Chinese Bitcoin Exchange Accused of Faking Trade Data

Once China's second-largest bitcoin exchange, OKCoin is claimed to have published unrealistically high trading volumes in the wake of the Chinese central bank imposing a ban on financial institutions handling the crypto-currency.

The ban saw several exchanges halt all incoming deposits, but OKCoin's trading data failed to show the dip experienced by fellow exchanges.

Read more...Chinese Bitcoin Exchange Accused of Faking Trade Data

Meet the Spies Doing the NSA's Dirty Work - By Shane Harris | Foreign Policy

With every fresh leak, the world learns more about the U.S. National Security Agency's massive and controversial surveillance apparatus. Lost in the commotion has been the story of the NSA's indispensable partner in its global spying operations: an obscure, clandestine unit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation that, even for a surveillance agency, keeps a low profile.

When the media and members of Congress say the NSA spies on Americans, what they really mean is that the FBI helps the NSA do it, providing a technical and legal infrastructure that permits the NSA, which by law collects foreign intelligence, to operate on U.S. soil. It's the FBI, a domestic U.S. law enforcement agency, that collects digital information from at least nine American technology companies as part of the NSA's Prism system. It was the FBI that petitioned the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to order Verizon Business Network Services, one of the United States' biggest telecom carriers for corporations, to hand over the call records of millions of its customers to the NSA.

Read more...Meet the Spies Doing the NSA's Dirty Work - By Shane Harris | Foreign Policy

20 questions about the Iran nuclear deal - CNN.com

(CNN) -- When it comes to Iran and the West, the relationship has been convoluted for decades. And this deal is no different. After days of negotiations, six world powers and Tehran reached an agreement that calls on Iran to limit its nuclear activities in return for lighter sanctions. It's complicated politics coupled with complicated science.

Here's a quick primer to get you up to speed.

Read more...20 questions about the Iran nuclear deal - CNN.com

I-502 threatens medical marijuana into extinction | Q13 FOX News

SEATTLE — Some fear the legalization of marijuana in Washington could diminish the state’s medical marijuana industry significantly.

Green Ambrosia, in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood, is about to close down despite a profitable year.

The store has marijuana edibles and merchandise and a loyal patient base, but it all comes down to location. But by the end of this weekend, Green Ambrosia will stop seeing green.

Read more: http://q13fox.com/2013/11/09/i-502-rules-could-squeeze-the-medical-marijuana-industry-out-of-existence/#ixzz2kqBs8RPe

Read more...I-502 threatens medical marijuana into extinction | Q13 FOX News

Judge overturns zoning law on medical marijuana

PHOENIX — A judge has overturned Maricopa County’s zoning ordinance for medical marijuana dispensaries, ruling that the ordinance appeared to be a “transparent attempt” to keep the businesses out of unincorporated areas of the county.

Superior Court Judge Michael Gordon on Monday granted a pretrial verdict in favor of White Mountain Health Center, which plans a dispensary for Sun City, and rejected a similar request on behalf of the county.

Read more...Judge overturns zoning law on medical marijuana

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius apologizes for health law rollout fiasco - NY Daily News

WASHINGTON – Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius apologized to Americans on Wednesday for problems with the launch of Obamacare’s website, healthcare.gov.

"You deserve better. I apologize,” Sebelius said in testimony at a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing. “I am committed to earning your confidence back.

Like President Obama, Sebelius, who faces Republican calls for her resignation, said she is "as frustrated as anyone” by problems with the site.

Read more...HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius apologizes for health law rollout fiasco   - NY Daily News

Was the Obamacare Implosion the Real Goal All Along?

Something is rotten in Denmark.For the past few weeks I have tried to wrap my head around this rollout of Obamacare and how it has crashed and burned in such a rapid and dramatic fashion.My question is; why from day one was this an immediate disaster? How could so many so-called experts along with $600 million taxpayer dollars have created something so useless and worthless?With over three years to construct the website, why was it never means tested before it was presented?Why didn’t it work so easily and efficiently that everyone would praise it to the heavens?

