Celebrations planned as Wash. legalizes marijuana

SEATTLE (AP) — Legal marijuana possession becomes a reality under Washington state law on Thursday, and some people planned to celebrate the new law by breaking it.

Voters in Washington and Colorado last month made those the first states to decriminalize and regulate the recreational use of marijuana. Washington's law takes effect Thursday and allows adults to have up to an ounce of pot — but it bans public use of marijuana, which is punishable by a fine, just like drinking in public.

Nevertheless, some people planned to gather at 12:01 a.m. PST Thursday to smoke in public beneath Seattle's Space Needle. Others planned a midnight party outside the Seattle headquarters of Hempfest, the 21-year-old festival that attracts tens of thousands of pot fans every summer.

"This is a big day because all our lives we've been living under the iron curtain of prohibition," said Hempfest director Vivian McPeak. "The whole world sees that prohibition just took a body blow."

In another sweeping change for Washington, Gov. Chris Gregoire on Wednesday signed into law a measure that legalizes same-sex marriage. The state joins several others that allow gay and lesbian couples to wed.

That law also takes effect Thursday, when gay and lesbian couples can start picking up their wedding certificates and licenses at county auditors' offices. Those offices in King County, the state's largest and home to Seattle, and Thurston County, home to the state capital of Olympia, planned to open the earliest, at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, to start issuing marriage licenses. Because the state has a three-day waiting period, the earliest that weddings can take place is Sunday.

The Seattle Police Department provided this public marijuana use enforcement guidance to its officers via email Wednesday night: "Until further notice, officers shall not take any enforcement action — other than to issue a verbal warning — for a violation of Initiative 502."

Thanks to a 2003 law, marijuana enforcement remains the department's lowest priority. Even before I-502 passed on Nov. 6, police rarely busted people at Hempfest, despite widespread pot use, and the city attorney here doesn't prosecute people for having small amounts of marijuana.

Officers will be advising people to take their weed inside, police spokesman Jonah Spangenthal-Lee wrote on the SPD Blotter. "The police department believes that, under state law, you may responsibly get baked, order some pizzas and enjoy a 'Lord of the Rings' marathon in the privacy of your own home, if you want to."

Washington's new law decriminalizes possession of up to an ounce for those over 21, but for now selling marijuana remains illegal. I-502 gives the state a year to come up with a system of state-licensed growers, processors and retail stores, with the marijuana taxed 25 percent at each stage. Analysts have estimated that a legal pot market could bring Washington hundreds of millions of dollars a year in new tax revenue for schools, health care and basic government functions.

But marijuana remains illegal under federal law. That means federal agents can still arrest people for it, and it's banned from federal properties, including military bases and national parks.

The Justice Department has not said whether it will sue to try to block the regulatory schemes in Washington and Colorado from taking effect.

"The department's responsibility to enforce the Controlled Substances Act remains unchanged," said a statement issued Wednesday by the Seattle U.S. attorney's office. "Neither states nor the executive branch can nullify a statute passed by Congress" — a non-issue, since the measures passed in Washington and Colorado don't "nullify" federal law, which federal agents remain free to enforce.

The legal question is whether the establishment of a regulated marijuana market would "frustrate the purpose" of the federal pot prohibition, and many constitutional law scholars say it very likely would.

That leaves the political question of whether the administration wants to try to block the regulatory system, even though it would remain legal to possess up to an ounce of marijuana.

Colorado's measure, as far as decriminalizing possession goes, is set to take effect by Jan. 5. That state's regulatory scheme is due to be up and running by October 2013.

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Johnson can be reached at https://twitter.com/GeneAPseattle

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Stock futures dip ahead of jobs report

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The stock index futures dipped slightly on Friday as investors remained cautious ahead of a key monthly jobs report which was expected to have been impacted by Sandy, a massive storm that swept through the U.S. Northeast.

U.S. non-farm employment, due at 8:30 a.m. ET (1330 GMT), is forecast to have risen by 93,000 jobs in November after gaining 171,000 in October, according to a Reuters survey. The unemployment rate is seen holding steady at 7.9 percent.

Superstorm Sandy, which caused widespread damage and power outages, likely put a dent in U.S. jobs growth in November, temporarily interrupting a recently established trend of modestly rising payrolls.

Also to be released Friday is the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index, at 9:55 a.m. ET (1455 GMT). Economists surveyed by Reuters expect a preliminary December reading of 82.4 from 82.7 a month earlier.

S&P 500 futures fell 2.2 points and were below in terms of fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 10 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 2.50 points.

