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

BBC News

An elderly couple in Suffolk has tied the knot in a heartfelt ceremony driven by love, resilience, and memory.

Terry Smith, 86, who was diagnosed with dementia two years ago, married his long-time partner Jo Johnson, 91, on Friday at Lowestoft Registry Office. Surrounded by family, the couple fulfilled a promise they had held onto for years: to spend the rest of their lives together — officially.

The two had been together for 15 years, but after Mr Smith’s diagnosis, they decided not to wait any longer. “I've wanted to [get married] for a long time, but I've never said anything because he's been unwell,” Mrs Smith told BBC Radio Suffolk. “He's still ill, but he's happy and we're always walking around the house and singing.”

For Mrs Smith, the day carried extra meaning — it also happened to be her birthday. Her grandson Adam gave her away.

Their story began with a nudge from family. Mrs Smith had lost her husband and wasn’t sure she was ready to start something new. But her daughter, Vicky Sartain, thought otherwise. “She was so full of life and really upbeat, so she needed to share her love and she needed a companion,” Sartain said.

Mr Smith recalled their first meeting with a smile. “She didn’t want to know me when I first met her. I don’t know [why],” he said.

Despite that shaky start, the two became inseparable. And once the dementia diagnosis came, it only intensified Mr Smith’s desire to marry. “Every day for months [he said], ‘I want to marry your mum, I want to marry your mum,’” Sartain shared.

The ceremony was officiated by registrar David Hunter, who called it one of the most memorable he's ever conducted. “It was a special ceremony for a special couple,” he said. “I’ve been on a journey with this couple. I first met them well over a year ago when they came in to inquire about how they get married... they’ve become almost good friends to me.”

Now officially Mr and Mrs Smith, the couple is enjoying married life in Kessingland, filled with songs, smiles, and the memories they created — while they still can.

Seniors Marry After 15 Years Together, Defying Dementia Diagnosis

A young grey seal named Smores has been returned to the wild after weeks of rehabilitation at the Cornish Seal Sanctuary, in what rescuers described as a "heartwarming moment."

Smores was the first grey seal pup rescued this season by the team in Gweek, Cornwall. She was discovered in September, severely malnourished and just four to five weeks old.

After receiving emergency stabilization from medics, Smores was transferred to the sanctuary’s specialist clinic where she underwent intensive care, nutrition support, and treatment. Over the following weeks, she steadily recovered, eventually reaching a healthy release weight of 30 kilograms.

On Wednesday, staff took Smores to a quiet beach in Cornwall for her release. The sanctuary described the scene as emotional, with the pup confidently entering the surf and vanishing beneath the waves.

“Watching Smores head back into the water is exactly why we do what we do,” said Anne van Domburg, senior animal care specialist and research coordinator at the sanctuary. “She came to us vulnerable and exhausted, and seeing her now strong, healthy, and ready to thrive in the wild is incredibly rewarding for the entire team.”

The sanctuary is currently caring for 12 more rescued seal pups as part of its ongoing work to support injured and orphaned marine animals.

Cornwall Seal Rescued And Released Back Into Sea After Care

Science Daily

Scientists can now watch DNA damage and repair unfold in real time inside living cells, thanks to a new fluorescent sensor developed at Utrecht University. The breakthrough, published in Nature Communications, is already drawing attention from labs around the world — and for good reason.

DNA in our bodies takes a daily beating. Sunlight, chemicals, radiation, and even our own metabolism can cause damage to the genetic code. Usually, the cell’s repair machinery fixes these problems quickly. But when that repair fails, it can trigger cancer, accelerate aging, or contribute to other diseases. The problem for researchers has been watching this process happen live. Until now, most tools only offered still snapshots, taken at different time points by killing the cells.

This new sensor changes that.

Built by lead researcher Tuncay Baubec and his team, the tool uses a small fluorescent tag connected to a protein domain that naturally binds to a marker on damaged DNA. That domain doesn’t interfere with repair — it simply comes and goes as the damage appears and disappears. That means scientists can observe the full sequence of DNA damage and repair like a movie, inside a living, functioning cell.

“Our sensor is different,” Baubec said. “It’s built from parts taken from a natural protein that the cell already uses. It goes on and off the damage site by itself, so what we see is the genuine behavior of the cell.”

