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100 years of the war on drugs By Tom de Castella BBC News Magazine   The first international drug treaty was signed a century ago this week. So what was the war on drugs like in 1912? Today it is taken for granted that governments will co-operate in the fight against the heroin and cocaine trade. But 100 years ago, narcotics passed from country to country with minimal interference from the authorities. That all changed with the 1912 International Opium Convention, which committed countries to stopping the trade in opium, morphine and cocaine. Then, as now, the US stood in the vanguard against narcotics. While the UK's position is unequivocal today, a century ago it was an unenthusiastic signatory, says Mike Jay, author of Emperors of Dreams: Drugs in the Nineteenth Century. The real concern a century ago was over alcohol, he argues. "There was a big debate over intoxication as there was concern about the heavy, hea...

Google+ relaxes real name policy to allow pseudonyms   Google said the change in policy was a response to "community feedback"   Established pseudonyms can be used to register accounts on Google+ after the social network relaxed its name policy. The move follows criticism from human rights groups which had said there were circumstances under which individuals could have become unsafe if they revealed their identities. The search giant said it had already begun rolling out the amended policy. However, it is said users must prove their nickname has already attracted an audience elsewhere. The change of rules was confirmed on the account page of Google executive Bradley Horowitz. He noted that 0.1% of all applicants filed name appeals, and 20% of this number wanted to use a pseudonym or other unconventional name. Mr Horowitz said that users wanting to take advantage of the new policy might have to provide "references to an established identity of...

IMF: Global economy 'in danger zone' over euro crisis Jose Vinals, IMF: "A failure to address underlying tensions could precipitate a global crisis" The world's economy is "deeply into the danger zone" because of risks from the eurozone, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said. The IMF predicts the global economy will grow by 3.25% in 2012, down from an earlier forecast of 4%. The growth forecast for the UK economy has been cut to 0.6% from 1.6%. But the eurozone is set for a "mild recession" in 2012, with GDP expected to shrink by 0.5%, compared with a previous forecast of 1.1% growth. Growth estimates have been reduced for the main eurozone countries, including Germany, which is widely seen as the powerhouse of the region. Germany is forecast to grow 0.3% in 2012, down from the 1.3% originally predicted in September. France is expected to show 0.2% growth in 2012,...