It’s the cash crop of the Taliban and the scourge of Afghanistan — the country’s intractable opium cultivation. http://bigstory.ap.org/article/629f0d31245c4533a3678b8c7176ca9d/afghan-poppy-farmers-say-new-seeds-will-boost-opium-output  This year, many Afghan poppy farmers are expecting a windfall as they get ready to harvest opium from a new variety of poppy seeds said to boost yield of the resin that produces heroin. The plants […]

An experiment with 24 healthy volunteers found that compared with consuming glucose, consuming fructose — the sugar found in fruits, honey and corn syrup — resulted in more activity in the brain’s reward regions, increased responses to images of food and a tendency to choose eating a high-calorie food over a future monetary reward. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/05/04/fructose-may-increase-cravings-for-high-calorie-foods/?smid=tw-nytimes […]

A top NATO commander says the alliance will briefly move an allied joint force command headquarters to Romania as NATO continues to hone its ability to react to Russia’s moves in Ukraine and other security challenges. http://bigstory.ap.org/article/2254c7ad614541ad8d48e650faf84158/nato-briefly-move-command-hq-romania-naples U.S Navy Adm. Mark E. Ferguson III, commander of the Allied Joint Force Command based in Naples, Italy, […]

Acesulfame K. Ethoxyquin. A chemical smoke flavor. Artificial sweeteners, preservatives, and the flavor enhancer, are just a few of the ingredients that Panera Bread wants to banish from its kitchens by the end of 2016.  http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/05/business/panera-bread-plans-to-drop-a-long-list-of-ingredients.html?smid=tw-nytimes In doing so, Panera would join the growing ranks of food companies and restaurants that have announced plans to […]

Federal agents for years monitored one of the two gunmen who were shot dead after opening fire with assault rifles at a heavily guarded Texas exhibit of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad. http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/05/us-usa-shooting-texas-idUSKBN0NP01G20150505?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=twitter Two government sources who asked not to be named said the gunmen were roommates Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi, of Phoenix. Court […]

Lyndon McLellan, the owner of a convenience store in rural Fairmont, N.C., where catfish sandwiches go for $2.75, is still trying to recover the $107,702.66 — his entire business bank account — that was seized by the I.R.S. last summer. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/01/us/politics/rules-change-on-irs-seizures-too-late-for-some.html?ref=us Under the increasingly unpopular practice of civil forfeiture, law enforcement agents can seize property […]

The Navy on Thursday began deploying warships to protect American commercial vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz against any interference from Iran, which this week seized a cargo ship in the narrow waterway, though which about 20 percent of the world’s oil passes. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/01/world/middleeast/iran-maersk-tigris-container-ship-seizure.html?ref=world&_r=0 Military officials said American warships and aircraft would maintain a […]

It isn’t every day that the definition of a common English word that is ubiquitous in common parlance is challenged in federal court, but that is precisely what has happened with the word “natural.” http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/03/magazine/why-natural-doesnt-mean-anything-anymore.html?smid=tw-nytimes  During the past few years, some 200 class-action suits have been filed against food manufacturers, charging them with misuse of […]

The American Psychological Association secretly collaborated with the administration of President George W. Bush to bolster a legal and ethical justification for the torture of prisoners swept up in the post-Sept. 11 war on terror, according to a new report by a group of dissident health professionals and human rights activists. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/01/us/report-says-american-psychological-association-collaborated-on-torture-justification.html?partner=socialflow&smid=tw-nytimes&_r=0 The report is […]

Jonathan Stickland, a Texas state representative  sees as government theft of privacy – the unlawful acquisition by the National Security Agency of personal information in the form of metadata about electronic communications by US citizens. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-32487971 The particular target of his ire is the Texas Cryptologic Center, an NSA facility located near San Antonio. He […]

Germany’s national intelligence agency, the BND, spied on top French officials and the EU’s headquarters on behalf of US intelligence, German media reports. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32529277 The leaks from a secret BND report suggest that its monitoring station at Bad Aibling spied on France’s presidential palace and foreign ministry, and the European Commission. The US National Security […]