Good News Friday: Chris Pine is Fine, Desirous Papyrus, Rescue Roach and Forum Fun

Starting off in entertainment news, a representative for actor Chris Pine has shut down the Hollywood gossip machine over a video that went viral Monday seemingly showing Pine’s ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ costar Harry Styles ‘spitting’ on the seat next to him at the Venice Film festival.

“This is a ridiculous story…a complete fabrication and the result of an odd online illusion that is clearly deceiving and allows for foolish speculation,” Pine’s rep said Tuesday. “Just to be clear: Harry Styles did NOT spit on Chris Pine,” she added.

Styles himself joked about the mixup at a musical tour at Madison Square Garden a day later. “It is wonderful, wonderful, wonderful to be back in New York. I just popped very quickly to Venice to spit on Chris Pine,” he quipped to cheering fans.

Any historians, linguists or ancient anthropologists out there? This story’s for you. On Wednesday, Israel’s Antiquities Authorities showed off a “unique and extremely rare” ancient papyrus note written more than 2,700 years ago and urging its readers “to Ishmael send.”

Who is Ishmael? What did someone want to send him? We’ll never know.

Cyberpunk fans rejoice! Scientists in Japan have created a cyborg cockroach by fitting it with a crude miniaturized backpack stuffed with microcircuits and attaching leg-control electrodes to the insect’s body.

The purpose of the Frankenroach? Developers say the cyborgs could come in handy for environmental monitoring, as well as coordinating search and coordinating search and rescue missions during natural disasters.

The idea of cyborg insects and animals isn’t new. In the 1960s, the CIA experimented with remote control dog technology. It’s actually quite a gruesome story and – wait a minute, this is supposed to be Good News Friday. Forget we mentioned it.

Tennis fans got a chance to bid US tennis legend Serena Williams a bittersweet farewell last Friday after Williams lost her US Open match against Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic after announcing that she would retire from the sport following the tournament.

Sporting legends Tiger Woods, LeBron James, Magic Johnson, talk show tycoon Oprah Winfrey and former first lady Michelle Obama congratulated Williams on her long and storied career, while ordinary Americans told her she has inspired them to pursue their dreams.

The four-day Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia wrapped up on Thursday, with officials, businessmen and bankers announcing agreements worth trillion of rubles, and talking shop on issues ranging from geopolitics to global trade. But organizers didn’t forget to add a pinch of fun, with sweet and touching musical interludes, sports competitions, chess championships, and innovative exhibitions giving attendees a whole array of fond memories to look back on.

This year the forum coincided with the Second Tiger Forum – an event dedicated to the global preservation of the majestic striped predator. Popping in on the forum in a virtual address, President Vladimir Putin told attendees that thanks to efforts by Russia and other countries, the catastrophic decline in world tiger populations that took place during the 20th century has been reversed, with the total number of tigers rising by 40 percent globally since 2010. Now that is good news!