USA - US officials announced plans Friday to relinquish federal government control over the administration of the Internet, a move that pleased international critics but alarmed some business leaders and others who rely on the smooth functioning of the Web.

RUSSIA/USA - On the heels of President Obama’s approval rating plummeting to 41% – a record low - it is perhaps ironic that the supposedly despotic (amid shrouded in Hitler-comparisons and homosexual hatred) Vladimir Putin has seen his approval rating soar to 71.6% – a 3 year high - as Interfax notes “we now have a complex society that supports the president, primarily because of his stance on Ukraine.” Interestingly 64% saw Ukraine as a key current event while 32% said that success at the Olympics was most important.

VATICAN - One year on from the election of Pope Francis as successor to the Apostle Peter, we are becoming increasingly aware that he is guiding the Church towards a revolution, fought not by the sword but by personal witness, without throwing away the past, but by helping authentic tradition to flourish once again.

TURKEY - About three miles northeast of the Hagia Sophia on the Golden Horn one will find the Phanar, home to the Ecumenical Patriarchate and site of the recent pan-Orthodox assembly, or “Synaxis” of the primates of the Autocephalous Orthodox Churches (not including the Oriental Orthodox). Called by His All Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the importance of the assembly extends beyond Orthodoxy, giving hope for all Protestants and Catholics who pray for the unity of the church.

CHINA - "Sanctions could lead to retaliatory action, and that would trigger a spiral with unforeseeable consequences," warns China's envoy to Germany adding that "we don't see any point in sanctions." On the heels of Merkel's warning that Russia risked "massive" political and economic damage if it did not change course, Reuters reports ambassador Shi Mingde urged patience saying "the door is still open" for diplomacy (though we suspect it is not) ahead of this weekend's referendum. Russia's Deputy Economic Minister Alexei Likhachev responded by promising "symmetrical" sanctions by Moscow. So now we have China joining the fray more aggressively.

UK - Genetically modified crops could be more nutritious than natural produce, the government’s Chief Scientific Adviser has told the Prime Minister. Sir Mark Walport has written to David Cameron recommending that farmers should start to plant GM crops. There is no scientific evidence to suggest that such crops are dangerous to humans or the environment, he says. They could even be more beneficial to health, he argues. Scientists could add nutrients to the genetic make-up of plants. They would cut down on the need for pesticides and help farmers feed a growing population at a time when global warming threatens climates. A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the government was working to allow GM crops to be grown in Britain.

USA - In yet another sign of its deep slump, J C Penney Company said on Wednesday that it would close 33 stores across the country and shed about 2,000 jobs. The company said in a statement that the closings and resulting job cuts would save about $65 million a year. One of the oldest retailers in the nation, J C Penney has undergone considerable management and investment turmoil in the last few years. It fired one chief executive, Ron Johnson, and then brought back his predecessor, Myron E Ullman III. It tried a new retail strategy, which alienated core customers, and reverted to its old strategy. Its stock has plummeted nearly 80 percent in the last two years.

RUSSIA - Russian companies are pulling billions out of western banks, fearful that any US sanctions over the Crimean crisis could lead to an asset freeze, according to bankers in Moscow. Sberbank and VTB, Russia’s giant partly state-owned banks, as well as industrial companies, such as energy group Lukoil, are among those repatriating cash from western lenders with operations in the US. VTB has also cancelled a planned US investor summit next month, according to bankers. The flight comes as last-ditch diplomatic talks between Russia’s foreign minister and the US secretary of state to resolve the tensions in Ukraine ended without an agreement.

USA - US Secretary of State John Kerry thinks it is a “mistake” for Israel to demand that the Palestinian Authority (PA) recognize it as a Jewish state in order to achieve peace. “I think it's a mistake for some people to be raising it again and again as the decider of their attitude towards the possibility of a state and peace, and we've obviously made that clear," Kerry told the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on Thursday, when asked to clarify the official position of the Obama administration on the issue, according to the Breitbart website.

ISRAEL - Most Israelis do not trust US Secretary of State John Kerry’s peace plan and do not believe that he is taking Israel’s security into account, a new poll released Tuesday finds.

UK - Traditional attitudes to issues such as sexuality are being shut out of debate by a new form of liberal “censoriousness” which only allows “inoffensive” opinions to be heard in public, Britain’s most senior judge has warned. Lord Neuberger, President of the Supreme Court, said that Britain could be becoming less diverse rather than more because once common opinions are now deemed “unacceptable”. He likened the new form of “moral reaction” to the opposite but equally restrictive attitudes of previous generations. It follows complaints from traditionalists who opposed gay marriage that they were unfairly being treated as homophobic because of their stance on matrimony. As has been said on more than one occasion, freedom only to speak inoffensively is a freedom not worth having.

USA - Secretary of State John Kerry warned of serious repercussions for Russia on Monday if last-ditch talks over the weekend to resolve the crisis in Ukraine failed to persuade Moscow to soften its stance. Kerry will travel to London for a Friday meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov ahead of a Sunday referendum vote in the Crimea region to secede from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation.

ISRAEL - In the wake of the latest round of rocket attacks from Gaza, at least two top government ministers – Intelligence and Strategy Minister Yuval Steinitz and Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman – are calling on Israel to retake Gaza. In a stinging recrimination to former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan, which included the forced expulsion of some 10,000 Israelis when their homes were demolished and the land they were built on handed over to the Palestinian Authority, Steinitz said in an interview with Channel 10 that Israeli control was the only way to restore peace and quiet in southern Israel.

USA - California's record drought has left the Sacramento River so low that wildlife officials say they may have to carry all 30 million young salmon from the state's largest man-made hatcheries to the Pacific Ocean in trucks to avoid depleting the stock. That is roughly three times the amount of salmon that are trucked out of the biggest hatcheries in a typical year, reflecting the severity of a drought that has prompted the governor to declare an emergency and warn of possible water shortages.

MALAYSIA - The missing Malaysia Airlines plane may have kept flying for four hours after it disappeared, United States investigators have said. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that the plane’s engines had continued transmitting data to the ground for hours after its last confirmed report. The paper cited anonymous investigators “familiar with the details.” Terrorism has not been ruled out as a possibility, and reports that the plane turned around shortly before disappearing have raised suspicions that it may have been hijacked. The mysterious disappearance of the airplane and its 239 passengers deepened earlier this week with reports that families of the missing travelers were still hearing ring tones when calling their missing loved ones.