Read more...Was the Obamacare Implosion the Real Goal All Along?

Fertility Clinics Help More Gay Couples Have Kids

BOSTON -- BOSTON (AP) — Fertility clinics have put a new twist on how to make babies: A "two-mom" approach that lets female same-sex couples share the biological role. One woman's eggs are mixed in a lab dish with donor sperm, then implanted in the other woman, who carries the pregnancy.

A New York doctor described 18 of these cases Tuesday at a fertility conference in Boston that featured other research on ways to help same-sex couples have children. Dr. Alan Copperman is medical director of Reproductive Medicine Associates, a New York City clinic that does the "two-mom" approach.

Read more...Fertility Clinics Help More Gay Couples Have Kids

White House under pressure on NSA monitoring of German chancellor | World news | theguardian.com

The White House was under intense pressure on Sunday to reveal the extent to which President Barack Obama knew about or even authorised US surveillance operations targeting the leaders of allied countries.

The US is facing a full-scale diplomatic crisis over the disclosure that the National Security Agency monitored the phone conversations of at least 35 world leaders, including the German chancellor, Angela Merkel.

Read more...White House under pressure on NSA monitoring of German chancellor | World news | theguardian.com

Iran wants to hammer out a nuclear 'roadmap'

(CNN) - Iran has struck up a new, conciliatory chord on negotiations about its nuclear program. And its leaders say it's eager to get down to business.

Foreign minister Javad Zarif reiterated Iran's apparent haste to reach an international agreement on its energy program in a statement Monday.

Read more...  http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/14/world/meast/iran-nuclear-talks/index.html?c=world

PressTV - Iran nuclear chief downplays Obama claims on Iran

“The US president acknowledged in his UN General Assembly speech that Leader [of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei] has issued a fatwa declaring any attempt to build and stockpile weapons of mass destruction as haram (religiously forbidden),” said Salehi on Sunday.

Read more...PressTV - Iran nuclear chief downplays Obama claims on Iran

Dispensaries wary of fully legalizing marijuana in Arizona

Medical-marijuana dispensary operators are apprehensive about plans by a powerful marijuana-advocacy group to campaign for full legalization of the drug in Arizona.

The Marijuana Policy Project, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that advocates marijuana legalization and regulation, is a former ally of the dispensary owners, having played a key financial and public-relations role in passage of the state law that created the burgeoning medical-marijuana program.

Read more...Dispensaries wary of fully legalizing marijuana in Arizona

Shutdown orders issued as Congress misses deadline - News Nation Washington - Boston.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first time in nearly two decades, the federal government staggered into a partial shutdown early Tuesday morning after congressional Republicans stubbornly demanded changes in the nation's health care law as the price for essential federal funding and President Barack Obama and Democrats adamantly refused.

Read more...  http://www.boston.com/news/nation/2013/09/30/shutdown-orders-issued-congress-misses-deadline/hQgoOfNupkJuJf1WEp3Z0M/story.html

Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani, returns from Barack Obama talk to jeers – and cheers – in Tehran - Middle East - World - The Independent

The Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani, was greeted by angry scenes on his return to Tehran from New York yesterday, with his convoy pelted with eggs, shoes and stones amid chants of "Death to America" and "Death to Israel".

But supporters of his controversial decision to break a 34-year silence between the leaders of Iran and America, by speaking to President Barack Obama on Friday, cheered and hailed him as a "lord of peace".

Read more...Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani, returns from Barack Obama talk to jeers – and cheers – in Tehran - Middle East - World - The Independent

Thousands cited for having pot on federal land

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — Karen Strand didn't think she'd get in trouble for having a small container of medical marijuana when she went hiking in Olympic National Park this summer.

President Barack Obama, she remembered, had said the federal government had "bigger fish to fry" than people who follow state marijuana laws, and Washington state had just legalized pot.

