Euro News

Bordeaux, France just surpassed Paris in a new ranking of the world's most beautiful cities, with Europe dominating nine out of the top 10 spots. The rankings are based on buildings that adhere to the 'golden ratio' for balanced and harmonious structures. Venice takes the lead as the most beautiful city, followed by Rome and Barcelona in second and third place respectively. Despite iconic landmarks, Paris lands at 12th place. In fifth place is the only non-European city to make the top 10: New York City.

9 Out of 10 of the World’s Most Beautiful Cities Are in Europe, Says New Ranking

CTV News

Canadian biathlete Adam Runnalls is racing the clock in more ways than one at the Winter Olympics — on the snow and on his needles.

The 27-year-old from Calgary has gone viral for his goal of knitting a sweater before the closing ceremonies in Milan. Since posting about his project on Instagram just days before the Games began, his follower count has surged from 1,600 to over 10,000, mostly from the global knitting community.

“I will go to bed and wake up the next day and have a thousand more followers than I did when I went to bed,” Runnalls said Friday. “It’s going to be a grey sweater with green stripes.”

His account has become a meeting place for craft lovers and Olympic fans alike. Commenters have offered knitting tips, encouragement, and the occasional scolding — like one follower, Florida Cat Mom, who told him to use a yarn bowl after spotting his yarn rolling around.

“There’s not that much of a crossover between the huge knitting community on Instagram and the sport community,” Runnalls said. “I’ve kind of just hit that thing.”

A two-time Olympian, Runnalls will race in up to six events in Milan, starting with the mixed relay on Sunday at the Antholz-Anterselva Biathlon Arena. Between training and competing, knitting has become his way to decompress.

“It’s also something that pulls you away from the pressures of competing at the Olympics,” he said. “It’s nice to be able to do something quietly, like listen to music… not necessarily getting bored, but also giving myself that time to relax and recharge.”

Runnalls helped Canada to a sixth-place finish in the men’s biathlon relay in Beijing — the country’s best-ever Olympic result in that event. But he only picked up knitting last November at a team training camp after coach Helene Jorgensen proposed starting a knitting club.

“I was like, ‘Ah, I don’t need to learn how to knit. I have my guitar,’” he said. But when he found out the coach had bought yarn and needles for the team, he figured he’d better give it a try. His first project, during a couple of sick days at the camp, was a sauna hat.

“I was almost addicted to it,” he said. “You start seeing progress, and you’re like ‘oh, this is cool.’”

His wife, Lucy, is also a knitter and helped him learn the basics. The couple married last September at the Canmore Nordic Centre in Alberta, where Runnalls trains.

Even British Olympic diving champion Tom Daley, known for knitting poolside during the Tokyo Games and now the host of Game of Wool: Britain’s Best Knitter, reached out. He suggested they meet up to knit in Milan, though Runnalls said it’s unlikely — they’re about five and a half hours apart by car.

Still, the online attention has been a boost in a sport that often flies under the radar in North America.

“It’s hard to get traction as just an athlete because everyone’s an athlete who is here at the Games,” Runnalls said. “What makes you different than other people?”

As for his Olympic sweater deadline?

“The only thing that will stop me is probably trying to make content around it,” he joked. “That would be the one thing that slows me down, or I run out of yarn.”

This Canadian Biathlete is Sparking a Knitting Craze at the Olympics

People

Lady Gaga is lending her voice to one of America’s most iconic songs — and its message couldn’t come at a more fitting time.

The Grammy-winning artist, 39, recently recorded a soulful new version of Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, the theme song from Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, for a commercial by Rocket and Redfin. The 60-second spot will air during Super Bowl LX on February 8.

In an email interview with PEOPLE, Gaga said the project felt “genuinely an honor,” especially given Fred Rogers’ enduring values. “He stood for kindness and acceptance at a time when not everyone did, and his message is timeless and more urgent now than ever,” she said.

The commercial, produced in collaboration with Fred Rogers Productions, marks a rare crossover of nostalgia and activism, with Gaga’s rendition setting a reflective, emotional tone.

