I am home for lunch at Noon and I am watching the national news here in Houston. A map was showed on the television highlighting Rome. Several Afgan men have been arrested in Rome with maps with various locations (?) on them. This is what I heard, I do not know the locations in Rome, but this is fact. Can anyone update this as the evening goes on? We want to continue with our trip, but would like to keep abreast of this situation also. <BR>Thanks, Lisa

There is a report in cnnitalia.it

I read the article. If anyone hears more about this, could you lease follow up? I'm surprised the Post isn't reporting more about the European cells.

There is a little about this on CNN Europe in English. The Italian link seemed to contain slightly more information, but my Italian is rudimentary at best. I am glad to see the security forces are on the alert, and I didn't expect there would be no terrorists or sympathizers in Rome.

The report, http://europe.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/eur...ans/index.html, <BR>is a bit odd and confusing. And isn't the American Embassy on the via Veneto? This report says it's on the Aventine Hill.

I think it's referring to the Vatican Embassy.

Any more updates? <BR>

I am not trying to scare anybody but they hate Christians, and Catholics. The terrorists that is. And the Vatican could be a place for them to put there hate filled minds to.

Hi everyone, I can tell you what happened. I saw the news here. <BR> <BR>There were four Afgan guys hanging around suspiciously the home of the American consulate general to Italy. <BR>The police that were there on guard thought they were to suspicious and arrested them. <BR>They had no money, no idea or documents of any kind on them and only had a map of Rome. The map was divided out into two parts. <BR>The authorities are now trying to retrace the paths they had marked out on the map to see if they can find out anything that they may be up to. <BR>They want to be sure they have'nt already started planning something. <BR> <BR>I was so impressed when I heard this story tonight. <BR>BRAVO!!! to the Italian authorities. <BR>They were really on their toes. <BR>

<BR> <BR> <BR>ROME, Italy (CNN) -- Italian authorities have detained five Afghan men for questioning, the Italian Interior Ministry said. <BR> <BR>They were stopped near the U.S. Embassy to the Vatican on Monday. <BR> <BR>A ministry representative said the men had with them maps of Rome with an itinerary marked on them. <BR> <BR>The American embassy, located in one of Rome's more exclusive neighbourhoods, on the Aventine Hill, said it was looking into the reports of the arrests. <BR> <BR>The new U.S. ambassador to the Holy See recently took up his post and met with Pope John Paul II to present his credentials earlier this month. <BR> <BR>The arrests came as part of stepped-security in the wake of the terrorism attacks in the United States but the Italian authorities were not more specific about how the arrests came to be made. <BR> <BR>The five men had no identification on them and some Arab-language papers, plus a map of Rome with some places on the map indicated, an interior ministry spokesman, Daniela Pugliese, told the Associated Press. <BR> <BR>The five had not been charged on Monday evening. <BR> <BR>

Well, I haven't seen CNN tonight, but all the Italian news channels said the same thing. <BR>There were four guys between 18-22 years of age. <BR>I saw the residence of the ambassador and where theye were said the be hanging around. <BR>The residence of the ambassador is located with in the premises of the Vatican. <BR>Since these premises were always behind the Vatican (I use to pass daily by the ambassadors house), I do not know where they are now, as I did not recognize the area they were showing on the news. <BR>The Vatican owns property all over the place. <BR>Also, there was no mention of the Embassy. <BR>No one said they were anywhere near there.

you know what I meant. <BR>"they" and "said to be".

To Jan; <BR> I think Catholics ARE Christians

To I think, Of course Catholics are Christians. I made a point to say Catholic as it is a institution which is thousands of years old, a strong faith and strong people behind it. Being that Vatican City is there that is where one would find thousands of pilgrims each day gathered in mass and so forth. When the catholic church is attacked millions upon millions are attacked. One faith one people. If one attacked a protestant church which has too many branches to count the impact would not be felt as heavily. As your name suggests You need to think!

One thing is to hit the those "arrogant" Americans and split the consensus, cause heated discussions whether they deserve it or not. <BR>Quite another thing is stepping against Vatican. Consider the response. <BR>All catholics of the world would raise. <BR>No questions asked. No one would contemplate are Muslims good or bad fellas. <BR>Oh, they would not dare to go against Vatican, never ever. <BR>But the State Department (whatever it is called properly) officially warned American tourists about possibilies of attacks on territories of the foreign countries. They didn't say "dont travel". They said "be aware" <BR>

Twenty years ago, Ali Agca - a turkish muslim- tried to kill the Pope. Had he succeeded, I don't think this would have started a new crusade against Islam. <BR>Then virtually all muslims are peaceful guys, as are christians. <BR>So the goal of some terrorists can be indeed to attack the Vatican, so that christians retaliate against muslims in general, which would then be also angry and rally behind the worst islamic fanatics to start a global jihad. <BR>And what is the military might of christians, or catholics in the world? Can't be more powerful than the USA. <BR>

I don't understand which way this has gone, but if it helps, Italy is not taking chances. <BR>They do think the Vatican is on the list to be hit, and are placing military all around it.

Will the Sistine Chapel still be open to tourists?

Didn't read this through. Did they arrest Rex in Italy?!? Can't imagine they won't send him back to us! <BR>Just kidding, Rex!

From the Washington Post: <BR> <BR>5 Afghans Arrested on Italian Immigration Charges <BR> <BR>11:47 a.m. – Italian police said they are treating five Afghan men arrested near the U.S. Embassy to the Vatican as illegal immigrants, not terror suspects.