uplifting news

Read recent happy news and other uplifting news stories from around the world on Newser.com

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Litter of Kittens Busts Into Maximum Security Prison

Staff, inmates now taking care of them

(Newser) - Four kittens seeking shelter managed to find some in the unlikeliest of places: a maximum security prison in upstate New York. The Glens Falls Post-Star says the kittens, just weeks old at the time and in sorry shape, somehow found their way into the Great Meadow Correctional Facility. One inmate...

Athlete Gives Up Olympic Spot—to Twin Sister

Tracy Barnes says Lanny would have beat her if she wasn't sick

(Newser) - Tracy Barnes won a spot on the US Olympic biathlon team Sunday, but she's not taking it. She gave up her place so her twin sister, Lanny, could go instead. Lanny had been too sick to compete in all the selection races, but Tracy believes her sister had a...

Parrot Saves Sleeping Couple From Fire

Pearly woke up his human pals in the middle of the night

(Newser) - NBC Miami has a tale of a hero parrot credited with saving the lives of a Fort Lauderdale couple who were sound asleep during a house fire. "What we heard was a screeching like we've never heard before," Laurajean Niesel tells the Sun-Sentinel . "We thought...

Monopoly: The Game That Helped WWII POWs Escape

Eccentric British officer Clayton Hutton made it happen

(Newser) - Monopoly was more than a game for many World War II POWs, who used tools hidden in the boxed sets to help them escape. The story's been told before, but Christian Donland at Eurogamer looks deeply into the life of a high-strung, eccentric British intelligence officer named Clayton Hutton,...

Girl's Letter to Future Self Goes Viral After Her Death

Taylor Smith's letter inspires others, say parents

(Newser) - Taylor Smith died suddenly of pneumonia on Jan. 5, but months beforehand, the 12-year-old wrote a two-page letter to her future self. The Tennessee girl intended to open it in 2023, when she was 22, and excitedly told her mom about it. Instead, her parents opened it after her death—...

Man Who Can&#39;t Swim Survives in Sea &mdash;for 60 Hours



 Man Who Can't Swim 
 Survives in Sea 
 —for 60 Hours 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Jan 12, 2014 11:11 AM CST

Man Who Can't Swim Survives in Sea —for 60 Hours

Tseng Lien-fa was only slightly dehydrated when rescued from beach

(Newser) - An amazing survival tale out of Taiwan: A man—unable to swim—was able to stay afloat for 60 hours in the sea after a large wave swept him from a beach where he was catching baby eels. "I managed to hold on as the first wave hit me...

5 Most Uplifting Stories of the Week

Including a community that trumps the graffiti of Islamophobes

(Newser) - Residents of Stockholm get the last word in on anti-Islam vandals, and a what-are-the-odds photo helps a family find a missing son:
  • Supporters Cover Swastikas at Mosque With Flowers : A vandal or vandals defaced the doors of a mosque in Stockholm with swastikas, but the move seems to have backfired.
...

Soldier Who Went Missing During Layover Is Found

Matthew Segur has been located in Dallas

(Newser) - A happy but still somewhat vague ending to the story of a missing soldier. After finishing his second tour of duty in Afghanistan, Matthew Segur, 39, was headed home to Texas via Chicago. His British Airways flight arrived at O'Hare International Airport on Monday, but the flight he was...

Wife's Calls Save Man Pinned Under Frozen Truck

Trapped trucker survived 8 hours in the cold

(Newser) - A Florida truck driver who became trapped under his vehicle in sub-zero temperatures at an Indiana truck stop very early on Monday survived thanks to a wife who wouldn't stop calling. Tim Rutledge, 53, went under his truck to loosen ice from his brake pads when the vehicle shifted...

5-Foot 'Snow Kidney' May Have Found Man a Donor

Jim Gorbunow thought sculpture would get him some attention

(Newser) - Jim Gorbunow is thinking outside the box when it comes to finding a kidney donor: To draw attention to his plight, the Minnesota man built a 5-foot snow sculpture of a kidney in his front yard last week ... and named it "Kevin." Gorbunow's brother helped him build...

