UN: Afghan opium production down

UN: Afghan opium production down Opium production has dropped significantly in Afghanistan, in large part because of a plant infection in the country’s war-torn south, a U.N. report said on Thursday. “This is good news but there is no room for false optimism; the market may again become lucrative for poppy-crop growers so we have […]

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Millions pledged to stop general bee decline

A British consortium pledged Tuesday to spend up to £10 million ($14.5 million) in research grants to find out what is causing a serious decline in bees and other pollinating insects. Those insects — including honey bees, bumble bees, butterflies and moths — play an essential role in pollinating many vital crops, but their numbers have been declining steadily in recent years, scientists say. In the United Kingdom alone, the number of pollinators has fallen between 10 and 15 percent in the past two years, according to the Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council (BBSRC), a government-sponsored research group.

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