Read more...Thousands cited for having pot on federal land

Stoners vacation to Jamaica as weed tourists - USATODAY.com

NINE MILE, Jamaica — NINE MILE, Jamaica Napa and Sonoma have their wine tours, and travelers flock to Scotland to sample the fine single malt whiskies. But in Jamaica, farmers are offering a different kind of trip for a different type of connoisseur.

Call them ganja tours: smoky, mystical -- and technically illegal -- journeys to some of the island's hidden cannabis plantations, where pot tourists can sample such strains as "purple kush" and "pineapple skunk."

Read more...Stoners vacation to Jamaica as weed tourists - USATODAY.com

Study: The right bacteria might help fight obesity

WASHINGTON (AP) — Call it a hidden ally: The right germs just might be able to help fight fat.

Different kinds of bacteria that live inside the gut can help spur obesity or protect against it, say scientists at Washington University in St. Louis who transplanted intestinal germs from fat or lean people into mice and watched the rodents change.

And what they ate determined whether the good germs could move in and do their job.

Read more...Study: The right bacteria might help fight obesity

At G20, Politicians Push the Same Neoliberal Agenda That Got Us Into This Mess | The Nation

Earlier this month, world leaders at the G20 Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia were promising to develop proposals to regulate big banks and international tax heavens. Meanwhile, an international group of activists in the same city were proposing a striking alternative.

Participants in the G20 Counter-Summit spent two days discussing ways to solve the intertwined financial and environmental crises that the G20 has been unable or unwilling to seriously address for five years now. Fingering the neoliberal economic policy of G20 members as the main obstacle to worldwide economic recovery, the conference called for a renunciation of austerity policies and World Trade Organization agreements in favor of stricter regulation of markets and capital flows, a broadening of public services and the development of sustainable methods of production and consumption. Participants also drafted a statement condemning any attempts at an outside attack on Syria, which coincided with their call for an end to US hegemony and the emergence of a multipolar world.

Read more...At G20, Politicians Push the Same Neoliberal Agenda That Got Us Into This Mess | The Nation

New study: More Americans using marijuana | 11alive.com

(USA Today) -- As the nation takes a softer stance on marijuana, more Americans are using the drug, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health found.

The nationwide survey made public Wednesday found 7.3% of Americans 12 or older regularly used marijuana in 2012, up from 7% in 2011. Marijuana use has increased steadily over the past five years. In 2007, the survey found 5.8% of Americans 12 or older used marijuana.

The report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration surveys 70,000 people aged 12 and older throughout the country. It is the nation's most comprehensive look at drug and alcohol use.

Read more...New study: More Americans using marijuana | 11alive.com

Push for legal pot gets boost as feds ease enforcement

Marijuana movements already simmering across the country could get a big boost from the Obama administration’s announcement that it would take a laid-back approach to states with softer laws on marijuana.

“This is one of the most significant milestones in the movement toward ending marijuana prohibition,” said Mason Tvert, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, which advocates marijuana legalization and regulation. The group has led several ballot initiatives across the U.S. “The federal government for the first time ever has sent a clear signal to states that they can adopt their own marijuana policies if they do them in a responsible manner.”

Read more...Push for legal pot gets boost as feds ease enforcement

9 questions about Syria you were too embarrassed to ask

The United States and allies are preparing for a possibly imminent series of limited military strikes against Syria, the first direct U.S. intervention in the two-year civil war, in retaliation for President Bashar al-Assad's suspected use of chemical weapons against civilians.

If you found the above sentence kind of confusing, or aren't exactly sure why Syria is fighting a civil war, or even where Syria is located, then this is the article for you. What's happening in Syria is really important, but it can also be confusing and difficult to follow even for those of us glued to it.

Here, then, are the most basic answers to your most basic questions. First, a disclaimer: Syria and its history are really complicated; this is not an exhaustive or definitive account of that entire story, just some background, written so that anyone can understand it.