“I wanted to sing it with sincerity and optimism,” she said. “I wanted the arrangement as well as my delivery to be hopeful but also have some of the tension of the times.”

Gaga recorded the track at Shangri-La Studios in Los Angeles with producers Alex Smith and Benjamin Rice. She said the team kept circling back to the simplicity of the song’s central question: Will you be my neighbor?

“That’s a question I think we all need to sit with right now,” she added.

Born Stefani Germanotta and raised in a New York City neighborhood “full of every kind of person you could imagine,” Gaga credits her upbringing — and her parents, Cynthia and Joseph — for shaping her understanding of what it means to belong.

“Belonging doesn't mean everyone looks like you or lives like you,” she said. “It means people show up for each other.”

The commercial also ties into a larger campaign. Immediately after it airs, viewers can participate in The Great American Home Search through the Redfin app, with a chance to win a home valued at over $1 million.

For Gaga, the campaign is about more than just real estate. It’s about reviving a sense of human connection that she feels is slipping.

“There’s a lot of pain in the country right now,” she said. “There are communities who are being targeted, families who feel invisible, young people who feel hopeless. People are hurting.”

In that context, she sees kindness not as sentiment, but as resistance. “Kindness isn’t soft, it’s brave,” she said, echoing the ethos of her Born This Way Foundation. “It takes courage to look at someone who's different from you and say, I see you, and you matter.”

Her message is simple: show up. “Kindness is a free currency from a well that will never dry up,” Gaga said. “And I truly believe one of the most radical things any of us can do right now is choose it — every single day. As much as we can.”

The Mister Rogers cover — and the commercial that carries it — is a reminder of how powerful that choice can be.

Lady Gaga Reimagines Mister Rogers' Classic for Super Bowl LX, Urging a Return to Kindness

Talker News

A camera that spent more than half a century submerged in Loch Ness has been brought back to life by the team from BBC’s The Repair Shop.

The clockwork device, one of the earliest ever used in a scientific attempt to photograph the elusive Loch Ness Monster, was originally deployed in 1970 by Professor Roy Mackal of the Loch Ness Investigation Bureau. Submerged 130 metres below the surface, it remained lost for 56 years—until it was unexpectedly discovered last year by a robotic submersible named Boaty McBoatface.

Though the film inside the camera was successfully developed after its recovery—revealing no sign of Nessie—the mechanism itself was no longer functional. That changed when the historic camera was taken to experts from The Repair Shop, who painstakingly restored it to full working order.

“It transforms the camera from a static relic into a living piece of investigative history,” said Adrian Shine, Loch Ness researcher and founder of the Loch Ness Project. Shine helped trace the camera’s origins to Professor Mackal’s expedition. “Professor Roy Mackal’s work in the early 1970s represented one of the first serious attempts to apply systematic science and engineering to the mystery of the loch.”

The camera was part of a network of six traps, each fitted with a flash cube and bait line designed to trigger a photo if disturbed. Three were lost in a gale later that same year, making this surviving example exceptionally rare.

The device is now on display at the Loch Ness Centre in Drumnadrochit, not far from where it was originally deployed. It joins a growing collection of artefacts documenting the decades-long hunt for the mythical creature.

“This camera is one of many remarkable links to one of the most ambitious and imaginative chapters in the search for the monster that we have in the centre,” said Nagina Ishaq, General Manager of the Loch Ness Centre. “To see it not only recovered from the depths of Loch Ness, but now carefully restored by the experts at The Repair Shop, is truly special.”

For fans of Nessie and old-school engineering alike, the restored camera offers a rare glimpse into the blend of science, folklore and curiosity that continues to shape the story of the world’s most famous loch.

Historic Loch Ness Monster Camera Restored After 50 Years Underwater

GoodGoodGood

In the small town of Jewett, Texas — a place once defined by coal — a former mine is now growing something very different: vegetables.

The NRG Dewey Prairie Garden, just east of Waco, sits on land that once fueled a massive 1,688-megawatt coal-fired power plant. Today, it’s producing thousands of kilograms of fresh produce every year for local families facing food insecurity.

