While there is still some time remaining on the 2013 calendar, the SI Organization - a self-described engineering and technology company that has worked with the US Department of Defense - released a recent report deeming the past year as one of the mildest in terms of devastating natural disasters.

For example, the number of wildfires that burned across the US was on pace to be the lowest in the last 10 years. By October 16, according to the National Interagency Fire Center, 2013 had seen 40,306 fires ravage 4,152,390 acres. That total, which accounts for the devastating fires outside Colorado Springs that displaced hundreds of people in June, is the lowest since 5,254,109 acres burned in 2008.

"Mr Kerry has told the Palestinian Authority he will return to the region on January 4, 2014 to discuss the peace process and negotiations with Israel," the official stated, on condition of anonymity. The news agency cites "a well-informed Palestinian source" who confirmed that the US chief diplomat plans to stay in the Middle East for a "number of days."

This will be Kerry's tenth visit since March 2013. Kerry, who helped to launch nine-month direct talks between the two sides in July, insisted this month that concrete progress had been made in the peace talks. But he said details would be kept under wraps as talking about any agreements could be counterproductive.

"I'm personally encouraged that very tough issues are beginning to take shape," he said in an interview with ABC television on December 15. "But we've agreed not to be talking about what we're doing because it just creates great expectations. It creates pressure. It creates opposition, in some cases."

"I think it's much better for us to do exactly what we've been doing, which is negotiate quietly and privately," he added. Israeli and Arab media reports say the plan envisaged by Washington would see Israel maintain a military presence in the Jordan Valley, in eastern Samaria (Shomron) for 10-15 years after a peace agreement with the PA.

The former Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge said the European court in its current form is threatening to undermine the sovereignty of Parliament. He urged the Government to seek allies to rein in the body of unelected judges, who are not 'answerable to anybody', as he questioned the right of any judge to 'have that sort of power'.

It comes as the President of the European court, Judge Dean Spielmann warned Britain's ban on prisoner voting is a breach of international law. Earlier this month Prime Minister David Cameron called for the court's powers to be restricted.

Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, Lord Judge, said: 'The most fundamental principle of our unwritten constitution is parliamentary sovereignty.' Our elected representatives have ultimate sovereignty not only over our own unelected judges but in my view over the unelected judges of any other jurisdiction, including Europe, unless we choose to give them sovereignty.

Over one week since a massive ice storm, at least 50,000-100,000 have been estimated to still be without power. Last week saw over 30 centimeters (11.8 inches) of freezing rain, downing trees city-wide. The aftermath: damage to Toronto's electricity system - which has affected at least 600,000 customers.

As of Thursday, 100,000 people were estimated to still be disconnected from the power supply. That number includes at least 79,000 people in major metropolitan areas - approximately 72,000 in Toronto and 7,000 in the North York area. Late Thursday, estimates hovered closer to 50,000 without power, according to various local media sources.

The charity has become more interested in animal rights than promoting welfare, while its inspectors have been given intrusive powers with no proper basis in law, Sir Barney said. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, he also says the BBC is guilty of a metropolitan bias, portraying rural people as “Neanderthals”.

Sir Barney also claimed that the National Trust was partly responsible for turning the countryside into “some sort of theme park”. The RSPCA was criticised by rural campaigners over its pursuit of fox hunters, after spending £326,000 on a private prosecution against Oxfordshire’s Heythrop Hunt last December. The judge in the case questioned whether the money could have been better spent, while the charities watchdog warned that any future prosecutions must be a “reasonable and effective” use of members’ money.

In another case, a judge criticised the society for spending £10,000 prosecuting an elderly woman with an unblemished record for being slow to take her cat to a vet. More recently, the charity has infuriated dairy farmers by trying to stop the badger cull, intended to halt the spread of bovine tuberculosis.

The quake's epicentre was about 50 kilometres deep in the Mediterranean Sea, and about 80 kilometres from Antalya, Turkey. Israel saw a series of earthquakes in October, when as many as 6 shook the northern area of the country within a single week.

Experts have warned that another major earthquake could strike at any time, prompting preparation efforts from the Home Front Ministry.

