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A growing market for foods and other consumer products colored with "natural" red dye has sparked a booming industry in Peru. NPR's Martin Kaste reports that thousands of families make a living harvesting the source of the dye -- tiny insect called cochineals. See photos of the insects being harvested, and discover the true source of the red dye. (Please note this correction which aired in 'All Things Considered' on June 19, 2003: ..."my description yesterday of the Cochineal insect as a Peruvian beetle. While we could claim that this is a vague layman's usage of 'beetle' that would include even certain Volkswagens, that would not wash with Dr. Paul Johnson, professor of entomology at South Dakota State University in Brookings. He calls it, 'a serious entomological faux pas.' In a further unkind cut, Professor Johnson writes: 'I would expect such cavalier biology from your colleagues at Fox, but factual inaccuracies on NPR?! ... Beetles are exceedingly distinctive insects that are well-known and well characterized in any novitiate-level biology book, as well as advanced entomology references... Cochineal insects are not beetles and not even closely related, let alone not even similar in appearance (but rather) a species of scale insect. Shame on NPR for allowing Western entomo-phobic disregard for insects to influence the misrepresentation of biological facts.")

Cochineal is a red dye made from a crushed insect native to Latin America. Some vegetarians are distressed that Starbucks uses the dye in some of its pink-colored food and beverages.

Man With Opera Hat is being raffled off to raise money for Tyre, an ancient Phoenician city in Lebanon. At $135, tickets don't come cheap, but your chances of winning are much better than the megalotteries a lot of people enter, and it's still the closest many will come to owning one of Pablo Picasso's works.

Under pressure from vegetarians and vegans, Starbucks plans to stop using a red dye made from crushed bugs called cochineal in some strawberry drinks and rosy-hued baked goods by the end of June.

Consumers are demanding "natural" food dyes, and scientists say the purple sweet potato is the most promising source of pigments to make them. But it may be a while before your red Popsicle is made with this kind of vegetable-based dye.

The heavy rains hitting the popular tourist destination of Kerala have loosed deadly floods and landslides. "Never before had the State witnessed a calamity of this scale," says a local leader.

Voting begins in India's general election on Thursday. It's a massive operation — there are more than 700 million voters. The election is an exotic affair in which dynasties, demagogues, movie stars, crooks and comics immerse themselves a gigantic political carnival.

The dangerously monikered cactus is a source of joy in the Southwest. Albuquerque celebrates with music and yummy opuntia treats.

The one-time voyage is meant to inaugurate the company's new Quantum of the Seas, a 1,142-foot vessel that will hail from Shanghai.

Tens of thousands of people have been rescued, but thousands more are still stranded after massive flooding and landslides in India's Kerala state.