Alongside the hard headlines, this week brought stories of people showing up, patient work paying off and a tiny orphan getting a second chance. Here are four stories from the past seven days, explained simply.
1. Serbia Holds a Historic Election, and the Result Is Accepted
On Sunday, October 25, voters in Serbia went to the polls for a snap parliamentary election. Turnout was the highest the country has seen in more than 30 years, close to 69 percent, according to preliminary figures reported by Al Jazeera.
A new movement called the Student List won the most votes, about 52.5 percent, according to the election commission’s early count. The United Serbia list, led by Aleksandar Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party, received about 39 percent. Projections give the Student List around 140 of the 250 seats in parliament, more than the 126 needed for a majority.
The Student List grew out of nearly two years of student-led protests that followed the deadly collapse of a railway station canopy in the city of Novi Sad in November 2024, which killed 16 people. Vucic, who has led Serbian politics since 2014, stepped down as president in September to run for prime minister. On election night he conceded, saying it was clear his side had lost.
Election watchdog groups reported concerns about pressure on voters at some polling stations. Final results are still being counted. Under Serbian law, the new parliament must meet within 30 days of final results, and a government must be formed within 90 days after that. A presidential election must also be held by December 27.
2. An Orphaned Baby Walrus Finds a New Family
On a remote beach near Point Lay in northern Alaska, a walrus herd fled during heavy surf and left a calf behind. He was found alone, about five months old.
A U.S. Geological Survey walrus biologist, Tony Fischbach, and a local college student, Violet Anniskett, helped rescue him. Anniskett named the calf Annautaq, after her father’s Inupiaq name, which means “axe.”
After care at the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward, wildlife officials decided he could not survive in the wild. This month he was flown thousands of miles to SeaWorld Orlando in Florida. There he gets up to six bottle feedings a day and round-the-clock care during a 30-day quarantine. After that, he will slowly meet his new herd, which includes another rescued young walrus named Uki.
It is a sweet reminder that no one is too small to be noticed, and that rescue often takes a whole chain of caring people.
3. NASA Says Goodbye to Swift After Nearly 22 Years
On October 23, NASA announced that its Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory has ended its science mission. Swift launched in November 2004 and was built to last about two years. It kept working for more than ten times that long.
Over its life, Swift observed more than 2,000 gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful explosions in the universe, and studied more than 1,400 supernovas, or exploding stars. It made its final observation on October 20.
Swift’s orbit has been slowly sinking because of drag from Earth’s atmosphere. A private rescue spacecraft launched in July to boost it higher, but it ran into technical problems and could not complete the job, Space.com reported. NASA expects Swift to reenter the atmosphere within a few weeks.
4. One Extra Year of School, a Brighter Mind Later in Life?
A new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences looked at a 1972 change in the United Kingdom that raised the minimum school-leaving age from 15 to 16. Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Southern California studied health records from more than 100,000 people.
According to the National Institutes of Health, which funded the work, the extra year of school was linked to a small drop in later Alzheimer’s and related dementia diagnoses. The effect was strongest among people with genes that raise their risk. The researchers caution that the people studied were no older than 65, so results could change as they age.
Learning, it seems, keeps giving across a lifetime. As always, talk with your doctor about your own brain health.
A Thought to Carry With You
Whether it is a nation choosing a new path, a lost calf finding a home or a faithful little satellite finishing its work, each of these stories reminds us that every day holds fresh chances. Scripture puts it beautifully:
“It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”
(Lamentations 3:22-23, KJV)
Through every storm, we rise together.
Which of this week’s stories gave you the most hope? Share in the comments below.
Sources: Al Jazeera, “Serbia’s Vucic concedes election defeat to student-led movement” (October 25, 2026); Al Jazeera, “Serbia after Vucic: Who will be PM and when will a government be formed?” (October 26, 2026); Euronews, “Student List wins Serbian election in political earthquake as Vucic concedes defeat” (October 25, 2026); Alaska’s News Source, “Baby walrus rescued in Alaska finds a new home with growing herd in Florida” (October 23, 2026); FOX 35 Orlando, “Orphaned baby walrus in Alaska flown 4,800 miles to new home in Florida” (October 22, 2026); Good News Network, “Rescuers Ensure Orphaned Baby Walrus Gets a Second Chance” (October 23, 2026); NASA Science, “NASA’s Swift Mission Ends” (October 23, 2026); Space.com, “NASA ends Swift space telescope mission after failed rescue attempt” (October 26, 2026); National Institutes of Health, “An extra year of secondary school lowered dementia diagnoses later in life” (October 23, 2026); Everything Science, “10 Positive Science Stories Worth Knowing From The Last Week” (October 25, 2026).
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