Gino D'Acampo, the winner of I'm a Celebrity on Friday, and his fellow contestant Stuart Manning face criminal charges for animal cruelty after COOKING AND EATING A RAT on the ITV1 reality show, which enjoyed a ratings renaissance for this year's ninth series. The pair were part of a group in "exile" during part of the series, which meant they had meagre rations of rice and beans. They asked production staff if they could kill a rat and were given the go-ahead.

The RSPCA said it would take action and police have issued "attendance notices" for D'Acampo and Manning to appear in court in New South Wales on February 3. The production was unaware that killing a rat could be an offence, criminal or otherwise, in New South Wales and accepts that further inquiries should have been made – this was an oversight.

Chief Inspector David Oshannessy, of the New South Wales RSPCA, said it was not acceptable that an animal had been killed as part of a performance. "There is a code of conduct in New South Wales that dictates how animals can be used. The killing of a rat for a performance is not acceptable."

Meanwhile, the Coulisses de Bruxelles blog notes that the Spanish EU Presidency, "WISHES TO RESURRECT THE CULT OF SECRECY THAT MARKED THE BEGINNING OF COMMUNITY COOPERATION", citing the fact that the Spanish government is pressing for more secretive Council meetings. It says the Presidency will exclude the press from 'informal' ministerial meetings, TO ALLOW EUROPEAN LEADERS TO FREELY NEGOTIATE.

Traditionally, the 'informal' meetings were an opportunity for EU ministers to meet to get to know each other, particularly whenever a new country took up the rotating EU Presidency. However, notes Quatremer, over time THEY BECAME MORE AND MORE FORMAL AND MINISTERS BEGAN TO TAKE IMPORTANT DECISIONS about the agenda for the coming months, despite still being called 'informal' meetings, and the media were slowly allowed more access. However, THE SPANISH GOVERNMENT HAS SAID IT WANTS TO END THE PRESS CONFERENCES AND MEDIA ACCESS TO THE MEETINGS, even though policy will still be decided there.

Business leaders and economists urged the Chancellor not to raise taxes and cut spending too soon for fear of snuffing out the recovery and driving the UK back into recession. THE UK WAS THE WORLD'S FOURTH-LARGEST ECONOMY IN 2005 but was overtaken by China in 2006, France in 2008 and Italy this year.

Douglas McWilliams, chief executive of the CEBR, said: "In a decade, the UK could have dropped from being number four in the world to being outside the top 10."

France is holding the meeting because it wants to mobilise supporters of the CAP before negotiations kick off next year about the EU's next budgetary period from 2014 to 2020.

The article quotes French Agriculture Minister Bruno Le Maire saying, "FRANCE IS THE BIGGEST AGRICULTURAL POWER IN EUROPE and it is not illegitimate for it to reflect on this and associate all other member states that want a strong CAP. If the UK ever wanted to join us and sign an appeal for a strong CAP, it would be welcome."

THE UK WANTS TO PHASE OUT ALL MARKET PRICE SUPPORT and all direct payments to farmers by 2020 but a majority of member states favour retaining the status quo.

It suggest that, with a capacity of 3,000,000 tons of steel, closure of the plant will deliver "savings" of over 6 MILLION TONS OF CARBON DIOXIDE, worth £80 million per annum at current rates but around £200 million at expected market levels.

It further argues that by "offshoring" production to India and bringing emissions down - from over twice the EU level - to the level currently produced by the Redcar plant, Tata stands to make another £200 million per annum FROM THE UN'S CLEAN DEVELOPMENT MECHANISM. It argues, "Indian plants being paid up to £30 a ton for each ton of carbon dixoide 'saved' by building [a] new plant, while the company which owns them also gets paid £30 for each ton of carbon dioxide not produced in its Redcar plant."

That gives it an estimated £400 million a year from the closure of the Redcar plant up to 2012 - POTENTIALLY UP TO £1.2 BILLION. And that is over and above BENEFITING FROM CHEAPER PRODUCTION COSTS on the sub-continent.

Asked whether that meant more regulation, he said there would be "MORE GOVERNANCE AND REGULATION WHERE NEEDED". In the interview with France 24 Barnier tried to smooth over the City's concerns saying, "I will not take orders from Paris any more than I would from London or Berlin". World Politics Review quotes Open Europe saying that Barnier's appointment was "bad news" for the City.

Meanwhile, the Irish Independent reports that European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said yesterday that the EU needed new tools to ensure authorities can intervene swiftly in case of the failure of a systemically important financial institution. In a speech to the Paris Appeals Court, he said a legal framework should be designed that should be solid enough that it is not contested by shareholders "but sufficiently flexible to give discretion to authorities".

Strong winds created drifts as high as 15 feet (4.6 meters) as the storm dropped as much as four feet of snow (1.2 meters) in some areas, said Pat Slattery, a spokesman for the National Weather Service. "This has been a really big season opening storm," Slattery said. Hundreds of flights were cancelled, schools were closed and the freezing rain that preceded the snow in many places created hazardous road conditions.

Blizzard warnings were issued across the Midwest as the storm moved eastward across the country after pounding Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Arizona. The storm was expected to move across the Great Lakes into Canada, sparing much of the East Coast.

But flash flood warnings were issued for the Mississippi and Tennessee River valleys and Mid-Atlantic and southeast states due to heavy rains from the southern part of the system. Officials told people to stay home if they can, pack an emergency kit of blankets, food and water if they have to drive somewhere, and to avoid rural side roads. Wisconsin declared a state of emergency, shut down government offices and also activated the National Guard after the storm dumped up to 17 inches of snow across the state.

