Morsi hails charter as "new dawn for Egypt", targets economy

CAIRO: Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi on Wednesday hailed an Islamist-backed charter he pushed through despite fierce opposition protests as "a new dawn" for his country, and said he would now tackle a teetering economy.

In a televised national address, Morsi said he would reshuffle his government and renewed an offer of dialogue with the largely secular opposition.

But while "mistakes on both sides" occurred as the new charter was drafted and put to a referendum that gave it 64-percent voter support, he remained defiant over the "difficult" decisions he made.

"I only took decisions for God and in the interests of the nation," said Morsi, who hails from Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.

The result, he contended, holding up the constitution, would cap nearly two years of turmoil since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in February 2011, and allow Egypt to enter "an era with greater security and stability."

It was "a new dawn for Egypt," he said.

The opposition, however, has already dismissed the new charter and said it would fight on, challenging its legitimacy and positioning itself for legislative elections that are due within the next two months.

The head of the opposition National Salvation Front, Nobel peace prize laureate Mohamed ElBaradei tweeted that the constitution was "void" because it conflicts with international law in regard to "freedom of belief, expression, etc".

The Front sees the charter as a possible tool to introduce strict Islamic sharia law by weakening human rights, the rights of women and the independence of the judiciary.

It also stressed that just one in three of Egypt's 52 million voters took part in the referendum.

Protests against the charter, and against a decree -- later rescinded -- giving Morsi near-absolute powers, have taken place since late November. Some of them turned violent, including clashes on December 5 that killed eight people and wounded hundreds.

The likelihood of prolonged "elevated" political conflict despite the adoption of the constitution prompted the ratings agency Standard and Poor's this week to knock Egypt's long-term credit rating down a peg, to 'B-'.

A $4.8 billion loan the International Monetary Fund put on pause this month has also made investors anxious, and raised the risk of Egypt's currency going into a nose-dive as the central bank burns through its foreign reserves.

Authorities have already banned travellers from taking out or bringing in more than $10,000 each.

Tourism, a mainstay of the economy, has also not recovered from a 32 percent decline that happened when the early 2011 revolution erupted to oust Mubarak.

Morsi said in his speech that "I will deploy all my efforts to boost the Egyptian economy, which faces enormous challenges but has also big opportunities for growth."

He was in consultations with Prime Minister Hisham Qandil on the ministerial reshuffle as part of "the changes necessary for this task."

Morsi argued that the new constitution will allow Egypt to enter "an era with greater security and stability" and vowed to promote "growth, progress and social justice."

The United States, which gives $1.3 billion a year to Egypt's influential military, has called on Morsi to work to "bridge divisions" with the largely secular opposition.

"We have consistently supported the principle that democracy requires much more than simple majority rule," acting State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said in a statement on Tuesday.

-AFP/ac

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Decluttering before the New Year

Time off work during the holidays is a perfect time to tidy up your home and work spaces to start the New Year right.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Do your New Year's resolutions include a push to clean up? Here are some tips to start


• Being organized is about being in control, says professional organizer Susan Fleischman


• Cleaning clutter can eliminate the need to buy what you simply can't find

(CNN) -- Whatever other resolutions we make leading up to the New Year -- to call Mom more often, lay off the late-night snacks -- getting ourselves organized is likely near the top of the list. And that often means clearing out the clutter that keeps us from functioning efficiently, whether we're at work or at home.

Many employees -- whether they go to actual offices or do their jobs from home -- find the last week of the calendar year is ideal for sorting through e-mails, clearing their desks, and reorganizing their work spaces. Sorting through stuff is rarely fun, but those who tackle it now will find themselves a step ahead when their now-vacationing colleagues and clients come staggering back after the holidays.

According to the National Association of Professional Organizers, which sponsors the annual "Get Organized Month" each January to help folks take control of their time, tasks and possessions, 83% of members polled say that "paper organization" ranks highest on their individual and corporate clients' to-do lists. For people taking time off between Christmas and New Year's, this week offers a chance to get things in order before 2013 arrives.

Devoting time to both physically and mentally clearing out the "old" and embracing the "new" is about more than just getting rid of stuff. Being organized is really about being in control, says Susan Fleischman, a Chicago-based professional organizer, home stager and founder of clutterfree.

"As joyous as the holidays can be, the period between Thanksgiving and New Year's is probably one of the most stressful of the year for people," she says. That's why spending the week after Christmas decluttering "really helps you recover and detox from the hustle and bustle of the holidays.

