Free Republic

ROME (Reuters) - Italian police have arrested a man suspected of having links to arms trafficking and Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network for travelling on a false passport, according to a police spokesman. Police acting on a tip-off, arrested Sanjivan Ruprah, 36, in the northern town of Cremona, outside Milan, on Friday. He was travelling on a false Belgian passport, the spokesman said on Saturday. "Sanjivan Ruprah is an internationally known figure," he said. "He is known as an international trafficker of arms and diamonds and has already been arrested in Belgium, from where he was released on bail."...

The President of the northern Italian city of Milan, Filippo Penati, has triggered widespread debate with a controversial proposal to fine Muslims who pray on the streets outside the city's mosque. According to authorities, the number of people praying on the sidewalk creates traffic and obstacles for pedestrians in the area surrounding the Viale Jenner mosque, a converted garage. "Article 190 of the law regarding the obstruction of streets should be applied immediately," said Penati. "I do not know or understand why the law has not been applied before," he said. "The municipality of Milan should apply the law and...

According to the Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia, the Spanish football club Barcelona is altering its famous badge in some Arab countries in order to avoid offending Muslims. The badge is especially altered in Saudi Arabia or Algeria, where the Barcelona shirts are being sold without the red cross of Saint George, the patron saint of the Catalan region which Barca claims to represent, the La Vanguardia newspaper found in a private investigation. The badge, which was created in 1906, features a single vertical red line in Saudi Arabia and Algeria, due to the fact that there, the red cross represents...

It is being reported that scientists have made a breakthrough in the fight against Muscular Dystrophy thanks to stem cell research. The scientists from Italy, claim that using mice, they have been able to promote muscle growth using adult stem cells.  GIULIO COSSU is the director of the Stem Cell Research Institute in Italy, and states:" The major finding is the identification of a subset of parasite able to repair dystrophic muscle in an immunodeficient dystrophic mouse."  "Given the fact the these cells has so far have appeared to have a better myogenic potential than the corresponding dog or mouse...

Muslim lawyer sues over Inter Milan 'Crusaders' kit Richard Owen in Rome A Turkish lawyer is taking legal action against Inter Milan, the Italian football team, for wearing a strip with “Crusader-style” red crosses that he alleges is ”offensive to Muslim sensibilities”. Baris Kaska, a lawyer in Izmir who specialises in European law, said that he had lodged a complaint in a local court against Inter Milan, which last month played the Istanbul team Fenerbahce in a Champions League match at the San Siro stadium in Milan. The Inter players wore a new strip - a white shirt with a...

A guest piece by resident Ambrosian rite expert Nicola de Grandi, who lives within the archdiocese of Milan Comments to a recent NLM piece about Ambrosian Chant mentioned the "Vecchioni" as a proper feature of the Ambrosian Rite. Here follows some more information about them, and a couple of pictures as well. The "Vecchioni" (singular "Vecchione" lit. "elderly man") and the "Vecchione" (singular "Vecchiona" lit. "elderly woman") - officially the "school of St. Ambrose" - were a feature peculiar to the Solemn High Masses in the Metropolitan Cathedral [of Milan]. In fact, they were two distinct corporations of ten...

A British Airways flight was delayed for several hours after women members of the Qatari royal family objected to sitting next to men they did not know. The three wives of Sheikh Badr Bin Khalifa al-Thani refused take up their seats on board Flight 563 from Milan's Linate airport to London Heathrow. Police and Qatari diplomats became involved before the captain told Sheikh Badr's entourage to leave the aircraft. The Qatari royals eventually ended up getting an Alitalia flight to London. They had been on a shopping day-trip to the Italian city. 'Safety instructions' In addition to his three wives,...

Officials have been forced to suspend flights into an airport in the Italian city of Milan due to a plague of hares. The animals invaded the runways at Milan's Linate Airport - and affected the operation of vital equipment.

Italian police have arrested at least 10 suspected Islamist militants who are believed to be linked to the bombings that rocked Algiers in April. The suspects, held in Milan, allegedly provided logistical and financial support for the militants in Algeria. Two blasts killed at least 30 people and injured 160 in Algiers. A group called the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat said it carried out the attacks. It later changed its name to al-Qaeda in the Maghreb. Police said the suspects were also believed to be linked to Islamist activities in Tunisia in January. The Milan suspects are...