Since it began harvesting in April 2022, the garden has delivered around 10,000 pounds (4,500 kilograms) of fruits and vegetables to six food pantries, serving roughly 3,000 people annually. It’s managed by the nonprofit Texan by Nature and is part of a wider effort to reclaim and restore 35,000 acres of former mining land. That land still stretches into Jewett — a town officially classified as a food desert by both the USDA and Feeding America.

For many locals, the nearest grocery store is more than 10 miles (16 kilometres) away. On top of that, food insecurity in the area is more than 50 percent higher than the national average.

“You wouldn’t think that this could happen,” said Debbie Glaze, a lead gardener on the project. “I think it’s amazing that the ground is actually growing all these vegetables after all that mine digging.”

The Dewey Prairie Garden was never meant to be symbolic, but it’s quickly become exactly that — a powerful example of how land once used for extraction can be repurposed for nourishment and care. Plans are already in place to expand the garden by another nine acres, which would boost its reach and impact even further.

For people like Kathleen Buchanan of The Lord’s Pantry of Leon County, the garden’s impact is immediate and real. “Most of our clients are unable to regularly buy fresh fruits and vegetables, due to the cost,” she said. “The garden will be a true blessing for all of us.”

Jewett sits at the intersection of three counties — Leon, Limestone, and Freestone — each of which ranks among the least healthy in Texas. That’s partly due to high rates of obesity and diabetes, driven in large part by limited access to nutritious food.

“Being able to offer fresh fruits and vegetables on a regular basis will help our clients make choices for better health,” said Kristy Vandegriff of the Leon Community Food Pantry and Clothes Closet. “This project … will be one that impacts not just our clients but families across a three-county area.”

From mined-out earth to rows of squash and tomatoes, the garden is reshaping not just the land, but the future of a rural community long overlooked. And while it might not solve every problem, it’s giving thousands of people a better shot at something simple, and essential: a healthy meal.

From Coal to Carrots: Texas Garden Grows Fresh Hope on Reclaimed Mine

BBC News

A UK grandfather who hadn’t cut his hair in more than a decade sat down at a local pub and had it all chopped off — for a cause close to his heart.

Rick Whitmore, 59, had been growing his silver mane for years, long enough that when he sat down, he was sitting on it. “I haven’t got a clue [how long it was],” he said. “All I know is, when I sat down I was sitting on it so it was probably over three feet long.”

On Thursday, surrounded by friends and curious onlookers, he finally parted with it — donating the hair to Little Lady Locks, a UK charity that provides real-hair wigs to children experiencing hair loss.

But for Whitmore, this wasn’t just about a haircut. He’s also using the moment to raise money for Prospect Hospice, in memory of his younger brother, Patrick, who died of cancer 18 months ago.

“I’d already decided beforehand that I was going to donate [my hair] at some point,” Whitmore said. “And then — unfortunately the cancer took [my brother] very rapidly and it’s been on my mind ever since.”

He originally started growing his hair back in the 1990s when he was playing in a rock band and kept it long ever since. “I liked it, but there are other people out there that need it for a better cause,” he said.

Even with the emotional weight behind the decision, he managed to have fun with it. The “big chop” took place in a pub, with drinks flowing and people cheering — some who knew him, others who didn’t. “My son thinks it’s a good idea,” he added, “but my grandsons — they’re too young to take much of it in — but they’ll be surprised when they see me with short hair.”

Ashley Marie Higgins, founder of Little Lady Locks, said the charity was “very touched” by Whitmore’s donation. “Someone growing their hair that long is very rare. Especially it coming from a gentleman,” she said. “We’re so grateful that he’s chosen our charity.”

The wigs made by Little Lady Locks are given at no cost to girls and young women who lose their hair due to medical conditions such as alopecia or cancer treatment. The charity has become a lifeline for families who otherwise struggle to find suitable, child-sized wigs.

Whitmore’s fundraising for Prospect Hospice is ongoing, with donations continuing to come in following the event. For him, it's not about the fanfare — it's about doing something meaningful. “It’s been a long time coming,” he said. “But I’m glad I finally did it.”