Read more...9 questions about Syria you were too embarrassed to ask

Tim Tebow Russia News: $1 Million Offered To Play Quarterback In Russian Playoffs

For Tim Tebow, Russia offer is an amazing $1 million to play just two games as a quarterback in the Russian playoffs.

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, the latest Tim Tebow news had the quarterback turning down a NFL team inquiry that would have forced Tim Tebow to give up on being a NFL quarterback.

As everyone know by now, the Tim Tebow Patriots deal didn’t work out too well. He appeared in three out of four preseason Patriots game only to be cut. Tim Tebow has made it abundantly clear he won’t accept any other NFL position except for quarterback. Tim Tebow news also claims he will not retire or accept any offer to play for the Canadian Football League, Arena Football League, or for US Rugby.

Read more...Tim Tebow Russia News: $1 Million Offered To Play Quarterback In Russian Playoffs

75 Years of Mortality in the United States, 1935–2010

Reductions in deaths and death rates are often used as an indicator of the success of public health initiatives to improve the health and well-being of the U.S. population, as well as to set national goals for reducing disparities in the burden of mortality across groups. Anti-tobacco campaigns, AIDS prevention programs, and cancer screening promotions all use lives saved as a measure of success. About 80 of the Healthy People 2020 objectives are about death (1). Since mortality statistics do not change markedly from year to year, one might not appreciate the progress in reducing mortality when looking at short-term change. This report uses data from the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) over a 75-year period, including preliminary data for 2010, to examine long-term trends in mortality in the United States by age, sex, and race.

Read more...75 Years of Mortality in the United States, 1935–2010

Feds ease policing of pot

Last year, the Department of Justice warned that Arizona officials might face federal prosecution for implementing the state’s voter-approved medical-marijuana program.

That appears increasingly unlikely after the Justice Department said Thursday that states can let people use the drug, license people to grow it and even allow adults to stroll into stores and buy it — as long as the marijuana is kept away from kids, the black market and federal property.

In a sweeping new policy statement prompted by pot-legalization votes in Washington and Colorado last fall, the department gave the green light to states to adopt tight regulatory schemes to oversee the medical and recreational marijuana industries burgeoning across the country.

Read more...Feds ease policing of pot

Marijuana is the most used illegal drug worldwide but painkiller addiction kills more people | Mail Online

Marijuana is the most used illegal drug worldwide but addiction to legal painkillers kills the most people, according to new research.

Scientists found that cannabis was used more than cocaine and heroin in the first ever study of world-wide drug use.

But experts from the University of Washington found that opioid painkillers such as vicodin, oxycontin and codeine caused more than half of the estimated 78,000 drug-related deaths worldwide.

Read more...Marijuana is the most used illegal drug worldwide but painkiller addiction kills more people | Mail Online

Syria crisis: China joins Russia in opposing military strikes

China has joined Russia in opposing military strikes on Syria, saying it would push up oil prices and create an economic downturn.

The Chinese intervention came as G20 leaders gathered in Saint Petersburg on Thursday for a summit likely to be dominated by Syria. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, is expected to allow the issue on to the agenda for dinner, reflecting the reality that the fate of the world economy is inextricably intertwined with the risk of a Middle East conflagration.

Read more....  Syria crisis: China joins Russia in opposing military strikes

U.S. official claims "very little doubt" Syria used chemical weapons - CBS News

WASHINGTON A senior administration official said Sunday there is "very little doubt" that a chemical weapon was used by the Syrian regime against civilians in an Aug. 21 incident that killed at least 100 people, but added that the president had not yet decided how to respond. However, the Syrian government has claimed rebels were the ones who used chemical weapons in the incident.

The Syria Foreign Ministry said in a statement broadcast on state television Sunday the Assad regime has reached a deal to allow U.N. inspectors access to sites in the suburbs of Damascus where alleged chemical attacks occurred. A U.N. spokesman said the probe will start Monday.

