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Medici philosopher's mystery death is solved By Malcolm Moore, Rome Correspondent Last Updated: 2:35am GMT 07/02/2008 After 500 years, one of Renaissance Italy's most enduring murder mysteries has been solved by forensic scientists. Ever since Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, a mystical and mercurial philosopher at the court of Lorenzo de' Medici, suddenly became sick and died in 1494, it has been rumoured that foul play was involved. Scientists display the bones of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola Pico's fame has faded, but he was a celebrated figure at the Medici court. He gained notoriety when, at the age of 23, he...

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Rep. James R. Langevin yesterday drew a reluctant House into Air Force Lt. Col. Martha McSally's fight against the Islamic dress code for U.S. military women in Saudi Arabia. Langevin won the promise of a full House vote on his measure to scrap the regulation, which Rhode Island native McSally has challenged in federal court. His amendment would forbid the Pentagon to buy abayas for servicewomen in Saudi Arabia or compel them to wear them. "Women make first-class soldiers and should not be treated like second-class citizens," Langevin told the House during debate on the defense budget...