Pakistan Teen Is Killed Saving School From Bomber

Aitizaz Hasan stopped suicide attack, say local reports

(Newser) - A 15-year-old kid in Pakistan is being hailed as a hero after local reports say he was killed while stopping a suicide bomber from entering his school. As the Express Tribune reports, Aitizaz Hasan was standing with two friends outside his school in Hangu when a man approached and said...

Owner Selling Restaurant to Help Ailing Teen Worker

Brittany Mathis has tumor, no insurance

(Newser) - A Texas man is selling the restaurant he's owned for 17 years—which he figures is worth some $2 million—to help a 19-year-old employee handle her mounting medical bills. "I'm not able to just sit by and let it happen. I couldn't live with myself,...

Alert Target Employee Foils Kidnapping

Meanwhile, Walmart fires a worker who tried to stop beer theft

(Newser) - Two crazy tales from annals of US retail:
  • Hero at Target: Police in California's Bay Area say Target employee Roxanna Ramirez saved a kidnapped girl by being alert. Ramirez explains to ABC 7 that she grew suspicious of a fidgety man in her Pittsburg store—her job is to
...

Giffords Marks 3rd Anniversary of Shooting With Skydive

Tucson ceremonies remember victims

(Newser) - Gabby Giffords marked the third anniversary of being shot in the head in Tucson by, of all ways, skydiving. Elsewhere across the city, others gathered for bell-ringing and flag-raising ceremonies to remember the six killed and 13 injured—including the former Arizona congresswoman—on Jan. 8, 2011. Giffords waved and...

Supporters Cover Swastikas at Mosque With Flowers

After vandals deface doors, 'quiet majority' speaks up in Sweden

(Newser) - A vandal or vandals defaced the doors of a mosque in Stockholm with swastikas, but the move seems to have backfired. Anonymous members of the community then covered the swastikas with bouquets of flowers and left a note to the Muslim congregation: "For every hate crime there is a...

Waitress Receives Huge 'Gift From God' Tip

Cracker Barrel customers impressed by her amazing story

(Newser) - A Cracker Barrel waitress in Nebraska received a special tip the other day: $100. But that was nothing compared to the $6,000 in checks the customers also left behind, the Journal Star reports. The customers walked in asking for the restaurant's grumpiest waitress, hoping to make her laugh,...

Chance Photo Leads Family to Missing Son

AP used photo of man for cold-weather story

(Newser) - An upstate New York family was reunited with their missing son after a photo of him appeared in their local paper alongside a story about cold temperatures hundreds of miles away in Washington, DC. Nicholas Simmons, 20, disappeared from his parents' home on New Year's Day, but after an...

5 Most Uplifting Stories of the Week

Including a 'homeless' man who turns the table on generous drivers

(Newser) - A "homeless" man who isn't quite what he seems, and a Holocaust survivor who finally got a chance to say thanks make this week's list:
  • Man Poses as Homeless, Gives Away $1K : Drivers in Iowa who rolled down their window to give a few bucks to a
...

Message in Bottle Gets a Reply, 23 Years Later

Zoe Averianov dropped bottle in North Sea in 1990 at age 10

(Newser) - A UK woman got a pretty unexpected Christmas card this holiday season—a response to a 23-year-old message in a bottle she'd dropped in the North Sea as a child. While on a ferry from England to Belgium in 1990, Zoe Lemon—now Zoe Averianov—wrote a note explaining,...

For 26th Year, Police Remember Abandoned Baby

Connecticut department chipped in to pay for his burial in 1988

(Newser) - It's a 26-year tradition now in Meriden, Conn., and one with a somber start: On Jan. 2, 1988, police found a newborn boy frozen to death outside. He had been wrapped in a blanket, but the full-term baby with blond hair and blue eyes stood no chance in the...

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