"It's very symbolic -- we're ramping up to the ultimate do-over. We all get to turn the calendar page and make a fresh start."

For those at work, says Fleischman, "the phone stops ringing, there are fewer meetings. Real work probably comes to a screeching halt. There are far fewer reasons to keep letting getting organized fall to the bottom of the to-do list." And these days, when employees often feel compelled to work harder and longer, being organized can be a real competitive advantage.

NAPO Industry Member Director Mary Dykstra says that on average, Americans waste time amounting to between six and 12 weeks a year searching for things in their offices and homes. "Just imagine if you could get out from under that clutter and spend that time helping your company build their business and ultimately, your career," says Fleischman, who was a public relations and marketing executive before launching her professional organizing business.

"Every minute counts when it comes to impressing the boss, your colleagues and clients. At work, we strive to project that we're knowledgeable, in control and experts. We're constantly accessing, sharing, reacting to information. Being able to put your hands on the information or generate some information means the better you'll be able to rise to the top and have clarity of thought and creativity, and maximize productivity."

But what about moving from work to the home front? Cynthia Ewer, the Washington state-based editor of OrganizedHome.com and the author of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Organized Fast-Track," suggests we use this in-between-holidays week to step back and reflect on our habits and how well they're working for us at home.

It's important to remember, says Ewer, that "there are different personality types. "Organized" is what works for you. There are filers -- people who love folders. They want the serenity of knowing where things are. Pilers like to keep their eyes on their stuff. Deniers have bags of paperwork shoved into closets. Instead of using a "What-does-it-look-like?" yardstick, it's a "How-will-it-work?" question. Know yourself, and come up with solutions that reflect who you are, she says.

After all, she says, " 'It's here somewhere' is the most frustrating phrase in the English language."

Cutting clutter also can boost the bottom line. "How many times do you go to the store and buy the things you couldn't find?" asks Fleischman. But cleaning up and cleaning out also can generate money, says Ewer.

"It can be a real fun process to turn your clutter into cash."

Nab tax deductions by donating cleared-out items to nonprofit organizations. Declutterers can send usable books, DVDs, video games, and music to third-party merchants in exchange for gift cards through the Amazon Trade-In Program. Even computer manufacturers like Apple offer gift cards to customers who send in an old iPhone, iPad, or computer for reuse or recycling if those devices still have monetary value.

"Leading an orderly life is about saving time, saving money, reducing stress," says Fleischman, who also blogs about organizing tips and clutter makeovers. "And that's energy you can spend on leisure pursuits, which is very important to emotional well-being."

Some tips for cutting through the workplace and home clutter this holiday week:

• Stockpile your supplies. Fleischman advises making sure you've got the right trash bins, shredders, file folders and markers at your fingertips before you start sorting and tossing.
• Take it a zone at a time. Your office, home and car didn't become a mess overnight, so declutter in increments. Fleischman suggests starting with desktops, then floors, then moving on to file cabinets and bookcases.
• Go from horizontal to vertical piles. If you're purging papers, clear those piles from your desk and the floor by placing newly sorted files in a cabinet or an upright vertical file. This way, your eyes can quickly scan and identify what you need at a glance.
• Free up the fridge. "Get the ghosts of Christmas past out of there -- all those little cans of this and that, the beef sticks from the gift basket no one can bear to throw out," says Ewer. Besides, this clean-up also will save you some calories.
• Be realistic. If you really write out bills at the kitchen table and not in the home office, says Ewer, get yourself a wheeled cart you can roll where the work gets done. If your kids' toys actually live in the family room -- not in the bedroom toy box -- create a storage solution there.

"Look at your patterns of living and organize yourself accordingly."

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World's longest high-speed rail line opens in China

BEIJING China on Wednesday opened the world's longest high-speed rail line that more than halves the time required to travel from the country's capital in the north to Guangzhou, an economic hub in southern China.

The opening of the 1,428-mile line was commemorated by the 9 a.m. departure of a train from Beijing for Guangzhou. Another train left Guangzhou for Beijing an hour later.

China has massive resources and considerable prestige invested in its showcase high-speed railways program.

But it has in recent months faced high-profile problems: part of a line collapsed in central China after heavy rains in March, while a bullet train crash in the summer of 2011 killed 40 people. The former railway minister, who spearheaded the bullet train's construction, and the ministry's chief engineer, were detained in an unrelated corruption investigation months before the crash.

Trains on the latest high-speed line will initially run at 186 mph with a total travel time of about eight hours. Before, the fastest time between the two cities by train was more than 20 hours.

The line also makes stops in major cities along the way, including provincial capitals Shijiazhuang, Wuhan and Changsha.

More than 150 pairs of high-speed trains will run on the new line every day, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing the Ministry of Railways.

Railway is an essential part in China's transportation system, and the government plans to build a grid of high-speed railways with four east-west lines and four north-south lines by 2020.

The opening of the new line brings the total distance covered by China's high-speed railway system to more than 5,800 miles — about half its 2015 target of around 11,000 miles.

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Weather Death Toll Up to 6 as Storm Churns North

A killer Christmas storm is churning its way north leaving hundreds of thousands without power and snarling travel plans for people trying to get home after the holiday.

Six people have died, mostly in weather related car crashes, as the South was hammered by as many as 34 tornadoes and a lethal coating of sleet and snow that spread from the South into the Midwest.

Over 280,000 customers are without across the South today with 100,000 without power in Little Rock, Ark. alone.

The wild weather isn't over. Eighteen states from Tennessee to Maine are under winter storm warnings, blizzard warnings and advisories. Between one and two feet of snow is expected from Indianapolis to Cleveland to Syracuse, N.Y. and into Maine.

The number of flight cancellations nationwide is growing by the hour on one of the busiest travel days of the holiday season. But by 2 p.m. more than 1,000 flights were canceled, according to FlightAware.com.

"Traveling will definitely be affected as people go home for the holidays," Bob Oravec, lead forecaster for the National Weather Service, told ABC News. "Anywhere from the Mississippi Valley into the Ohio Valley and the Northeast, there's definitely going to be travel issues as we have heavy snow and some very high winds."

Flights were disrupted in traffic hubs like Indianapolis International Airport because of heavy snowfall as well as Dallas/Fort Worth which was hit with five inches of snow on Christmas, a rarity for the city.

PHOTOS: Christmas Storms

Cancellations and delays are expected to ripple into the Northeast today where high winds, flooding and more than a foot of snow in some areas is expected.

Heavy winds could further complicate matters for travelers. According to Flightaware.com, fliers are experiencing delays up to an hour in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City and Washington, D.C.

Some airlines are issuing flexible travel policies for travelers holding airline tickets today and tomorrow. Delta Airlines is allowing travelers to change their flights through Jan. 2 with no penalty. United Airlines has enacted a similar policy, as has Southwest. Policies vary slightly from airline to airline, travelers should check their carrier's web site for specifics. JetBlue, which has a major presence in New York, has not yet issued a policy but warned travelers via its web site to be prepared for delays.

Wild Holiday Weather

Severe weather on Christmas day spawned 34 tornado reports from Texas to Alabama.

In Mobile, Ala., a wide funnel cloud was barreled across the city as lightning flashed inside like giant Christmas ornaments.

The punishing winds mangled Mobile's graceful ante-bellum homes, and today, dazed residents are picking through debris while rescue crews search for people trapped in the rubble.

Teresa Mason told ABC News that she and her boyfriend panicked when they saw the tornado heading toward them in Stone County, in southern Mississippi, but she says they were actually saved when a tree fell onto the truck.

"[We] got in the truck and made it out there to the road. And that's when the tornado was over us. And it started jerking us and spinning us, "she said."This tree got us in the truck and kept us from being sucked up into the tornado."

The last time a number of tornadoes hit the Gulf Coast area around Christmas Day was in 2009, when 22 tornadoes struck on Christmas Eve morning, National Weather Service spokesman Chris Vaccaro told ABC News.

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Three gods: The hardest logic puzzle ever

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Officials confirm 64% of Egypt voters backed new charter

CAIRO: Egypt's electoral commission confirmed on Tuesday that a controversial, Islamist-backed constitution was passed by 64 per cent of voters, rejecting opposition allegations of polling fraud.

Those official results tallied with figures given by President Mohamed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood immediately after the last round of polling at the weekend in the two-stage referendum.

The National Salvation Front opposition coalition, however, has already dismissed the plebiscite as "only one battle" and vowed to "continue the fight for the Egyptian people."

That sets the scene for continued instability after more than a month of protests, some of them violent, including clashes on December 5 that killed eight people and injured hundreds.

