“Yoga Mat Chemical” Found in 500 Food Items
Consumer advocates at the Environmental Working Group are warning that a chemical used to make yoga mats and flip-flops can now be found in more than 500 food items. The chemical, azodicarbonamide, is often used in bread, croutons, pre-made sandwiches and snacks made by many major brands, including Pillsbury, Nature’s Own, Sara Lee, Kroger and Little Debbie. The restaurant chain Subway recently announced it was phasing out the use of the chemical after an online campaign. The chemical is not approved for food use in Australia and Europe.
Germany ranked most energy efficient nation in the world
Germany is the most energy efficient economy in the world, followed by Italy, the European Union, China, and France. This is according to the International Energy Efficiency Scorecard published by American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), a Washington based non-profit. Beating the US, India stands 11th in the list of 16 major world economies the council studied. The US was ranked 13th. India, along with Mexico, South Korea and Spain were the new entrants in the list.
GCHQ Intercepted Yahoo Webcam Chats & Stored Images
In the latest disclosure based on the leaks of Edward Snowden, The Guardian reports Britain’s spy agency GCHQ intercepted millions of people’s Yahoo webcam chats and stored still images of them. The surveillance program, codenamed Optic Nerve, collected images from the webcam chats of more than 1.8 million users globally in a six-month period in 2008 alone. Many of the images were sexually explicit.