European shares fell Friday after Germany's central bank slashed its growth forecasts, and as investors booked profits on concerns U.S. jobs data may disappoint.

The Bundesbank cut its growth outlook for Germany, the euro zone's largest economy, on Friday, less than 24 hours after the European Central Bank slashed its own forecasts for the bloc, darkening the prospects for European corporate profits next year.

Amarin Corporation shares fell 18.5 percent to $9.74 in premarket trading after the bio-pharmaceutical company raised $100 million in financing to help it launch its heart drug Vascepa but disappointed investors who had hoped for a sale or partnership.

Netflix Inc will be in focus. The company said Thursday securities regulators warned they may bring civil action against the firm and its chief executive for violating public disclosure rules with a Facebook post. The case raises questions about how public companies communicate on social media.

Gun marker Smith & Wesson posted revenue that beat Wall Street estimates on continued demand for its pistols and sporting rifles. The company also raised its full-year profit outlook.

U.S. stocks closed modestly higher in thin trading Thursday as a rebound in shares of Apple lifted technology shares.

(Reporting by Angela Moon; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

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Memo From Afghanistan: YouTube Ban Is Shrugged Off in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan — When it comes to YouTube, the government of Afghanistan intends to keep its hand on the switch for now.

More than two months after the Afghan government banned YouTube to prevent the spread of an anti-Islamic video, it has yet to restore access to the popular video Web site. While officials say they hope to lift the block “as soon as possible,” they have offered only a vague sense of what must happen before that can be done.

It is a measure of some of Afghanistan’s complexities, however, that even as Afghan rights advocates have worried about censorship, a common reaction on the street to the YouTube ban has been praise, or at worst ambivalence, even among some of the younger, Internet-savvy set in Kabul.

“That video dishonored our prophet,” said Syed Hamid, 19, a recent high school graduate, in comfortable English. “If YouTube isn’t going to remove the video, then our government is right to block access to it.”

He added: “I don’t need YouTube. I can watch videos on other Web sites.”

When a trailer for the video “Innocence of Muslims,” which portrays the Prophet Muhammad as a crass thug and a womanizer, began to circulate in September, the Afghan government reacted quickly to stem potential violence as riots broke out in other countries. In a move that senior Western officials in Afghanistan praised, the Afghan authorities reached out to religious leaders across the country, urging them to preach restraint and tolerance.

More controversially, officials also decided to impose the ban on YouTube after the company refused to remove the video from its site.

The country remained mostly peaceful, to the relief of the government and Western officials here. Past demonstrations related to religious insensitivity had quickly become deadly: In February, when NATO personnel were seen burning Korans near the Bagram Air Base, Afghans took to the streets in a violent outpouring of rage that led to dozens of deaths.

While Western countries, including most of the ones involved here, recoil at the idea of restricting free speech, the lesson is less clear in Afghanistan. In this case, censorship worked, and in conjunction with the government’s broader strategy almost certainly saved lives.

Still, some are asking the question: Where does the government draw the line on filtering information to its citizens? The answer has consistently been: Anywhere Islam is insulted.

“In the Islamic world, there are certain things that are untouchable,” said Jalal Noorani, senior adviser to the minister of culture and information, who initiated the ban. “We won’t be patient with anything disrespectful to our religion.”

Mr. Noorani said the government had no plans to ban other Web sites, so long as they did not disrespect Islam or incite ethnic violence.

The government had shown a willingness to censor offensive broadcasts before. In 2010, for instance, it shut down Emrooz TV after the local station showed a segment on Shiite Muslims that some Afghans found offensive. And a sustained war of words with Pakistan prompted Afghan officials to ban Pakistani newspapers from eastern Afghanistan in September, claiming they were little more than “propaganda tools for the Taliban.”

While Web sites that focus on vices like gambling and pornography have been banned for years, the government had never before blocked an entire media Web site for hosting an offensive video, officials said. Civil rights groups have argued that the censorship undermines President Hamid Karzai’s promises of transparency and openness.

But for all the controversy over the ban, it hardly seemed to register with many youths here in Kabul.

On a recent afternoon, hundreds of young men gathered in a plaza off the Pul-e-Khesti market, where a de facto cellphone emporium has taken root. Men waved phones as they barked out prices across the crowd. Merchants at makeshift tables charged nominal fees to download music and videos on mobile devices.

The market is just the sort of place the government feared could be a magnet for violence if the video — or even just news of its contents — spread from phone to phone. Although most Afghans do not have computers, cellphones have become ubiquitous over the past decade, and an estimated three-quarters of Afghans have access to mobile devices that allow them to watch videos.

