code: def get_now_utc():
      ''' date in UTC, ISO format'''
  
      # Helper class for UTC time
      # Source: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2331592/datetime-datetime-utcnow-why-no-tzinfo
      ZERO = datetime.timedelta(0)
      class UTC(datetime.tzinfo):
          
          def utcoffset(self, dt):
              return ZERO
          def tzname(self, dt):
              return "UTC"
          def dst(self, dt):
              return ZERO
  
      #now = datetime.datetime.now(timezone.utc) # Python 3.2
      now = datetime.datetime.now(UTC())
      return now
docs: date in UTC, ISO format