Read more...U.S. official claims "very little doubt" Syria used chemical weapons - CBS News

Legal fight brews on impairment in medical-pot DUIs

Medical-marijuana cardholders in Arizona who drive after using the drug may face a difficult legal choice: their driver’s license or their marijuana card. If they use both, they could be charged with DUI.

Valley prosecutors say that any trace of marijuana in a driver’s blood is enough to charge a motorist with driving under the influence of drugs and that a card authorizing use of medical pot is no defense.

But advocates of medical marijuana, which voters approved in November 2010, argue that the presence of marijuana in a person’s bloodstream is not grounds for charging drivers who are allowed to use the drug.



Read more...Legal fight brews on impairment in medical-pot DUIs

Obama Focuses on Risk of New Bubble Undermining Broad Recovery - Bloomberg

President Barack Obama, who took office amid the collapse of the last financial bubble, wants to make sure his economic recovery doesn’t generate the next one.

Obama this month spoke four times in five days of the need to avoid what he called “artificial bubbles,” even in an economy that’s growing at just a 1.7 percent rate and where employment and factory usage remain below pre-recession highs.

“We have to turn the page on the bubble-and-bust mentality that created this mess,” he said in his Aug. 10 weekly radio address.

Read more...Obama Focuses on Risk of New Bubble Undermining Broad Recovery - Bloomberg

UPS to drop health insurance for 15,000 spouses of employees | NJ.com

United Parcel Service, one of the biggest U.S. employers, plans to drop health insurance coverage for about 15,000 working spouses of white-collar employees to curtail rising costs.

Many spouses in the U.S. workforce will have access to employer-provided insurance under President Barack Obama's health care-system overhaul, and UPS will remove them from its coverage, according to a copy of a memo to employees first published online by Kaiser Health News. Spouses who don't work or lack employer-provided benefits will still be eligible at Atlanta-based UPS, according to the memo. 

Read more...  UPS to drop health insurance for 15,000 spouses of employees | NJ.com

Survey: Pot use inches higher in Scottsdale district

The results of a survey on teen drug use showed a decline in alcohol, cigarette and prescription-drug use but an uptick in marijuana use in the Scottsdale Unified School District.

The district also reported more violations of its drug policy in the first part of the 2012-13 school year compared with the year before, and school officials surmise that is due to increased use of marijuana.

The Arizona Youth Survey 2012, released in the spring, found that among eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders in the Scottsdale district, about 19 percent reported using marijuana in the previous 30 days, up from about 18 percent reported in the 2010 survey and 14 percent in 2008.

For lifetime usage, about 34 percent had tried it, compared with about 32 percent in 2010 and 28 percent in 2008.

Marijuana was the only substance that showed an upward trend, and Scottsdale’s rates were slightly higher than the statewide rates.

Read more...Survey: Pot use inches higher in Scottsdale district

Fountain Hills gets its 1st marijuana clinic

Scottsdale resident Todd Middleman plays bass guitar four nights a week in a local rock band called the Instant Classics.

The 45-year-old suffers chronic pain as a result of a spinal-cord injury he suffered when a car door fell on him at work.

“I’m holding a relatively heavy guitar and the pain gets pretty bad after a four-hour show,” Middleman said. “I tried multiple medications when my back got hurt and literally nothing worked. The first thing that worked was medical marijuana and I’ve used it ever since.”

Middleman was one of the first patients at the northeast Valley’s first medical-marijuana dispensary — Nature’s AZ Medicines Inc. in Fountain Hills.

Read more...Fountain Hills gets its 1st marijuana clinic

Medical marijuana comes to Mesa

Nearly three years after Arizona voters narrowly approved the concept, medical marijuana has come to Mesa.

Giving Tree Wellness Center opened in late June at 938 E. Juanita Ave., just the sort of industrial-park setting that the City Council envisioned two years ago when it approved zoning restrictions for such businesses.

