Tattooed mummies in ancient Egypt, Crusaders who branded their foreheads with crosses, and New Zealand's inked Maori warriors were fodder for an unusual conference at a Vatican university Tuesday on the role of tattoos in shaping identity.

"Into the Skin: identity, symbols and history of permanent body marks" was the brainchild of a Christian arts association and Israel's ambassador to the Holy See, an unlikely expert in the field given Judaism's prohibition of tattooing and the painful role that tattooed serial numbers played in the Holocaust.

Mysterious stone carvings made thousands of years ago and recently uncovered in an excavation underneath Jerusalem have archaeologists stumped.

Israeli diggers who uncovered a complex of rooms carved into the bedrock in the oldest section of the city recently found the markings: Three "V'' shapes cut next to each other into the limestone floor of one of the rooms, about 2 inches (5 centimeters) deep and 20 inches (50 centimeters) long. There were no finds to offer any clues pointing to the identity of who made them or what purpose they served.

A Detroit-area woman is suing an auto dealership, claiming her new SUV smells bad because it once contained a corpse.

The Detroit News and CBS Detroit reported Monday that Margarita Salais (suh-LAZE') sued Suburban Ford of Sterling Heights in Oakland County Circuit Court. The suit claims the dealership failed to disclose that the car had been stolen three times and once held a body.

With the constant churn of freighter propellers, the percussive thump of oil and gas exploration and the underwater din of military testing, ocean noise levels have become unbearable for some sea mammals.

Contrary to the image of a distant and silent world under the sea, underwater sound intensity has on average soared 20 decibels over the past 50 years, with devastating consequences for wildlife.

The Los Angeles Lakers will play games on the first three nights of the NBA season, the first of 42 back-to-back-to-back sets of games that teams will face during this lockout-shortened season.

The NBA announced the compacted, 66-game schedule on Tuesday night, one that will require every team to play on three consecutive nights at least once.

Welcome to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Guns N' Roses.

The seminal rock band of the late 1980s and early '90s, best known for hits like "Welcome to the Jungle," ''Sweet Child O' Mine" and "November Rain," leads the 2012 class of inductees announced on Wednesday.

Former Israeli President Moshe Katsav entered a minimum security prison on Wednesday to start serving a seven-year sentence for rape, but not before defiantly accusing the state of Israel of "executing" an innocent man.

The day was a bittersweet one in Israeli history, at once shameful because the holder of such a lofty office was going behind bars for such a heinous crime, but at the same time a moment of honor because it proved that in Israel, even a president is equal before the law.

Former Miss USA Rima Fakih was speeding and weaving through traffic with an uncorked, half-empty bottle of champagne and a blood-alcohol level more than twice the legal limit when she was arrested in the Detroit enclave of Highland Park, according to a police report released Tuesday.

The report on her drunken-driving arrest obtained by The Associated Press through a Freedom of Information Act request says the 26-year-old from Dearborn was pulled over early Saturday going 60 mph, weaving in heavy traffic and changing lanes without using a turn signal.

Serie A leader Juventus has lost striker Mirko Vucinic for about three weeks because of a right thigh muscle tear.

Vucinic was injured during Juve's 2-0 win over Cesena on Sunday. The Montenegro international underwent medical exams Tuesday.

It's the ultimate belt-tightening handbook: No Meat? Push an eggplant through the grinder instead. Chew your food long enough for your stomach to feel full. And don't forget to sweep crumbs off your table and into a jar.

These are some of the tips Greeks used to survive the World War II occupation that have been collected in "Starvation Recipes" — a cookbook that has become a surprise hit as millions of Greeks struggle to make ends meet in a new era of hardship brought on by economic crisis.