EUROPE/RUSSIA - Freezing weather in eastern Europe has claimed at least 220 lives this month, most of them in the former USSR. Temperatures in Russia have been 10 to 15 degrees below average, with -50C (-58F) recorded in Siberia. At least 88 deaths have been reported - many of the victims were homeless. Ukraine reported 83 deaths on Friday and Poland 49, while heavy snow caused disruption in the Balkans. In Poland, most of the deaths were caused by carbon monoxide inhalation as a result of faulty heating.

UK - Heavy rain and floods are causing serious disruption across the country, as the whole of southern England is placed under a severe weather warning before Christmas. Roads and railways are suffering severe disruption after Britain was hit by yet more heavy rain, with more than a month's worth falling in the South West in the last five days. The area has been placed under an "amber" weather warning, with a serious risk of flooding on the already-saturated ground. The rest of southern England, along with the Midlands, southern Wales and parts of Scotland are also under a severe weather warning for heavy and persistent rain, according to the Met Office.

USA - First white Christmas in Oklahoma City since 1914 is predicted. Even Dallas, Texas, could see snowfall on Tuesday. Tornadoes could also strike the Gulf Coast tomorrow. More than 150 million Americans could see snow when they wake up on Christmas Day

GERMANY - Germany does not want to push Britain out of the European Union, but will not be “blackmailed” with the threat of an exit either, the country’s finance minister has warned.

UNITED NATIONS - Have you ever heard of Agenda 21? If not, don't feel bad, because most Americans haven't. It is essentially a blueprint for a "sustainable world" that was introduced at the UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992. Since then, it has been adopted by more than 200 countries and it has been modified and updated at other UN environmental summits.

UK - A senior Roman Catholic will today use his Christmas sermon to liken plans for the legalisation of gay marriage to the way the Nazis and Communists tried to undermine religion. The Bishop of Shrewsbury will launch a vociferous attack on the Coalition’s decision to fast track a vote on same-sex marriage in the New Year.

CHILE - Chile has raised the alert level for the Copahue volcano to red, the highest possible. The 3,000m (10,000ft) volcano is in Argentina's south-western Neuquen province, near the Chilean border. It began spewing ash and gas on Saturday morning. In Argentina, the authorities have told residents of local villages to monitor the situation. Many people have already left the area as a precaution.

USA - For decades, the mainstream media in the United States was accustomed to being able to tell the American people what to think. Unfortunately for them, a whole lot of Americans are starting to break free from that paradigm and think for themselves. The mainstream media doesn’t really want to talk about the fact that disarming the population has resulted in some of the most horrific massacres in human history.

CANADA - A video of a golden eagle snatching a child in Canada that has gone viral online was an elaborate hoax aimed at testing the skills of the clipmakers. The video shows the bird briefly lifting the child in a Montreal park before dropping him unharmed. Nearly 17 million people have watched the video on YouTube in three days. But a digital training centre in Montreal later told the BBC that the clip was made by its students as part of a degree course.

GERMANY - It is becoming clear that Germany intends to be the EU’s major political as well as economic power, and to dominate European governance to favour Germany’s privileged position as the global economic order changes. Ordinary citizens of other countries in Europe may refuse to comply. Germany, which is more than any other state the ultimate author of the euro-crisis in driving through a system of wage repression at home and capital relaxation abroad, has also been the principal engineer of the attempts to make the weakest pay for it. In that sense, the hour of a new European hegemon has arrived. With it, has appeared the first unabashed manifesto of German paramountcy in the Union.

USA - The ‘Connecticut Shooter’ Adam Lanza has now been reported by mainstream media to indeed be taking the violence-linked anti-psychotic drug known as Fanapt, a prediction I [investigative journalist Anthony Gucciardi] made after the news of the shooting broke. And as I explained in my previous article regarding this drug by name, Fanapt has a very disturbing history of FDA testing and approval. It also has a long line of side effects that echo reports that drugs of this nature ultimately lead to suicidal behavior and increased overall aggression — side effects covered up by Big Pharma corporate scientists.

UK - In a recent speech at the Economic Club of New York, Bank of England Governor Mervyn King predicted a continuation of currency wars next year. He explains, “I do think 2013 could be a challenging year in which we will, in fact, see a number of countries trying to push down their exchange rates. That does lead to concerns. Will other countries react in kind? What will happen? The policies pursued by countries for domestic purposes are leading to tension collectively.” He also adds, “There are limits to how far monetary policy can be effective in the very long run shifting spending for the future to today.” Over the past six years, the maestros of the printing presses have injected the financial system with roughly $11 trillion and show no signs of slowing down.

UK/EUROPE - Britain will be expected to plan national defence with the rest of the European Union after David Cameron agreed to accelerate joint military operations. Under a deal reached in Brussels yesterday, leaders of all 27 EU countries promised to “strengthen” Europe’s ability to deploy troops “rapidly and effectively” in any future crisis. They committed to “systematically considering cooperation” across Europe whenever EU member states begin drawing up their national defence plans. However, the Prime Minister immediately faced a backlash from his own Conservative MPs, who warned it was the first step to creating a European army.

BERLIN, GERMANY - An Italian judge has convicted Deutsche Bank of fraud, as the bank struggles to save its reputation amid widening probes over tax evasion and rate-fixing after the departure of its former CEO Josef Ackermann. Deutsche Bank was convicted together with US giant JP Morgan Chase, Switzerland's UBS and a German-Irish bank, Depfa, for their role in overseeing fraud by their bankers in the sale of interest rate bets to the city of Milan. About €90 million are to be seized from the four banks, who will also have to pay €1 million each in fines. The US Senate named the German bank alongside Goldman Sachs as the two institutions that played a “key role” in the financial crisis.

USA - Regulators with the FDA have released a preliminary report that suggests they will soon give the go-ahead to a team of scientists who’ve created a sci-fi “frankenfish.” The fish, a hybrid of the Pacific Chinook salmon and a ray-finned creature called the eelpout, is engineered to grow twice as normal as traditional salmon. Once the frankenfish is approved for good, AquaBounty will be able to offer meatier fish able to feed more people. “In all other respects,” the company says the AquAdvantage fish is “identical to other Atlantic salmon.” The AquAdvantage "will not have any significant impacts on the quality of the human environment of the United States,” the FDA wrote, noting additionally that the fish is unlikely to harm populations of natural salmon.