USA - According to a recent study by Ookla Speedtest, the US ranks a shocking 31st in the world in terms of average download speeds. The leaders in the world are Hong Kong at 72.49 Mbps and Singapore on 58.84 Mbps. And America? Averaging speeds of 20.77 Mbps, it falls behind countries like Estonia, Hungary, Slovakia, and Uruguay. Its upload speeds are even worse. Globally, the US ranks 42nd with an average upload speed of 6.31 Mbps, behind Lesotho, Belarus, Slovenia, and other countries you only hear mentioned on Jeopardy. So how did America fall behind? Susan Crawford argues that "huge telecommunication companies" such as Comcast, Time Warner, Verizon, and AT&T have "divided up markets and put themselves in a position where they're subject to no competition."

USA - Like a simple parlour trick, the networks are able to make skeptical scientists vanish, at least from the eyes of their viewers. In some cases, the broadcast networks have failed to include such scientists for years, while including alarmist scientists within the past six months. ABC, CBS and NBC's lengthy omission of scientists critical of global warming alarmism propped up the myth of a scientific consensus, despite the fact that many scientists and thousands of peer-reviewed studies disagree. Neither CBS nor ABC have included a skeptical scientist in their news shows within the past 1,300 days, but both networks included alarmists within the past 160 days - CBS as recently as 22 days ago. When the networks did include other viewpoints, the experts were dismissed as "out of the scientific mainstream" or backed by "oil and coal companies."

USA - Relief may be on the way for a weather-weary United States with the predicted warming of the central Pacific Ocean brewing this year that will likely change weather worldwide. But it won't be for the better everywhere. The warming, called an El Nino, is expected to lead to fewer Atlantic hurricanes and more rain next winter for drought-stricken California and southern states, and even a milder winter for the nation's frigid northern tier next year, meteorologists say. While it could be good news to lessen the southwestern US drought and shrink heating bills next winter in the far north, "worldwide it can be quite a different story," said North Carolina State University atmospheric sciences professor Ken Kunkel. "Some areas benefit. Some don't." Globally, it can mean an even hotter year coming up and billions of dollars in losses for food crops.

USA - Overall, winters may become milder as the planet warms, but this season has been a stunningly cold outlier for eastern North America. Case in point? The frozen Great Lakes. Yesterday (March 4), the Great Lakes hit 91 percent ice cover, according to the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. That's the most ice since the record of 94.7 percent was set in 1973, the lab said in a statement. Except for Lake Ontario, nearly all the Great Lakes are frozen stiff, just like everyone on the East Coast. In fact, if the months of below-normal temperatures and freezing winds persist, the Great Lakes could meet or break their 1973 record, the lab said. The ice hasn't been this widespread since 1994, when 90.4 percent of the Great Lakes were under ice. The average ice cover is usually just above 50 percent, and only occasionally passes 80 percent, according to the lab.

UK - Guidelines out for consultation this month are calling for millions more people to be put on cholesterol-lowering statin drugs. But some fear such a move would do more harm than good. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence says the scope for offering statin treatment should be widened to save more lives. The pills protect against heart attacks and strokes.

USA - Accounting for 6.5 percent of the total market share, Statin drugs are the most widely sold pharmaceutical drugs in history. To date, Forbes Magazine tells us that Statins are earning drug companies $26 billion in annual sales. Pfizer spends over $3 billion each year to convince us that we need more and more drugs to be healthy. The public and the medical profession have been bamboozled by the legions of drug reps, billion dollar ad campaigns, and creative statistics.

EUROPE - Thousands of ECB auditors have begun examining the balance sheets of euro-zone banks. Stress tests are coming soon. With the European Central Bank in charge of oversight, many hope the EU's financial industry will return to health. But there are risks.

