2 h. ago ‘When the church door opens, it’s like a miracle’: the phone app that’s a key to Italy’s religious art

A cultural initiative in Piedmont is unlocking a trove of priceless medieval frescoes in rural churchesThe Santa Maria di Missione chapel in Villafranca Piemonte, northern Italy, stands at the end of a long cornfield. Behind it, the mountains rise gently, their outlines caressed by the sun. The colours of autumn frame the 15th-century frescoes that embellish the structure’s interior, painted by Italian artist Aimone Duce, of the Lombard school. The chapel is the municipality’s oldest religious building, serving about 4,000 inhabitants, and stands on the site of a pre-existing building dating back to 1037.Inside the small chapel, my footsteps echo softly against the walls, breaking the stillness of the surrounding countryside. The sharp scent of plaster mingles with the earthy smell of the fields outside, carried in on the wind along with the sweetness of wheat. Light filters through the narrow windows, catching the vivid hues of a fresco that depicts the seven deadly ...

Politics

2 h. ago Starmer to welcome Zelensky to Downing Street for peace plan talks over Russia's invasion of Ukraine

The meeting, also attended by French President Macron and German Chancellor Merz, is expected to focus on how to respond to US proposals for ending the war with Russia.

Events

2 h. ago Scots World Cup hero announced as ambassador of South Lanarkshire kids charity

Kenny McLean, from Cambuslang, has teamed up with the Smile Children’s Charity, based in Stonehouse.

Politics

3 h. ago 'I turned charity shop hobby into £1k business and couldn't afford Xmas without it'

Milley Middleton, 25, has turned her hobby into a side hustle that can earn up to £1,000 a week

Economics

3 h. ago 'Disgusted' woman complains to HR over 'charity shop' Secret Santa present

One woman was so distraught by what a colleague gave her that she escalated it to management, saying 'It all smells vaguely like charity shop and it's going in the bin'

Society

3 h. ago Princes Street: Calls for public summit on future of Edinburgh's Princes Street

Scotsman columnist Stephen Jardine called walking down the street a ‘fundamentally depressing experience’.

Politics

3 h. ago Nutcracker stocking fillers: Brian Levy’s recipe for sugar plum and coffee cookies | The sweet spot

A rich, buttery crumb, a hint of bittersweet coffee, a spot of icing and a cherry on top better gift them before you scoff themThese festive cookies are inspired by The Nutcracker’s Land of Sweets sequence, in which coffee and sugar plums are two of the flavours used to conjure a fanciful world of decadent diversion. Anything from a hard candy to a candied fruit can qualify as a “sugar plum” and, in the case of these cookies, the sugar plum is represented by the amarena cherry. Coffee’s bitterness balances the sweetness of the fruit and the rich butteriness of the dough, while the oat flour adds a dash of shortbread-like delicateness.Brian Levy is the author of the Formal Assignment newsletter and Good & Sweet, published by Avery at £35.99. To order a copy, visit guardianbookshop.com Continue reading...

Society

3 h. ago The Traveller community’s London Christmas drive – in pictures

The Traveller community’s London Christmas drive – in pictures  The Guardian

Transport

3 h. ago Notorious London pickpocket gang 'hid in plain sight' living on quiet street

Notorious London pickpocket gang 'hid in plain sight' living on quiet street  Metro.co.uk

Events

4 h. ago Sydney Sweeney shuts down claims she's had cosmetic work on her 'uneven' face

Comparing pictures of the 27-year-old Christy producer-star to herself a decade ago revealed a wider nose bridge, smaller eyelids, fuller cheeks and thinner lips

Politics

4 h. ago Golden Globe nominations should give a skewed Oscar picture, plus a new podcast category

Nominations to the 83rd Golden Globes are to be announced Monday morning

Politics

4 h. ago ‘He’s a son of a bitch – but he’s usually right’: why did Seymour Hersh quit the film about his earth

He is the prickly, hotheaded journalist who uncovered the My Lai massacre in Vietnam and torture at Abu Ghraib prison. Making Cover-Up, a film about his astonishing life and countless scoops, was never going to be easyOne morning last month, Seymour Hersh set off to buy a newspaper. The reporter walked for 30 minutes, covered six blocks of his neighbourhood, Georgetown in Washington DC, and didn’t see a single sign of life. No newsstands on street corners selling the glossies and the dailies. No self-service kiosk where you can slide in a dollar and pull out a paper. “Finally, I found a drugstore that had two copies of the New York Times in the back,” Hersh recalls. He bought one for himself. He can’t help but wonder whether anybody bought the second.Hersh was born in Chicago in 1937, the year the Hindenburg airship blew up and the aviator Amelia Earhart disappeared over the Pacific. That makes him a man of hot metal, the media’s ancient mariner, with metaphorical newsprint on his f...

Politics

8 h. ago Unruly Chicagoans throw snowballs at ICE agents as street turns into chaotic tear

Anti-ICE protestors hurled snowballs at federal agents on Saturday afternoon in Elgin, Illinois. In response, officials unleashed tear-gas into the chaotic and dystopian scene.

Politics

8 h. ago Boy, four, and woman, 60, killed in Offaly house fire pictured for first time

Mary Holt, 60, and Tadhg Farrell, four, tragically died following the blaze at a house on Castleview Park in Edenderry, Co Offaly on Saturday evening - a murder investigation is now underway

Events

9 h. ago Woman living on cruise ships for 13 years reveals one thing she's 'banned' from doing

Christine Streets-Kesteloo became a cruise director 13 years ago and has been living on ships ever since with her husband Pieter – she now has over 1 million TikTok followers

Events

11 h. ago Helen Flanagan makes statement on Coronation Street comeback as fans go wild

Helen Flanagan would 'love to' return to Coronation Street where she shot to fame as Rosie Webster, but admits 'they just haven’t asked me and I live around the corner'

Politics

12 h. ago Pregnant Paloma Faith shares alarming picture from hospital bed

Pregnant singer Paloma Faith has shared an update with followers saying she was in hospital.

Events

12 h. ago Historic Glasgow pub known for live trad music named best venue in Scotland

A SCOTS pub loved for its live music has been named best trad venue in Scotland. The Park Bar in Argyle Street won the coveted prize at the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards on Saturday night. In what pub bosses described as a "wonderful night for the whole trad community", the lively Glasgow bar scooped...

Culture

12 h. ago Snowflake school bosses rename Christmas jumper day to be more ‘inclusive’ in yet more woke madness

WOKE schools have renamed Christmas Jumper Day as Winter Jumper Day to be more “inclusive”. Others promise ­“festive” celebrations without explicitly using the word Christmas. Critics have blasted it as “utterly ridiculous”. It comes ahead of charity Save the Children’s annual Christmas Jumper Day this week, with schools asked to raise funds. Devonshire Hill Nursery...

Politics

13 h. ago Sydney Sweeney breaks silence over ‘great jeans’ controversy as she hits back at critics insisting she’s against ‘hate’

SYDNEY Sweeney bares her soul — finally breaking her silence over her American Eagle advert backlash.  The 28-year-old US actress said she is against hate and divisiveness after she came under fire from critics who said the “great jeans” campaign fuelled racial tensions.  It comes as she shared topless behind-the-scenes pictures while promoting her upcoming...

Events