US head envoy over the peace talks Martin Indyk has met with senior IDF generals in recent days according to the report, urging them to accept the deal. Further, Indyk and his staff have reportedly told generals to "go to the media and be interviewed and respond, because they have the impression that the Israeli public has doubts about the subject."

The report comes just prior to Kerry's "offensive" in January to push Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to adopt his plan. Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has already rejected the plan. In response to the report, Analyst Mark Langfan, who has critically analyzed and dissected Kerry's Jordan Valley plan, said "any Israeli general advocating the Jordan Valley plan is a military fraud, and I challenge them to a debate." Langfan added "Martin Indyk has planned the annihilation of Israel for decades."

Prior to the 2005 "Disengagement," whereby Jews were expelled from Gush Katif, Indyk was woefully mistaken in his predictions of the move's results. Indyk claimed the unilateral withdrawal would produce "a new Palestinian leadership that is more responsible and capable and legitimate." Instead the terror organization Hamas took control of Gaza.

"The fundamentals are perking up right when we need them to, as the Fed steps away," said Jim Russell, senior equity strategist for US Bank Wealth management, referring to the Federal Reserve's announcement that it would start reducing its $85 billion in monthly bond purchases by $10 billion.

Shares of Amazon.com, United Parcel Service and FedEx edged higher after the online retailer offered to refund shipping charges after the package-delivery companies said they did not deliver some packages by Christmas amid overwhelming volume. "Getting overwhelmed with packages is maybe not so good for UPS and FedEx, but it is good for the economy," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank.

Setting another closing high, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed for a sixth consecutive session, adding 122.33 points, or 0.8 percent, to 16,479.88, with Exxon Mobil leading gains that extended to all but one of its 30 components.

Welcome to the latest trend in the penal colony formerly known as America. Debtors’ prisons. A practice I thought had long since been deemed outdated (indeed it has been largely eradicated in the Western world with the exception of about 1/3 of US states as well as Greece).

From Fox News: As if out of a Charles Dickens novel, people struggling to pay overdue fines and fees associated with court costs for even the simplest traffic infractions are being thrown in jail across the United States. Critics are calling the practice the new “debtors’ prison” — referring to the jails that flourished in the US and Western Europe over 150 years ago. Before the time of bankruptcy laws and social safety nets, poor folks and ruined business owners were locked up until their debts were paid off.

Reforms eventually outlawed the practice. But groups like the Brennan Center for Justice and the American Civil Liberties Union say it’s been reborn in local courts which may not be aware it’s against the law to send indigent people to jail over unpaid fines and fees — or they just haven’t been called on it until now.

“In our opinion, the overall creditworthiness of the now 28 European Union member states has declined,” Standard & Poor’s said in a note to investors. Last month, it downgraded the Netherlands, one of the few remaining triple-A rated EU countries. In the eurozone, only Germany, Luxembourg and Finland have kept their top rating.

The agency noted that "EU budgetary negotiations have become more contentious, signalling what we consider to be rising risks to the support of the EU from some member states."

European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso dismissed the rating downgrade. "We have no deficit, no debt and also very strong budget revenues from our own resources. We disagree with this particular ratings agency," the top official said in a press conference at the end of the EU summit. "We think the EU is a very credible institution when it comes to its financial obligations," Barroso added.

Karbala is where Imam Al-Hussein, a Shi'ite "martyr" who refused to surrender the Islamic Caliphate to Sunni leaders, was killed in 680 CE. The city houses his mausoleum, and Al-Maliki's statements came at a memorial to Hussein, who was also Muslim prophet Mohammed's grandson.

"We need to develop the city of Karbala, and it needs to be the place the Muslim world prays to because there lies Hussein," declared Al-Maliki, emphasizing that Muslims need to pray 5 times a day facing the city. In making the announcement Al-Maliki, himself a Shi'ite Muslim, poured oil on the blazing sectarian violence between Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims currently engulfing his country and the Muslim world. Karbala itself has been the target of Sunni terrorism, as a Shi'ite pilgrimage holiday was bombed in November.

