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News & Notes

Ancient sarcophagus found in Cyprus

By wire services
Published March 21, 2006

A 2,500-year-old sarcophagus with vivid color illustrations from Homer's epics has been discovered in western Cyprus, archaeologists said Monday. Construction workers found the limestone sarcophagus last week in a tomb near the village of Kouklia, in the coastal Paphos area. The tomb, which probably belonged to an ancient warrior, had been looted during antiquity. "The style of the decoration is unique, not so much from an artistic point of view, but for the subject and the colors used," said Pavlos Flourentzos, director of the island's antiquities department. Flourentzos said the coffin - painted in red, black and blue on a white background - dated to 500 B.C., when Greek cultural influence was gaining a firm hold on the eastern Mediterranean island. Experts believe the ornate decoration features the hero Ulysses in scenes from Homer's Iliad and Odyssey - both hugely popular throughout the Greek world.

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm will sign a bill requiring abortion providers to give pregnant women the option to see ultrasound images of their fetuses. Granholm generally has opposed antiabortion legislation, but the bill was amended so it no longer requires pregnant women to see the ultrasound images, spokeswoman Liz Boyd said.

Debt limit

President Bush signed a bill Monday pushing the ceiling on the national debt to nearly $9-trillion. The measure allows the government to borrow an additional $781-billion. The debt limit increase was the fourth of Bush's presidency, totaling $3-trillion.

Two more bodies have been found in New Orleans' hurricane-devastated Lower 9th Ward, a coroner said Monday. About 1,100 deaths have been blamed on Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana; the death toll in Mississippi is 231. The latest bodies were found Sunday in a collapsed house while rubble was being cleared.

A judge in Houston on Monday postponed Andrea Yates' murder retrial until June because of a scheduling conflict. Yates was convicted of murder in 2002 in the deaths of three of her children, but the conviction was overturned because a forensic psychiatrist gave false testimony. She was not tried in the deaths of two other children. Jury selection, originally set to begin Monday, will start June 22.

[Last modified March 21, 2006, 02:30:40]