Grandfather Donates Decade Of Hair To Wig Charity

ABC News

Noah Winter has been to more Super Bowls than any player in history — including Tom Brady — but not a single fan has ever seen him take a snap.

For the last 30 years, Winter has been responsible for one of the most joyful, camera-ready moments in all of sports: the celebratory blizzard of confetti that rains down on the winning team as they hoist the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

“It’s become an iconic moment,” said Winter, from his confetti-filled office and factory in Northridge, California.

Through his company, Artistry in Motion, Winter supplies and operates the confetti drop for the NFL’s championship game — a tradition he started in 1997, when the Green Bay Packers beat the Patriots in New Orleans. Before that, he worked as a pyrotechnician for the Super Bowl. Add it up, and this year marks his 30th straight appearance.

For context, Brady only played in 10.

Artistry in Motion now creates confetti not just for the NFL, but also for concerts, movie premieres, the Olympics and political conventions. Still, the Super Bowl remains Winter’s best-known gig — and the one people always ask about at dinner parties.

So what goes into making the Super Bowl’s happiest mess?

It starts with 300 pounds (135 kilograms) of confetti per team, all cut from 98% postconsumer recycled U.S. tissue paper. The paper, produced by Massachusetts-based Seaman Paper, is biodegradable and comes in the colors of the four NFL conference finalists.

The final blend isn’t 50-50 — some colors show up more vividly on camera — so Winter and his team spend time adjusting the mix before game day.

With four minutes left in the fourth quarter, crew members wheel confetti cannons into position around the edge of the field. But the launch only happens when the game clock hits triple zero.

“Sometimes players go out and shake hands,” Winter said. “We don’t launch until triple zero on the clock. Over the 30 years, we never have launched the wrong color or launched too early.”

There are actually two confetti drops. The first comes at the end of the game, using rectangular pieces that flutter and spin through the air — a shape Winter has found to be the most photogenic. The second drop comes minutes later, during the trophy presentation, and features confetti cut in the shape of the Vince Lombardi Trophy itself.

Photographer Jane Gershovich, who covered the Seattle Seahawks’ Super Bowl win in 2014, says the confetti makes the moment.

“Just seeing the players and their kids engage with it at such a wholesome level, it brings a lot of joy to everyone on the field,” she said. Players have been known to toss the pieces in the air and make “confetti angels” on the turf.

At one point, Twitter even commissioned custom confetti printed with social media messages. The answer to one of the most common questions Winter gets — is it cut by hand? — is no. But he likes to joke that his hands get tired anyway.

While Artistry in Motion handles the creation and launch, it’s up to each stadium to clean it all up. Some use rakes. Others deploy leaf blowers — taking care not to damage the artificial turf.

For Winter, it all began in lighting design and pyrotechnics. He was working for Disney in the mid-1980s when he and his team were asked to simulate the swirling of falling leaves for a live Pocahontas show. That led to daily confetti shows at Disneyland, and in 1986, to a fateful visit from Mick Jagger.

Jagger saw the effect, asked Winter to bring it to a Rolling Stones concert at Dodger Stadium, and soon took Artistry in Motion on tour. U2’s Bono followed. Then came stadium concerts, and eventually, the biggest stage in American sports.

Even as viewership of the Super Bowl hits record highs — an estimated 127.7 million people tuned in last year — Winter says he has no plans to stop. He doesn’t name a favorite team, but admits he has two brothers who are diehard New York Jets fans.

“If the Jets ever make it back,” he promised, “they’ll get to come with me and fire a confetti cannon.”

That last happened in 1969. For Winter, and for the Jets, hope floats.

Meet the Confetti King Who Never Misses a Super Bowl

A pony named Geisha has been rescued after falling into a septic tank in Thaxted, Essex, thanks to a joint effort between Essex County Fire and Rescue and a specialist animal rescue unit from Hertfordshire.

The 18-year-old pony became trapped in the hole and was unable to free herself. Fire crews used animal rescue equipment and a telehandler, operated by a local farmer, to carefully lift her out.