Saudi religious authorities called Al-Maliki's words religious extremism deepening the centuries old sectarian Muslim divide. Dr Nasser Hanini told Al Arabiya that Al-Maliki is creating conflict and a sectarian rift, as it has been agreed by Sunni and Shi'ite religious authorities to pray towards the Kaaba shrine in Mecca. Hanini claims the call is a split from Islam.

Meanwhile the Sunni Al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and al-Shams (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria recently called for the genocide of Shi'ite Muslims for "damaging Mohammed's legacy."

Former Florida Senator Bob Graham, who co-chaired a joint congressional inquiry into the attacks, called the ruling a "very significant breakthrough," BrowardBulldog.org reported Tuesday. Saudi Arabia was dismissed from the lawsuit in 2005 on grounds of sovereign immunity, although there are exceptions for acts of terrorism. Saudi officials had called allegations in the suit "categorically false."

In reinstating Saudi Arabia to the suit, the US Second Circuit of Appeals said its own conflicting rulings had led to an "error of law" by US District Judge George B Daniels. The case now goes back to Daniels for more action.

Michael K Kellogg, a Washington DC, attorney representing Saudi Arabia, said the decision was "contrary to settled law" and that he would appeal the ruling. The ruling comes as Congress considers the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act that would allow sponsors of terrorism to be sued in US courts. Senator Charles Schumer, Democrat for New York, introduced the bill in the Senate in September, saying he wanted to correct "flawed court decisions."

But while leaving the organisation would have initial negative consequences, the CEBR's chief executive Douglas McWilliams suspects "that over a 15-year period, it would probably be positive." Britain is set to vote on a referendum on EU membership in 2017.

The report predicts the UK's GDP will first move to fifth place ahead of France by 2018 before leapfrogging Germany around 2030. However, despite being forecast to be the second most successful of the Western economies after the US, it will fall behind the accelerating economies of India and Brazil.

"Germany is forecast to lose its position as the largest Western European economy to the UK around 2030 because of the UK's faster population growth and lesser dependence on the other European economies," the report said. But added: "If the euro were to break up, Germany's outlook would be much better."

Known since March 13 as Pope Francis, the spectacle-wearing 77-year-old was 2013’s most discussed human being, according to the Global Language Monitor’s annual survey of the internet. The accolade lays bare his astounding ability — unique among modern religious leaders — to shape the news agenda and capture hearts and minds with a succession of charismatic speeches and colourful public gestures.

Yesterday, Francis drew a near record crowd estimated at 100,000 to St Peter’s Square in Rome to hear a Christmas address where he called for ‘a better world, free from conflict’. More than two million people have flocked to such audiences since his election — four times the number his predecessor Pope Benedict drew in total in 2012. This Pope’s headline-grabbing speeches are tweeted and televised around the world. His public gestures are YouTube gold.

And his policy statements are included in the morning briefing papers of Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin and David Cameron. A fortnight ago, Francis was named Time magazine’s 86th Person of the Year — an honour previously awarded to Churchill, the Queen, Ronald Reagan and John F Kennedy.

In just nine months, the magazine credited him with single-handedly re-vitalising a Roman Catholic Church that has been mired in scandal and long-term decline. ‘Rarely has a new player on the world stage captured so much attention so quickly — young and old, faithful and cynical,’ it wrote. In the coming months, in between trips to Israel and the Philippines, Francis has pledged to restructure Vatican bureaucracy and de-centralise power from Rome, potentially threatening jobs. Indeed, I gather that almost all members of the Curia have been told their contracts are to be reviewed in the coming year.

Among places ravaged by conflict, Francis singled out Syria, which saw its third Christmas during civil war, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Nigeria and Iraq. The pope prayed that Jesus, the "prince of peace," would "bless the land where you chose to come into the world and grant a favourable outcome to the peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians."

In the Middle East, pilgrims celebrated Christmas Day in the ancient Bethlehem church where tradition holds Jesus was born, as candles illuminated the sacred site and while prayers were said. This year's turnout has been the largest in years in Bethlehem, and the celebrations have been marked by careful optimism amid ongoing Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Leaders expressed hope that the coming year would finally bring the Palestinians an independent state of their own.