Free Republic

A paramedic has been accused of swiping James Gandolfini‘s $3,000 Rolex as he laid dying from a massive heart attack. Claudio Bevilacqua, 43, allegedly stole the Submariner watch from “The Sopranos” star after he collapsed in the Boscolo Luxury Hotel Exedra in Rome during a family trip in June 2013, according to NBC News. He was rushing Gandolfini to the hospital that night when the timepiece disappeared, though it is unclear if it vanished from his hotel room or while the actor was wearing it

they are considering arming and training the new unity government in Libya so it can fight the spread of terrorist groups in the country and counter the smuggling of migrants to Europe. In a joint communique following a lengthy meeting on ways to rein in chaos in Libya, the diplomats said they would support Libya’s request to be exempted from a United Nations embargo that was put in place five years ago to keep arms out of the hands of Islamist militants and rival militias locked in a power struggle. Other parts of the embargo would be reinforced, the communique...

Scientists said earlier this year that they had found some secret rooms in Tutankhamen's tomb. What could they contain? A popular theory was the tomb of Queen Nefertiti. But other scientists later said that there was good reason to doubt the claims, which were based on scans. Now, the situation has gotten a little bit uglier. A team of radar technicians performed a second, more detailed set of scans on the tomb earlier this year, and sent their results off to Egypt's ministry of antiquities. But the government now has refused to release their findings, and scientists are beginning to...

There were hardly any Syrian migrants among the 800 people rescued off Sicily, contrary to earlier reports from Italy’s coastguard, the UN and the International Organization for Migration have confirmed. The coastguard had said Thursday that half of the 342 migrants they had picked up were Syrians, sparking concern that the flow of Syrians previously attempting to cross into Europe via Turkey and Greece was shifting to Italian shores. Around 50,000 Syrians arrived in Italy between mid-2013 and early 2014, after which Greece became the route of choice, the IOM said.

The wife of arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti has revealed that European MPs and political parties support her husband's candidacy for the Nobel Peace Prize, and will soon come out and publicly express their position of support for him. Fadwa Barghouti, the wife of the senior terrorist from Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party who is serving five life sentences in Israel, welcomed her husband's Nobel Prize candidacy in an interview with the Turkish Anadolu news agency. She praised the Arab League support for his candidacy, which was submitted in early March by Adolfo Perez Esquivel of Argentina, who won...

Born in Vinci, Italy, Leonardo died in 1519, age 67, and was buried in Amboise, southwest of Paris. His creative imagination foresaw and described innovations hundreds of years before their invention, such as the helicopter and armored tank. His artistic legacy includes the iconic Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. The idea behind the Project, founded in 2014, has inspired and united anthropologists, art historians, genealogists, microbiologists, and other experts from leading universities and institutes in France, Italy, Spain, Canada and the USA, including specialists from the J. Craig Venter Institute of California, which pioneered the sequencing of the human...

Negotiations on a US-EU free trade deal "will fail" if the US refuses to make concessions, German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel warned on April 24 ahead of a visit by US President Barack Obama. "The Americans want to hold fast to their 'Buy American' idea. We can't accept that. They don't want to open their public tenders to European companies. For me, that goes against free trade," Gabriel, who is also Germany's deputy chancellor, told business newspaper Handelsblatt. "If the Americans hold fast to this position, we don't need the free trade treaty. And TTIP will fail," he warned.

On April 12, in one of the easiest financial predictions in history, I challenged the notion that a €5 billion slush fund dubbed “Atlas” could possibly prop up €360 Billion of non-performing loans in Italian banks. Less than a month later, “Atlas” is already a notable failure. I seek no credit for my call, and none is due. Failure was a certainty from the start. Instead, I question the sanity of anyone who thought such a preposterous scheme could work in the first place. Please consider Atlas Strains to Hold up the Sky Over Italy’s Banking Sector. “A government-orchestrated, privately...

If you believe, as Maurizio Seracini does, that Leonardo da Vinci’s greatest painting is hidden inside a wall in Florence’s city hall, then there are two essential techniques for finding it. As usual, Leonardo anticipated both of them. First, concentrate on scientific gadgetry. After spotting what seemed to be a clue to Leonardo’s painting left by another 16th-century artist, Dr. Seracini led an international team of scientists in mapping every millimeter of the wall and surrounding room with lasers, radar, ultraviolet light and infrared cameras. Once they identified the likely hiding place, they developed devices to detect the painting by...

The hunt for the "Battle of Anghiari," ...which Leonardo began in 1505 to commemorate the 15th-century Florentine victory over Milan at Anghiari, a medieval Tuscan town... unfinished when Leonardo left Florence in 1506... was given new impetus about 30 years ago, when Seracini noticed a cryptic message on a fresco in the hall by Giorgio Vasari, a 16th-century artist famed for chronicling Renaissance artists' labors. "Cerca, trova" -- "seek and you shall find" -- said the words on a tiny green flag in the "Battle of Marciano in the Chiana Valley." ...A few years ago, using radar and X-ray scans,...