“As long as this anti-prophet video is on YouTube, our government should keep their Web site blocked,” said Javeed Khawrin, 21, who was shopping at the market. “If I had power, I would have destroyed the whole area where this video was taped.”

Subhanullah, 24, an Afghan Army soldier who came to the market to get his phone fixed and who, like many Afghans, uses a single name, said the video “creates more haters among our national army soldiers toward the foreign troops here.”

Attitudes were similar at the city’s Women’s Garden, a sanctuary of roses, leafy trees and swing sets financed by Western aid.

Nilab Khursihid, 18, said she welcomed the government’s decision to keep the ban in place, and suggested even extending it to all material that is hurtful or disrespectful, including cartoons that lampoon Mr. Karzai.

“This is how our community is,” she said, sitting with friends in the garden. “The Internet has misled many of the youth.”

The garden, in the Shahrara neighborhood, boasts a library, a computer lab and a gymnasium for women. Small shops selling toys, lingerie and dresses line the inner wall of the compound. Nearby, a young woman sat uneasily behind the steering wheel of a Toyota, taking a driving lesson, a freedom unknown in the rest of the city.

One shopkeeper, Mariama Ahmadi, 23, who runs a dress store, offered a counterperspective. While she, too, thinks the video should have been taken down, she said, she thinks banning the Web site was a mistake. She said she preferred self-censorship, and the freedom to decide for oneself.

“We can all have our own choices and decide what to watch,” she said, her face framed by a black hijab. “The government shouldn’t be telling people what to do.”

Sharifullah Sahak contributed reporting.

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John McAfee Arrested in Guatemala

By Tim Nudd

12/06/2012 at 07:30 AM EST

John McAfee, the American anti-virus software pioneer who has been on the run from police since his neighbor was found murdered in Belize last month, has been arrested in Guatemala.

McAfee, 67, was detained Wednesday at a hotel in Guatemala City and is accused of entering the country illegally, CBS News reports.

Hours before his arrest, McAfee told the Associated Press that he was formally requesting asylum in Guatemala because he was being persecuted in Belize over the fatal shooting of neighbor Gregory Faull.

Belize police consider McAfee a person of interest in that case. McAfee has denied any wrongdoing.

Photos released by the Guatemala National Civil Police on Wednesday appear to confirm McAfee's earlier claim to Wired that he had dyed his hair, eyebrows, beard, and mustache black to avoid detection.

Faull, an American whose body was discovered by a housekeeper on Nov. 10, filed a complaint this fall against McAfee for discharging firearms. Another suspect is already in custody in his murder.

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Stock futures flat before data, "fiscal cliff" woes linger

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock futures were little changed on Thursday in what could be another choppy session as the progress of fiscal negotiations in Washington continues to determine the market's fate.

* President Barack Obama said there could be a quick deal to avert the "fiscal cliff" - tax hikes and spending cuts set to begin next year, possibly driving the U.S. economy back into recession - if Republican leaders agree to raise tax rates for those making more than $250,000 a year.

* While Republican leaders in the House of Representatives insist that raising tax rates on the rich is a no-go, some GOP lawmakers now see it as inevitable to avoid the fiscal cliff.

* Several European equity benchmark indexes hit 2012 highs, boosted by hopes a U.S. budget deal will be reached before the year-end, and that the worst of Europe's debt crisis might be over. <.eu/>

* CME Group , the biggest operator of U.S. futures exchanges, joined several companies Wednesday that were moving 2013 dividend payouts to this month to shield shareholders from expected tax hikes in 2013. Without action from Congress in coming weeks, George W. Bush-era tax cuts on capital gains and dividends will expire at the end of 2012.

* S&P 500 futures dipped a point and were flat in terms of fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 22 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures were flat.

* On the data front, the Labor Department releases first-time claims for jobless benefits for the latest week at 8:30 a.m. ET (1330 GMT). Economists in a Reuters survey forecast a total of 380,000 new filings compared with 393,000 in the prior week.

* H&R Block , the biggest U.S. tax preparer, reported a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss as its cost-reduction measures continued to pay off.

* Apple Inc's rank in China's smartphone market, fell to No.6 in the third quarter as it faces tougher competition from Chinese brands, research firm IDC said Thursday. Apple's 6.4 percent drop on Wednesday was its worst daily performance since mid December 2008 and dragged down the Nasdaq Composite.