It is Giving Tree’s second facility in the Valley; the other is in north Phoenix.

Both are under the medical direction of Dr. Gina Berman, an emergency-room physician who believes traditional Western medicine can go only so far in helping some patients.

“I see a lot of patients ... who have had organs removed or they have chronic pain, they’re on patches and ... they’re on all these different things and they’re not getting any better and they’re going down the rabbit hole of narcotics,” Berman said. “So I thought it would be interesting to try to open people’s eyes to other alternative therapies.”


Read more...Medical marijuana comes to Mesa

Ruling stands on return of seized medical marijuana

PHOENIX — Medical marijuana patients whose drugs are taken by police are entitled to get it back, the Arizona Supreme Court has ruled.

In a brief order, the justices rejected arguments by prosecutors that the drug is strictly regulated by the federal government, leaving police legally powerless to turn marijuana over to anyone else. They gave no reason for their ruling.

The order most immediately affects Valerie Okun, whose drugs were taken from her nearly two years ago on Interstate 8 near Yuma. While she was never prosecuted — she has a valid medical marijuana card from California — sheriff’s deputies refused to return the drugs.

Read more...Ruling stands on return of seized medical marijuana

Marijuana's march toward mainstream confounds feds - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (AP) — It took 50 years for American attitudes about marijuana to zigzag from the paranoia of "Reefer Madness" to the excesses of Woodstock back to the hard line of "Just Say No."

The next 25 years took the nation from Bill Clinton, who famously "didn't inhale," to Barack Obama, who most emphatically did.

Now, in just a few short years, public opinion has moved so dramatically toward general acceptance that even those who champion legalization are surprised at how quickly attitudes are changing and states are moving to approve the drug — for medical use and just for fun.

Read more: Marijuana's march toward mainstream confounds feds - Yahoo! News

Fountain Hills marijuana dispensary to open July 8

Fountain Hills’ only medical-marijuana dispensary is set to open early next month, pending final inspection by the Arizona Department of Health Services.

Scottsdale resident Mark Steinmetz plans to open his dispensary, Nature’s AZ Medicines Inc., on July 8 at 16913 E. Enterprise Drive, units 201 and 202. He also is opening a dispensary, with the same name, at 2439 W. McDowell Road in Phoenix.

Last August, the Department of Health Services selected Steinmetz to receive the one state license for a medical-marijuana dispensary in Fountain Hills.

Before opening, Steinmetz plans to host a pre-grand-opening reception and will invite local law enforcement, town officials and others to learn about his operation and medical marijuana.

“People need to really look into it and understand that it’s legitimate medicine,” he said. “To look at medical marijuana and treat it any differently than any other medicine is prejudice.”

Read more: Fountain Hills marijuana dispensary to open July 8

Aiming for legitimacy

In a very different kind of Memorial Day deal, a Phoenix business celebrated its grand opening by giving veterans deep discounts.

On medical marijuana.

Phoenix Relief Center, a medical-marijuana dispensary tucked into a shopping center at 35th and Southern avenues, sold marijuana to former servicemen and -women at a discount — 20 percent off — and gave away free pot cigarettes to treat illnesses and pain. Dozens of veterans with cancer, chronic pain and other illnesses have since flocked to the center for one-eighth-ounce bags of Tokyo OG, Hawaii Five-0 and other strains of marijuana.

“We didn’t want to focus our grand opening on ‘Hey, look at us, we’re open, and we want business,’ ” said Patrick Romo, a principal officer and Phoenix Relief Center board member. “We wanted to say, ‘Hey, we’re open, and we’re here to serve the community.’ ”

The dispensary’s strategy to market to veterans and the broader community illustrates an effort among dispensary operators, patients and others in the medical-marijuana industry to shake the stigma associated with medical cannabis and gain mainstream legitimacy.

Read more: Aiming for legitimacy

Arizona groups sue over pot-dispensary deadline

Eleven Arizona non-profit corporations are suing the state, seeking additional time to open medical-marijuana dispensaries.