CureDuchenne will sponsor a one-year research program that will validate Dr. Giulio Cossu’s stem cell research under GMP (Good Manufacturing Procedures) conditions. Dr. Cossu’s long-term objective is to conduct phase I/II clinical trials in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (“DMD”) pediatric patients with this novel cell therapy protocol based on intra-arterial delivery of donor mesoangioblasts. The immediate objective of Dr. Cossu is to develop a clinical grade protocol that will allow transplantation of patients with mesoangioblasts in a successive clinical trial. During this study, Dr. Cossu will prepare an IMPD, the European equivalent of a US IND (Investigational New Drug Application),...

Milan police in Chinatown clash By David Willey BBC News, Rome The riot broke out after a Chinese woman was given a traffic fine Italian riot police have broken up a violent protest in Milan's Chinatown by scores of Chinese immigrants. About 10 police officers were injured and a similar number of Chinese people received hospital treatment. The trouble began when a Chinese woman was fined for illegally transporting goods in a private vehicle. More than 100 Chinese shopkeepers and members of their families, many waving the national flag, massed in the street claiming racial discrimination. Baton charge During the...

One of my personal bug-bears is the sort of wordy, politically correct prayers of the faithful (bidding prayers) that are frequently inflicted upon the congregation at Mass. The worst seem to come from booklets prepared by liturgists, though the "creativity" of liturgy groups and rogue parish sisters (to say nothing of priests who are trying too hard to be trendy) is not to be underestimated. However, I'm inclined to think that the Italians have it slightly worse in this regard. Whilst not normally as 'politically correct' as equivalent prayers in English, they're normally even more verbose and are written in...

Milan - Now I know there are many out there who will think I have lost it when I write that a key, new must-have for men this coming fall will be a pair of leggings to be worn outside, not just in, the house, but that was the big message at the debut Marni men's runway show this morning in Milan. ADVERTISEMENT Leggings made of microfiber cotton and wool, shown in violet, forest green and Milan fog gray, all of them with stirrup straps, except of course for a couple of them cut above the knee, accompanied half the...

IBRA: "HAPPY FOR INTER AND ADRI" Saturday, 13 January 2007 22:59:16 TURIN - Zlatan Ibrahimovic spoke on Sky Italia after Inter's record twelfth consecutive Serie A victory against Torino at the Stadio Olimpico. "Each time we have come on the pitch, we have never thought about the record of victories, we always try to win," he said. "We're just very pleased to have started the new year well, and we have to continue like this. But no one is perfect and there are always things you can improve. " Adriano has started scoring again? He is very important for us....

Moscow, Oct. 03 (CWNews.com) - Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi (bio - news) of Milan has agreed to make a church in that city available for use by the Russian Orthodox Church, the Interfax news service reports. Cardinal Tettamanzi, who is in Moscow this week for visits with Orthodox leaders, made the announcement during a meeting with Patriarch Alexei II. The Italian cardinal said that the parish church of St. Anthony, in downtown Milan, will be offered for occasional use by the Russian Orthodox community there, until a parish church is turned over permanently to the Orthodox.

Italian police say they have uncovered an Islamist group believed to be providing support for suspected militants in Algeria. A police spokesman said six people had been arrested or were being served with arrest warrants. Most of the arrests were executed around Milan, in northern Italy. One suspect was found in Switzerland. Police say they believe the group was giving financial and logistical support to Islamic terrorist groups. Italian police spokesman Lt Col Domenico Grimaldi told a news conference that the group was part of a wider network operating across much of Europe, and was connected to al Qaeda. The...

Milan Fashion week kicked off with another band of glamorous models sashaying down the runway, yet there was one notable difference: they had flesh on their bones.With the row over too-thin models rumbling on, it was ironic that the opening show in the famously chic Italian fashion capital featured clothes for the fuller-figured. Size 14 and 16 models strutted their stuff at the Elena Miro fashion show, displaying busts, hips and bottoms with abandon. Curves were confidently on show and body mass indices, the measure of body fat based on height and weight and the rating that has caused so...

