He was explaining a deal he had done with the Republican leadership in the Senate - it puts taxes up for those families earning over $450,000 (£277,000; €340,000) a year and puts off planned spending cuts for two months.

American politicians certainly know how to take it to the wire. And just a little bit beyond. The plan was to vote on it before the midnight deadline. They didn't make it. Officially, the US has tumbled over the fiscal cliff. But we don't yet know what the impact will be. It is possible, even likely, that it will float gracefully upwards again, wafted on the winds of Congressional approval.

Then again, disgruntled Republicans in the House could send it crashing to the ground, with a sickening thump. There is a lot for them to dislike in this deal, and they will have a point when they say it does little to cut spending. But to stand on their principle would also be to oppose tax cuts for most Americans. They might decide it would be foolish to play chicken with their reputations.

They can, however, afford to grandstand a little longer. It is an easy thing to do on New Year's Day, when the markets are closed and the federal government is shut, so there is no-one to panic, and no-one to impose any savage cuts. But play it very much longer and real damage begins to be done to the economy. This has not yet played out. There are unhappy Democrats, as well. But their party had its act together and their president had a plan.

The Republicans look passionate but rudderless, mistaking ardour for strategy. This inglorious episode is not yet over but it will reinforce the average American's contempt for Congress.

The summit's draft conclusions argue - albeit in a rather short statement right at the end - that any new steps towards strengthening economic governance will need to be accompanied by "further steps towards stronger legitimacy and accountability".

But critics point to a more fundamental issue. They wonder whether anyone has really been consulted about the whole notion of closer integration in the first place. "Originally we were promised a monetary union, without political or economic union," says Sampo Terho, an MEP from a Eurosceptic Finnish party, the True Finns. But that of course has not worked, which creates the current dilemma.

"I personally don't think we can move forward anymore in political union without having a referendum," Mr Terho says. "I feel we have a responsibility to our own people back home to explain what is going on because I am quite certain that they don't even realise how far we are going with this EU project."

But other voices are being raised, asking whether such fundamental change is really necessary. From outside the eurozone, the UK has made it clear that it will play no part. The Czech Republic and others are also sceptical. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte suggested in a recent interview with several European newspapers that some EU powers should be returned to member-states. Even France is cautious, as it always has been, about German proposals to hand more powers to centralised European institutions in Brussels.

In a union well-versed in the art of compromise, expect something less than a federal super-state but much more than a group of countries acting in unison.

He told the BBC "associate member" status would mean the UK giving up much of its influence in the EU. "We're now at a point where there ought also to be the option of various formal tiers of membership," he said.

Mr Duff said there was no enthusiasm in the EU for more British grumbling, the BBC's Matthew Price reports from Brussels. But he said he did not want to see the UK leave the EU altogether. His group only speaks for a section of EU thinkers, our correspondent says, but the ideas will feed into the debate about the UK's future relationship with the EU.

The Confederation of British Industry lobby group is pressing for Britain to keep its place and status within the European Union, to push for freer trade. The CBI's director-general, John Cridland, said: "The UK has ensured its values of free and open trade have been at the heart of Europe over the last 40 years, helping to create one of the biggest successes of the European Union - the single market."

The House is due to consider it later. Spending cuts have been delayed for two months to allow a wider agreement. Congress missed the deadline to pass a bill, but few effects will be felt as Tuesday is a US public holiday. Tax cuts approved during the presidency of George W Bush formally expired at midnight (05:00 GMT).

Without approval in the House, huge tax rises for virtually all working Americans will kick in automatically. Analysts warned that if the full effects of the fiscal cliff were allowed to take hold, the resulting reduction in consumer spending could spark a new recession.

The three signed a legal document which stated Mr Marotta, a married mechanic who fosters children with his wife, would have no rights to the child. Bauer and Schreiner updated Marotta on their daughter's well-being occasionally but he has had little contact, according to the Kansas City Star.

The arrangement changed earlier this year when Ms Schreiner, the only parent registered on her daughter's birth certificate, applied for social welfare. Ms Bauer had been supporting the child but was left unable to work due to ill health. On October 3, 2012, attorney Mark McMillan filed a petition on behalf of the Department of Children and Families seeking a ruling that Marotta is the father of Schreiner's child and owes a duty to support her.

Ms Bauer and Ms Schreiner had been together for eight years and adopted eight children. They ended their relationship in 2010 but continue to co-parent their sons and daughters who range from three months to 25 years old.

Plagued by gang violence, Chicago surpassed last year's murder total of 433 in October and is set for the highest rate of homicide since the third largest US city recorded 512 in 2008. The number is likely to top 500 on the last weekend of the year.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced on Friday that the nation's largest city could finish the year with the lowest number of murders and shootings since 1963, when it began keeping comparable data. The number of murders this year in New York is only about one-fifth the total of 2,245 homicides recorded in the peak year of 1990.

Chicago was not alone in recording a spike in murders this year. The murder rate in Detroit through December 16 was up more than 12 percent over 2011 and at the highest level in nearly two decades, according to the city's police department. As of Friday, St Louis had recorded 113 homicides, the same number as 2011 with one weekend to go in 2012, police spokesman David Marzullo said. Across the Mississippi River in East St Louis, Illinois, 22 murders have been recorded this year in a town of only 27,000 people.