Taco Bell, Wendy’s start using tomatoes again

Taco Bell, Wendy’s start using tomatoes again

Two fast food companies are putting tomatoes back on the menu now that federal health officials have identified tomato crops that are safe from a salmonella scare.

Wendy’s International Inc. spokesman Denny Lynch said Tuesday that the hamburger chain began restocking restaurants Sunday with tomatoes from northern Florida. He said some Wendy’s locations may still not have tomatoes but should be supplied soon.

Yum Brands Inc., the parent company of Taco Bell, said it also has started to resupply its restaurants with tomatoes from areas that have been cleared of salmonella risk.

Study: New SAT test is not an improvement

The writing section added to the SAT has done very little to improve the exam’s overall ability to predict how students will do in college, according to research released Tuesday by the test’s owner.

Critics of the SAT seized on the College Board’s findings, which came three years after the revamped, nearly four-hour exam made its debut.

“After all their ballyhoo about how the new test was going to be a better tool for college admissions, it’s not,” said Robert Schaeffer, director of the group FairTest. “It’s longer and more expensive. That’s all you can say about it.”

Taliban prepare for battle

ARGHANDAB, Afghanistan — Taliban fighters destroyed bridges and planted mines after overrunning villages outside southern Afghanistan’s largest city, Afghan officials and witnesses said. Hundreds of farm families fled while the Afghan army rushed in troops.

Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defense said Tuesday that between 300 and 400 militants — many of them foreigners — took over the Arghandab region 10 miles northwest of Kandahar. But NATO disputed the account, saying its troops there saw no signs of a Taliban offensive.

Afghan officials, fearing a major battle, told residents to leave the area.

India seeks military space program for protection

NEW DELHI — India said it needs a military space program to defend its satellites from threats such as China’s newly revealed ability to shoot down targets in orbit.

The comments by India’s army chief raise the possibility of a regional race that could accelerate the militarization of space and heighten tensions between the Asian giants, who have been enjoying their warmest ties in decades.

India urgently needs to “optimize space applications for military purposes,” Gen. Deepak Kapoor said Monday at a conference in New Delhi on using space for military purposes.

He noted that “the Chinese space program is expanding at an exponentially rapid pace in both offensive and defensive content.” His remarks were first reported by The Indian Express newspaper and confirmed by the Defense Ministry’s spokesman Tuesday.

Floodwaters starting to recede in parts of China

GUANGZHOU, China — Floodwaters began receding Tuesday in parts of southern China after killing at least 63 people, swamping 2.5 million acres of farmland and causing billions of dollars in damage, the government said.

But heavy rain forecast for the next few days in central China had officials worrying about flooding on the Yellow River, the country’s second-longest waterway, which flows through some of the most populous and poorest provinces.

Although farms were submerged in the South, swollen rivers largely spared the tens of thousands of factories in the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province — a huge producer of computers, shoes, toys and a wide range of other products for the global market.

Associated Press