Extra, Extra
Meth Lab: “For decades, the country has been a global hub for opium production, estimated to supply 80 percent of the world’s opiate users. Now its meth industry is growing at breakneck speed, stoking fears among Western experts and officials that, under the Taliban, Afghanistan could become a major supplier as demand rises globally.” WaPo: The drug trade now flourishing in Afghanistan: Meth.
+ Crossing the Century Mark: “A punishing heat wave has pushed temperatures past 120F (50C) in some areas. Some schools have closed early for the summer. Dozens of people have people have died of heat stroke. The region is already hard-hit by climate change. Extreme heat is common in May. But not in April and March, both of which were the hottest across much of India for more than a century.” Meanwhile, in America, as the water dries up, we’re finding bodies. Body found in barrel in Lake Mead may date back to 1980s.
+ Self Control: “Ferdinand Marcos Jr., along with his mother Imelda, has long tried to thwart efforts to recover billions of dollars plundered during his father’s autocratic rule. If he becomes president in elections on May 9, he will have the authority to appoint the head of the agency set up to recover the family’s riches.”
+ Cup Runneth Under: “In Costa Rica, if farmers apply just ⅓ less fertilizer, coffee yields could drop 15%.” I’m a big fan of Costa Rica coffee, so that’s enough to scare me. But there are plenty of other ways the fertilizer shortage puts us all up sh-t creek without a paddle.
+ A Screw Loose: “Working to reduce the need for regular inspections of large structures, researchers from the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Cognitive Internet Technologies CCIT have created a smart self-powered screw that leverages IoT tricks to automatically send out alerts when it detects that it’s become looser than it was on the day it was installed.” Smart Screws That Can Detect When They’re Loose Could Help Save America’s Bridges.