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Mechthild Flury-Lemberg began to spin and weave wool shorn from the sheep on her family's post-World War II German farm at the tender age of 16, "for fun," she says. She never imagined that the hobby, which led to a career in textile conservation, would also eventually lead her to head the restoration of one of the most cherished and mysterious relics in Christendom -- the Shroud of Turin -- or that her examination would produce new evidence that the famed linen dates to the first century A.D., to the time of Christ.

Rome, 3 April (AKI) - Prosecutors in the northern Italian city of Turin were scheduled to start investigating on Tuesday footage of an imam at the local Cottolengo mosque, Mohammed Kohalia, calling on Muslims to hate Christians and Jews and praying for their death. "The Prophet has said that the extremists [Jews and Christians] will be destroyed," the cleric is heard as saying in footage secretly filmed by a journalist. "Allah should kill the polytheists." Kohalia has denied making those statements. The DVD portraying Kohaila's sermon was filmed with a hidden camera by a faithful attending the prayers on behalf...

ROME — In a blow to Italy's ongoing campaign against digital piracy, a high level Italian court has ruled that the unauthorized downloading of copyrighted movies, music and video games is not a crime if the downloader does not profit from the action. In 2005, a court in Turin sentenced two men to jail time and issued them several hundred euros in fines for taking control of a computer server at the Turin Polytechnic Institute and using it to store and distribute various copies of video games, films and CDs. Last week, an Italian Supreme Court judge overturned the sentence...

Russia's Olympic ice hockey team goes wild after beating Canada 2-0

Adult kidney, liver cells can repair organs, studies say (ANSA) - Florence, September 6 - Two teams of Italian scientists have made important advances in stem-cell research that could pave the way for new treatments for kidney and liver disease. What is more, the researchers say the cells appear able to turn into an array of other body cells. Importantly, amid controversy over the use of embryos for stem-cell research, both discoveries were made in adults. A Florence team led by top immunologist Sergio Romagnani has identified kidney stem cells that have proved capable of helping damaged kidneys repair themselves....

Dr. John Jackson, director of research for the Turin Shroud Center of Colorado, explains the history of the ancient burial cloth believed by some to be the burial cloth of Christ. Herald/Bill Howard COLORADO SPRINGS. Tucked away inside a plain-looking office complex near St. Patrick Parish, the Turin Shroud Center of Colorado is dedicated to studying the reputed burial cloth of Jesus Christ and delivering educational lectures around the globe. Opened in 1990, the center contains an actual-size photographic image of the shroud as well as three-dimensional models, images and artifacts illustrating the shroud's origin and possible authenticity as...

Far too large and graphic intensive to post, here are some excerpts. Click on the link below to move to the Stations of the Cross, according to the Shroud of Turin. What better way to comprehend the true reality of the Passion of Christ than to compare the traditional Stations of the Cross — handed down to us by St. Francis and the Franciscans — than by comparing them with the scientific and medical Truths found in more than 600,000 hours of peer-reviewed research surrounding the Shroud of Turin. For it is the very burial cloth of Jesus, proven not...

WILMINGTON, N.Y. - Swedish snowboarder Jonatan Johansson died Sunday after falling during a snowboardcross run down Whiteface Mountain in the Adirondacks. The 26-year-old Turin Olympics competitor lost control on one of his jumps during training for an International Ski Federation World Cup competition, according to U.S. Ski and Snowboarding Association spokesman Tom Kelly. A state police report said Johansson tried to correct himself but landed hard. An autopsy found the cause of death to be multiple internal injuries. Officials said Johansson landed within the course boundaries and was wearing a helmet. Olympic Regional Development Authority spokesman Sandy Caligiore said he...

The blend of youth, athleticism, excellence and Turin fuelled the remarkable life Pier Giorgio Frassati. He died in 1925, but would have been right at home with today's Olympians in the streets of his hometown and in the mountains which he loved. St. Pier Giorgio Frassati(1901-1925) A staple of Olympic television coverage is the oftmaligned personal profile, the saccharine pieces that tell the dramatic tales behind the athletes. True enough, the drama often descends to melodrama, and the search for tragedy is rather forced. But on balance they are endearing to watch. Usually, the striking thing is not whatever calamity...

