By Aaron Parnas•January 18, 2026•7 min read•Good News
Good morning, everyone, and happy Sunday. Welcome to your Sunday morning good news update. As always, I invite you to share one piece of good news from your own week in the comments and to pass this along so others can do the same. There is no shortage of heavy headlines right now, but moments of progress, kindness, and resilience still matter, and they deserve to be seen.
On a personal note, here is a piece of good news I am deeply grateful for: The Parnas Perspective is one of the fastest-growing Substacks of 2026. We have been the number one news Substack in the world for more than six consecutive months, and our growth is accelerating even further this year as we reach more households every week. And, I am back on my marathon training journey!
At a time when TikTok is actively censoring my work and much of the media landscape is drifting closer to power, I am proud to remain fully independent. No advertisers dictate my coverage. No political office shapes my reporting. I answer only to you.
After a serious crash destroyed the escort vehicle for nearly 20 Buddhist monks walking 2,300 miles across the U.S. to promote peace and compassion, a Texas small business owner donated and fully outfitted a new Toyota Rav4—complete with insurance, safety lights, and supplies—allowing the monks to safely continue their cross-country peace walk, embodying the Buddhist principle of selfless charity known as dāna.
A 12-year-old boy, Zac Howells, saved his mother’s life when she suddenly lost consciousness while driving at 60 mph by grabbing the steering wheel, slowing the accelerating car, deliberately steering it into a barrier to stop safely, turning off the engine, calmly calling emergency services with clear location details despite being near a border, reassuring and comforting his mother as she regained consciousness, and ultimately earning a Chief Constable’s Commendation for his remarkable composure and bravery.
A 100-year-old former Royal Marine and D-Day veteran, Don Butt, fulfilled his final wish by receiving France’s Légion d’Honneur more than 80 years after landing in the first wave at Juno Beach as a teenager, where he endured heavy fire while ferrying troops ashore; after decades of silence and mistakenly believing he was ineligible due to his age, a renewed application—rushed in a race against time—was approved, allowing him to be formally honored for his bravery and role in liberating France, a moment his family described as “completing his life.”
After eloping as teenagers in the 1950s, 91-year-old Harold Pugh and 90-year-old Frances Pugh celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary in Hopewell, Virginia by renewing their vows with the full dream wedding they never had—complete with aisle, flower girl, and loved ones—honoring a lifetime of shared faith, service, and enduring love.
Inspired by one brother’s asthma attacks caused by severe air pollution, New Delhi teens Vihaan and Nav Agarwal founded the nonprofit OneStepGreener, growing a small household recycling effort into a city-spanning system across 14 Indian cities that has properly segregated and recycled over 2 million pounds of waste, planted urban trees, improved public sanitation, and earned them the International Children’s Peace Prize for showing that effective recycling is possible even in one of the world’s most polluted megacities.
A joint Chinese–Uzbek archaeological team uncovered a standing section of city wall and major structural remains at Kuva, a key Silk Road settlement in Uzbekistan’s Fergana Valley that flourished from the 3rd century BCE to the 10th century CE, confirming its long, multi-civilizational history and its pivotal role in Silk Road trade—especially the exchange of the famed “Heavenly Horses” that strengthened China’s Han Dynasty armies.
Kyrgyzstan inaugurated its first-ever solar power plant, a 100-megawatt facility capable of supplying electricity to a small city while cutting 120,000 tons of CO₂ emissions each year, marking a major step toward energy independence and a broader renewable push that will add up to 5 gigawatts of new solar and wind power in the coming decades.
A train-loving couple, Mark and Carol Benson, spent 30 years restoring the derelict Ebberston Station in North Yorkshire, transforming the former rail stop into a unique lodging where visitors can stay in converted vintage train cars and a restored ticket office, preserving a piece of England’s railway history.
After losing his close friend in the September 11 attacks, David Sylvester embarked on a 25-year global journey that evolved into giving more than one million hugs across 42 countries, discovering that deep human connection and physical touch helped him—and countless others—process grief, heal trauma, and rebuild a sense of hope and shared humanity.
A Texas teacher was surprised with a heartfelt bridal shower organized by her fiancé and an entire preschool class in the very classroom where the couple first met as toddlers decades earlier, turning their long-circling love story—reconnected through family, teaching, and chance—into a full-circle celebration just weeks before their wedding.
Scientists are studying ice cores spanning 30,000 years from the Kon-Chukurbashi ice cap in Tajikistan’s Pamir Mountains—one of the rare glaciers that is still growing despite global warming—in hopes of uncovering the unique climatic or geological mechanisms behind its resilience and applying those insights to help protect shrinking glaciers worldwide.
A new low-cost generic version of a leading cystic fibrosis treatment will soon be released by Beximco, slashing annual costs by about 99% compared with the patented drug sold by Vertex Pharmaceuticals and putting life-saving care within reach for thousands of patients worldwide, especially in lower-income countries.
A new study from Newcastle University found that just 10 minutes of intense exercise can trigger molecular changes in the bloodstream that suppress bowel cancer growth and boost DNA repair, with researchers showing exercise-conditioned blood altered the activity of more than 1,300 genes linked to cancer, metabolism and inflammation, findings published in the International Journal of Cancer.
After responding to a car accident involving an Instacart driver whose vehicle was disabled, three Washington firefighters from Central Pierce Fire & Rescue went beyond their emergency duties by personally delivering the groceries to the waiting customer, ensuring they received essential supplies and earning praise for their kindness and community-minded service.
A heartwarming profile recounts how Mesfin Yana, an Ethiopian immigrant whose life was saved as a teenager by US surgeons through charity-funded heart surgeries, went on to build a medical career in the United States and now returns to Ethiopia to operate alongside the very surgeon who once saved him, giving back through nonprofit surgical missions and serving as a vital bridge between volunteer doctors and patients.
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and his wife Wendy plan to privately fund a next-generation space telescope system, including a Hubble successor called Lazuli with a larger mirror and faster capabilities, aiming to launch by 2028–29 and bypass NASA’s slower, costlier processes through philanthropy-led design, construction, and deployment.
Actor Henry Winkler delighted fans by joyfully dancing through “The Jennifer Hudson Show”’s spirit tunnel—kicking, twirling, and blowing kisses to cheering staff—proving at 80 that his trademark charm and “Fonz” energy are still very much alive while celebrating his recent induction into the Television Hall of Fame.
@jenniferhudsonshow
The Jennifer Hudson Show on Instagram: "We’re so happy @hwinkle…
London recorded 97 homicides in the past year—an 11-year low and the lowest homicide rate in the city’s history—credited to targeted policing of violent offenders, expanded youth violence prevention programs, increased police presence, and greater use of data, CCTV, and facial recognition technology.
On Australia’s Kangaroo Island, predator-proof fencing built after the 2020 wildfires has led to dramatic recoveries of native wildlife, with endangered species like the Kangaroo Island dunnart rebounding by up to 90–100% and previously absent bird species returning as feral cat predation is eliminated.
