Gated Logic • nevali.net

Gordon Brown is set to upgrade the legal status of the drug cannabis, setting aside the advice of government scientific advisors. Mr Brown, appearing on the GMTV programme, described new ‘skunk’ strains as “lethal”.

The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs delivered its report on the reclassification of cannabis to Downing Street. The report noted that between 1998 and 2005, while cannabis use has increased, and stronger strains of the drug are more readily available, reported cases of schizophrenia had fallen during the same period. Cannabis use has been widely linked to a higher risk of developing schizophrenia, and this was a prime concern when the drug was reclassified in 2002.

Hillary Clinton stated that she would want to make clear to Iran that “we would be able to obliterate them” were they to launch an attack on Israel. Mrs Clinton didn’t specify whether she was referring to the whole country, or just Iran’s military forces. In either case, she will probably only gain votes as a result, given the current widespread sentiment with respect to Iran.

Lord Levy has attacked what he perceives to be Gordon Brown’s lack of strong leadership. Lord Levy was the chief fundraiser of the Labour party and a close ally of Tony Blair, and was at the centre of the “Cash for Honours” affair.

The 48-hour strike at Grangemouth began on Sunday, causing the closure of the refinery and a pipeline carrying nearly half of Britain’s North Sea oil.

Complaints have been made regarding the conduct of the Chinese security guards chaperoning the Olympic Torch when it passed through the UK. The home secretary confirmed that the guards had no official policing powers.

The US Justice Department is reportedly keeping a close eye on the dealings between Google and Yahoo!. The latter is said to have been desperately trying to avoid being bought by Microsoft, who still has an offer on the table.

Hamas has proposed a six-month truce with Israel. The conditions of the truce are that it must be simultaneously enacted by both sides, and blockades must be lifted.

Also in the Gaza strip, the United Nations has been forced to suspend its food distribution programme due to fuel shortages.

The closure of the Grangemouth oil refinery in Scotland could cost the UK £50m a day, according to Malcom Webb of the trade body Oil and Gas UK. Ministers in the Scottish Parliament have warned that the effects of the closure upon the oil industry could be widespread.

Apple released the 4th beta test version of their software development kit for the iPhone and iPod touch. Changes include support for OpenGL ES in the bundled iPhone simulator and mechanisms for “badging” applications in the Springboard, hinting at coming support for background applications. Some developers have criticised Apple for instituting a policy of not allowing applications to run in the background on the iPhone platform, but others have defended Apple, citing battery life and performance concerns.

In Ireland, Eircom is being sued by the “Big Four” record companies for permitting its subscribers to illegally share music tracks. The recording industry claims Eircom should purchase a program named CopySense, which is purported to prevent sharing of infringing files. Many claim that CopySense is a fundamentally flawed technology, and Eircom points to the fact that the record companies have yet to identify any infringing files being shared. The presiding judge in the case, Mr Justice Peter Kelly, said he expects to fix a date for a hearing in July.

Bertelsmann has announced that it intends on releasing an abridged version of 25,000 German-language articles from the collaborative encyclopaedia, Wikipedia. Articles will be selected for the printed edition based upon popularity, and will be limited to short summaries of each. The collection will retail at €19.95 and Bertelsmann will pay one €1 per copy sold for use of the Wikipedia name.

Sun has announced that it will remove the remaining hurdles preventing its Java platform from being completely open sourced, and is in active discussions with Linux vendors. Whilst much of Java is already open source, certain components were originally contributed by third parties and required specific negotiations on Sun’s part.