In today’s edition of Squirrel News, we’re talking about Iceland’s successful trial of a four-day working week without reducing employee wages, the world’s first elephant rewilding project, and San Jose’s landmark legislation requiring gun owners to carry liability insurance.
A countrywide trial which reduced working hours but not wages was considered to be beneficial both to employee mental health and company productivity, with the change set to be permanent in many cases.
World’s first elephant rewilding project will move an entire herd from the UK to Kenya
Thirteen elephants who currently reside in Howletts Wild Animal Park in Kent will be transported to a conservation site over 7,000km away as part of a global reintroduction programme.
New barcode technology is helping visually-impaired people shop
Scanning the colourful barcodes will result in the user hearing an audio description of the product, and can be detected at a distance of up to three metres, as well as in low-light conditions or poor focus.
Argentina becomes the first country in the world to ban salmon farming
The new legislation comes as a result of increasing global concern surrounding the practice, with many countries looking to cultivate more sustainable methods of fishing.
A new law in Norway will require social influencers to declare modified photos
The move aims to highlight the widespread use of tools such as Photoshop on social media platforms that result in a damaging culture of unrealistic beauty standards.
UK hairdressers to learn how to style and cut Afro hair as standard practice
Many UK stylists have never been trained to safely care for textured hair. However, a recent review of the sector’s occupational standards will make this training mandatory in beauty schools.
Slum2School is helping children from low-income families receive an education
Founded by Otto Orondaam, the Nigeria-based non-profit organisation aims to enroll some of the region’s most vulnerable children in school – and keep them there.
A crowdsourced map tells you whether or not a street is safe to walk down
Originally developed for women in India, the My Safetipin app is now available across the globe, helping people stay safe by avoiding streets that are desolate or have poor lighting.