Geisha was safely reunited with her foal following the ordeal.

“We’re pleased that we were able to assist this pony in distress and reunite her with the foal,” said Assistant Chief Fire Officer Darren Cook of Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service. “Our crews are highly trained and equipped to deal with a wide range of animal rescues, and we work closely with owners and vets to ensure the safest possible outcome.”

Fire Crews Rescue Trapped Pony From Septic Tank

As the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics prepare to showcase 16 different sports — from snowboarding and speed skating to skiing and curling — it's worth remembering that not every sport has enjoyed such staying power. Some, like dog sledding and ski ballet, had their Olympic moments and then quietly faded from view.

Many of these now-forgotten events started as demonstration sports. Olympic historian Bill Mallon explains that the tradition dates back to the very first Winter Games in 1924 and became especially common after World War II. “There were sort of two demonstration sports at most Olympics: one of which was usually a sport that was sort of specific to the host country that wasn't on the program yet, and the other one was a sport that the [International Olympic Committee] were sort of trialing,” he told Rachel Goes to the Games.

The idea was to test out new sports, spotlight local traditions, and sometimes gauge international interest. Some, like curling and women’s speed skating, made the leap to official Olympic status. Others never returned after their debut. 

Here’s a look at a few that once had their Olympic day in the snow:

Skijoring
Think of it as ski racing meets rodeo. Skijoring (from the Norwegian for “ski driving”) features a skier being pulled across snow by a horse, dog team, or even a snowmobile. The version showcased at the 1928 Games in St. Moritz involved horses pulling skiers across a frozen lake. Sweden swept the medals. While it hasn’t returned to the Olympics, skijoring remains popular in parts of the U.S. and Scandinavia — especially in states like Wyoming and Colorado.

Dog Sledding
Dog sled racing made its Olympic appearance at the 1932 Lake Placid Games. Thirteen mushers from the U.S. and Canada raced over a 25-mile course across two days, with tired dogs occasionally riding in the sleds instead of pulling them. The sport was meant to celebrate its North American roots and drew big crowds, but never came back. Today, dog sledding thrives in events like Alaska’s Iditarod and the Yukon Quest.

Bandy
An early cousin of ice hockey, bandy involves skating on a large rink while using curved sticks to move a small ball into the opposing goal. Though it appeared as a demonstration sport at the 1952 Oslo Games, bandy has deep roots — modern versions go back to 19th-century England, and cave paintings suggest ancient origins. After Oslo, the Soviet Union and several Nordic countries formalized the sport with its own federation. It’s still popular in Scandinavia and has a small following in Minnesota.

Ski Ballet
Also known as “acroski,” this sport was like figure skating on skis — athletes performed choreographed routines to music, with judges scoring them on spins, flips, and style. Emerging from the freestyle skiing movement of the 1960s and ’70s, ski ballet was a demonstration sport in 1988 and 1992. Despite never making it onto the official roster, its DNA lives on in modern events like slopestyle and big air.

Demonstration sports were officially phased out after the 1992 Winter Games — the last time the Summer and Winter Olympics were held in the same year. Since then, new Olympic events have had to meet stricter requirements around gender equity, anti-doping compliance, and global appeal.

That shift has led to the inclusion of sports like snowboarding, freestyle skiing, and most recently, breakdancing. But Mallon says there’s still room for the past to re-emerge. He’d personally like to see the return of skijoring and sled dog racing, both of which reflect unique winter cultures and traditions.

Today’s Winter Games still feature just half the number of events seen at the Summer Olympics. But if history is any guide, what’s on the roster in 2026 might not be there in 2030 — and vice versa.

Dog Sledding, Ski Ballet, and Skijoring: The Winter Olympic Sports That Didn’t Stick Around

The Cool Down

Boston is moving ahead with an ambitious plan to draw heat from the Charles River to warm buildings across the city—part of a broader effort to ditch fossil fuels and lower carbon emissions using existing infrastructure.