GERMANY - Across Germany, right-wing organizations are using anti-Islam rhetoric to further their ideas - and finding a receptive audience. Now legal experts are debating whether it's time for a new kind of hate-crime legislation. Anti-Islamists generally don't differentiate between Sunnis, Shiites and Alevi, or between militant Islamists and peaceful believers. In their imagination, Islam isn't a religion but a political ideology that must be fought. Muslims are accused of trying to take over the world, undermining the sovereignty of democratic states, infiltrating their legal systems. The Politically Incorrect internet platform reads: "The spread of Islam means that our descendants - and probably us too - will live in an Islam-dominated social order oriented towards the Sharia and the Koran and no longer towards the constitution and human rights."

AUSTRALIA - Emergency relief is on its way to drought-hit farmers in eastern Australia as many are forced to sell or slaughter their cattle. However the drought is not only inflicting a financial toll - there's a mounting psychological cost on communities where once fertile land has turned to dust.

CHINA - China announced its biggest rise in military spending in three years on Wednesday, a strong signal from President Xi Jinping that Beijing is not about to back away from its growing assertiveness in Asia, especially in disputed waters. The government said it would increase the defense budget by 12.2 percent this year to 808.23 billion yuan ($131.57 billion), as China seeks to develop more high-tech weapons and to beef up coastal and air defences. The increase follows a nearly unbroken run of double-digit hikes in the Chinese defense budget, second only to the United States in size, for the past two decades. "This is worrying news for China's neighbors, particularly for Japan," said Rory Medcalf, a regional security analyst at the independent Lowy Institute in Sydney.

UK - People will be advised to halve the amount of sugar in their diet, under new World Health Organization guidance. The recommended sugar intake will stay at below 10% of total calorie intake a day, with 5% the target, says the WHO. The suggested limits apply to all sugars added to food, as well as sugar naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices and fruit concentrates. UK campaigners say it is a "tragedy" that the WHO has taken 10 years to think about changing its advice. The recommendation that sugar should account for no more than 10% of the calories in the diet, was passed in 2002. It works out at about 50g a day for an adult of normal weight, said the WHO.

USA - In an effort its spokesman has described as “outreach to rednecks,” the Kentucky Baptist Convention is leading “Second Amendment Celebrations,” where churches around the state give away guns as door prizes to lure in nonbelievers in hopes of converting them to Christ. As many as 1,000 people are expected at the next one, on Thursday at Lone Oak Baptist Church in Paducah, where they will be given a free steak dinner and the chance to win one of 25 handguns, long guns and shotguns. What's next? Churches hosting Gun Shows? I'll just conclude with this: Matthew 26:52 “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.”

UK - "My intention was to carve out a space to be heard without constantly fearing the blasphemy charge, on pain of death." — Maajid Nawaz, Liberal Democratic Party candidate for Britain's Parliament.

"The media's vaunted concern for minority welfare is at direct odds with its indifference to the minority within Islam that is trying to reform its orthodoxy's disgraceful attitude to blasphemy — a minority that is gravely endangered and in need of friends." — Abhishek Phadnis, free speech activist, London School of Economics.

Muslim fundamentalists in London have threatened to behead a fellow British Muslim after he posted an innocuous image of Mohammed and Jesus on his Twitter account.

MIDDLE EAST - Three Gulf monarchies recalled their ambassadors from Doha Wednesday in an unprecedented escalation in tension with fellow Gulf Cooperation Council member Qatar, accused of backing the widely banned Muslim Brotherhood. Regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain said the decision was made in protest against Qatar's alleged interference in their internal affairs. Doha said it regretted the recall of its envoys but would not follow suit. They said they had asked Qatar, a perceived supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is banned in most Gulf states, "not to support any party aiming to threaten the security and stability of any GCC member," citing antagonistic media campaigns.

INDIA - India is considering integrating Israeli water technologies into a national initiative to clean up the polluted Ganges River, which provides water for 40 percent of India’s population in 11 states through which it flows. Indian engineers, scientists and officials from water technology companies visited Israel late last month to explore the possibilities. The cooperative effort to clean India’s holiest river has its source in a water technology cooperation agreement signed by officials of the two countries during the visit of India’s Minister of Urban Planning Kamal Nath to Israel in February.