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Watch Tom Cruise Dangle Off a Plane in New ‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’ Sneak Peek
Paramount Pictures has unveiled a jaw-dropping behind-the-scenes video from the upcoming Mission: Impossible installment, and in true Tom Cruise fashion, it features yet another mind-melting stunt — one that finds the legendary action star literally clinging to read more

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Launching his papacy with a call for reconciliation and communion, Pope Leo XIV formally began his ministry as the successor of St. Peter by calling for “a united church, a sign of unity and communion, which becomes a leaven for a reconciled world.”

“In this our time, we still see too much discord, too many wounds caused by hatred, read more

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The Old Man and the Stork: An Unlikely Friendship That Captivated a Nation
From Turkiye comes the story of an annual spring reunion that has captivated the hearts of a nation for 14 years. It involves a simple rural fisherman Adem Yilmaz, waiting in his boat for the return of a dear friend: a white stork named Yaren.

Casting his lines and nets upon read more

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A new international workout trend has made it possible to get in shape and care for the environment at the same time.
Groups of people around the world are picking up trash while out running, an activity known as “plogging”, a combination of jogging and the Swedish word for pick up, plocka upp. Started in Sweden, this innovative activity has gone global, gaining read more

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At 74, Wisdom the albatross is welcoming new motherhood once again
The Laysan albatross was first banded (or marked) in Hawaii in 1956. Meaning, she could be even older than the current estimate of 74. She’s been at motherhood for quite some time; Wisdom has likely produced 50 to 60 eggs, and brought as many as 30 chicks to the fledgling state, NPR’s Bill Chappell reported. read more

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Lego is reinventing its iconic brick sets and keeping the toy industry afloat
The toy industry is headed for its second consecutive annual sales decline, but it’s got one thing propping it up — Lego. At a time when toy companies are struggling to match the massive gains of pandemic-era sales, Lego is growing rapidly. The Danish company saw revenue jump 13% in the first six months of the year read more

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White Christmas is a 1954 American musical film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera-Ellen. Filmed in Technicolor, it features the songs of Irving Berlin, including a new version of the title song, “White Christmas”, introduced by Crosby in the 1942 film Holiday Inn.

For read more

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The UK’s ‘most festive pub’ with 55,000 lights and a snowman made from empty wine bottles
A charming Somerset pub, known to be one of the most festive in the world, has lit up for Christmas for a good cause. The Queen Victoria Inn in Priddy, managed by Mark Walton and his wife Debs, has been adorned with over 55,000 lights for this week’s read more

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The Norwegian Town Where the Sun Doesn’t Rise
I spent a year in Tromsø, Norway, where the “Polar Night” lasts all winter—and where rates of seasonal depression are remarkably low. Here’s what I learned about happiness and the wintertime blues.

Located more than 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle, Tromsø, Norway, is home to extreme light read more

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Children aren’t reading for pleasure according to new research
The National Literacy Trust’s annual literacy survey 2025 reveals that one in three children and young people do not enjoy reading, with only 35% of eight to 18-year-olds stating that they enjoy reading in their spare time. This is the lowest figure recorded since 2005 when the National Literacy Trust started to gather this data. This read more

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No Brains, No Problem: The Surprising Intelligence of Fungi
“You’d be surprised at just how much fungi are capable of,” remarks Yu Fukasawa of Tohoku University, “They have memories, they learn, and they can make decisions. Quite frankly, the differences in how they solve problems compared to humans is mind-blowing.”

Fungi grow by releasing spores, which can germinate read more

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New Mozart Just Dropped: Lost Manuscript Reveals Centuries-Old Music
The young Mozart composed the piece around 1760 and was played for the first time at the Leipzig Opera over the weekend.

A hitherto-unknown piece of music by the Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was recently discovered by researchers the Leipzig Municipal Libraries. The sheet music read more

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Maggie Smith: ‘A National Treasure’
Viola Davis commended Smith for “defying the expectations of age” in a touching tribute. “The end of an era of the sheer definition of what it means to be an actor. You created characters that clung to us, moved us, entertained us……made us look within,” she wrote in part. “You were read more

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In the last two years, tennis has taken over our closets (court-appropriate garb can be found everywhere from Skims to Miu Miu), our screens (who could forget Zendaya’s turn as the tennis protogé-turned-elite-coach Tashi Duncan in “Challengers”) and now — our living rooms.

At least that is the hope of Belgian eco-designer Mathilde Wittock, who fashions bespoke furniture read more

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Ultra-Rare Copy of the U.S. Constitution, Found in a Filing Cabinet, Heads to Auction If you’ve ever wanted to own a rare signed copy of the U.S. Constitution, now’s your chance. On September 28, 2024, Brunk Auctions in Asheville, North Carolina, will be accepting bids for an original copy (or “archetype”) of the United States Constitution signed by Secretary of Congress Charles Thomson.

According read more