FOR nearly 150 years, a story has circulated about a hidden Civil War message engraved inside Abraham Lincoln’s pocket watch.

More than a foot of rain has washed out highways around the US capital, toppled a 100-year-old elm tree on the White House lawn and caused flooding that closed major government departments and the National Archives, where the Declaration of Independence is kept.

AMERICA’S first celebrity chef and television cooking pioneer Julia Child died recently, just a few days before her 92nd birthday.