Some 500 Royal Marine Commandos, and another 500 allied troops, have gone to the aid of Australian commandos who were fired on by Afghans in southeast Afghanistan. 

The poppy harvest is coming in. Farmers can get $160-170 a pound for raw opium processed from the poppies. Further processing produces half a pound of pure opium, which can be still further processed to produce 1-2 ounces of heroin.