Famed Italian Writer Eco Dies at 84

Italian author Umberto Eco has died at age 84, ending a writing career that spanned decades and covered topics both profound and mundane.

Eco died of cancer at his home in Milan Friday. He was, as the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera said, one of Italy's most celebrated intellectuals.

His novels, while challenging, had popular appeal.

His most famous work, the best-selling historical novel The Name of the Rose, was made into a movie starring Sean Connery in 1986. The novel published in 1980 has been translated into 43 languages and sold millions of copies.

Professional academics

Eco was a professional academic, having studied philosophy and later specializing in semiotics, the study of signs and symbols.

His second novel, Foucault's Pendulum, was a thriller so complicated that it was packaged with an annotated guide to help readers follow the plot.

Eco's road to literary fame was long and filled with unlikely detours.

As a teenager in northern Italy, he wrote comic books and fantasy novels. He worked as a journalist for Italian television starting in the 1950s, and later wrote children's books and columns for Italian newspapers.

In the past decade, Eco published essay collections on current events and, last year, a novel about Italian political scandal called Numero Zero.

Thousands Attend Funeral for Justice Scalia

Mourners attended a Roman Catholic funeral Mass Saturday for the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, lauded as a giant of the law and the most influential justice of his era.

The life of Scalia, who was deeply religious, was honored in the country’s largest Roman Catholic church, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, where Pope Francis had celebrated a Mass in September.

Vice President Joe Biden led a distinguished group of officials, dignitaries, family and friends in attending the service for Scalia, who died one week ago at age 79.

Scalia's eight fellow justices – including Clarence Thomas, who offered a Bible reading – several cabinet secretaries and many members of Congress were in attendance, as was former Vice President Dick Cheney.

​One of the late justice's nine children, Paul Scalia, a Roman Catholic priest, delivered a homily to the congregation during the service. Four other sons served as pallbearers.

Paul Scalia recalled his father's devotion to God and country. He told the audience how his father reacted once after accidentally standing in his son's confessional line.

"Like heck if I'm confessing to you,'' Paul Scalia fondly remembered his father saying.

Public mourning

Scalia's coffin lay in repose throughout the day and evening Friday at the Supreme Court, near the U.S. Capitol, as lines of mourners filed past.

President Barack Obama and first lady Michele Obama offered their condolences Friday afternoon.

Scalia was a member of the nation's highest court for more than 29 years.

He was known as a leading proponent of conservative policies and an "originalist," meaning that he was guided in his interpretation of the U.S. Constitution by what the country's founders in the 18th century had in mind when they wrote the national charter.

​​Such views often contrast with what is known as a "liberal" view of the court's decisions, held by those who believe the Constitution, written more than 200 years ago, should be interpreted in terms of its meaning for the government and society of today.

The judge's sudden death left the Supreme Court with only eight judges, which could affect the court's actions until a ninth justice is nominated by the president and approved by the Senate.

Court review

With only eight sitting judges, an even 4-4 vote among them would mean the Supreme Court could take no action to review lower-court decisions – either upholding or overturning them. Many lower-court actions are brought before the Supreme Court on appeal, but the court chooses which cases it will review.

​​Since this is a presidential election year, many members of the opposition Republican party have said the responsibility of choosing a new Supreme Court justice should be made by the next president, whoever that may be, who will succeed Obama in 11 months' time.

President Obama, however, said it is his constitutional responsibility to act more promptly; most members of his Democratic Party and some Republicans agree that a Supreme Court nomination should not be postponed until next year.

Obama has said he will name his choice for the court in the coming days or weeks.

'To Kill a Mockingbird' Author Harper Lee Dies

Harper Lee, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the most significant works in the history of American literature, died Friday at age 89 in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama.

Lee's attorney, Tonja Carter, said she "passed away early this morning in her sleep" and that the death was unexpected.

Her publisher, HarperCollins, also confirmed her death Friday but did not give any other details.

"The world knows Harper Lee was a brilliant writer, but what many don't know is that she was an extraordinary woman of great joyfulness, humility and kindness," said Michael Morrison, head of Lee's publisher HarperCollins. "She lived her life the way she wanted to — in private, surrounded by books and the people who loved her.''

To Kill a Mockingbird tells the story of idealistic white southern lawyer Atticus Finch, who defends an African-American man unjustly accused of raping a white woman.

The story is set in the Great Depression of the 1930s and is seen through the eyes of Finch's young daughter, Scout. It is as much a story of growing up as it is a tale of racism and injustice.

It was a remarkable novel for its time, published in 1960 when black Americans were battling for civil rights and confronted by violent mobs, indifferent police, and racist white politicians.

'Changed America'

To Kill a Mockingbird won a Pulitzer Prize for literature and was made into a 1962 film starring Gregory Peck, who won an Oscar playing Finch.

The book has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide, HarperCollins says, making it one of the most widely read books since it was published.

In a 1991 Library of Congress survey of books that have affected people's live, To Kill a Mockingbird was ranked second only to the Bible.

A stage version of the book will make its Broadway debut next year.

President and first lady Barack and Michelle Obama said Friday that Lee "changed America for the better" and that her book also changed the way Americans see each other more powerfully than 100 speeches could.

But Lee herself avoided the spotlight. She said she never expected Mockingbird to become a success, and she lived quietly in New York and Monroeville.

Her public appearances were few. But she did go to the White House in 2007 — to accept a Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush, who called her book "a gift to the entire world."

She also regularly attended an annual luncheon at the University of Alabama to meet with the winners of a high school essay contest on the subject of her book, and wrote occasional articles for U.S. magazines.

'Legacy will last'

Spencer Madrie, owner of Monroeville's Ol' Curiosities & Book Shoppe, which is dedicated to the work of Lee and other Southern authors, said the town was in a somber mood as word of Lee's death spread.

"You wish somebody like that could go on forever and be this lifelong legend," Madrie said. "You don't ever consider somebody like that passing, even though her legacy will last for generations after."

A private funeral will be held in a few days, a statement from Lee's family said.

The book world was stunned last year when Lee allowed HarperCollins to publish her only other known novel, Go Set A Watchman, which was a prequel to Mockingbird.

The publisher says it was the fastest-selling book in its history, selling more than 1.1 million copies in North America in its first week.