That behavior includes not just the initial damage, but the timing of repair — when it starts, how quickly proteins arrive, and when the process ends.

Richard Cardoso Da Silva, a biologist on the team, remembers the moment he realized the sensor worked. “I was testing some drugs and saw the sensor lighting up exactly where commercial antibodies did,” he said. “That was the moment I thought: this is going to work.”

Compared to older techniques, the upgrade is significant. Instead of stitching together fragments of data from separate samples, researchers can now gather continuous, high-resolution footage of real-time repair — without disrupting the cell.

The tool also works outside the Petri dish. The team tested it in C. elegans, a small roundworm often used in developmental and genetic studies. The sensor successfully picked up programmed DNA breaks that occur during the worm’s growth. That confirmed its usefulness not just in isolated cells but in entire organisms.

“It showed that the tool is not only for cells in the lab. It can be used as well in real living organisms,” Baubec said.

The sensor’s flexibility is part of what makes it so appealing. Because it’s modular, researchers can attach other components to it — for example, to map where damage happens across the genome or to identify which proteins gather around a broken strand of DNA. They can even move the damaged section of DNA inside the cell’s nucleus to study how location affects repair.

“Depending on your creativity and your question, you can use this tool in many ways,” Cardoso Da Silva said.

That includes drug development. Many cancer treatments intentionally damage DNA in tumor cells, and researchers need to measure how much damage different drugs cause. Currently, they rely on antibodies to do that — a process that’s often expensive, time-consuming, and less precise. This new sensor could make it easier, faster, and more affordable to track DNA damage in drug testing and safety studies.

It could also help scientists understand how DNA repair slows down with age or becomes more error-prone over time — both critical questions in aging and disease research.

The team at Utrecht has made the tool publicly available, with no restrictions. Interested labs can download the necessary information and start using it immediately.

“Everything is online,” Baubec said. “Scientists can use it immediately.”

Whether it’s used to build better drugs, study aging, or simply understand how cells protect their DNA, the sensor opens up a wide range of new possibilities.

Scientists Capture Stunning Real-Time Images Of DNA Damage And Repair

In what may be a record-breaking moment for British music lovers, 135 pianists gathered in a Mansfield piano shop on Saturday to play 111 pianos at the same time — all in the name of charity.

The performance took place at Sherwood Phoenix, a piano showroom in Nottinghamshire, and raised £2,252 to help St Mary Magdalene Church in Newark-on-Trent buy a grand piano as part of its ongoing refurbishment.

“There were four generations of one family, teachers with their students, and many more people from the local community that have this mutual connection — piano. It was mega successful,” said Helen Martyniuk, one of the organisers.

Originally from Ukraine and now living in Nottinghamshire, Martyniuk said the event grew far beyond expectations. The team initially planned for 101 pianos but increased it to 111 due to overwhelming interest. Preparing the instruments took days, with efforts focused on tuning and matching pitch across all the pianos.

“We rehearsed for about half an hour, took a break and then played again,” she said. The group performed two pieces — Prelude in C major by J.S. Bach and In the Hall of the Mountain King by Edvard Grieg — each lasting about 90 to 95 seconds.

This wasn’t just a show for concert pianists. Participants included chip shop owners, engineers, doctors, organists, piano returners, and even local MP James Naish. Martyniuk said they made arrangements suitable for every skill level, from beginners to advanced players. “We made arrangements for all possible levels... so literally everyone could take part.”

Rowan Cozens, deputy leader of Newark and Sherwood District Council, said the sound of over a hundred pianos playing in unison was “incredibly emotional.”

“We’ve been talking for a long time to get a beautiful piano in Newark, and we found one whilst work to refurbish St Mary’s church was ongoing,” she said. “We saw the amount of pianos inside Phoenix piano shop and came up with the idea to try and break the UK record.”

While the event wasn’t officially verified by a record-keeping body, organisers believe it’s the largest number of pianos ever played simultaneously in the UK.

Stephen Bullamore, director of music at St Mary Magdalene Church, called the performance “epic.” He admitted they were initially unsure how many pianists they could attract. “When we opened up bookings, we thought we would struggle to get 101 pianists,” he said. “It got so popular we had to close bookings.”

The idea of a formal record attempt may still be on the horizon. “Perhaps we will aim for an officially-verified record in the future,” Bullamore said.

