Free Republic

BARCELONA, Spain -- Chelsea eliminated defending champion Barcelona and reached the Champions League final with a grueling 2-2 tie Tuesday night, winning the semifinal on 3-2 aggregate despite playing most of the game a man short.

Mark Lenzi, the 1992 gold medalist in men's springboard, died Monday at age 43. The American diver was hospitalized in Greenville, N.C. two weeks ago after suffering a series of fainting spells. Lenzi earned gold at the Barcelona Olympics and followed it up with a bronze medal performance in Atlanta. He was an All-American diver at the Indiana University, winning championships in the one-meter springboard, three-meter springboard and platform events in 1989. No American man has won a diving medal since Lenzi.

Mary Anastasia O'Grady writes in today's Wall Street Journal that George Soros's Open Society Institute has been funding terrorism. In a column entitled Friends of Terror in Peru, O'Grady notes that Thursday's vote by the European Parliament to take the Peruvian guerrilla group known as the Tupac Amaru (aka MRTA) off its terrorist list has Peru in an uproar. For good reason: The MRTA is notorious for kidnapping, torturing and murdering civilians to advance its political agenda. More recently, Peruvian officials have linked it to Hugo Chávez's "Bolivarian Movement," which seeks to destabilize democracies in Latin America, and to the...

LifeSiteNews.com Life, Family and Culture News Barcelona archbishop begins excommunication proceedings for priest who paid for abortion by Matthew Cullinan Hoffman Tue Mar 15 5:56 PM EST BARCELONA, March 15, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Barcelona archbishop Lluís Martínez Sistach has begun excommunication proceedings against a priest in his diocese who has boasted of paying for abortions and blessing homosexual unions, according a statement posted on the archdiocesan website. The communiqué states that the archbishop and two other diocesan officials met with Fr. Manuel Pousa i Engroñat yesterday, “regarding several declarations of said priest regarding an abortion published in a book about...

Barcelona, Spain, Jan 26, 2011 / 01:50 pm (CNA).- Administrators from the University of Barcelona, Spain have announced that its weekly Wednesday Mass will be suspended due to protests  by a group of self-proclaimed “secular progressive” students.The university stated that no more Masses will be celebrated “until the university can guarantee the security of students who wish to attend the liturgy.” At the beginning of November, shortly before Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Barcelona, a group of “secular progressive” students tried to boycott one of the university Masses, reported the Spanish newspaper ABC. Police then began providing security at the...

MADRID — The Spanish city of Barcelona will erect a monument to gays, lesbians and transgendered people who have been persecuted and repressed "throughout history", it announced Thursday. The exact site of the pink, triangular stone monument has not yet been decided, but a spokesman for the city hall said the square outside the Sacred Heart, or Sagrada Familia, basilica "is one location that has been proposed". Pope Benedict XVI consecrated the city's emblematic Antonio Gaudi-designed church last month as hundreds of gays and lesbians staged a mass "kiss-in" to protest the Roman Catholic Church's stance on homosexuality. A statement...

The Santa Llucia Christmas market in Barcelona sells everything you could need for your nativity scene. Little statues of Joseph and Mary? Check. A little baby Jesus? Check. Donkeys, sheep and cows? Check. Defecating world leaders? What? The 'caganer' (literally 'defecator') is a feature of Catalan nativity scenes. The figure is usually tucked away in a corner of the model, far away from the manger itself, for children to find. The caganer represents fertility and equality. The figure was traditionally a representation of a Catalan peasant wearing a red stocking hat, but modern caganers are often caricatures of famous people,...

SNIPPET: “In about less than a week, India will mark the first anniversary of the Mumbai terror attacks. After the US’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)’s Chicago breakthrough, now Italy has achieved some headway in the investigations relating to last year’s terror events(26/11). The Italian police have arrested, after almost a year long monitoring and surveillance, two Pakistani nationals (Father and Son duo) from Brescia city who are accused of sending funds from their money transfer agency and providing the logistical support to Pakistani terrorists. The suspects Mohammad Yaqub Janjua and Aamer Yaqub Janjua, owners of the Madina Trading telephone...