* The broad market seesawed Wednesday, with the S&P 500 dropping into negative territory before it rebounded off the 1,400 level, seen as a key technical support.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

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Typhoon Said to Have Killed Hundreds in Philippines

Erik De Castro/Reuters

Residents transported the body of victim in the southern Philippines on Wednesday.

MANILA —Rescue teams were trying to reach isolated villages in the southern Philippines on Wednesday after a powerful out-of-season typhoon tore through the region, leaving more than 270 people dead, officials said.

NASA

Typhoon Bopha moved toward the Philippines on Monday.

Karlos Manlupig/Associated Press

Relatives mourned in New Bataan on Wednesday.

Karlos Manlupig/Associated Press

Residents assessed the damage to their homes on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao on Tuesday after a typhoon struck.

Typhoon Bopha packed winds of up to 100 miles per hour when it struck Tuesday, bringing torrential rains that flattened entire villages, leaving thousands homeless, as well as washing out roads and bridges needed by rescue personnel trying to reach stricken regions.

A national disaster official, Benito Ramos, said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon that 274 deaths had been confirmed, with 339 people known to be injured and 279 missing.

The storm was weakening and leaving the Philippines on Wednesday. The Philippines is hit by more than 20 powerful tropical storms per year, but Bopha struck remote communities off the usual storm path that are not accustomed to such strong typhoons.

In December of last year, Tropical Storm Washi killed more than 1,200 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless. Officials this year called for mandatory early evacuations of vulnerable communities.

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Software guru McAfee says to seek asylum in Guatemala

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) – U.S. anti-virus software guru John McAfee, who is on the run from police in Belize seeking to question him in a murder probe, has crossed into Guatemala and said on Tuesday he will seek political asylum there.

McAfee has been in hiding for three weeks since police in Belize said they wanted to question him as “a person of interest” about the murder of fellow American Gregory Faull, with whom McAfee had quarreled.

McAfee smuggled himself and his girlfriend, Samantha, across the porous land border that Belize shares with Guatemala. He stayed at a hotel in a national park before heading for Guatemala City on Monday evening.

“I have no plans much for the future now. The reason I chose Guatemala is two-fold,” McAfee told Reuters by telephone from Guatemala’s Supreme Court, flanked by his lawyer, former attorney general and lawyer Telesforo Guerra.

“It is a country bordering Belize, it is a country that understands the corruption within Belize and most importantly, the former attorney general of the country is Samantha’s uncle and I knew that he would assist us with legal proceedings.”

McAfee has denied involvement in the murder and told Reuters on Monday he would not turn himself in. He posted repeatedly on his blog www.whoismcafee.com while on the run, describing how he would constantly change his disguise to elude capture.

On Tuesday, he appeared with his hair and goatee died black, and wearing a dark suit and tie – a far cry from the surfer-style blonde hair highlights, shorts and tribal-tattooed bare shoulders he sported in Belize.

“(Guerra) is now attempting to get political asylum for myself and for Sam. I don’t think there will be much of a problem. From here I can speak freely and safely,” McAfee said.

TECH GENIUS, “BONKERS”

McAfee says he believes authorities in Belize would kill him if he turned himself in for questioning. Belize’s prime minister has denied the claim and called the 67-year-old paranoid and “bonkers.”

On the Caribbean island of Ambergris Caye, where McAfee has lived for about four years, residents say he is eccentric, impulsive, erratic and at times unstable, with a penchant for guns and young women.

He would often be seen with armed bodyguards, pistols tucked into his belt, and McAfee’s neighbor had complained about the loud barking of dogs that guarded his exclusive beachside compound.

His run-in with authorities in Belize is a world away from a successful life in the United States, where he started McAfee Associates in 1989 and made millions of dollars developing the Internet anti-virus software that carries his name.

There was already a case against McAfee in Belize for possession of illegal firearms, and police had previously raided his property on suspicion he was running a lab to make illegal synthetic narcotics.

McAfee says he has been persecuted for refusing to donate money to politicians, that he loves Belize, and considers it his home.

Guatemala is a canny choice to seek refuge. It has long been embroiled in a territorial dispute with Belize. Guatemala claims the southern half of Belize and all of its islands, or cayes, rightfully belong to it. There is no extradition treaty between the two countries.

A Guatemalan government source said there was “no reason” to detain McAfee because there was no legal case against him pending in the country.

Harold Caballeros, Guatemala’s foreign minister, said his government was unaware of any arrest warrant and would study McAfee’s asylum request once presented, saying its success would “depend on the arguments.”

