Little is known about how the throne would have been used but the elaborate decorations discovered on the chair celebrate the mysterious cult figure of Attis.

"It's sort of King Tut meets T. Rex," paleontologist Phil Manning of the University of Manchester in Britain said in a telephone interview.

It is a tantalizing bonanza for the Bush administration, which has strongly backed exploration to make up for a decline in domestic oil production; for oil companies, which are scouring the world to find new supplies

state ornithologist says Missouri is the breeding grounds for several of the birds on a new "WatchList" of species heading for extinction and he is working on plans to help improve their chances of survival.

Scientists forecast the tropic belt would spread by about 2 degrees of latitude north and south of the Equator by the end of the 21st century. That amount of tropical expansion has already ocurred.

Anyone who believes the expedition is purely for science, as Japan contends, or that humpback whales need to be killed to measure pregnancy rates, might be led to believe that the sun rises in the west, the US scientists said.

One of the three footprints discovered on Wednesday is about one foot long, or is of similar size and appearance as shown in sketches of the mystical ape-like creature believed to live in snowy caves, the TV company said.

At the beginning of 2003, one euro bought one US dollar. Eighteen months ago, it bought $1.20. Now it is pushing $1.50, and there is no reason to think that it will stop there.

We're using our telescope, kind of, as a time machine because as we look through space to great distances, the light has been travelling for many billions of years, and we're essentially looking back in time," he said.

Here are 10 ways to be a 'green' decorator this holiday season: 1. Try a live tree for once. If you have some space in the yard, buy a balled-and-burlapped evergreen, decorate it for a few days close to Christmas, then plant it outside soon after.