My Blog

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,...

EU Iran sanctions: Ministers adopt Iran oil imports ban EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton: "Tehran should come to the table" European Union foreign ministers have formally adopted an oil embargo against Iran over its nuclear programme. The sanctions involve an immediate ban on all new oil contracts with Iran, while existing contracts will be honoured until 1 July. Tehran denies that it is trying to develop nuclear weapons and says talks and not sanctions are the only way to resolve the dispute. The EU currently buys about 20% of Iran's oil exports. Meanwhile, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog has confirmed it is sending a team to Iran between 29 and 31 January "to resolve all outstanding substantive issues". Last November the IAEA said in a report that it had information suggesting Iran had carried out tests "relevant to the development of ...

Eurozone finance ministers to focus on Greek debt   The talks could be crucial to the future of the euro Eurozone finance ministers are to meet later, with the Greek debt crisis likely to dominate proceedings. On the agenda will be what form Greek debt restructuring should take as part of a second bailout package for Athens. It comes after negotiators for private creditors left Greece without a deal to write off some of the country's debts. Separately, IMF boss Christine Lagarde has said the eurozone needs economic growth and bigger financial firewalls to resolve debt issues. Deadline The Institute of International Finance (IIF), which represents Greece's creditors, said a technical team would remain to work further on the details. European leaders agreed in principle last year that private lenders would voluntarily write off 50% of their loans to Greece, but private creditors still need to agree to the terms of the deal. A 130bn euro ($168bn; £...

Stargazing viewer in planet coup By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News Amateur astronomer Chris Holmes form Peterborough stumbled upon SPH10066540 The public push initiated on BBC Two's Stargazing Live series to find planets beyond our Solar System has had an immediate result. A viewer who answered the call has helped spot a world that appears to be circling a star dubbed SPH10066540. The planet is described as being similar in size to our Neptune and circles its parent every 90 days. Chris Holmes from Peterborough found it by looking through time-lapsed images of stars on Planethunters.org . The website hosts data gathered by Nasa's Kepler space telescope , and asks volunteers to sift the information for anything unusual that might have been missed in a computer search. "I've never had a telescope. I've had a passing in...

By Sarah Keating Today programme "There is nothing to writing," explained that master of minimalist prose, Ernest Hemingway. "All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed." But this year marks the 40th anniversary of the first university in Britain offering a course in creative writing, an event which suddenly threw open the possibility that a writer could be taught their craft. The creative writing course at the University of East Anglia (UEA) has produced an impressive list of alumni, including Booker Prize winners Ian McEwan, Kazuo Ishiguro and Anne Enright. But is creative writing really a skill that can be passed on in this way? The popularity of the formal teaching of writing is evident in the sheer number of courses currently availa...