Day: January 4, 2026

Ukrainian drone strikes killed two people and wounded two others, including a 4-year-old child, in Russia’s Belgorod and Kursk regions on Sunday, officials said, ahead of peace talks in Paris

A US woman whose bone marrow saved a father of three in Australia has spent Christmas with him and his family. Gennaro Rapinese, whose leukaemia was cured by the donation, greeted Cassidy Feeney at the airport in Perth with the words ‘you saved my life’. Cassidy, who’d never met Gennaro before, says she decided to donate because she’d want someone to do the same for her loved ones – and believes everyone should care more about others and less about themselves.
Also: How a community rallied around to help after customers left a restaurant in Montreal without paying a large bill. The owner of Mama Khan’s uses his profits to run a soup kitchen and deliver free meals to those in need.
The company in Sweden that’s tackling loneliness by giving employees time off dedicated to working on their friendships.
A chance encounter and a small act of kindness that led to a couple getting engaged.
Plus a very rare pink platypus, and why millions of people around the world sing the Scottish folk song, Auld Lang Syne, to mark the new year.
Our weekly collection of inspiring, uplifting and happy news from around the world. Presenter: Oliver Conway. Music composed by Iona Hampson

In Crans-Montana, the ski resort where at least 40 people died in a New Year’s Day blaze, residents were struggling to come to terms with one of the worst such disasters in Switzerland’s history.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has imposed sanctions on 95 individuals and 70 legal entities, most of whom are Russian citizens and residents.