 2,700 kilometers from Alice Springs to the Indian Ocean, armed with little more than a map and a rifle, in a landscape which had destroyed many a hardened explorer before her.

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/05/22/showbiz/the-desert-woman/index.html?hpt=hp_c5

Holocaust defiance

When Adolf Hitler's troops marched into Czechoslovakia, the Jews found themselves on the Nazi hit list. Nicholas Winton, a young British stockbroker, went to Prague and moved by the plight of the children, came back and organized the rescue of the children. He saved 669 children. He hardly spoke of what he had done. Winton, who just turned 105, has managed to reunite with some of those children - now grown up and with children of their own.

http://amanpour.blogs.cnn.com/2014/05/22/an-extraordinary-story-of-holocaust-defiance/?hpt=hp_bn9

Another girl battling all odds to get an education

Malala shot at while coming back from school

Nigerian girls abducted from school

And here is another girl determined to get an education - Phung

Phung, whose full name is Dao Ngoc Phung, is from an impoverished and landless family. Room to Read is helping her get an education and today, 16-year-old Phung is ranked near the top of her 11th-grade class of 191. She sets her alarm for 3:30 each morning, reviews her homework and then commutes an hour each way to school. She washes her only school uniform — a white dress — in a bucket each evening and hopes it will dry overnight.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/22/opinion/kristof-this-smart-girl-says-thank-you.html?hp&rref=opinion

One of the world's most remote regions

Possibly the world's last Shangri-La

The haunting Sichuan-Tibet Highway

China is trying hard to increase the number of visitors to this beautiful place. But for now, the area remains largely untouched and a reminder of the Tibet that once was.

http://www.bbc.com/travel/feature/20140417-the-haunting-sichuan-tibet-highway/2

Raimundo Arruda Sobrinho, the homeless poet

He's been living for decades on a roadway median in Sao Paulo, Brazil, he calls "The Island." No matter his circumstances are dire, he writes each day with diligence and passion. His dream: to share his work with the world.

http://www.karmatube.org/videos.php?id=4895