Many creditors, investors and tourists have abandoned Egypt because of the volatility that has prevailed ever since the early 2011 revolution that toppled veteran former leader Hosni Mubarak.

The International Monetary Fund this month put on hold a $4.8 billion loan the country needs to prevent a looming currency collapse.

The rating agency Standard and Poor's has downgraded Egypt's long-term credit rating one notch to 'B-' because the "elevated" political tensions show no sign of abating.

Samir Abul Maati, the president of the national electoral commission, told a Cairo news conference late Tuesday that a total of 63.8 per cent of valid ballots supported the new constitution.

Turnout was 32.9 per cent he said.

He added that opposition allegations of fake judges supervising some of the polling were unfounded.

The opposition, which has seized on the low turnout to challenge the legitimacy of the charter, appeared to be ready to accept the official results.

Front leader Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel Peace laureate and former chief of the UN atomic energy agency, admitted to the US network PBS on Monday that the referendum "is going to pass."

"But it's a really sad day in my view for Egypt, because it is going to institutionalise instability," he said.

ElBaradei said the new charter should be treated as "an interim one" until another is written up on the basis of consensus.

The opposition argues that the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafist groups that backed the charter want to use some of its ambiguous language to slip in sharia-style strict Islamic law.

The text, which was written by a panel dominated by Islamists, has been criticised for weakening women's rights and other rights by the opposition and by the United Nation's human rights chief.

The Muslim Brotherhood counters that the constitution is a needed step to restoring stability.

The low turnout, though, confounded the Brotherhood's public predictions for the past month that voters would give greater support.

"Anything less than 70 per cent would not be good," Amr Darrag, a senior member of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party who helped draft the constitution, told AFP on December 2.

Attention is now turning to legislative elections which Egypt has to hold by the end of February. The previous parliament was dissolved in June by Egypt's constitutional court.

Morsi has ordered the senate, which currently handles all legislative business, to convene on Wednesday, the official MENA news agency said.

-AFP/ac

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Top celebs

updated 9:20 AM EST, Thu December 20, 2012

CNN readers' favorites: Celebrity women

No. 10: Sandra Bullock

No. 9: Angelina Jolie

No. 8: Katy Perry

No. 7: Taylor Swift

No. 6: Sofia Vergara

No. 5: Carrie Underwood

No. 4: Jennifer Lawrence

No. 3: Jennifer Aniston

No. 2: Adele

No. 1: Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge

CNN readers' favorites: Celebrity men

No. 10: Justin Timberlake

No. 9: Jeremy Renner

No. 8: Brad Pitt

No. 7: Ryan Gosling

No. 6: Adam Levine

No. 5: Joseph Gordon-Levitt

No. 4: Ben Affleck

No. 3: Channing Tatum

No. 2: Johnny Depp

No. 1: Daniel Craig

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Messy, dangerous Christmas weather turns deadly

Updated 2:05 p.m. EST

NEW ORLEANS Freezing rain and sleet made for a sloppy Christmas morning trek in parts of the nation's midsection on Tuesday, while residents along the Gulf Coast braced for thunderstorms, high winds and tornadoes.

Icy roads already were blamed for a 21-vehicle pileup in Oklahoma, where authorities warned would-be travelers to stay home. Fog blanketed highways, including arteries in the Atlanta area where motorists slowed as a precaution. In New Mexico, drivers across the eastern plains had to fight through snow, ice and low visibility.

At least two tornadoes were reported in Texas, though only one building was damaged, according to the National Weather Service.

Authorities say a powerful storm moving across the southeast toppled a tree onto a pickup truck in the Houston area, killing the driver. Harris County Sheriff's Deputy Thomas Gilliland says the tree fell onto the truck around 9:40 a.m. local time Tuesday.

More than 150 flights nationwide were canceled by midday, according to the flight tracker FlightAware.com. More than half were canceled by American Airlines and its regional affiliate, American Eagle.

American is headquartered and has its biggest hub at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

Meanwhile, a blizzard watch was posted for parts of Indiana and western Kentucky for storms expected to unfold Tuesday amid predictions of up to 4 to 7 inches of snow in coming hours. Much of Oklahoma and Arkansas braced under a winter storm warning of an early mix of rain and sleet forecast to eventually turn to snow.

Some mountainous areas of Arkansas' Ozark Mountains could get up to 10 inches of snow, which would make travel "very hazardous or impossible" in the northern tier of the state from near whiteout conditions, the National Weather Service said.