TURIN, Italy | Bode Miller was a bust. Mike Modano proved to be a big-time whiner. Chad Hedrick was too full of himself and Shani Davis came off as a guy who thought only of himself. Then there was snowboarder Jeret Peterson, who was enough of a screw-up that the U.S. Olympic Committee packed him on a plane and sent him straight back home to Idaho. As the Olympics wind down today, you can't overlook the American athletes who didn't comport themselves well at these Winter Games. But if you watch tonight's closing ceremony, you can rid yourself of any...

NBC OLYMPICS HOME PAGE Complete Olympic Schedule TV SCHEDULES usolympicteam.com Canada's CTV Olympics website CBC.CA - Torino 2006

SESTRIERE, Italy – Unbent, unbowed and ultimately unsuccessful, Bode Miller said in an interview yesterday he is skiing away from these Olympics on his own terms — content without any medals and impressed by the local nightlife. “I just did it my way. I’m not a martyr, and I’m not a do-gooder. I just want to go out and rock. And man, I rocked here,” Miller said in an exclusive interview with the Associated Press soon after he skidded off the slalom course in his fifth and final race, completing an 0-for-the-Olympics.

NEW YORK - Halfpipe star Shaun White showed up for an interview with NBC's Bob Costas as an Olympic champion, the pressure lifted from his shoulders and clearly juiced by his new jewelry. So "The Flying Tomato" decided to test the power of a gold medal by trolling for a date with skater Sasha Cohen. Hey, what's the worst that could happen? Chicks dig a little bling, right? White's interview shortly after his gyrating ride to gold was a memorable television moment precisely because it was everything that NBC's prime-time Olympics coverage mostly wasn't — fun, spontaneous and infused with...

PINEROLO, Italy — Notorious British streaker Mark Roberts has apparently struck again. A man wearing running shoes, a rubber chicken taped over his genitals and a towel on his head came out of the stands during the Olympic bronze medal curling game Friday, earning some laughs from the British and American rinks before he was taken away by security. An Italian press agency indentified him as Patrick Roberts, a 42-year from Liverpool who was also responsible for a streaking incident at Wimbledon, and said he was in police custody. That description would seem to better fit Mark Roberts, a man...

TURIN, Italy -- Chad Hedrick and Shani Davis represent the sound and fury, not to mention the general goofiness that engulfed the U.S. men's long track speedskating team during the Winter Olympics. Joey Cheek remains an island of calmness, sanity and, not least of all, an extremely generous nature. He is not the only skater who kept his wits about him. But maybe more than any athlete here, Cheek made the most of his moments. He seems to embrace the quaint notion of the Olympic spirit that existed before the overselling of underachievers and other forms of crass commercialism grabbed...

NBC OLYMPICS HOME PAGE Complete Olympic Schedule TV SCHEDULES usolympicteam.com Canada's CTV Olympics website CBC.CA - Torino 2006

NBC OLYMPICS HOME PAGE Complete Olympic Schedule (Presumably updated with Results) TV SCHEDULES usolympicteam.com

TURIN, Italy Epochs pass, governments fall, but Russians still win figure skating medals. And Evgeni Plushenko is a thorough Russian. Russians skate like they own the ice, and others skate like they're afraid of falling on it. The difference between the Olympic gold medalist and everybody else in the world was this simple: He was Russian, and they weren't. The martial, cymbal-clashing Russian anthem boomed through the Palavela, just as it does at every Winter Games. Skaters from the former Soviet Union have now won five straight men's gold medals, and no one will challenge them in this sport any...

Olympic champion Cheek donates prize money to DarfurTURIN, Italy (AFP) - US speedskater Joey Cheek credited his decision to donate any prize money from a Winter Olympic gold medal to a Sudanese relief project with helping him capture the 500m title Monday. Cheek will donate the 25,000 dollars he will receive from the US Olympic Committee for his victory to "Right to Play", an athlete-driven charity organization, with the money earmarked for the battle-ravaged Darfur region. "I knew if I ever did something like this, I wanted to be able to give something back," Cheek said. "The best way I...

Today's events include Men's downhill combined, Biathlon, Cross Country Team Sprints, Curling, Mens Figure Skating Short, Women's Luge Finals, and Women's Speed Skating 500 M Finals. NBC OLYMPICS HOME PAGE Complete Olympic Schedule (Presumably updated with Results) TV SCHEDULES usolympicteam.com TOPICS: TOPICS: TOPICS: TOPICS: