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.

The crisis erupted on December 17 when dozens of people, including of the head of state-run Halkbank, were arrested on graft charges. Erdogan responded by purging police investigators. The ensuing feud with the judiciary reignited long-simmering street protests and rattled foreign investors.

Earlier on Wednesday, three ministers who had sons among those detained resigned. Two of them echoed Erdogan in depicting the inquiry as baseless and a conspiracy. The third, Environment Minister Erdogan Bayraktar, turned on the premier.

After nightfall, a spent-looking Erdogan announced he was appointing 10 new ministers to replace the three who quit and others planning mayoral runs in local elections in March. The fact that the shake-up happened over Christmas cushioned the blow to Turkey on dormant international markets. But the stock index closed down 4.2 percent and the lira weakened to 2.0862 against the dollar.

No, those green pieces of paper are Federal Reserve notes. "Notes" in this case meaning liabilities to the central bank of the United States. That makes you, me, and anyone else holding those green pieces of paper essentially creditors of the Federal Reserve, whether we signed up for it or not.

The Fed is theoretically like any other business. On one side of its balance sheet, it has assets. On the other side, it has liabilities. The Fed is unique, though, in that its liabilities - namely Federal Reserve Notes - are passed off as money in the Land of the Free. And they have a legal monopoly in this money business. Just ask Bernard von NotHaus, the founder of Liberty Dollar who was labeled a domestic terrorist and convicted for minting silver coins to be used as a competing money.

Moreover, the Fed has the ability to increase its liabilities at will. Mr Bernanke can conjure additional Federal Reserve notes out of thin air and pump them into the system. And at this point, thanks to a long-standing policy of wanton money printing, the Fed has more liabilities than ever before in its history. By an enormous margin. This precarious balance sheet is dangerous, because if the Fed goes bust, everyone loses.

Is it even possible for a central bank to go bust? Definitely.

Zimbabwe and Tajikistan are infamous examples. And most recently it happened in Iceland. The banking system there collapsed from being so highly leveraged, and Iceland's central bank suffered tremendous losses. The end result was insolvency, and the central bank's liabilities, ie the Icelandic kronor, went into freefall, losing 60% against the dollar and euro in a matter of days.

Iraq's ancient Christian community has more than halved in recent years, from an estimated population of 900,000. Both blasts happened in the Dora area of Baghdad. The bomb outside St John's Catholic church exploded in a parked car, shortly after a blast at an outdoor market in the mainly Christian al-Athorien district.

No-one has yet admitted carrying out the attacks, which came as Christmas Day services were held across Iraq. During a service at St Joseph Chaldean church in the Karrada area of the capital, Father Saad Seroub called for peace and security for all Iraqis. Churches have been targeted across the country since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Zayani held talks in Saudi Arabia with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and expressed "GCC interest in bolstering friendship and cooperation ties with China," a GCC statement said. Wang was quoted as saying that Beijing wants to "expand economic, trade and investment relations" with GCC countries and spoke of the "strategic cooperation and relations (it has) with the GCC".

Wang arrived in Saudi Arabia as part of a regional tour during which he also visits Israel, the Palestinian territories, Morocco and Algeria. Saudi media said he will be discussing with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saudi al-Faisal a "strategic partnership" between Beijing and Riyadh. It did not elaborate.

Gulf monarchies are wary of Washington's reluctance to provide military support to Syrian rebels and for its openness towards their regional arch foe Iran, and are looking to improve ties with other nations. The Sunni-ruled monarchies, like Western powers, fear that Iran may develop nuclear weapons under the cover of its disputed nuclear programme, which Iran insists is for peaceful purposes only.