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

USA Today

Ilia Malinin, known around the skating world as the “Quad God,” is set to make his Olympic debut in Milan, and expectations couldn’t be higher.

The 21-year-old American is the only skater in history to land a quadruple Axel in international competition — figure skating’s most difficult and elusive jump, involving four and a half rotations in the air before landing backward. If he does it again at the 2026 Winter Olympics, it will mark the first time the move has ever been landed in Olympic competition.

Malinin, a two-time world champion, is the headline name on a powerhouse U.S. men's figure skating team that includes veterans Andrew Torgashev and Maxim Naumov. Torgashev, 24, is a two-time U.S. national silver medalist, and Naumov, also 24, is this year’s national bronze medalist.

Together, they form one of the strongest U.S. teams in recent Olympic memory — and Malinin could make history.

The Physics of a Quad Axel

The quad Axel is in a class of its own. Unlike other jumps that take off backwards, the Axel begins from a forward edge, making it the only jump with an extra half rotation. That means Malinin has to complete 4.5 revolutions mid-air in under one second — just 0.79 seconds, to be exact, according to Ice Skating International.

Landing it requires absolute precision. Skaters must pull their limbs tightly to generate rotational speed, overcoming centrifugal forces of up to 180 pounds — more than their own body weight — just to stay aligned in the air. A slight lapse in tightness, and the jump fails.

Malinin mastered the move in 2022 at the U.S. International Classic in Lake Placid, becoming the first person to land it cleanly in any competition.

Two Olympic Routines

To compete with the world’s best, Malinin will need to deliver not just the quad Axel but a full arsenal of quads, including lutz, flip, salchow, and toe loop — many performed in rapid combination.

The men's short program is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 7, with the free skate set for Sunday, Feb. 8, at the Milano Ice Skating Arena — a state-of-the-art venue just outside the city center that also hosts short track and ice hockey events. The ice surface is kept between 22–26 degrees Fahrenheit to allow for optimal glide and edge control, with no rink markings to distract skaters.

The Rise of a Star

Born to figure skating parents — both of whom represented Uzbekistan — Malinin has rapidly emerged as one of the sport’s most exciting and technically daring performers. While other skaters rely on artistry, Malinin brings both performance and unmatched technical firepower.

And he’s not just focused on landing jumps.

“Ilia is changing what we thought was possible in men’s figure skating,” said NBC commentator Johnny Weir. “He’s not only pushing the envelope, he’s rewriting the whole thing.”

Ilia Malinin Set to Make Olympic Debut, and Quad Axel History, at Milan-Cortina 2026

BBC News

What started as one man's effort to process his own grief has grown into a community lifeline for dozens in North Lincolnshire.

Gareth Morrison, 44, founded the Good to Talk walking group in Barton-Upon-Humber in August last year after losing close friends to suicide and facing his own mental health struggles. Less than a year in, the group is drawing nearly 60 people to its Sunday walks — and transforming lives along the way.

“One gentleman said it’s changed his life,” Morrison said. “We’ve had people who were feeling very low tell me it’s given them purpose.”

The group’s aim is simple but powerful: to offer people a safe, welcoming space to walk, talk, and connect — whether they’re battling mental health issues, loneliness, or just looking to make friends.

“Everyone is welcome whatever their situation,” Morrison said. “The main aim of the walks is helping as many people as possible.”

The walks, which are free and open to all ages and backgrounds, often end with a visit to a local pub or café, giving participants a chance to keep chatting and socialising. Some come to open up, others just to enjoy the company.

“A lot of friendships have been made here,” Morrison said. “We have had a lot of single people who are quite nervous at first, but now you can’t shut them up.”

Morrison, who works as a welder, said the response to the group has been overwhelmingly positive. Participation has more than doubled since it began, and the community that’s formed is tight-knit and supportive.

“It’s just about making people feel like they’re not alone,” he said.

With no pressure to talk and no cost to join, Good to Talk is doing what its name promises — giving people space to connect, feel heard, and take that first step toward healing.

"It's Changed My Life": How This Walking Group is Bringing Connection and Purpose

People

Robert Irwin isn’t just wrangling wildlife these days — he’s also hunting down stuffed animals across the globe for his 4-year-old niece, Grace Warrior.

