Welcome to The National's weekly newsletter Beshara, where we share the most positive stories of the week.

Speaking to a “massive turnout” of some of the world’s most powerful leaders, Dennis Francis said how “encouraged” he was by the progress at this year’s United Nations General Assembly.

As president of the 78th session, the Trinidad and Tobago diplomat started the event with a rallying call for “conviction of common purpose and in solidarity of joint action”.

Closing it this week, he noted the “particularly remarkable win” on sustainable development goals and outlined what more must be done, including the need to increase women’s representation (the UAE’s Minister of State for International Co-operation, Reem Al Hashimy, was one of only 21 female leaders to speak compared with 174 male).

So, as Mr Francis stated, “declarations in and of themselves are not enough. We need to maintain this momentum and build on it with concrete, tangible actions”.

With this in mind, today’s Beshara highlights calls to action and nudges in the right direction - for the planet, for women or for the good of fellow humans. After all, it takes just one small movement to spark momentum.

But first, it was an action-packed week for Nasa which saw the long-awaited return of two record-setters, one a literal rock and the other we would certainly describe as so.

Best wishes always,

Record-setters land on Earth

Frank Rubio has finally returned to Earth.

In an unexpected turn of events, he ended up doubling his stay on the ISS - breaking the record for the longest a US astronaut has been in space.

Praising Rubio's “dedicated service” and “pioneer spirit”, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, said the 371 days in microgravity was “not just a milestone,” but “a major contribution to our understanding of long-duration space missions”.

The same goes for the literal space rock that landed on Earth this week too. After a seven-year mission, the Osiris-Rex spacecraft flew close enough to drop a capsule carrying soil from the asteroid Bennu.

It is the first American asteroid sample return in history and could help scientists learn more about the formation of the Solar System.

QUOTED

‘I’m on this mission to diversify the face of AI. So it’s a call to action to get involved. We are living in super exciting times - artificial intelligence has the potential to elevate humanity’

– Rana El Kaliouby, award-winning research scientist, author and entrepreneur who has made it her life's work to add emotional intelligence to AI

State honour for ‘selfless’ donors

Tamil Nadu has been pioneering organ donation in India, a country where the donation rate ranks among the lowest in the world.

The state has carried out more than 13,000 organ and tissue transplants, according to official data.

It was the first to set up an authority for organ transplants, has more than a dozen specialist units and in 2021 launched an app to ease registration.

Now, as recognition for “selfless sacrifice” and to encourage more people to register, Chief Minister MK Stalin has announced state funerals for donors “to honour the sacrifice of those who donated their organs and saved many lives”. Read more here.

SNAPSHOT

See more of this week's most captivating pictures

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