Is this the beginning of water wars? 18:00 11 April 2008 NewScientist.com news service Catherine Brahic As Barcelona runs out of water, Spain has been forced to consider importing water from France by boat. It is the latest example of the growing struggle for water around the world – the "water wars". Barcelona and the surrounding region are suffering the worst drought in decades. There are several possible solutions, including diverting a river, and desalinating water. But the city looks like it will ship water from the French port of Marseilles. The water services authority in Marseille say that no...

If the British and French can design and build spectacular bridges at a modest or at least reasonable cost, why can’t we? Or maybe we can, but we haven’t tried it lately, at least not in Oregon. The question comes up because Peter DeFazio, our man in Washington, is chairman of the highways and transit subcommittee in the U.S. House. His committee will write the next highway bill, probably by the end of 2009. And when DeFazio led his colleagues on a fact-finding trip to Europe, he saw the viaduct at Millau. It’s the most spectacular bridge he has ever...

SCOTLAND YARD is braced for a fresh wave of possible terrorist attacks against public transport after a group of suspected Islamist suicide bombers were arrested in a secret security operation at Gatwick airport. Six Pakistani men were held under anti-terrorism laws 10 days ago after they flew in from Barcelona. The arrests were prompted by a tip-off from the Spanish intelligence services after the discovery of a suspected Al-Qaeda terror cell in the city. The cell is alleged to have planned to detonate suicide bombs on the Barcelona Metro. The Spanish warned a similar attack was being planned here. The...

MADRID (Reuters) - Islamist extremists were planning attacks across Europe, especially against public transport, before their arrests in Barcelona last weekend, a Spanish paper reported on Saturday, citing a would-be attacker's testimony. The Al Qaeda-inspired cell planned to attack the Barcelona metro and other targets in Spain, Germany, France, Portugal and the United Kingdom, said the bomber turned police informant. In testimony that led to the arrest of 14 South Asians last Saturday, the informant told police the group had a preference for attacks on public transport, especially metro systems, El Pais newspaper reported. "If we attack the metro, the...

ABC News has learned that the manhunt that began in Spain for suspected terror cell members has now extended to France and other European Union countries. Investigative sources tell ABC News the cell members are Spanish residents, including both nationals and foreigners. They are believed to have recently traveled to Spain from Waziristan, Pakistan, an area known as a hotbed for al Qaeda training and Taliban resurgence. The 14 suspected terrorists arrested last weekend in Spain were in the final stages of preparing a suicide attack using multiple bombs, according to sources close to the investigation being conducted by Spanish...

An Islamic militant cell broken up over the weekend in Barcelona was planning a suicide attack on the city's public transport network, a Spanish judge said Wednesday as he ordered 10 suspects jailed pending further investigation and freed two others. Judge Ismael Moreno, of the National Court, made the announcement after questioning the 12 suspects for seven hours. He said the attacks had been planned for last weekend. Fourteen suspects were arrested Saturday although two were released by Spanish authorities on Tuesday. The judge said that of the 10 people he is ordering kept in custody, three were planning to...

Spain arrests 14 terror suspects   Spain is still haunted by the Madrid bombings - carried out by Islamists Bomb-related material has been found during raids in Barcelona which led to the arrest of 14 people suspected of links with an Islamist terror network. Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said the suspects included 12 from Pakistan and two from India. Local media reports that the Spanish intelligence agency had warned France, the UK and Portugal that a terror cell was preparing an imminent attack. This coincides with a European tour by Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf. Radical threat Police...

Updated: 12:12, Monday September 25, 2006 An explosion has ripped through a building in Barcelona, it is reported.Several people were injured and the cause of the blast has not been established.The Catalan regional police said there was no immediate indication of foul play and the blast may been caused by butane gas.It is not yet known if any of the injured have been seriously hurt.The building - in the Sant Andreu area - is still standing and the blast does not appear to have weakened its structure, he added. More follows ...

MADRID (Reuters) - An al Qaeda cell based in France planned a chemical attack on a U.S. naval base in Rota, Spain, newspaper ABC reported on Tuesday. Algerian Said Arif, extradited to France from Syria last year, has admitted his cell was plotting a chemical attack on the southern Spanish base controlled by the United States since 1953, the Spanish daily reported. The paper said Arif was considered a lieutenant of Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al Qaeda's leader in Iraq. Zarqawi himself was accused of planning a chemical attack last year in his native Jordan, which authorities thwarted. Arif was...