The Dancing with the Stars champ and wildlife conservationist, 22, told PEOPLE he never returns from a trip without a plush souvenir for Grace, the daughter of his sister Bindi Irwin and Chandler Powell.

"I always have to. Usually, it's a plush toy," Irwin said at the 2026 NFL Honors in San Francisco, where he’s attending his first-ever Super Bowl. “I'll go somewhere. I'll be like, 'I'm going to Africa. What animal do you want?' And she'll be like, 'A hippopotamus.'”

His niece’s requests tend to follow a theme. “Or if I'm going to America, she's like, 'You have to bring back a mountain lion.' So I have to find a little plush animal everywhere I go, and she's got her little collection. Mate, uncle duties, I take it very seriously," he said.

This time around? “Ooh, she's in a whale phase right now,” Irwin shared with a grin. “We may have to go the whale route.”

Robert and Grace share a close bond. When he was competing on Dancing with the Stars, Bindi brought Grace and her husband Chandler to Los Angeles to cheer Robert on. Grace even got to join one of his rehearsals — and by the looks of it, she stole the spotlight.

Back in November, Bindi posted a photo of Grace dressed in a sparkly green outfit, arms overhead in a pose as she stood next to her uncle and his dance partner Witney Carson. Bindi, who won Season 21 of the show with Derek Hough, captioned the post, “Her favourite part? ‘Dance Class’ with Witney and Uncle Robert. 🥹 My. Heart. #TeamIrWINit.”

A few weeks earlier, Bindi shared more photos of Grace excited for a live taping of the show, including a mother-daughter twirl session in matching pink floral dresses.

“Dancing all the way to @dancingwiththestars. 💕” Bindi wrote in the caption.

It’s clear Grace isn’t the only one enjoying the ride. Whether it’s plush whales, sparkly dance dresses, or cheering from the sidelines, Robert’s role as uncle is one he’s embracing — with heart and humor.

Robert Irwin Reveals Heartwarming Tradition He Keeps for Niece Grace, 4, During Travels

ABC - Australia

Jackson Mackay didn’t set out to break a world record when he joined a gym. But 18 months after starting weight training, the nine-year-old from Australia’s Sunshine Coast has done just that — and he’s already planning for the next one.

In January, Jackson hoisted 80 kilograms in a deadlift, surpassing the previous record of 72 kilograms for boys aged 7 to 9. The lift was verified by Kids World Records, which awarded him the title for Heaviest Deadlift in his age group.

"I can't believe I just beat a world record. That's insane, I never thought it would come to this," Jackson said after the lift.

It all began with a spur-of-the-moment decision.

"I just woke up and… because I was at the gym, I'm like, 'Well, gyms are for weights, so I'm gonna break a world record,'" he recalled.

He trained three hours a week using a hex bar to build core strength, eventually progressing to a standard straight bar for the record-setting lift. The result was emotional — not just for him, but for his family and coach.

"[My parents were] jumping up and down in excitement and, like, impressed and… my mum even cried," Jackson said.

His mother, Cara Mackay, said she was stunned. "He'd set this goal a year before, and he wrote out on a piece of paper what he wanted to achieve in the next 10 years, and seeing him actually achieve that was just amazing."

Jackson’s strength and conditioning coach, Joshua Hodges, has worked with him since October 2024. He said the moment was special for everyone involved.

"Jackson just started to well up with joy and then Cara, seeing her son achieve that, started to [cry]. I was like, 'How cool is this?' I get to be a part of this moment Jackson's wanted to do for quite a while now," Hodges said.

Jackson had originally come to the gym after dropping out of rugby league, looking to regain confidence. "We sort of found that he was quite strong for his age, he was quite determined," Hodges said. "He's got back into team sports since being with us, so his confidence has grown."

Now that he’s nailed one record, Jackson isn’t stopping. "I might do the 10-year-old record for deadlift," he said.

Dr Daniel Van Den Hoek, a sports and exercise scientist at the University of the Sunshine Coast, said that supervised weight training is not just safe for kids, but beneficial.

"We hear myths like resistance training stunts growth, and it damages growth plates, but those things, they're just not true," he said. "Resistance training is quite healthy as long as we make sure that it's supervised and progressed correctly."

