Free Republic

Is this the face of Jesus as a boy? Italian police reverse the ageing process on image taken from the Turin Shroud to create photo-fit of Christ as a young child This is the face of Jesus Christ as a child – according to Italian police. Detectives used computer forensic techniques that have helped to catch mafia bosses to generate the image. First, they created a photo-fit picture from the facial image in the Turin Shroud, which many believe to be that of Jesus. They then used a computer program to reverse the ageing process by reducing the jaw size,...

At least 12 Italian police and soldiers were reported killed in a truck bomb attack against their base in southern Iraq, the first Italian casualties since they joined the US-led coalition in June. The massive blast gutted the building housing the paramilitary Carabinieri force in Nasiriyah in southern Iraq, trapping several men under rubble. The Ansa news agency said nine of the dead belonged to the paramilitary Carabinieri force and three were members of an army contingent in Iraq, where Italy has deployed a total force of 3,000. The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Pier Ferdinando Casini, calling for...

<p>Iraqis and the Italian military police may have suffered some injuries in the blast, the official said, but more details were not immediately available.</p> <p>Italy has sent about 2,500 troops to help the reconstruction in Iraq.</p>

Nov. 12 — A truck bomb rocked the headquarters of the Italian Carabinieri police in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah on Wednesday, killing at least 14 Italians and possibly trapping others under the debris, Carabinieri officials said in Rome. The Arabic language television station Al-Jazeera said eight Iraqis were also killed. IT WAS THE first such attack in this relatively quiet Shiite Muslim city since the beginning of the U.S.-led occupation and appeared aimed at sending a message to international organizations that they are not safe anywhere in Iraq. Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi called the bombing a “terrorist...