The World Conference on International Communications in Dubai will update global telecom rules for the first time since 1988, and some countries see this as an opportunity to set up new rules for the Internet. There are fears proposals made by China, Russia and other nations could threaten the open model of Internet governance by giving the UN a greater role. Oversight of the net's domain name system and technical specifications is currently undertaken by US-based bodies, but some countries want an international organisation to take responsibility.

Google's statement said 'the ITU is the wrong place to make decisions about the future of the Internet' because 'only governments have a voice at the ITU,' including some 'that do not support a free and open Internet.' 'The ITU is also secretive,' Google said. 'The treaty conference and proposals are confidential.' Google said some proposed treaty changes 'permit governments to censor legitimate speech — or even allow them to cut off Internet access'.

As we reported last week, an article in the Washington Post, cited several US officials saying that [Mr] Obama signed off on the secret cybersecurity order, believed to widely expand NSA’s spying authorities, in mid-October.

“The new directive is the most extensive White House effort to date to wrestle with what constitutes an “offensive” and a “defensive” action in the rapidly evolving world of cyberwar and cyberterrorism.” the report states.

In response to the move, lawyers with the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request demanding that the Obama administration make public the text of the directive.

The NSA responded to the FOIA request this week with a statement arguing that it does not have to release the document because it is a confidential presidential communication and it is classified.

Thanksgiving, a hugely popular holiday, celebrates the Pilgrims' first harvest in what is now Massachusetts state. For the 39 million Americans travelling in vehicles, heavy traffic was expected in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Reasons for turkeys to be nervous

Americans will gobble 46 million of the poultry at Thanksgiving, almost 3lb (1.4kg) per person

At an average weight of 16lb each, last year's Thanksgiving turkeys weighed 736 million lb in total.

Americans spend about $875 million (£550 million) buying turkeys for Thanksgiving

About 31% of turkeys scoffed during the year in the US will be consumed on the holiday

Traditionally, retailers enticed shoppers with "doorbuster" deals early Friday morning. Then they shifted to midnight following Thanksgiving.

Now Walmart's US discount stores, which will already be open during the day, will offer some "Black Friday" deals at 8 pm and special deals on some electronics at 10 pm. Target has moved its opening from midnight to 9 pm on Thursday and Toys R Us is opening at 8 pm. Other retailers, like JC Penney Co Inc are holding out and will not open until Friday morning, so shoppers trying to get all the deals will need a lot of stamina. The stakes are high for US retailers, which can earn more than a third of their annual sales in the holiday season.

The Catholic Church high official equated Israel’s operation in Gaza against terror groups with the New Testament story of Herod’s slaughter of Jewish babies in his effort to kill Jesus. Ravasi, who is one of the most popular Catholic cardinals and the director of the Church’s policy on culture, called Israelis baby-killers in a shameless form of anti-Semitism which subtly accuses the Jewish State of trying to murder the new Jesus, symbolized by the Palestinian people.

The Vatican official’s modern blood libel against Israel was delivered during the presentation of Pope Benedict’s new book about the life of Jesus. However, Ravasi's theme – the Jews as Herod, who killed all the innocent babies because his heart was set on killing Jesus – was much beloved by Medieval organizers of pogroms.

Talking to the Vatican News Agency, Michel Sabbah, Patriarch Emeritus of Jerusalem, said that the Gaza Strip for many years “has been living under the weight of an absurd embargo, which makes the daily lives of a million and a half of people inhumane”. Sabbah signed the recent appeal by more than one hundred Christian leaders who have asked the international community to support the recognition of the Palestinian State as a full member of the United Nations. Among the signers is the Greek Orthodox Archbishop Atallah Hanna, a self professed anti-Semite who blessed the suicide attacks against Israeli civilians.

As yet, no condemnation has come from the Pope of the barrages of rockets fired by terror groups on southern Israeli cities before Operation Pillar of Defense. The Church authorities, and Benedict XVI himself, raised their voices in condemnation of the violence that has broken out in the Gaza Strip only after Israel began bombing the installations of the terrorist movements in that territory. Not a word was heard before that. During the Cast Lead operation in 2009, the Vatican officials called Gaza "a concentration camp". After the Nazi comparison did its work, the Jesus-killer motif has now returned to the Catholic Church.

Under the terms of the truce, both sides will hold off from hostilities until further notice. After the truce has held for 24 hours, talks will begin to address Hamas's demand that Israel's blockade of Gaza be lifted. There was no mention of Israel's requirement that Hamas be prevented from rearming, either immediately or in the future. But the deal was announced in Cairo by Mohammed Kamel Amr, the foreign minister of Egypt, through which any arms would have to travel to reach Gaza, standing alongside Mrs Clinton. The Israelis believe this amounts to a guarantee their security concerns have been accepted.

The assertion that the Christian calendar is based on a false premise is not new – many historians believe that Christ was born sometime between 7BC and 2BC. But the fact that doubts over one of the keystones of Christian tradition have been raised by the leader of the world's one billion Catholics is striking.

Christ's birth date is not the only controversy raised by the Pope in his new book – he also said that contrary to the traditional Nativity scene, there were no oxen, donkeys or other animals at Jesus's birth. He also weighs in on the debate over Christ's birthplace, rejecting arguments by some scholars that he was born in Nazareth rather than Bethlehem.

John Barton, Professor of the Interpretation of the Holy Scripture at Oriel College, Oxford University, said most academics agreed with the Pope that the Christian calendar was wrong and that Jesus was born several years earlier than commonly thought, probably between 6BC and 4BC. "There is no reference to when he was born in the Bible - all we know is that he was born in the reign of Herod the Great, who died before 1AD," he told The Daily Telegraph. "It's been surmised for a very long time that Jesus was born before 1AD - no one knows for sure." The idea that Christ was born on Dec 25 also has no basis in historical fact. "We don't even know which season he was born in. The whole idea of celebrating his birth during the darkest part of the year is probably linked to pagan traditions and the winter solstice."

The agreement said “Israel shall stop all hostilities on the Gaza Strip land, sea and air including incursions and targeting of individuals” and that “all Palestinian factions shall stop all hostilities from the Gaza Strip against Israel, including rocket attacks and attacks along the border.” It said issues of opening border crossings and facilitating the free movement of people and goods “shall be dealt with after 24 hours from the start of the cease-fire.”

In a speech in Jerusalem shortly before the cease-fire took effect, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that in talks by telephone with President Obama, he agreed to “give an opportunity to the cease-fire” that Obama was urging him to accept. But [Mr] Netanyahu warned that at the same time, Israel could not sit idly by as “our enemies continue to arm themselves with terrorist arms.”

He said he and [President] Obama had agreed, therefore, that Israel and the United States would “work together to prevent the smuggling of arms to the terrorist organizations, the vast majority of which come from Iran.” He did not elaborate. [Prime Minister] Netanyahu also left open the prospect that an even more intensive military campaign against Gaza “may be needed” in the future.