The project is led by Vicinity Energy, which operates one of the country’s oldest steam heating networks. The company is now overhauling that system to run on electricity, including heat pumps that will tap into the river to extract ambient warmth. The goal is to power millions of square feet of buildings with a renewable, low-emission heat source.

“That project was greenlit this summertime,” Vicinity CEO Kevin Hagerty told Canary Media. “We’re anticipating that being completed midway through 2028. We’ll turn the heat pump on and turn the Charles River into a renewable energy resource.”

Once complete, the system could serve as a model for other cities looking to decarbonize dense urban areas without ripping out entire heating systems. By using the Charles River as a heat reservoir, Vicinity aims to slash air pollution, reduce reliance on natural gas, and make use of infrastructure that’s been in place for over a century.

The transition involves replacing fossil-fuel-based equipment with large electric boilers and river-sourced heat pumps that provide thermal energy through the city’s existing steam distribution pipes. Heat pumps work by pulling low-level heat from a source like water or air and concentrating it to a higher temperature using electricity. In this case, the Charles River will provide a consistent and renewable heat source even in cold months.

Boston’s heating network is one of several district energy systems in North America—centralized grids that deliver heating or cooling from a single source to multiple buildings. Vicinity’s network in Boston currently serves hospitals, universities, government buildings, and office towers. Modernizing it to run on clean energy has long been seen as a critical part of Boston’s climate goals.

The shift could dramatically lower emissions for buildings served by the system, which would otherwise rely on gas or oil-based heating. Vicinity has said its broader plan is to fully decarbonize its operations by 2050, with major progress made well before then.

While drawing energy from a river might sound unconventional, the concept is grounded in existing science. Similar systems already operate in cities like Helsinki and Stockholm, where seawater or lake water is used to heat buildings. By combining that approach with electricity from renewable sources, Boston could be one of the first major U.S. cities to follow suit.

The Charles River plan is still a few years out, with a projected operational date in 2028. But it marks a major shift in how cities can reimagine old infrastructure to meet modern environmental challenges—without tearing up roads or disrupting entire neighborhoods.

For Boston, it could be a win on multiple fronts: cleaner air, lower carbon emissions, and a heating system powered not by gas pipelines, but by the river that flows through its heart.

Boston Unveils Plan To Transform Charles River Into Renewable Energy Source

Brody, the enormous rescue dog whose size drew comparisons to a “small polar bear,” has finally found his perfect match — and it’s as heartwarming as his viral fame.

The six-year-old Pyrenean Mountain Dog, also known as a Great Pyrenees, captured hearts across the U.K. after Animal Concern Cumbria shared his story in December. Weighing around 145 pounds and towering at six feet tall on his hind legs, Brody quickly became a viral sensation. His gentle personality and massive appetite — he eats nearly 2.2 pounds of food daily — sparked hundreds of adoption inquiries from around the country.

But it was Steve and Helen White, a couple from Cornwall, who ultimately won the chance to bring Brody home. With a half-acre garden, experience with the breed, and a house full of other animals — including chickens, a rabbit, and even a Canadian goose — they were the ideal fit.

“When Wilson died, we were looking to get another Pyrenean like him,” Helen told The Packet, referring to the couple’s previous dog, who passed away in October 2025 at the age of 13. They discovered Brody’s story through a friend at the Pyrenean Mountain Dog Club of Great Britain and applied, thinking they had “no chance.”

The Whites made the 440-mile round trip from St Austell to Egremont twice — first for a video home check and meet-and-greet, and then for the official adoption. After bonding with Brody on long walks through the Wasdale fells, they brought him home on January 3.

Since arriving in Cornwall, Brody has embraced his new life with enthusiasm. On day one, he leapt into the duck pond and emerged covered in weeds. Since then, he’s developed a fondness for beach runs, stream paddles, and garden adventures. He’s also fitting in well with the family’s other animals.

“He’s starting the year exactly where he belongs,” said Lauren Pickthall, rehoming manager at Animal Concern Cumbria.

Brody now even has his own Instagram account, where fans can follow his adventures as he adjusts to life in the countryside — proving that for this gentle giant, the best chapter is just beginning.

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