For now, though, the sound of 111 pianos ringing out across Mansfield is something those who were there won’t soon forget.

135 pianists play 111 Pianos at Once in Fundraiser — Possibly Breaking a UK Record

Scientists at Baylor College of Medicine have uncovered a natural brain process that may help remove harmful amyloid plaques — a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease — while preserving memory and thinking skills, at least in mice. The research, published in Nature Neuroscience, highlights the role of astrocytes, star-shaped brain cells, and a protein called Sox9 that may hold promise for future therapies.

“Most current treatments focus on neurons or try to prevent the formation of amyloid plaques,” said Dr. Benjamin Deneen, the study’s senior author. “This study suggests that enhancing astrocytes’ natural ability to clean up could be just as important.”

Astrocytes are support cells in the brain that help with everything from neural communication to memory storage. As we age, their function can change dramatically — but scientists still don’t fully understand how those changes contribute to diseases like Alzheimer’s.

To investigate, researchers focused on Sox9, a protein that regulates many of the genes involved in astrocyte aging. “We manipulated the expression of the Sox9 gene to assess its role in maintaining astrocyte function in the aging brain and in Alzheimer’s disease models,” said Deneen, who is a professor and chair at Baylor’s Department of Neurosurgery.

Rather than testing in mice before the onset of Alzheimer’s symptoms — as many studies do — the team worked with mice that already showed signs of cognitive decline and had amyloid plaques in their brains. “We believe these models are more relevant to what we see in many patients with Alzheimer’s disease symptoms,” said Dr. Dong-Joo Choi, first author of the study.

The researchers increased or reduced Sox9 levels in the mice and tracked their behavior and memory performance over six months. The results were clear: boosting Sox9 helped astrocytes clear out amyloid plaques more effectively, while also preserving memory. Lowering Sox9, on the other hand, led to faster plaque buildup and worsened cognitive function.

“We found that increasing Sox9 expression triggered astrocytes to ingest more amyloid plaques, clearing them from the brain like a vacuum cleaner,” Deneen said.

Choi added that the potential for astrocyte-targeted therapies is just beginning to be explored. “Astrocytes perform diverse tasks that are essential for normal brain function,” she said. “The role these alterations play in aging and neurodegeneration is not yet understood.”

Though the results are limited to animal models, the team is hopeful that future studies will shed light on how Sox9 functions in the human brain and whether it could be used to develop treatments that slow the progression of Alzheimer’s or other neurodegenerative conditions.

The research team included contributions from several scientists at Baylor, with support from the National Institutes of Health and other foundations. For now, the findings offer a fresh approach: rather than trying to stop Alzheimer’s at the source, perhaps we can help the brain clean up after it.

New Alzheimer’s Study Shows Brain’s Own Support Cells Can Help Clear Plaques and Preserve Memory

Lea Michele is back on Broadway, back at the Imperial Theatre, and back to doing what she loves most — singing her heart out under the lights.

Now starring in a revival of Chess, Michele plays a cunning strategist caught between two world-class chess champions, played by Aaron Tveit and Nicholas Christopher. It’s a role full of emotional complexity and powerhouse vocals, something Michele is more than comfortable with. After all, this is the same stage where she made her Broadway debut nearly 30 years ago — at age eight — in Les Misérables.

“I think that [eight-year-old] would be so proud,” Michele said, reflecting on her return. “And she would just say, ‘Thank you,’ ‘cause that’s all she wanted. And it’s still what I want.”

A lot has happened between then and now. Michele shot to fame with Spring Awakening, became a household name as Rachel Berry on Glee, and navigated both career highs and personal challenges — including a difficult pregnancy and public criticism about her past behavior.

But it was her turn as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl in 2023 that reignited her love for the stage. Taking over a struggling revival of the classic musical, Michele delivered a standout performance that turned the show into a bona fide hit. She did it all while privately enduring a miscarriage during the run.

“It was the first time that I was really sort of in the spotlight after everything that had happened to me personally,” she said. “I wanted to finally show everyone that I could play this part, and play her really well.”

Then came the opportunity to star in Chess. Michele made it clear to producers that her family came first. “My husband and I ended up doing IVF, which was in its own right very intense and challenging,” she said. “But you know, we got pregnant and had our daughter, who is wonderful and wild.”

