About a year ago, the makers of Red Bull, the famous caffeine-loaded energy drink, decided to come out with a soda, unsurprisingly named Red Bull Cola. The shared name implied the same big kick. But could the cola’s boost — supposedly “100% natural” — come from something else? Officials in Germany worry that they’ve found the answer — cocaine. And now they have prohibited the soda’s sale in six states across the country and may recommend a nation-wide ban.

“The [Health Institute in the state of North Rhine Westphalia] examined Red Bull Cola in an elaborate chemical process and found traces of cocaine,” Bernhard Kuehnle, head of the food safety department at Germany’s federal ministry for consumer protection, told the German press on Sunday. According to this analysis, the 0.13 micrograms of cocaine per can of the drink does not pose a serious health threat — you’d have to drink 12,000 L of Red Bull Cola for negative effects to be felt — but it was enough to cause concern. Kuehnle’s agency is due to give its final verdict on Wednesday when experts publish their report. (See pictures of America’s cannabis culture.)

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As a senior interrogator in Iraq (and a former criminal investigator), there was a lesson I learned that served me well: there’s more to be learned from what someone doesn’t say than from what they do say. Let me dissect former Vice President Dick Cheney’s speech on National Security using this model and my interrogation skills.

First, VP Cheney said, “This recruitment-tool theory has become something of a mantra lately… it excuses the violent and blames America for the evil that others do.” He further stated, “It is much closer to the truth that terrorists hate this country precisely because of the values we profess and seek to live by, not by some alleged failure to do so.” That is simply untrue. Anyone who served in Iraq, and veterans on both sides of the aisle have made this argument, knows that the foreign fighters did not come to Iraq en masse until after the revelations of torture and abuse at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. I heard this from captured foreign fighters day in and day out when I was supervising interrogations in Iraq. What the former vice president didn’t say is the fact that the dislike of our policies in the Middle East were not enough to make thousands of Muslim men pick up arms against us before these revelations. Torture and abuse became Al Qaida’s number one recruiting tool and cost us American lives.

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WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Police are looking for a New Zealand couple who disappeared after a bank mistakenly put 10 million New Zealand dollars ($6.1 million) into their account.

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This is just plain American.  Very cool Mr. President and VP.

WASHINGTON — Maybe they just don’t make a decent burger at the White House.

Less than two weeks after first lady Michelle Obama told a group of schoolchildren that she once snuck out to the burger chain Five Guys with some staff members, her husband scrapped his official schedule and went in search of his own burger.

He took Vice President Biden with him.

President Obama’s motorcade slipped out of the White House complex at 12:26 p.m. Tuesday, crossed the Potomac River into Arlington, Va., and came to a stop five minutes later at Ray’s Hell-Burger, an independent prime-beef burger joint where you order at the counter, sit at wooden tables and pay $6.95 for a burger.

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This is nuts.

The US’s highest ranking military officer has said it is not the US military’s position to promote any specific religion, after Al Jazeera revealed footage of troops apparently preparing to convert Afghans to their Christian faith.

“From the United States’ military’s perspective, it is not our position to ever push any specific kind of religion, period,” said Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on Monday.

The US military has also confiscated Bibles that Christian US soldiers in Afghanistan had apparently intended to give to local Muslims, a military spokesman told Al Jazeera.

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You can also watch a report on the same issue.

US Vice-President Joe Biden has said Israel must back a two-state solution to the conflict with the Palestinians.

Mr Biden also called for an end to Jewish settlement-building – one of the Palestinians’ key demands.

Israel’s recently-elected right-wing government has so far resisted calls to publicly support Palestinian statehood.

Mr Biden’s remarks came hours before Israeli President Shimon Peres and US President Barack Obama were due to hold talks in the US capital.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet President Obama later this month.

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(Tribune Media Services) — Look out for cancellation penalties. Beware of energy surcharges. And watch for facilities fees.

No, not on your airline ticket. Not on your hotel folio. You may find these new extras on your next car rental bill.

Beleaguered auto rental firms are quietly adding new surcharges designed to lift revenues in a recessionary economy.

To get an idea of how absurd it’s becoming meet Jim Swofford. He found a mysterious $5 fee on his Hertz bill recently, which a representative described as a cancellation fee. Car rental companies typically don’t charge their customers for cancellations, so Swofford, who frequently rents from Hertz, said he didn’t want another car he’d reserved for later.

“That’ll be $25,” the agent told him.

“So I jokingly said I would not cancel but just be a no-show,” he remembers. “She said that would result in a $50 fee.”

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Congrats to Lebron!  Definitely well deserved.

The NBA will announce LeBron James as its MVP on Monday, The Plain Dealer of Cleveland and The Associated Press have reported, citing unnamed sources.

A day before the Cleveland Cavaliers begin their second-round series against the Atlanta Hawks, the league will anoint James, 24.

The announcement will be made at James’ alma mater, St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio, the reports said. The Cavaliers called a news conference for 4 p.m. ET but didn’t specify the nature of the event.

His Cavaliers teammates were expected to attend.

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For all my friends…

After failing 40 job interviews in a row, University of Southern California graduate Daniel Seddiqui decided it was time to try another tactic. He opted to open his mind to anything — no matter how irrelevant to his previously envisioned career path. After a bunch of random gigs, he decided he liked the exploratory path and vowed to travel to all 50 states and try 50 different careers in 50 weeks. Working as a meatpacker in Topeka, Kan., and a rodeo announcer in Sioux Falls, S.D., are just two of his varied employment experiences thus far.

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[thanks to Elmo on this one]

As a side note, Sr. Hadia was the first female president of MSA National and is a board member of CAIR National.

Last month, as I was watching the news coverage of President Obama’s visit to Turkey, I thought back to an awkward experience I had as an undergraduate student applying for a job at my university. When I handed the receptionist at the student union my Social Security card, a required form of identification, she told me she needed my passport as well.

Surprised, I questioned the need for it. She brought over her supervisor, who glanced at my hijab—a headscarf worn by many Muslim women—and asked, “Aren’t you an international student?” “No,” I said. “I’m an American citizen. I was born in New Jersey.” Her mouth dropped open and she stammered, “Oh, you’re not a foreigner?”

It was not a new experience for me, as a Muslim growing up in this country. Before people learned my name, saw me run at a track meet or heard me debate an argument, they assumed they knew who I am.

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