Elsewhere, areas of east Texas and Louisiana braced for possible thunderstorms as forecasters eyed a developing storm front expected to spread across the Gulf Coast to the Florida Panhandle.

The holiday may conjure visions of snow and ice, but twisters this time of year are not unheard of. Ten storm systems in the last 50 years have spawned at least one Christmastime tornado with winds of 113 mph or more in the South, said Chris Vaccaro, a National Weather Service spokesman in Washington, via email.

The most lethal were the storms of Dec. 24-26, 1982, when 29 tornadoes in Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi killed three people and injured 32; and those of Dec. 24-25, 1964, when two people were killed and about 30 people injured by 14 tornadoes in seven states.

Quarter-sized hail reported early Tuesday in western Louisiana was expected to be just the start of a severe weather threat on the Gulf Coast, said meteorologist Mike Efferson at the weather service office in Slidell, La. Tornado watches were in effect across southeastern Texas and southern Louisiana.

Storms along the Gulf Coast could bring winds up to 70 mph, heavy rain, more large hail and dangerous lightning in Louisiana and Mississippi, Efferson said. Furthermore, warm, moist air colliding with a cold front could produce dangerous straight-line winds.

The storm was moving quickly and was expected to intensify as it headed into northeast Louisiana and Mississippi into the late afternoon and early evening, said Bill Adams at the weather service's Shreveport, La., office.

In Mississippi, Gov. Phil Bryant urged residents to have a plan for any severe weather.

"It only takes a few minutes, and it will help everyone have a safe Christmas," Bryant said.

In Alabama, the director of the Emergency Management Agency, Art Faulkner, said he has briefed both local officials and Gov. Robert Bentley on plans for dealing with a possible outbreak of storms.

No day is good for severe weather, but Faulkner said Christmas adds extra challenges because people are visiting unfamiliar areas and often thinking more of snow than possible twisters.

In California, after a brief reprieve across the northern half of the state on Monday, wet weather was expected to make another appearance on Christmas Day. Flooding and snarled holiday traffic were expected in Southern California.

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Gunman Killed Firemen With Bushmaster, Left Note

A convicted killer, who shot dead two firefighters with a Bushmaster assault rifle after leading them into an ambush when they responded to a house fire he set in Western New York, left behind a typewritten note saying he wanted to "do what I like doing best, killing people," police said.

William Spengler, 62, set his home and a car on fire early Monday morning with the intention of setting a trap to kill firefighters and to see "how much of the neighborhood I can burn down," according to the note he wrote and which police found at the scene. The note did not give a reason for his actions.

Spengler, who served 18 years in prison for beating his 92-year-old grandmother to death with a hammer in 1981, hid Monday morning in a small ditch beside a tree overlooking the sleepy lakeside street in Webster, N.Y., where he lived with his sister, police said today in a news conference.

That woman, Cheryl Spengler, 67, remains missing and may also have been killed, police said.

As firefighters arrived on the scene after a 5:30 a.m. 911 call on the morning of Christmas Eve, Spengler opened fire on them with the Bushmaster, the same semi-automatic, military-style weapon used in the Dec. 14 rampage killing of 20 children in Newtown, Conn.

"This was a clear ambush on first responders… Spengler had armed himself heavily and taken area of cover," said Gerald Pickering, the chief of the Webster Police Department.

Armed with a Smith & Wesson .38 caliber revolver, a Mossman 12-gauge shotgun, and the Bushmaster, Spengler killed two firefighters, and injured two more as well as an off-duty police officer at the scene.

As a convicted felon, Spengler could not legally own a firearm and police are investigating how he obtained the weapons.

One firefighter tried to take cover in his fire engine and was killed with a gunshot through the windshield, Pickering said.

Responding police engaged in a gunfight with Spengler, who ultimately died, likely by a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

As police engaged the gunman, more houses along Lake Ontario were engulfed, ultimately razing seven of them.

SWAT teams were forced to evacuate residents using armored vehicles.

Police identified the two slain firefighter as Lt. Michael Chiapperini, a 20-year veteran of the Webster Police Department and "lifetime firefighter," according to Pickering, and Tomasz Kaczowka, who also worked as a 911 dispatcher.

Two other firefighters were wounded and remain the intensive care unit at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, N.Y.

Joseph Hofsetter was shot once. He sustained an injury to his pelvis and has "a long road to recovery," said Dr. Nicole A. Stassen, a trauma physician.