NEW YORK - (KRT) - A prominent Yemeni cleric is suspected of raising money for terrorists at a Muslim charity and several mosques in Brooklyn, it was disclosed yesterday. An FBI agent pulled back the veil on a secret investigation of Sheikh Abdullah Satar at the trial of an associate who is charged with lying about the cleric's activities. The agent, Brian Murphy, said in Brooklyn Federal Court that Satar was under surveillance during a fund-raising swing through Brooklyn in early 2000. At the time, the feds were conducting an investigation into the financing of terrorist groups. After Satar -...

Here we go yet again. This time we were off for a week in Italy - Rome, Venice, and Milan with our Rick Steve's Travel Guides in hand. Of all the places we've been so far, the books paid off handsomely in Italy. And next to the Swedes up in Kiruna, the Italians are some of the nicest Europeans we've met to date. No wonder so many Americans were there at the same time as we were. We land in Rome in the evening and catch a cab to the hotel. What can you say about Italian cab drivers? After...

Here’s How the Church of the Future is Experimenting in the Cathedral of MilanWith video installations, electronic music, and abstract art. With Lenten readings from Oscar Wilde and Jack Kerouac. With the pulpit given over to nonbelievers. All this in the great diocese whose patrons are Saint Ambrose and Saint Charles BorromeoROMA, June 13, 2006 – One of the key phrases of the pontificates of John Paul II and Benedict XVI is “new evangelization.” But in the Duomo of Milan, the cathedral of one of the most important and populous dioceses in the world, governed by cardinal Carlo Maria Martini...

Fr. Tucker over at Dappled Things points to two interesting little liturgical tidbits: Photos and Descriptions of the Ambrosian Liturgy -- The Ambrosian Rite is the proper liturgical usage of the Archdiocese of Milan. Our friends at the Cattolici Romani web forum have an excellent, excellent discussion of the particulars of that rite, as well as copious photos sure to please many of our readers. The text is in Italian. Announcing: Anglican Use Conference on 5 June in Scranton -- If you're interested in the interesting pastoral provision that has opened the door for Episcopal clergy and laity to...

ROBBIO, Italy (Reuters) - Wine conjures up the image of cultured drinkers sipping their way delicately through a full-bodied vintage. But for two history buffs with a passion for the tipple, northern Italy has the barbarians to thank for its long wine-making tradition. Luca Sormani, from Como, and Fulvio Pescarolo, from the tiny town of Robbio near Milan, have traced the region's wine culture all the way back to its Celtic roots and have started making it according to ancient methods. Celtic tribes from farther north -- known to the Romans as "Barbari" -- conquered northern parts of Italy about...

(AXcess News) New York - Italian officials have known for some time that their country was exporting Islamic militants and that the city of Milan is the center for these potential terrorists. Now the officials worry that militants may return from fighting in Iraq to carry out bombings in Europe, according to the BBC. Considered the center for radical Islam in Europe, Muslims have arrived in Milan more recently and relatively few have acquired citizenship. Prosecutors in Milan and Rome ordered dozens of raids in the aftermath of the London bombings last July, resulting in almost 200 arrests. Four expulsions...

Tens of thousands of Italians protested on Saturday demanding legal recognition for gay unions and the right to abortion, two days after Pope Benedict condemned homosexual marriage and the use of the abortion pill.Clutching banners reading "We will no longer be silenced," the demonstrators, many women and gay couples, crammed into squares in Rome and financial capital Milan."We thought the church had withdrawn from interfering in Italian politics ... but instead there is a terrible resurgence. These are ugly signs for freedom of expression," Nobel literature laureate Dario Fo, a social campaigner, told reporters at the Milan protest.Police said 50,000...

Brescia and Naples, 18 Nov. (AKI) - The three Algerians detained on Tuesday in the Italian cities of Brescia and Naples were planning a massive terror attack - "on a ship as big as the Titanic, packed with explosives" - that aimed to kill "at least 10,000 people", as well as an attack on "Italian citizens and interests" in Tunisia, according phone conversations between the three men, which Italian anti-terror police say they intercepted after al-Qaeda's deadly 7 July attacks on London and on the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh. In their tapped phone conversations, Yamine Bouhrama, Mohamed...

