Free Republic

Two Moroccans arrested in Italy yesterday wanted to blow up the Milan Cathedral on Christmas. They hoped an attack during the busy holiday would cost dozens of lives. This according to tapped phone calls, reports La Repubblica. The two belonged to an Islamic terror cell which had been followed by the Italian police already for months... Rachid Ilhami (31) and Abdelkader Ghafir (43) were arrested in Giussano, a city 25km away from Milan. The detectives gathered from tapped phone calls and confiscated computer files that the two also prepared attacks on a supermarket and a police bureau. They are arrested...

(ANSA) - Milan, December 2 - Two Moroccans arrested on Tuesday were planning terrorist attacks on targets in northern Italy after failing to make the ``necessary contacts`` to be sent abroad as jihad fighters, police said. Rachid Ilhami, 31, and Gafir Abdelkader, 42, are alleged to have been planning attacks on an immigration office and a police barracks in Milan as well as police stations, a supermarket and a night club carpark in smaller towns in the Lombardy region. Milan anti-terrorist unit chief Bruno Megale stressed that the pair were not ``an organic part of any organisation`` despite wiretapped conversations...

Pentagon Makes Fighting Extremism Top Priority Seven years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Pentagon on Thursday officially named "the long war" against global extremism as its top priority and pledged to avert any conventional military threat from China or Russia through dialogue. The Defense Department, in a new national defense strategy, also emphasized the need to subordinate military operations to "soft power" initiatives to undermine Islamist militancy by promoting economic, political and social development in vulnerable corners of the world. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he hoped the change would help establish permanent institutional support for counterinsurgency skills...

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...