The second firefighter, Theodore Scardino, was shot twice and received injuries to his left shoulder and left lung, as well as a knee.

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New Scientist 2012 holiday quiz

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THIS was the year we held our breath in almost unbearable anticipation while we waited to see whether physicists at the Large Hadron Collider would finally get a clear view of the Higgs boson, so tantalisingly hinted at last December. Going a bit blue, we held on through March when one of the LHC's detectors seemed to lose sight of the thing, before exhaling in a puff of almost-resolution in July, when researchers announced that the data added up to a fairly confident pretty-much-actual-discovery of the particle.

Early indications were that it might be a weird and wonderful variety of the Higgs, prompting a collective gasp of excitement. That was followed by a synchronised sigh of mild disappointment when later data implied that it was probably the most boring possible version after all, and not a strange entity pointing the way to new dimensions and the true nature of dark matter. Prepare yourself for another puff or two as the big story moves on next year.

This respirational rollercoaster might be running a bit too slowly to supply enough oxygen to the brain of a New Scientist reader, so we have taken care to provide more frequent oohs and aahs using less momentous revelations. See how many of the following unfundamental discoveries you can distinguish from the truth-free mimics that crowd parasitically around them.

1. Which of these anatomical incongruities of the animal kingdom did we describe on 14 July?

• a) A fish, found in a canal in Vietnam, that wears its genitals under its mouth
• b) A frog, found in a puddle in Peru, that has no spleen
• c) A lizard, found in a cave in Indonesia, that has four left feet
• d) A cat, found in a tree in northern England, that has eight extra teeth

2. "A sprout by any other name would taste as foul." So wrote William Shakespeare in his diary on 25 December 1598, setting off the centuries of slightly unjust ridicule experienced by this routinely over-cooked vegetable. But which forbiddingly named veg did we report on 7 July as having more health-giving power than the sprout, its active ingredient being trialled as a treatment for prostate cancer?

• a) Poison celery
• b) Murder beans
• c) Inconvenience potatoes
• d) Death carrots

3. Scientists often like to say they are opening a new window on things. Usually that is a metaphor, but on 10 November we reported on a more literal innovation in the fenestral realm. It was:

• a) A perspex peephole set in the nest of the fearsome Japanese giant hornet, to reveal its domestic habits
• b) A glass porthole implanted in the abdomen of a mouse, to reveal the process of tumour metastasis
• c) A crystal portal in the inner vessel of an experimental thorium reactor, to reveal its nuclear fires to the naked eye
• d) A small window high on the wall of a basement office in the Princeton physics department, to reveal a small patch of sky to postgraduate students who have not been outside for seven years

4. On 10 March we described a new material for violin strings, said to produce a brilliant and complex sound richer than that of catgut. What makes up these super strings?

• a) Mousegut
• b) Spider silk
• c) Braided carbon nanotubes
• d) An alloy of yttrium and ytterbium

5. While the peril of climate change looms inexorably larger, in this festive-for-some season we might take a minute to look on the bright side. On 17 March we reported on one benefit of global warming, which might make life better for some people for a while. It was:

• a) Receding Arctic sea ice will make it easier to lay undersea cables to boost internet speeds
• b) Increasing temperatures mean that Greenlanders can soon start making their own wine
• c) Rising sea levels could allow a string of new beach resorts to open in the impoverished country of Chad
• d) More acidic seawater will add a pleasant tang to the salt water taffy sweets made in Atlantic City

6. In Alaska's Glacier Bay national park, the brown bear in the photo (above, right) is doing something never before witnessed among bearkind, as we revealed on 10 March. Is it:

• a) Making a phonecall?
• b) Gnawing at a piece of whalebone to dislodge a rotten tooth?
• c) Scratching itself with a barnacle-covered stone tool?
• d) Cracking oysters on its jaw?

7. Men have much in common with fruit flies, as we revealed on 24 March. When the sexual advances of a male fruit fly are rejected, he may respond by:

• a) Whining
• b) Hitting the booze
• c) Jumping off a tall building
• d) Hovering around the choosy female long after all hope is lost

8. While great Higgsian things were happening at the LHC, scientists puzzled over a newly urgent question: what should we call the boson? Peter Higgs wasn't the only physicist to predict its existence, and some have suggested that the particle's name should also include those other theorists or perhaps reflect some other aspect of the particle. Which of the following is a real suggestion that we reported on 24 March?

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