Only after that did she say yes to Chess. Now 39 and a mother of two, Michele says she’s found a renewed sense of joy in performing. “My love for what I do was definitely reignited during Funny Girl,” she said. “And I’m very grateful for that. But I’m so happy to be here, and to be home.”

Home, in this case, includes a beloved Broadway haunt just a few blocks away — Joe Allen’s. The longtime theatre-world hangout has been serving stars and fans since 1965, the same year Funny Girl opened just down the road. Michele has been going there since her earliest days onstage.

“I just love this place so much,” she said, though she skipped the cheeseburger this time around. “I had a show to do.”

It’s a full-circle moment for a performer who grew up in front of an audience, faced the scrutiny of fame, and came out the other side still hungry — not just for burgers, but for the stage.

As for what’s next, Michele is focused on the present — raising her kids, doing the work, and living out a dream that began in that very same theatre decades ago.

Lea Michele Returns To Broadway Stage, Reigniting Her Musical Roots

At the Villager Cafe in Camden, Maine, the blueberry pancakes come with a side of headlines. And not just metaphorically.

Customers at the newly opened diner are helping fund a rare thing in American media: a growing local newspaper. Upstairs from the kitchen, the Midcoast Villager newsroom hums along, producing stories about food pantries, local sports, and town politics — all bankrolled, in part, by sales of coffee, eggs, and hash.

“If comfort food were an Olympic sport, I’d be a contender,” says café co-founder Suzanne Tomlinson. But the real gold medal may belong to Reade Brower, the former newspaper magnate behind the café-newspaper hybrid model. “From the business standpoint, it achieves a sustainability,” he said.

Brower once owned nearly every newspaper in Maine before selling most of them off. In 2024, he merged four struggling weeklies into the Midcoast Villager and launched the café next door in April. Throw in rental income from the rest of the building and a nearby inn — also under the same ownership — and you have an unusual but functional business model to support local journalism.

"The accountability issues and local sports and all that stuff is important to a lot of people,” Brower said. “But I don't think that's enough to sell and keep newspapers alive right now. I think it has to revolve around community. And what better way to serve community than to invite people here for food and to mix all this stuff together?"

At a time when two local papers vanish each week across the U.S., the Villager is bucking the trend — and doing so with a fresh stack of blueberry pancakes.

Deputy editor Alex Seitz-Wald, who left a decade-long career as a national politics reporter at NBC News, now parks himself at the café every Friday morning, chatting with readers over breakfast. “Having a place where people can vent, or can say something, and have it be heard, I think is really valuable,” he said.

The paper’s revenue already outpaces the combined circulation income of the four weeklies it replaced. Its mascot, Vern — a bearded sailor in a rain hat holding a telescope — is literally “looking at the future of newspapers,” said columnist and ad rep Glenn Billington, who’s been in local news for decades.

The Villager model is intentionally low-tech, high-touch. It relies on trust, face-to-face conversations, and the kind of community engagement that doesn’t require a login or a paywall.

"We're present, we're visible, we're real," said managing editor Kathleen Capetta. “We're not behind a screen.”

Of course, none of it would work if the food didn’t deliver. “Absolutely not,” Capetta laughed. “It’s good, classic diner food — but a little bit elevated, which is, I think, kind of like our paper.”

Dishes like haddock hash, grilled cheese with tomato soup, and those towering Maine blueberry pancakes aren’t just comforting. They’re quietly financing a new vision of local journalism — one booth at a time.

“People are sitting down at tables, eating and talking and looking at each other eye-to-eye,” said Brower. “You’re picking up what we’re putting down.”

And what they’re putting down, for now at least, is working.

Blueberry Pancakes And Lattes Fuel Revival Of Local Journalism In Camden, Maine

People

Before he was a box office star, Michael B. Jordan was learning his lines fast and hustling hard on daytime TV. And as he told PEOPLE at the 39th American Cinematheque Awards this week, that early start “opened so many doors.”

Jordan, 38, spent three years playing Reggie Montgomery on All My Children from 2003 to 2006, taking over the role from the late Chadwick Boseman. At the time, he was just a teenager trying to build a career. What he didn’t realize was how many casting directors and studio executives were quietly watching.

“I never knew how many casting directors and executives in Hollywood would tell me, 'Oh man, my wife really loves you.' Or like, 'Oh, she watches you all the time on the stories. … Come in for this and read for that,’” he said. “It opened up so many doors in the most unexpected places for me.”

