The James Logan Courier

By Tom Avril
The Philadelphia Inquirer (MCT)

PHILADELPHIA — Egypt's top antiquities official was down in the fabled tomb of Tutankhamun a few weeks ago — doing a television interview, of all things — when he noticed something curious he had never seen before.

In a back room closed to public view, Zahi Hawass spotted a cluster of reed boxes crammed with plaster fragments and limestone seals used to stamp hieroglyphs. Intrigued, the scholar took a closer look and saw that both were marked with a trio of icons — sun, scarab and basket — whose meaning he recognized instantly:

Neb-kheperu-re, the throne name of the boy pharaoh.

Eighty-five years after his tomb was discovered, and after his treasures have been ogled by millions of museumgoers, King Tut is still revealing surprises.

By Christine Spolar
Chicago Tribune (MCT)

BARCELONA, Spain — Books are big business in Barcelona, the publishing capital of Spain and an intellectual port for writers exploring the political shadows and sorrows of this country's last century.

So when the world-renowned Frankfurt Book Fair asked to highlight the cultural influences of Barcelona, and specifically the Catalan culture, it was widely expected that literary stars across the region would embrace the distinction.

By Jodi S. Cohen
Chicago Tribune (MCT)

CHICAGO — The University of Chicago Press has a hot book on its hands, with some solid advice for U.S. military in Iraq:

Make friends with the Iraqis. Stay out of political and religious arguments. Try speaking in Arabic — even if you're not good at it.

"American success or failure in Iraq may well depend on whether the Iraqis ... like American soldiers or not," the book admonishes.

The advice, which sounds like it could be lifted from a lesson book from the war on terror, was actually written 65 years ago during World War II and recently discovered by the University of Chicago Press. It's called "Instructions for American Servicemen in Iraq During World War II."

By Tania Ganguli
The Orlando Sentinel (MCT)

ORLANDO, Fla. — "I think he's scared to play me," Buccaneers tight end Alex Smith said toward receiver Ike Hilliard's general direction.

Smith sat inside a trailer just outside the Bucs' training-camp practice field at Disney's Wide World of Sports. In front of him were two HDTVs loaded with an advance copy of EA Sports' Madden NFL 08. Hilliard was busy playing someone else when he heard Smith's taunt.

As he stood up, Smith grinned. Hilliard had taken the bait. Deadpan, Hilliard traded controllers with Smith's opponent, ready to make the third-year tight end shut up. He was, however, facing the two-time Madden Bowl champion.

Shutting him up wasn't going to be easy.

By Jane Henderson
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MCT)

ST. LOUIS — There should be a secret handshake.

Something to let other readers know whether it's safe to discuss the finer plot points of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

It's too late for publishers to try to copyright a handshake. The book went on sale at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, and the book phenomenon of a lifetime has been reported and rehashed worldwide.

But when can readers safely talk about the story itself? For true fans, the exciting buildup to "Deathly Hallows" was a mere appetizer. They have the real meal now. So how long should the public — readers, 24-hour media and critics — keep Potter secrets?