Beyond physical strength, he said lifting can improve mental health, reduce injuries, and even boost school performance.

Dr Van Den Hoek added that Jackson’s participation in other sports like rugby league, wakeboarding, and motocross likely played a role in his gym success — and vice versa.

"We see it at the elite levels of Australian sport… [athletes] that have grown up playing multiple sports, getting new skills, new knowledge about how their body moves," he said.

For Jackson, the gym started as a place to rebuild his confidence. Now, it’s the launchpad for a record-breaking run — with more lifts to come.

Nine-Year-Old Jackson Mackay Deadlifts Into The Record Books

A highway rescue mission in central Virginia turned wild — literally — when a kangaroo was spotted blocking traffic along Route 29 after escaping from a local wildlife refuge.

Nelson County deputies and a Virginia Conservation Police officer were called out the morning of Saturday, Jan. 31, after drivers reported a kangaroo hopping loose near Thomas Nelson Highway and Oak Ridge Road. What started as a curious call quickly escalated into a race against time — and traffic — in below-freezing temperatures.

"Never in my wildest imagination did I ever think I would be wrangling a kangaroo," said Conservation Police Officer Andrew Sundra.

Deputies quickly realized the animal wasn’t just lost — it was also injured. The female kangaroo, officials said, was leaving a visible blood trail. Lieutenant Steve Bodek said the situation snapped the team out of disbelief and into action. “Then we immediately switched to, ‘How are we going to catch this thing?’” he told ABC 13.

Deputy Robert Richardson described the kangaroo as quick and unpredictable. “I don’t even know if a lasso would have worked on it,” he said. “You get out of the car, and she's already across the field.”

Officers eventually managed to guide the kangaroo onto private property, where — to everyone’s surprise — it stopped and stayed in place. "It could have easily jumped over a four-foot fence, but it did not," said Bodek. “It just kind of looked at me.”

The rescue didn’t end there. The kangaroo, it turns out, was a mother. According to officers, they believe dogs may have entered the animals’ enclosure at a nearby refuge, scaring the kangaroo into flight. In the chaos, she dropped her baby — likely to draw the dogs away.

Thankfully, the joey was found safe. The owner of the animals arrived at the scene, tranquilized the mother, and returned both kangaroos to their home at a wildlife refuge in Arrington.

Sheriff Mark Embrey said the cold weather following a winter storm made the incident more urgent. “The temperatures were frigid. You know what the elements are from the winter storm,” he said.

Sundra, still in disbelief, summed it up: “Only in Nelson County.”

Deputies say both mother and baby are doing well — and back where they belong.

Kangaroo on the Loose Shuts Down Virginia Highway — Deputies Step In for Unusual Rescue

Before the Super Bowl steals the spotlight, another beloved showdown is returning to the screen — and it’s fluffier than ever.

Puppy Bowl XXII airs Sunday, Feb. 8, with 150 adoptable dogs from 72 shelters and rescues across the U.S., Puerto Rico, and the British Virgin Islands taking the field. This year’s event includes 15 special needs dogs, a historic high, and for the first time, a senior dog spotlight game.

Billed as a celebration of “the spirit of the underdog,” the Puppy Bowl blends chaos, cuteness, and a meaningful mission: raising awareness for pet adoption and showcasing shelters doing vital work. Hosted by longtime referee Dan Schachner in his 15th year, and featuring commentary by sportscasters Steve Levy and Taylor Rooks, the three-hour event promises plenty of action — and heart.

🐾 Game Day Details

Kickoff: Sunday, Feb. 8, at 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT

Pregame show: Begins at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT

Watch on TV: Animal Planet, Discovery, TBS, truTV

Stream: Discovery+, HBO Max, Fubo (with free trial)

🐶 The Teams: Ruff vs. Fluff

Team Ruff and Team Fluff will once again battle for the coveted “Lombarky Trophy.” Some standout players include:

Team Fluff: Benito (Siberian Husky-Chihuahua mix), Showgirl (Chow Chow-Rottweiler mix)

Team Ruff: Lobster Roll (Bulldog-Border Collie), Brûlée (Boston Terrier-French Bulldog), Miso (Cattle Dog-Beagle mix)

The pups will also compete for MVP (Most Valuable Puppy) and the Underdog Award. Among the special needs stars are Wynonna, a spirited three-legged pup, and Eleanor, who is both deaf and vision-impaired.