NEW YORK — The scandal engulfing the United Nations Procurement Department () now appears to be bottomless. It also shows signs of growing more sinister, especially where it involves a mysterious private company called IHC Services (), which did big business with the procurement department until it was removed from U.N. rosters in June. New details of how dark the scandal could prove to be have emerged from the private sale of IHC on June 3, 2005, just as the procurement scandal was about to break. It now appears that while doing business with the U.N., IHC had links both to Saddam...

My dear FRiends, I’ve something to say you about my Country. And it’s something really shameful if you consider that I love my Country as I’ve never loved nothing, nobody. (I wanna become an ambassador because of this great love I feel, I wanna serve Italy representing her all over the world: but there are times in which you can rest in silent on the shames of your beloved Land). The fact is that: there was an Islamic School in Milano and we closed it because it was illicit. After this school was closed on health and security grounds, some...

With her indominatable spirit, GipperGal's adventure continues. Just a reminder to all, that GG is accompanying a group but has not met up with them yet. Fasten your seatbelts, you're in for quite a ride! Enjoy the adventure! * * * * * Aug. 8, 2005 7PM All I can say is somedays you're the pigeon and somedays you're the statue. Either that or I could fall back on my old excuse. One of my ancestors must have spit in the eye of the village witch. Ever since then my family tree has suffered from Dutch Elm disease. (Or at...

ROME (AP) - Police arrested 142 people in a two-day anti-terrorism security sweep around Milan prompted by the London bombings, the ANSA news agency reported Saturday. Some 2,000 carabinieri paramilitary police fanned out across the Lombardy region, stepping up patrols around train stations, subways and other sensitive sites, ANSA said, quoting the regional commander of the carabinieri, Gen. Antonio Girone. Girone said the operation was focusing around Milan as "a possible primary objective of any possible terrorist action," ANSA said. Calls placed to Girone's office weren't immediately returned Saturday. Of those arrested, 83 were immigrants and authorities issued 52 deportation...

Italian prosecutors want to extradite 13 CIA officials accused of kidnapping a radical Muslim cleric and transporting him to Egypt where he reportedly was tortured, and they've asked Interpol to help track down the Americans, a court official said Tuesday. A man identified as the former CIA station chief in Milan is among the 13, according to a report by the judge who issued the arrest warrants. The leftist opposition said Premier Silvio Berlusconi's government will respond in parliament Thursday to their demands to know whether Italian officials were involved in the cleric's abduction. ''It appears to be the most...

Italy probes possible CIA role in abduction By John Crewdson (Chicago) Tribune senior correspondent An Italian prosecutor investigating the apparent kidnapping of a suspected Islamic militant in the streets of Milan served military authorities this week with a demand for records of flights into and out of a joint U.S.-Italian air base in northern Italy. Italian newspapers have reported that the prosecutor, Armando Spataro, is investigating the possible role of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in the disappearance of Osama Nasr Mostafa Hassan, better known as Abu Omar, a popular figure in Milan's Islamic community who vanished Feb. 17, 2003....

Liverpool beat Milan on penalties Jerzy Dudek saved two penalties in the shoot-out as Liverpool were crowned European champions in dramatic fashion. Paolo Maldini volleyed Milan ahead after just 50 seconds while Hernan Crespo scored twice to put the Italians 3-0 up at the break. Steven Gerrard headed a reply, Vladimir Smicer fired the second and Xabi Alonso equalised after his penalty was saved. Serginho fired his penalty over the bar and Dudek denied Andrea Pirlo and Andriy Shevchenko to secure the trophy. Goalflashes and major incidents as they happen: EXTRA-TIME FULL-TIME AC Milan 3-3 Liverpool AET A remarkable night...

On the surface there would seem to be little to unite the Aryan racialists of the neo-Nazi movement with the terrorists of radical Islam. To the neo-Nazis, Muslims are almost all members of ``inferior`` races; and to the Islamic terrorists, the neo-Nazis are almost without exception either atheists or members of fringe quasi-Christian sects. But the reality is that there has been close cooperation between Muslim extremists and Fascists ever since the founding of the Nazi movement in the 1920`s. For all of their differences, Muslim extremists and Nazis have always been united by a common group of beliefs and...