Guerra told Reuters McAfee would return to Belize once his situation in Guatemala was made legal, citing the fact he had crossed into the country illegally to avoid capture by police in Belize.

“He can go to the United States, there is no problem with that,” he added. “We have asked the U.S. embassy for support with our (asylum) request.”

He said the asylum request would be formally presented on Wednesday.

The U.S. Embassy in Guatemala City said in a statement McAfee would have to work within the country’s legal framework, but declined to elaborate. “The embassy does not comment on the actions of American citizens, due to privacy considerations.”

(Reporting by Simon Gardner and Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Kieran Murray and Eric Walsh)

Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Mario Lopez Wedding Photos: A Family Affair

12/05/2012 at 07:15 AM EST

Courtney Mazza, Mario Lopez and their daughter, Gia

FameFlynet

Mario Lopez looks good wearing next to nothing – but he's absolutely dashing in a suit.

In photos from his weekend nuptials to actress Courtney Mazza, Lopez, 39, looks like a classic handsome groom dressed in black and white as he leads his bride – and their adorable 2-year-old daughter Gia – down the aisle after tying the knot.

The trio also shared the spotlight as they cut the enormous pink multiple-tiered wedding cake as a family. The cake, a winter-wonderland-meets-beach theme creation, was by Cake Boss star Buddy Valastro.

Mario Lopez, Courtney Mazza and their daughter, Gia

FameFlynet

The lavish wedding, which featured a mariachi band and was also attended by Lopez's close pal Eva Longoria, was held on the beach in Punta Mita, Mexico, on Saturday.

The wedding will be featured in a two-hour TLC special called Mario & Courtney's Wedding Fiesta, slated to air Dec. 8.

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Study: Drug coverage to vary under health law

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new study says basic prescription drug coverage could vary dramatically from state to state under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

That's because states get to set benefits for private health plans that will be offered starting in 2014 through new insurance exchanges.

The study out Tuesday from the market analysis firm Avalere Health found that some states will require coverage of virtually all FDA-approved drugs, while others will only require coverage of about half of medications.

Consumers will still have access to essential medications, but some may not have as much choice.

Connecticut, Virginia and Arizona will be among the states with the most generous coverage, while California, Minnesota and North Carolina will be among states with the most limited.

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Online:

Avalere Health: http://tinyurl.com/d3b3hfv

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Stock futures up as China fuels growth hopes; data on tap

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock futures rose on Wednesday after comments from China's new leader boosted global growth expectations.

* Chinese Communist Party chief Xi Jinping said the country would maintain its fine-tuning of economic policies in 2013 to ensure stable economic growth. That sparked a rally in Chinese shares, with the Shanghai Composite Index <.ssec> surging 2.9 percent.

* Among his key priorities, Xi listed tax reform, urbanization and allowing the market to play a bigger role in setting resource prices.

* On the domestic front, investors awaited ADP's November employment report, due at 8:15 a.m. ET (1315 GMT). Economists in a Reuters survey expect 125,000 jobs were created versus 158,000 in October.

* Other data due include factory orders and ISM's November non-manufacturing index, both at 10:00 a.m. ET (1500 GMT).

* Nokia is to partner with China Mobile , the world's biggest operator, to launch a version of its flagship Lumia smartphone tailored for the world's largest market. U.S.-listed shares of Nokia rose 2.9 percent to $3.54 in premarket trading.

* S&P 500 futures rose 3.7 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 41 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures added 2.25 points.

* Repsol filed a U.S. lawsuit to block Chevron Corp's deal with Argentina's YPF , ramping up the Spanish oil company's legal response to the loss of its assets in Argentina.

* Pandora Media Inc

lowered its fourth-quarter earnings forecast, blaming a pull-back by advertisers on concerns about the U.S. budget, but analysts suggested it was due more to increasing competition.

* The U.S. Senate on Tuesday voted 98-0 to approve a wide-ranging defense bill that authorizes $631.4 billion in funding for the U.S. military, the war in Afghanistan and nuclear weapons.

* Walt Disney gave a much needed boost to Netflix , becoming the first major Hollywood studio to use the video service to bypass premium channels like HBO that traditionally controlled the delivery of movies to TV subscribers.

* The U.S. securities regulator is investigating a $10 million stock sale in March by Steven Fishman, chief executive of close-out retailer Big Lots Inc , who announced his retirement on Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the inquiry.

* U.S. stocks finished slightly lower in quiet trading Tuesday as the back-and-forth wrangling over the U.S. budget gave investors little reason to act.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum)

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