Hearing a bomb went of in Barcelona. Nothing in Reuters yet

MADRID, Spain (AP) - Spanish police arrested 16 Islamic terror suspects in raids in several cities, including 11 suspected members of a group thought to have ties to Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi's "al-Qaida in Iraq," officials said Wednesday. The 11 were part of a support group for a Syrian-based network that recruited people for suicide attacks against U.S. and allied forces in Iraq, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. Some of the detainees had said that they themselves wanted to become "martyrs for Islam" and were waiting for orders to do so, the statement said. It did not specify how Spanish...

Barcelona, Jun. 03, 2005 (CNA) - The Church of the Holy Family in Barcelona, the unfinished work of Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi, will be ready for worship in 2008 and its construction will be finished in 20 to 30 years if projections are accurate.In order for the church to open its doors in 2008, project leader Joan Rigol, recently named to the post by the Archbishop of Barcelona, explained that will be necessary to finish the roof over several parts of the church that remain uncovered.  He said the project committee expects this stage to be completed in the next...

TODAY'S MATCHES @ 2:45PM EST: AC Milan v Manchester Utd Chelsea v Barcelona LIVE ON ESPN2 Lyon v Werder Bremen England's two leading clubs have it all do tonight as six teams chase places in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals. Chelsea FC and Manchester United FC both enter their first knockout round second-leg ties needing to overturn deficits. Premiership leaders Chelsea take on Primera División counterparts FC Barcelona trailing 2-1 from the first leg at Camp Nou, while United travel to AC Milan needing to score following a 1-0 defeat a fortnight ago.

The Italian, Spanish, English and French soccer league leaders - will all be in action today in the first knockout round of the UEFA Champions League. TODAY'S MATCHES: Barcelona v. Chelsea | Porto v. Inter | Manchester Utd v. AC Milan | Werder v. Lyon

White players urged to black faces to fight racism The president of a Spanish club wants his white players to paint their faces black to combat racism. Angel Torres, of Getafe, made the call after racist chanting at the game between his club and Barcelona, reports Sporting Life. Barcelona's Samuel Eto'o and Ronaldinho were the victims of taunts in Getafe's Coliseum Alfonso Perez. Torres suggested the Getafe squad showed solidarity with black players by painting their faces black for their next game. "I have spoken to one of the club captain and I am certain that the players want to...

On 6 Oct 2004 at the railway station of Sants de Barcelona, a blue paper bag was stolen from the owner of a clinical laboratory. It contained 5 glass tubes, 15cm long x 2cm wide, with black stoppers, containing cultures of _Mycobacterium tuberculosis_. They were wrapped in absorbent paper inside an opaque white plastic container with a black double cap. This was wrapped in brown parcel paper, with a letter describing the contents, which are highly contagious. The finder is asked to contact urgently the Cuerpo Nacional de Policia, tel. 091, the local police, tel. 092, and the Servicio de...

Man diagnosed with SARS took 6 international flights, by the end of which he was extremely ill. En route, he flew from Hong Kong to Barcelona to Munich to Frankfurt to London and back to Munich -- and then back to Hong Kong... MORE...developing...breaking...China involved?????????

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton smiles during a conference on AIDS at the XIV International AIDS conference in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, July 11, 2002. (AP Photo/Denis Doyle) Former U.S. President Bill Clinton chats with youths about AIDS prevention at a MTV show in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday July 11 2002. Clinton is in Barcelona to attend the XIV International AIDS conference. (AP Photo/Denis Doyle)

Barcelona, Spain, July 12 Former US president Bill Clinton stole the show at the world AIDS conference on Friday, laughingly conjuring up the idea of Nike's swoosh logo in the form of a condom. Clinton took part in a "town hall forum" of present and former world leaders who aired their views about the global AIDS crisis. He was banteringly urged by the meeting's Thai moderator to encourage the US sportswear maker Nike to start marketing its own contraceptive to help promote anti-HIV practices among the young. "If in fact Nike got into the condom business, someone would have a...

Former U.S. president Bill Clinton chats with Ana Botella, the wife of Spain's Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar at the Moncloa Palace in Madrid, Spain Wednesday July 10, 2002. Clinton is in Spain to attend International Aids Conference in Barcelona. (AP Photo/Paul White)