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Good morning. It’s Sunday. Here is what is going right.
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THE BLUE SHARKS
Cape Verde is an archipelago of ten volcanic islands off the west coast of Africa. Its population is 525,000 — smaller than Wyoming, smaller than Fresno, smaller than every single US state. Until last week, it had never played in a FIFA World Cup.
On Friday evening in Houston, Texas, Cape Verde drew 0-0 with Saudi Arabia and waited. A few thousand miles away in another stadium, Spain beat Uruguay. When the final whistle blew there, the result confirmed it: Cape Verde had qualified for the knockout rounds of the World Cup. The Blue Sharks — in their first-ever World Cup appearance — had become the smallest nation in history to reach the knockout stage of men’s football’s greatest tournament.
The players did not know it immediately. They watched the scoreboard. Then it changed. Then they understood. Goalkeeper Josué Sá, who plays professional football under the name Vozinha and who had been a free agent playing in the Portuguese second division before this tournament, fell to his knees. He now has more than 16 million Instagram followers. In the stands, shirtless fans had painted the letters of his name — V-O-Z-I-N-H-A — one letter each on their chests.
Their 26 players spent last season employed at 26 different club teams across 14 different countries. Seven played in Portugal. One plays for Ludogorets Razgrad in Bulgaria. One is a free agent. Of the 2,970 minutes their players logged in the group stage, only 256 were played by anyone employed at a club ranked in the top 100 in the world. They beat nobody. They drew with Spain, Uruguay, and Saudi Arabia — three draws, no losses, and through. “We have shown that we are a small country, but that we fight for the things that we want to achieve,” said coach Bubista, who gave his post-match interview draped in his country’s flag while being carried on the shoulders of his players.
Cape Verde midfielder Deroy Duarte said, “Honestly, it’s mad. I feel like I’m in a dream.”
Next up: Argentina. Lionel Messi. The round of 32. “The ball is round,” Duarte said. “Why not?”
Sources: ESPN (US — smallest nation confirmed, 525,000 population confirmed, Vozinha free agent confirmed, 26 clubs/14 countries confirmed, 2,970 minutes/256 top-100 confirmed, Bubista quote confirmed, June 27); ESPN analysis (US — Duarte “mad” quote confirmed, “why not” confirmed, Livramento quote confirmed, Houston celebration confirmed, June 27); Sky Sports (UK — Bubista full quote confirmed, V-O-Z-I-N-H-A chest fans confirmed, Vozinha kneel confirmed, June 27)
WILLOW AND HER KITS
In 2023, conservationists released five beavers into a 10-hectare park in the London borough of Ealing. The beavers had been extinct in the area for 400 years, hunted out of existence for their fur. Paradise Fields, as the park is called, is not a wilderness. It sits next to a golf course, adjacent to Greenford Tube station, in one of the world’s great cities.
Within weeks, the beavers got to work. They built seven dams in their first year. They dismantled an old dam that human volunteers had constructed and replaced it with a better one. They created a pond almost overnight. They turned a golf-course creek into a wetland.
The wetland, as it turns out, was exactly what Greenford needed. For decades, the neighborhood had flooded whenever it rained heavily. The Tube station’s ticket hall filled with water. Sandbags were a permanent fixture. The local council had been preparing expensive engineering works to address the problem. Then the beavers arrived and solved it for free.
“Even in situations like on Monday, where there was really heavy rainfall, the area didn’t flood,” said Şeniz Mustafa, England’s first urban beaver officer, who has been documenting the project. “I just can’t believe how much they’ve done in a short period of time, they basically said ‘step aside, humans.’”
The beavers did not stop there. Four new species have moved into the area since their arrival. Sticklebacks now swim alongside dragonflies and damselflies. There are freshwater shrimp, toads, and tadpoles. Fish have returned to the brook for the first time in years. There are now at least eight beavers in the colony. The matriarch, a 30-kilogram female named Willow and the heaviest beaver ever translocated in the UK, has had kits in 2024 and 2025. Staff suspect she has had more this year. Two of them were named Chompy and Chewy. Mustafa runs beaver safaris through the wetland multiple times a week. They are consistently sold out.
Sources: CBC News (Canada — Willow confirmed, 30kg weight confirmed, kits 2024/2025 confirmed, Mustafa “step aside humans” quote confirmed, June 18); Positive News (UK — flooding fixed confirmed, four new species confirmed, stickleback/dragonfly confirmed, Mustafa “hadn’t flooded” quote confirmed, sold-out safaris confirmed, June 26); UPI (US — eight beavers confirmed, seven dams in first year confirmed, safari cost confirmed, June 18)
BEFORE THE STORM
Type 1 diabetes begins before it announces itself. In the months or years before someone knows they have it, their immune system is already quietly attacking the cells in their pancreas that produce insulin. By the time the diagnosis comes, a significant portion of those cells may be gone. The treatment then is lifelong: insulin injections, daily monitoring, careful management of everything you eat and every activity you do. For children, this means growing up managing a condition that never pauses for childhood.