Last August, the state Department of Health Services randomly selected the non-profits to receive the dispensary-registration certificates required to operate dispensaries. Under state rules, each has one year to then qualify for a certificate to operate. They had a year to obtain “approval to operate” certificates or permanently lose the authorization to open a dispensary.

In a lawsuit filed last week in Maricopa County Superior Court, the groups are asking a judge to order state officials to give them more time to get up and running.

The groups argue that a separate lawsuit involving the White Mountain Health Center medical-marijuana dispensary had a “chilling effect” on other potential dispensary owners. That case centered on zoning documentation for the Sun City dispensary and grew to encompass a larger question of whether federal drug laws pre-empt the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act.

A Superior Court judge ruled in December that the state law is constitutional and that the county must make a zoning decision about White Mountain Health Center. County Attorney Bill Montgomery is awaiting a hearing before the Arizona Court of Appeals.

Read more: Arizona groups sue over pot-dispensary deadline

Pentagon programs target of China cyber threat

WASHINGTON (AP) — New revelations that China used cyberattacks to access data from nearly 40 Pentagon weapons programs and almost 30 other defense technologies have increased pressure on U.S. leaders to take more strident action against Beijing to stem the persistent breaches.

The disclosure, which was included in a Defense Science Board report released earlier this year, but is only now being discussed publicly, comes as Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel heads to Southeast Asia, where he will discuss the escalating cyberthreat with counterparts from a number of area nations.

Read more...  http://news.yahoo.com/pentagon-programs-target-china-cyber-threat-215656743.html

Human embryo stem cells cloning breakthrough | NHS Choices | Nursing Times

“Human embryonic stem cells created from adult tissue for first time,” The Guardian reports, while the Daily Mail’s front page leads with the somewhat fanciful warning that new research raises the “spectre of cloned babies”.

These headlines are based on newly published research into the use of a technique known as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) as part of embryonic stem cell research. It should be noted that no babies were born as a result of this research, and the researchers had no intention of producing a live cloned human being.

SCNT involves taking donated egg cells from women and removing their genetic material. These are then fused with human cells – in this case skin cells – and the fused cell begins behaving in a similar way to an embryo by producing human stem cells.

Read more: Human embryo stem cells cloning breakthrough | NHS Choices | Nursing Times

Tempe gets 1st medical marijuana dispensary

The name, Harvest of Tempe, on the modest storefront in a south Tempe strip mall might suggest it is home to a food bank or perhaps a fresh-produce shop.

If you make it inside, though, your first impression might be of a secure bank.

That’s just what the owners want. Harvest of Tempe is the southeast Valley’s first medical-marijuana dispensary and is among a handful of dispensaries to open since Arizona voters approved the Medical Marijuana Act in 2010.

To enter, customers must pass through a magnetically locked door controlled from the inside. At that point, they must show their medical-marijuana card and other state-issued identification before they can pass through another locked door to the area where they meet with Harvest employees to discuss the type of marijuana needed.

Read more: Tempe gets 1st medical marijuana dispensary

Bill allows state universities to research medical marijuana

State universities will be allowed to conduct federally approved research of medical marijuana under legislation signed Tuesday by Gov. Jan Brewer.

Senate Bill 1443 had the support of proponents of medical marijuana, who said universities provide safe places to research the drug and that it is too difficult to perform such research in other locations. The governor's signature is a victory for those proponents, especially Dr. Sue Sisley, a Scottsdale internist in private practice and assistant professor of psychiatry and internal medicine at the University of Arizona.

She plans to study the efficacy of marijuana on combat veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

“This is a triumph for the Arizona scientific community and proves there is the potential that science will win over politics,” Sisley said, adding that Brewer has opened the door to conduct a range of medical marijuana research that could be used nationally and internationally.