A real-life Da Vinci mystery, complete with tantalizing clues and sharp art sleuths, may soon be solved, as researchers resume the search for a lost Leonardo masterpiece believed to be hidden within a wall in a Florence palace. Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli and officials in the Tuscan city announced this week they had given approval for renewed exploration in the Palazzo Vecchio, the seat of power for various Florence rulers, including the Medici family in the 16th century. There, some researchers believe, a cavity in a wall may have preserved Leonardo's unfinished painted mural of the "Battle of Anghiari" for...

Forget the Da Vinci Code. Dr Seracini thinks he's cracked art's biggest mystery Step by patient step, one man is drawing ever closer to the real Da Vinci mystery: tracking down the master’s greatest painting, lost for four and a half centuries. And it is hidden, he believes, in a room at the heart of political power since the Middle Ages in Florence. For art historians, finding Leonardo’s lost Battle of Anghiari is in the same league as finding the Titanic or the still lost tomb of the Ancient Egyptian architect Imhotep — as big as you can get. The...

Maybe Vasari fresco refers to presence of greater art behind it ROME -- "Cerca trova" ("Seek and you shall find") is the tantalizing 5-century-old message painted on a fresco in the council hall of Florence's Palazzo Vecchio. Researchers now believe these cryptic words could be a clue to the location of a long-lost Leonardo da Vinci painting and are pressing local authorities to allow them to search for the masterpiece of Renaissance art. Maurizio Seracini, an Italian art researcher, first noticed the message during a survey of the hall 30 years ago, but his team lacked the technology then to...

This is an interesting ruling, especially the justification used by the Italian high court to throw out the conviction of a homeless man who stole about $7 worth of food from a grocery store. BBC: Judges overturned a theft conviction against Roman Ostriakov after he stole cheese and sausages worth €4.07 (£3; $4.50) from a supermarket. Mr Ostriakov, a homeless man of Ukrainian background, had taken the food "in the face of the immediate and essential need for nourishment", the court of cassation decided. Therefore it was not a crime, it said. A fellow customer informed the store's security...

My train of Glory is about to shine, All over my children for through my blood they are divine, Now I shall come down and rest, Upon my treasure chest, For this is where ever they are gathered in My Name, Shouting out My Fame, "To the ones that have overcome and pushed through", " I AM Chasing after you ", MY Glory is about to reveal, The Fullness of My Kingdom's Seal, The Father's Heart now fully revealed, Not just a sector but as a whole, Not just a faith or trust "now you shall know", The Fullness of...

SHOCKER STATEMENT COMING FROM A CHURCH THAT HAS HAD PROBLEMS WITH ABUSE: "Pope Francis called for "severe punishment" for pedophiles" Pope Francis called for "severe punishment" for pedophiles on Sunday after new details emerged in Italy of the 2014 death of a six-year-old girl who is alleged to have been thrown from an eighth-storey balcony by her abuser. "This is a tragedy. We should not tolerate the abuse of minors," Francis said, departing from prepared remarks at his weekly Sunday message and blessing to tens of thousands of people in St. Peter's Square. "We must protect minors and severely punish...

Thirty kilometers southwest of Siena, among the hills of Tuscany, are the ruins of an ancient Cistercian Gothic abbey. In one of the nearby chapels you will find one of the most remarkable relics of the Middle Ages: the sword of St. Galgano Guidotti.When tourists visiting Siena wonder what can be seen in the city, apart from the beautiful hills and villas, one answer is “visit the village of Chiusdino” for the magnificent medieval architecture, its outdoor opera festivals and to see the real sword in the stone.Yes: the sword of St. Galgano is buried to the hilt in...

Anonymous hate letters sent to a Senegalese migrant teen living in Italy turns out to have been sent by…herself.A tale of envy, racism and mystery had the Italian media hooked last May when a series of hate-filled letters sent to the daughter of Senegalese migrants brought about a nationwide conversation about racism and roused high-profile figures such as national politicians to pledge solidarity with the girl. The case received so much attention that it prompted one of the country’s Cabinet ministers to visit her school. A year on from that whirlwind of publicity, the investigation has concluded quietly with the...

Armed with shovels and sacks of cold asphalt, Rome's residents fill potholes. Defying rats, they yank weeds and bag trash along the Tiber's banks and in urban parks. Tired of waiting years for the city to replace diseased trees, neighbors dig into their own pockets to pay for new ones for their block. Romans are starting to take back their city, which for years was plundered and neglected by City Hall officials and cronies so conniving that some of them are on trial as alleged mobsters. In doing the work, Romans are experimenting with what for many Italians is a...

Italian police issued arrest warrants on Thursday for six people suspected of conspiring to join Islamic State, and court documents said three of them had been discussing possible attacks on the Vatican and the Israeli embassy in Rome. Four of the suspects - a couple living near Lake Como, a 23-year-old-man and a woman, all of them Moroccans - were detained in Italy on Thursday, Milan prosecutor Maurizio Romanelli told a news conference. The other two - a Moroccan man and his Italian wife - left Italy last year, traveled to Iraq and Syria and are still on the loose,...