Six millennia ago, farmers living in modern-day Mexico made a wise health move: They domesticated the chili pepper. Last week, researchers at the Smithsonian Institution announced the discovery of a 1,000-year-old (and very dried out) stash of more than 100 cultivated chili peppers, indicating that the Zapotec people who once occupied Mexico's Mitla River Valley ate a cuisine very similar to the spicy fare of the region's modern inhabitants. The kick that fruit added to prehistoric salsas and stews?and that it perhaps now adds to your favorite spicy dish?endows those whose mouths can stand it with health benefits, recent research suggests. The fiery chemical that makes peppers hot also seems to combat diabetes and other health problems.
In June, the American Medical Association prepared to make life tough for the medical clinics cropping up in supermarkets and drugstores around the country. At its annual meeting, the group called for state and federal agencies to investigate potential conflicts of interest between the clinics and pharmacy chains. But instead of calling on the government to create regulatory roadblocks for in-store clinics, many health experts and consumer advocates believe doctors should take lessons from them.
AP - Turkey's Islamic-rooted ruling party won parliamentary elections by a wide margin Sunday, and the prime minister pledged to safeguard the country's secular traditions and do whatever the government deems necessary to fight separatist Kurdish rebels.
AP - As he walks along a row of partially built sport utility vehicles, Curtis Giles is watching the overhead signs, hoping for green but looking for red letters that could spell trouble.
AP - The United States and Iran have set a date for ambassador-level talks in Baghdad on the deteriorating security situation in Iraq — the first such meeting since late May, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Sunday.
The U.S. and Iranian ambassadors to Iraq will meet this week to discuss security issues in the war-torn country, a senior Bush administration official said Sunday.
It would be "completely counterproductive" for the United States to launch military strikes in the Pakistani tribal regions where al Qaeda and Taliban militants have created safe havens, Pakistan's foreign minister said Sunday.
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