Word: valleyful
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Lebanon's anti-drug squad and the handful of soldiers protecting them had an unpleasant surprise last month when they launched an annual raid on fields of ripe hashish in the northern Bekaa Valley. Rather than standing aside meekly while their hashish was ploughed up as in the past, the farmers this year were determined to protect their lucrative crops. "They shot at us with automatic weapons from nearby woods and houses," Colonel Adel Machmouchi, head of Lebanon's Drug Enforcement Bureau, told TIME. "RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades] were exploding above our heads and we had to leave...
Taking advantage of a debilitating political crisis in Beirut, overstretched security forces and a lifeless economy, the Bekaa farmers this year have cultivated the largest hashish harvest since the war-torn 1980s when this fertile valley was awash with drug crops. Lebanese police estimate that some 16,000 acres (6,500 hectares) of hashish and a small amount of opium poppies were planted this year on the sun-baked plain of the northern Bekaa. "Lebanese hashish is the best in the world, better than Turkey and Afghanistan," says Ali, a Bekaa farmer standing in his field of knee-high hashish...
...early states. True, he has no shadow campaign lurking in the background and waiting to be deployed. But he could hire one, recruiting first-rate people from other campaigns as they fade; and he could enlist his vast army of grassroots followers as well as his Silicon Valley friends in a rainmaking operation mighty enough to compete against the fundraising prowess of Clinton and Barack Obama. So the logistics, though daunting, aren't what's keeping Gore...
...Councilman Kelly said in response to the counter-protests. "They can stick their $5 foie gras up their rears." Yet as the week ended, the restaurateurs were planning their next steps. Michael and Terry McNally of the London Grill are planning an Oct. 22 dinner in honor of Hudson Valley Foie Gras co-founder Michael Ginor and his book Foie Gras: A Passion. For a $165 prix fixe, the six-course dinner will include foie gras in every course, from the matzo ball soup to a creme brulee dessert...
...SINGAPORE Michelin stars will crowd the firmament over Singapore the week after Milan for the Food Wine and Arts Experience at the landmark Raffles Hotel (Jan. 30-Feb. 3). Among those on hand will be Thomas Keller from the French Laundry in Napa Valley, California; Alain Passard from L'Arpège in Paris; Santi Santamaria from Can Fabes in Catalonia and Nicolas Le Bec from Lyon. Wineries from world-renowned regions including Chateau Haut-Brion from Bordeaux and Frescobaldi from Tuscany will host tastings, and German painter Hella Nohl will discuss red wine's place...