Any Good News in 2018?

Bad news is usually much easier to find than good, if only because good news usually unfolds at a slow pace. Plane crashes, volcanic eruptions, violent protests, and divisive legislative votes have both the brevity and drama best suited to a commercial news publication or broadcast. Yet good news is always there if we know how to look for it. FutureCrunch (h/t my sister Corinna) compiled a list of the 99 best pieces of good news reported during the past year, from which I offer the following sampling:  

Eritrean-Ethiopian Peace Run, Oct. 2018 (Madote.com)

In 2018, the West African nation of Niger reported it has planted 200 million trees since the late 1980s. India constructed 30-40,000 kilometers of roadway made with waste plastic. World wind and solar power production reached 1.0 terawatts, enough to power 300 million homes at U.S. consumption levels. A new cholera vaccine went into use. South Africa reported a 44 percent decline in new HIV cases in the last six years, and Paraguay officially eradicated malaria within its borders. Ethiopia and Eritrea signed a peace treaty. Canada legalized marijuana, Ireland legalized abortion, and Pakistan legally guaranteed transgender rights. Russia revealed a decline in drinking, though I’ll bet Russians can still drink any other nationality under the table. And NASA announced it will send a helicopter to Mars in 2020, because why not?