Looking back, Jordan said All My Children and The Wire were the two projects that helped launch his career. “That was something that definitely caught me off guard. I didn’t expect that one,” he said of his soap opera days.

But it wasn’t just the visibility that helped him—it was the grind.

“I think soap operas, we’re doing a hundred-plus pages a day,” he explained. “The work ethic, the grind of that definitely gave me a built-in work ethic and helped me refine that discipline at an early age.”

“You had to show up every day knowing your lines or get embarrassed one way or another because it’s going to be airing the next day,” he added.

Now one of Hollywood’s most respected actors, Jordan was honored Thursday night in Beverly Hills with the American Cinematheque Award, an annual recognition for artists making significant contributions to the art of motion pictures.

During his acceptance speech, Jordan got candid about the doubts he faced early on, especially in the years between The Wire and his breakout movie roles. “I was hungry for more, curious about my limits,” he told the crowd. “Who could I be? Was I a leading man? Did I have what it takes?”

“I didn’t have those answers yet,” he continued. “When you don’t have those answers, you keep your head down and you do the work. That’s it. That’s the only thing you can really control.”

Jordan said he approached every audition with intensity, treating even the smallest parts like a starring role. “I already booked it,” he said of his mindset. “I trained. I showed up ready, not just hoping something would happen, but making sure when it did, I was ready to receive it.”

That readiness paid off. Today, Jordan’s résumé includes roles in Fruitvale Station, Creed, Black Panther, and his directorial debut Creed III—not to mention becoming one of the industry’s most bankable leading men.

As for what’s next, Jordan says he just wants to keep telling stories that resonate. “I just want to do honest work, man, and be true to myself and inspire as many people as I can and just tell stories that people can connect with,” he said. “I love movies and I love storytelling, I love acting.”

He ended his speech with a quote from Toni Morrison: “If there’s a book you really want to read that hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”

“To the artists, plant your seeds, find your people, build with them,” Jordan said. “And to the people making decisions about what stories do get told, be bold, take the risk. These stories matter.”

Michael B. Jordan says his soap opera past gave him the discipline he needed to break into Hollywood

The witches of Oz are back — and they’re making box office history.

Wicked: For Good, the highly anticipated sequel to last year’s Broadway-to-screen hit, soared to a record-breaking $150 million opening in North America and $226 million worldwide, setting a new high for any Broadway musical film adaptation, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The follow-up bested its predecessor (Wicked, 2024), which earned $112.5 million in its debut. It also outshined other major family-friendly films this year, including A Minecraft Movie ($163M) and Lilo & Stitch ($183M).

Only Deadpool & Wolverine and Inside Out 2 had bigger domestic openings in 2024.

The film, starring Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda, picks up where the first movie left off, reimagining The Wizard of Oz with fresh twists, emotional depth, and two original new songs that critics say are showstoppers.

Reviewers have praised the film’s bold storytelling and powerhouse performances. Vanity Fair’s Chris Murphy called it “jaw-dropping” and “innovative,” while Buzzfeed’s Ada Enechi wrote that the original songs were “life-changing” and the film “delivers in every way possible.”

Wicked: For Good is now playing in theaters.

‘wicked: For Good’ Breaks Records with Spellbinding $226M Global Debut

Even in the animal kingdom, forming new friendships can be nerve-wracking. A new study from the University of Cincinnati reveals that monk parakeets, known for their intelligence and chatter, don't dive headfirst into new relationships — they "test the waters" first.

Researchers placed unfamiliar birds together in a shared aviary and watched how their social connections developed. Instead of immediate contact, the parakeets gradually approached each other, gauging safety and compatibility before engaging in friendly behaviors like grooming or perching side by side.

“There are a lot of benefits to being social, but these friendships have to start somewhere,” said lead author Claire O’Connell. The team tracked 179 new relationships and found the birds were noticeably more cautious with strangers than with familiar companions.

Over time, many pairs warmed up, even sharing food or forming mating bonds — but only after a period of slow, deliberate testing.

The findings echo previous studies on vampire bats and suggest that the "slow build" to trust might be more common across social species than scientists once thought.

And for O’Connell, who was just starting grad school at the time, it was personally relatable: “I was excited but nervous about making new friends. Watching the parakeets, I started realizing there may be something I could learn from them.”

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