A drug called teplizumab can slow that down. It is an immunotherapy — it calms the immune system’s attack on the pancreas before symptoms appear. In clinical trials, it delayed the onset of symptomatic type 1 diabetes by an average of nearly three years. Three years of normal childhood before the full demands of the condition begin.
On June 23, England became the first country in Europe to approve teplizumab for NHS use. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence formally recommended it for children aged eight and over and adults who have been identified through screening as having stage 2, pre-symptomatic type 1 diabetes. About 1,100 people are expected to be eligible in the first year.
Sam is 15. Imogen is 12. Both were part of the ELSA early detection study at Birmingham Children’s Hospital that helped bring teplizumab to approval. Both received the drug before it was formally approved. Imogen’s mother Amy said, “For us, teplizumab has been incredible, and we’re so pleased that more children like Imogen will now get the chance to enjoy a normal childhood before facing the realities of type 1 diabetes.”
That is what three years is. A normal childhood. Before the storm.
Sources: NICE primary guidance (UK government primary — NICE approval June 23 confirmed, nearly three years delay confirmed, children 8+ confirmed, Helen Knight quote confirmed); Pulse Today (UK — 1,100 eligible first year confirmed, first in Europe confirmed, 90-day NHS rollout confirmed, June 25); Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Trust (UK — Sam and Imogen named and confirmed, Amy quote confirmed, ELSA study confirmed, Dr Dias confirmed, June 23)
THE MANGROVES
Mangrove forests have been disappearing for decades. These dense coastal ecosystems — part forest, part sea, all mud — protect coastlines from storms, filter water, store carbon at rates that dwarf most terrestrial forests, and serve as nurseries for vast quantities of marine life. They are also unglamorous and easy to drain for shrimp farms, seaside developments, and agricultural land. Between the 1980s and the early 2000s, they were vanishing at alarming speed.
A new study published in June confirms that the tide has turned. Gains in mangrove coverage have outpaced losses for the past 16 consecutive years. The net decline over 40 years amounts to just 1%. The existing forests are becoming denser and healthier. “After decades of loss, we’re finally seeing a global turning point for mangroves,” said Zhen Zhang of Tulane University, the study’s lead author. “This highlights their strong resilience and their potential as a powerful nature-based solution for climate mitigation and coastal protection.”
The recovery is global but uneven. Southeast Asia is leading — Indonesia and Myanmar have seen significant stabilization and growth due to stronger legal protections and restoration programmes. Gains have also been recorded in Australia, South Asia, East Asia, and along the US Gulf Coast, where Louisiana’s mangroves have expanded noticeably since 2012. West and Central Africa are moving in the other direction. Nigeria’s Niger Delta, where crude oil production has devastated the ecosystem since the 2000s, remains a hotspot for mangrove decline. The study’s authors are clear: the global trend is encouraging, but it does not mean mangroves are healthy everywhere. In many local regions, deforestation continues.
Mangrove forests protect the coastlines where hundreds of millions of people live. They absorbed centuries of loss. They are coming back — in most of the places that need them most.
Sources: Positive News (UK — Zhen Zhang quote confirmed, 1% net decline confirmed, 16 years of gains confirmed, denser forests confirmed, June 12 2026)
HALF THE PLANET
For most of human history, the high seas — the international waters beyond any nation’s jurisdiction, covering nearly half the Earth’s surface — had no legal protection whatsoever. Ships could dump waste. Companies could mine the seabed. Species could be harvested to the point of collapse. There was no law that said otherwise, because the high seas belonged to no one and therefore to everyone, which in practice meant to whoever got there first with the biggest boat.
The High Seas Treaty changed that. Negotiated over nearly two decades, the treaty establishes the first legal framework dedicated to protecting biodiversity in international waters and ensuring that the benefits of ocean resources are shared fairly. It requires environmental impact assessments before activities can proceed in high seas areas. It creates a mechanism to establish marine protected areas in international waters. It entered into force on January 17, 2026.
It is not a framework. It is law. Sixty countries ratified it by September 2025, triggering its entry into force. As of January 2026, 81 parties have ratified and 145 countries have signed. The United States has signed but not ratified. China has not signed. It is not universal law. But 81 parties — including the European Union and most of the world’s significant ocean nations — is enough to make it real. Secretary-General António Guterres called it “a historic achievement for the ocean and for multilateralism.”
Half the planet’s surface now has a legal framework for its protection. It took two decades. It happened.
Sources: Euronews (Europe — High Seas Treaty in force confirmed, nearly half planet’s surface confirmed, first legal framework confirmed, biodiversity protection confirmed, 2026 entry into force confirmed)
That’s Sunday. Go find some joy out there.
“Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government.” — Thomas Jefferson, 1789