🧓 Spotlight on Senior Dogs

This year’s edition introduces a new exhibition match during halftime — the Pro-Dog Halftime Showdown — featuring Team Oldies vs. Team Goldies, bringing senior dogs into the spotlight.

Social media influencer Isabel Klee, known as SimonSits, will introduce her new foster senior dog during the segment, helping promote senior dog adoptions.

🏈 Training with the Pros

Buffalo Bills wide receiver Khalil Shakir appears in a segment training Button, a Boston Terrier-Beagle mix, to test agility and shine a light on shelter adoptions.

💕 Adoption and Awareness

Every dog featured in the Puppy Bowl is adoptable, although some may already be matched with families by the time the event airs. Heartwarming adoption stories and behind-the-scenes glimpses will air throughout the program in segments like Subaru’s “Pup Close and Personal.”

Whether you're tuning in for the tail wags, the touchdowns, or the chance to meet your new best friend — Puppy Bowl XXII promises all the feel-good vibes, just in time to kick off your Super Bowl Sunday.

Puppy Bowl Returns For 2026: What To Know About Players And How To Watch

CNBC

Sam Darnold’s journey to Super Bowl 60 hasn’t been a straight line. It’s taken eight years, five teams, and a whole lot of self-reflection.

Now 28 and at the helm of the Seattle Seahawks, Darnold is preparing for the biggest game of his life — and he’s bringing with him a mindset forged from years of adversity, doubt, and reinvention.

“I feel like I just naturally kind of learned to be resilient,” Darnold told The Athletic on Friday. “My dad worked as a plumber, and my mom is a PE teacher, and it never mattered what kind of day they had. They were always consistent for me and my sister.”

Darnold entered the NFL in 2018 with high expectations as the No. 3 overall pick. But his first three seasons didn’t go as planned. He lost more games than he won, struggled with consistency, and eventually got traded. From there, he bounced around the league, serving mostly as a backup — a role few top draft picks expect to fill.

Everything changed in 2024, when he stepped in as the starting quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings after an injury to the team’s starter. Darnold led the team to a 14-3 record, surprising pundits and reinvigorating his career.

That performance earned him a three-year, $100.5 million contract with the Seahawks — and now he’s on the brink of an NFL championship.

Looking back, Darnold credits his parents’ steady presence for helping shape how he handles pressure today. “It didn’t matter what had happened at work; my dad was always out there playing catch with me afterwards,” he said.

He still leans on that foundation. “I would say my family is a huge part in just my ability to get over things when it's bad, and they do a good job of keeping me grounded when things are good,” he told The Athletic.

Darnold isn’t the only one who sees value in resilience. Psychotherapist Amy Morin has written extensively on the subject. In a piece for CNBC Make It, she argued that helping children bounce back from failure is one of the most important things parents can do. “Kids who do well later in life focus their attention on what went wrong and how they could fix it,” Morin wrote in 2021. “They have growth mindsets that help them turn failures into positive learning experiences.”

Darnold has been trying to do just that. Early in his career, he admits he let mistakes spiral into something bigger. “Sometimes, mistakes happen and you learn from it,” he told Fox Sports in a recent interview. “And you don’t want to make the same mistakes again, but [if you have] a long career, those things are going to happen.”

A turning point came when he read a quote from NFL Hall of Famer Jerry Rice: “He never had a perfect practice or a perfect game.” That resonated.

“That’s the mindset I try to have,” Darnold said in an interview with The San Francisco Standard. “It’s not always going to be perfect, [but] it’s about how can you move on from mistakes to continue to better the team and better yourself.”

He even has a mantra now that he returns to in tough moments: “That happens. It’s football. We’re not always going to be perfect.”

It’s that mentality that’s carried him through locker rooms, depth charts, and sideline benches. Now, it might carry him all the way to a championship.

Super Bowl QB Credits Parents For Teaching Mental Resilience

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

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.

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