A voter-approved law allows patients with certain debilitating medical conditions to use medical marijuana; about 38,000 Arizonans particpate in the program.


Bill allows state universities to research medical marijuana

Benson Cartoons - Political Cartoons - The Arizona Republic

Benson Cartoons - Political Cartoons - The Arizona Republic

Illegal ecstasy being studied to treat PTSD

CINCINNATI — Dubbed the "hug drug" and "X" by its users, the illegal drug ecstasy is being researched as a possible treatment for sufferers of serious stress disorders.

But a lot more research is needed before ecstasy-assisted psychotherapy ever would be made legal in the United States, said Gary Gudelsky, a University of Cincinnati professor who has spent 25 years studying side effects of the drug on the brain.

Read more: Illegal ecstasy being studied to treat PTSD

G20 officials decry lack of global growth | ArabNews

WASHINGTON: World finance leaders say they are determined to attack a sluggish global economy in which growth is too weak and unemployment too high. Their problem is arriving at a consensus over the proper mix of policies.


Finance ministers and central bank presidents from the world’s biggest economies issued a joint statement that papered over stark differences between opposing views.

The US and other countries are pushing for less budget austerity and more government stimulus while Germany and others contend that attacking huge budget deficits should be job No. 1.


Read more: G20 officials decry lack of global growth | ArabNews

Courage

President Obama at 2013 White House Correspondents' Dinner (C-SPAN)

President Obama at 2013 White House Correspondents' Dinner (C-SPAN)

FH board denies 2 variance requests for medical-pot site

 
 
Fountain Hills’ only medical-marijuana dispensary can be open only during traditional business hours and cannot have an ATM on site for patients.

However, the dispensary can offer water and coffee to its patients, and an existing outdoor-seating area can remain in place at the complex that will house the facility, but cannot be used by dispensary customers.

Read more: FH board denies 2 variance requests for medical-pot site

Medical-marijuana-packaging bill loses prosecutors’ support

The complexity of the legal debate over whether federal law trumps the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act has prompted the state’s prosecuting-attorneys association to withdraw its support of legislation their members had helped craft to protect children from accidentally eating medical cannabis.

A bill to enforce bland wrapping on candy containing marijuana will likely die, as attorneys say that it’s too difficult to keep legislating medical marijuana in an atmosphere of legal challenges and that the issue needs to be decided in the courts. The same argument was made last week when a bill to require police to destroy medical marijuana seized in criminal investigations was withdrawn by its sponsor.

Read more:  Medical-marijuana-packaging bill loses prosecutors’ support

Medical-marijuana bill nixed by sponsor

 

An Arizona senator has withdrawn a bill that would require police to destroy medical marijuana seized or forfeited in criminal investigations.

Instead of attacking the issue of what police should do with seized medical-marijuana plants and drugs through legislation, policy makers have decided to let it play out in the courts.

Sen. Kimberly Yee, R-Phoenix, withdrew Senate Bill 1441 after a state prosecuting-attorneys group outlined a potential conflict between state and federal laws and joined the case that gave rise to Yee’s bill. The bill was the outgrowth of a case in which a Yuma County Superior Court judge ordered the Sheriff’s Office to return marijuana seized from a California woman who had permission to use the drug for medical purposes. That case is now before the Arizona Supreme Court.

Read more: Medical-marijuana bill nixed by sponsor

Japan central bank revamps policy to boost economy - latimes.com

Japan is taking aggressive action to lift consumer prices, encourage borrowing and help pull the world's third-largest economy out of a long slump.

Like the U.S. Federal Reserve, Japan's central bank plans to flood its financial system with more money — its most far-reaching step to date to get consumers and companies to borrow and spend.

The Bank of Japan's action will also drive down the value of the yen. A cheaper currency will make Japanese goods — from Toyota cars to Sony TVs — less costly for Americans and other foreigners. And it will make U.S. and other exports more expensive in Japan.

Read more: Japan central bank revamps policy to boost economy - latimes.com