NPR.org, April 2, 2005 · "Tip O'Neill was correct," says Father Tom Reese, editor in chief of America, the Catholic weekly magazine. "All politics is local... even in the Catholic Church." Reese suggests that instead of focusing on the possible papal candidates as a bookie would look at horses in the starting gate, try to think about the election from the point of view of the electors, the cardinals who cast the votes. "Each cardinal is thinking, how will this candidate go over in my diocese?" Reese says. "If you're from the Third World, you're concerned with people who are...

ROME, Italy (AP) -- Two members of a heavy metal group called the "Beasts of Satan" who confessed to taking part in three ritual Satanic slayings were sentenced to prison Tuesday, and a third defendant was acquitted, Italian media reported. Andrea Volpe, Pietro Guerrieri and Mario Maccione had confessed to roles in the grisly 1998 killings of Chiara Marino, 19, and Fabio Tollis, 16, in the woods outside of Milan. Five other members of their suspected Satanic cult have been ordered to stand trial in June. Volpe, considered the mastermind of the ritual killings, was sentenced to 30 years in...

Dan Brown sparked controversy with his novel based on Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper - now a French clothing company has followed suit in Italy. The authorities in Milan have banned a billboard featuring an all-female version of the 15th Century fresco, which the fashion house itself says was inspired by the hotly debated book. The campaign has run without controversy in both Paris and New York. But its use of religious symbols could offend Milan, the town hall ruled.

Intelligence agencies have had some success in tracking suspected al-Qaeda operatives. But the organisation is changing to continue its fight against the West. The West has never encountered an enemy like al-Qaeda before. The problem for the world's intelligence agencies is that it is not a unified organisation with an identifiable structure, like the IRA, but an amalgam of groups around the world whose members embrace Osama bin Laden's ideology of global jihad, or holy war. These Jihadi warriors share the belief that they have an obligation to fight the oppressors of their Muslim brothers, from Palestinians in the Middle...

ARIS, May 29 — Italian and German investigators have disclosed fresh information suggesting that hints of an attack involving aircraft and the United States were more widespread among European law enforcement agencies before Sept. 11 than previously suspected.The disclosures come after weeks in which the Bush administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which announced a shake-up today, have come under sharp criticism that they did not pay sufficient heed to signs of Al Qaeda plots in the United States that may have alerted them to the Sept. 11 attacks.A Central Intelligence Agency spokesman said today that before Sept....

According to security services, a Dutch chemist is suspected to have been involved with the banned weapons program of Saddam Hussein. It is the 60 year old Frans van A. from Den Helder. This was reported by the newspaper 'De Telegraaf' on Saturday. Van A. is probebly hiding in Baghdad, heavily guarded by the Iraqi Republican Guards. He has been under surveillance by the Dutch security service AIVD for several years. According to the AIVD, it is an 'unique situation', because Van A. is one of the few foreigners that has intensive contacts to the regime of Saddam Hussein. Also...

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) Prosecutors said on Tuesday they will charge a Dutch chemicals dealer as an accomplice to genocide for supplying Saddam Hussein with lethal chemicals used in the 1988 chemical attack on a Kurdish town that killed an estimated 5,000 civilians. Wim de Bruin of the national prosecutor's office said the suspect, who was arrested in Amsterdam on Monday, will face charges ''for violating the laws of war and involvement in genocide.'' Prosecutors said Frans van Anraat, a 62-year-old chemicals dealer, had been a suspect since 1989, when he was arrested in Milan, Italy, at the request of the...

MILAN (Italy): “ I love Italy and I have a deep tie with my Italian roots.”. Robert De Niro began this way his journey in Italy (Milan and Rome), remembering his origins and his passion for the Italian Cinema (in particular for the movies by Fellini). De Niro is now in Italy not to receive the Italian honorary citizenship, but to present the Tribeca Festival, the review of independent cinema that he has founded in New York after September 11th, as a contribution to the cultural rebirth of the tormented city after the attacks at the Twin Towers. A type...

