EUROPE - An umbrella group of 20 organisations campaigning for a federal Europe suggested Britain should be offered "associate membership" of the EU to prevent the country leaving altogether. David Cameron is seen as the "continual impediment" to a closer integration of eurozone states, according to the Union of European Federalists. The plan would see the UK lose all its MEPs, its commissioner in Brussels and its right to veto decisions in the European Council, but remain in the single market. The Prime Minister is expected to deliver a major speech on his vision for Britain's future relationship with Europe within weeks.

MIDDLE EAST - The Opec oil cartel, led by Saudi Arabia, will pocket a record of more than US$1trillion in net oil revenues in 2012 as the annual average price for Brent, the benchmark, heads to an all-time high in spite of weak economic growth. The windfall will provide fresh capital to some of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds. United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, the most influential members of the cartel, are home to three of the world’s 10 largest SWFs by assets under management, according to estimates by the SWF Institute.

USA - The most powerful company on the Internet just got a whole lot creepier: a new service from Google merges offline consumer info with online intelligence, allowing advertisers to target users based on what they do at the keyboard and at the mall. Without much fanfare, Google announced news this week of a new advertising project, Conversions API, that will let businesses build all-encompassing user profiles based on not just what users search for on the Web, but what they purchase outside of the home. The blog goes on to explain that in-store transactions, call-tracking and other online activities can be inputted into Google to be combined with other information “to optimize your campaigns based on even more of your business data.”

REYKJAVIK, ICELAND - Two former executives at an Icelandic bank which collapsed in the 2008 financial meltdown were sentenced to jail on Friday for fraud which led to a 53 million euro loss, in the first major trial of Icelandic bankers linked to the crisis. A Reykjavik court sentenced Glitnir's former chief executive, Larus Welding, and former head of corporate finance, Gudmundur Hjaltason, each to nine months in jail, of which six months were suspended for two years. They had denied the charges. The sentence was less than the jail terms of at least five years demanded by Iceland's special prosecutor, who is looking into alleged wrongdoing connected to the crisis.

UK - Up to 60,000 patients die on the Liverpool Care Pathway each year without giving their consent, shocking figures revealed yesterday. A third of families are also kept in the dark when doctors withdraw lifesaving treatment from loved ones. Despite the revelations, Jeremy Hunt last night claimed the pathway was a ‘fantastic step forward’.

BRUSSELS, EUROPE - An attempt by Britain to rewrite the EU rulebook to reflect domestic interests could make the European Union fall apart, its top official has warned. EU council president Herman Van Rompuy told the Guardian newspaper that London's quest to repatriate powers from Brussels could spark other member states to do the same.

UK - Forty years ago this week, the Union Flag was raised at the EEC’s headquarters in Brussels to mark the United Kingdom becoming a full member. We joined at the same time as Ireland and Denmark. Edward Heath, then Tory Prime Minister, was to regard securing Britain’s entry as his greatest achievement. The aim from the very outset was a political integration, which included a common currency and a common defence and security policy. The institutional structure was designed for powers to go the centre, but never to be returned. The political integration now needed to make the eurozone work is so great that it has become inevitable for this country to reconsider its membership of the EU.

EUROPE/UK - One of the key architects of the European single market today admitted Britain would be better off leaving the European Union. Mr Delors's radical U-turn comes 22 years after he infuriated Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and other Eurosceptics by trying to force European federalism on the UK.

UK - Judges have been accused of diluting the rights of Christians after a key judgment on whether they can refuse to work on Sundays. A new ruling by a High Court judge - the first on the issue in nearly a decade - says that Christians have no right to decline working on Sunday as it is not a “core component” of their beliefs.

BELGIUM - The Belgian king has provoked a sharp response to a Christmas message in which he drew parallels with the rise of fascism in the 1930s. [King] Albert II warned against the dangers of populists seeking scapegoats for current economic difficulties.

USA - Americans are living in an Orwellian state argue Academy Award-winning director Oliver Stone and historian Peter Kuznick, as they sit down with RT to discuss US foreign policy and the Obama administration’s disregard for the rule of law.

USA - Whether or not the "fiscal cliff" impasse is broken before the New Year's Eve deadline, there will be no post-cliff peace in Washington. With the political climate toxic in Congress as the cliff's steep tax hikes and spending cuts approach, other partisan fights loom, all over the issue that has paralyzed the capital for the past two years: federal spending.

USA - Investors fearing a stock market plunge - if the United States tumbles off the "fiscal cliff" next week - may want to relax. But they should be scared if a few weeks later, Washington fails to reach a deal to increase the nation's debt ceiling because that raises the threat of a default, another credit downgrade and a panic in the financial markets. "I think there will be a tremendous fight between Democrats and Republicans about the debt ceiling," said Jon Najarian, a co-founder of online brokerage TradeMonster.com, in Chicago. "I think that is the biggest risk to the downside in January for the market and the US economy."

WASHINGTON, USA - American soldier suicides continue to outnumber combat-related deaths in 2012, and the trajectory for soldier suicides continues to get worse. Statistics released by the Department of the Army show that through November potentially 303 active-duty, Reserve and National Guard soldiers committed suicide. As of December 7, Stars and Stripes reports that 212 soldiers have died in combat-related deaths in Afghanistan.

USA - Most have very fond memories of their college going years. Going off to college is one of the few rites of passage that we have in the United States ushering future generations into official adulthood. Yet the cost to attend this passage has gotten astronomically expensive. Many are unable to service their debt payments. Income based repayment plans may defer payments deep into the future but that only means that problems are pushed out a few more years. We have about ten cans that we are now kicking down the road. At a certain point, you run out of cans and with $1 trillion in student debt floating in the market the clock is ticking on this bubble.