Did Saddam Hussein use any of his ill-gotten billions filched from the United Nations oil-for-food program to help fund Al Qaeda? Investigations have shown that the former Iraqi dictator grafted and smuggled more than $10 billion from the program that for seven years prior to Saddam’s overthrow was meant to bring humanitarian aid to ordinary Iraqis. And the Sept. 11 Commission has shown a tracery of contacts between Saddam and Al Qaeda that continued after billions of oil-for-food dollars began pouring into Saddam’s coffers and Usama bin Laden declared his famous war on the U.S. Now, buried in some of...

The Associated Press NAPLES, Italy Jan. 31 — Police arrested 28 Pakistanis found in possession of explosives, hundreds of forged documents and maps of the Naples area with "sensitive targets" circled, authorities said Friday.In a statement, police said they had uncovered an "al-Qaida terrorist cell," but gave no further details on the Pakistanis' alleged involvement with al-Qaida or any other international terrorist group.A police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said late Friday officers "might have gotten ahead of themselves" in announcing an al-Qaida link in the headline of their news release.The official also dismissed Italian news reports that the...

A MAN linked to Al-Qaeda and believed to have helped to mastermind the Madrid train bombings was overheard last month describing a plot for a woman to carry out a chemical or germ attack in America that he said would “wipe out an entire neighbourhood”. The Italian warrant for the arrest of Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed, 32, an Egyptian seized in a suburb of Milan last week, details transcripts of bugged conversations and telephone calls in which he not only boasted of his involvement in the Spanish attack of March 11 but also spoke of future plans. The Spanish government...

<p>ROME (AP) -- An Italian prosecutor said Wednesday he had provided U.S. authorities with transcripts of phone calls between terror suspects, including one that reportedly refers to a woman ready to carry out a chemical attack in the United States.</p>

MILAN (Reuters) - A group of suspected Islamic militants arrested in Italy and Belgium may have been planning an attack on NATO headquarters or the European Parliament, Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera said on Wednesday. Quoting Italian investigators, Corriere said a suspected planner of the Madrid bombings in March -- among those arrested on Tuesday -- had intended to travel from Italy to Belgium possibly to take part in an attack on a "symbolic" target. Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed, known as "Mohamed the Egyptian," was seized on Tuesday with a fellow suspect in Milan, and Belgian police, acting on information...

MILAN (Reuters) - Italian police have arrested a Tunisian woman suspected of belonging to a Europe-wide network aimed at recruiting Islamic militants for suicide bombings in Iraq, police sources in Milan said on Saturday. They said Bentiwaa Farida Ben Bechir, a 42-year-old Tunisian, was arrested on Friday as she arrived at Milan's Malpensa airport on a flight from Tunis. Italy said last month it had smashed the suspected recruiting network when five arrests were made in Italy and Germany. Ben Bechir was initially reported as being among those arrested but it then emerged she was still free. Among the people...

Where Are the Hydrogen Mines? By Ronald Bailey MILAN, Italy, Dec. 10 -- "Of course climate change is an environmental issue, but it is fundamentally one of economics and development," declared Elliot Diringer, director of International Strategies at the Pew Center on Global Climate Change at a press conference on Tuesday where he unveiled the Pew Center's new Beyond Kyoto report. Pew Center president Eileen Claussen added that nothing less than a "technological revolution" is needed to stop global warming. U.S. Undersecretary of State for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky, who is heading up the US delegation to the COP9 meeting...

<p>MILAN, Italy (AP) -- Italian anti-terrorism investigators say they found a Syrian connection with an Iraqi-based Islamic extremist group suspected of shuttling recruits and money between Europe and the Middle East.</p> <p>The investigation, which led to the arrests of six people in northern Italy two weeks ago, comes as scrutiny of Syria's alleged ties to terrorism has increased. The probe is headed by prosecutor Stefano Dambruoso, who has won key convictions against al-Qaida suspects arrested in Italy.</p>

ROME, May 8 — Investigators analyzing computers seized from an Italian mosque say they have uncovered images of the twin towers that were downloaded just days before the 9/11 attacks, as well as a trove of pornographic photos they believe were used to conceal coded messages. On Sept. 4, 2001, according to investigators, pictures of the World Trade Center were saved as temporary files on one of the computers at the Via Quaranta mosque in Milan — the mosque frequented by Abdelkader Mahmoud Es Sayed, also known as Abu Saleh, an Egyptian currently on trial in absentia in Milan on...