What's more, apologies and package reformulations are not forthcoming. Federal standards regulating package size are full of loopholes. And the fact that companies all have different reasons for having so much so-called "slackfill" in their packaging suggests that consumers may not be getting the full story.

Why would manufacturers make a package that's twice as big as the lump of food inside? Simple human behavior is the answer. We have all been guilty of grocery-shopping in exactly the manner food manufacturers want us to: Scanning shelves quickly and making decisions based on simple, caveman-like visual cues. Bright colors: Grunt! Picture of food delicious: Ungh! That one's big: Slurg! How often have you picked a cereal box or package of potato chips based solely on the size of the bag relative to its price?

Yes, food makers know this, and they've been savvy about responding to consumer complaints with plausible-sounding explanations. In response to the Consumer Reports investigation of under-filled packages, Frito-Lay says Classic Lays potato chip packages are only filled half-way to prevent breakage. But take products such as a container of multivitamins. It's hard to gauge a package's fullness based on its weight or sound when it's shaken. But when consumers end up opening the package at home and the thing is far from full, CUSTOMERS END UP WITH A DECIDED FEELING OF DECEPTION.

Israel has kept quiet as the United States has made attempt after attempt to extend the proverbial diplomatic hand to the Iranians without success. FROM ISRAEL'S POINT OF VIEW, THE DIPLOMATIC CHAPTER IS CLOSING THIS MONTH, and the New Year, if Israel has anything to do with it, will bring a variety of unpleasantries to Iran's doorstep, including the threat of military action.

BUT HOW MANY TIMES WILL ISRAEL ALLOW ITS TOLERANCE TO BE TESTED? As long as Iran appears compromising, even on a surface level, the Russians, the Chinese and even the Europeans can skirt around sanctions talk. And as long as the sanctions haven't been seriously attempted, Israel cannot easily claim that the sanctions have failed in order to justify military action. This is an uncomfortable space for Israel to be in, but the Iranians, Turks and even the Americans don't exactly mind seeing Israel in a tight spot right now.

But Israel is also operating on a different timeline than that of the United States. Whereas US President Barack Obama would much rather avoid a military conflagration in the Persian Gulf while he attempts to sew up Iraq, make over the Afghanistan war and nurse the US economy back to health, Israel is dealing with a matter of state survival. And that, from the Israeli point of view, TAKES PRECEDENCE OVER ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH THE UNITED STATES. This statement from Baidatz is thus likely one of many signals Israel will be sending in the coming weeks to accentuate the Iranian nuclear threat.

Earlier this year, Mr Darling set out plans for the biggest programme of borrowing ever undertaken in peacetime. Today, the Chancellor admitted that weaker-than-expected growth figures have forced him to raise his deficit figures still further. In 2009/10, the Government will spend £178 billion more than it raises in tax, Mr Darling said. That is £3 billion more than the record-breaking figure he forecast at the Budget in April, and equal to equal to 12.6 per cent of the entire UK economy.

Next year, borrowing will also be higher, at £176 billion. In total, from this year until 2014/15, the Government will spend £789 billion more than it raises. Despite the sharp economic slowdown, the Treasury still expects tax revenues this year to be higher than it forecast at the Budget: revenues from stamp duty and VAT have exceeded expectations, as house prices and retail sales have remained robust. Social security costs are slightly lower than the Treasury expected, because unemployment has not hit 3 million.

Shares on the Athens stock exchange fell more than 6 per cent. FITCH CUT RATINGS ON GREEK DEBT TO BBB PLUS with a negative outlook. It is the first time in 10 years a leading ratings agency has given Greece a rating of below A grade.

George Papaconstantinou, Greek finance minister, said the country would do "whatever is required" to reduce a record budget deficit and achieve its medium-term fiscal targets. He said the downgrade reflected Greece's "mounting credibility gap in recent years and an exceptionally difficult fiscal situation" faced by the new Socialist government, which took over in October.

Although the ECB will keep the emergency rules next year, Greece must reduce its deficit soon. The relaxed ECB rules allow for collateral of bonds with ratings of BBB minus. Goldman Sachs said: "Unless the ECB fiddles with its rules before the end of next year, then from the beginning of 2011, GREEK SOVEREIGN BONDS WILL NO LONGER BE ELIGIBLE FOR ECB COLLATERAL."

What he said, in effect, is that GERMANY WILL MARSHAL ITS FORCES TO ENSURE THAT A CHUNK OF THE BRITISH ECONOMY IS SHUT DOWN – whatever the social consequences. This is the closest thing I have seen to A DECLARATION OF ECONOMIC WARFARE IN WESTERN EUROPE in my lifetime. "There is clearly a lobby in London that wants to defend its competitive advantage tooth and nail."

Stern said that he sees "dark powers at work" in Britain. He accused the UK government of "doing its best" to sabotage stricter financial regulation at the G20 in Pittsburgh. This resistance will be crushed. "We WILL effectively change the rules on the financial markets. Politics is sometimes like a locomotive which comes slowly up to full speed. The British financial industry gains 15 per cent of the gross domestic product, in Germany is it six per cent." Britain is out of step with the rest of Europe in trying to keep this "advantage going." It must "share the burden" of the financial crisis in the form of a tax on exchanges.

If a British Chancellor gave an interview on behalf of the British nation saying the German car industry should be shrunk massively, it would be viewed as a gross and gratuitous attack on Germany. The banks did not cause this global crisis. GOVERNMENTS AROUND THE WORLD CAUSED THE CRISIS BY FORCING DOWN THE PRICE OF CREDIT (Greenspan, Bank of Japan, and ECB on short rates: China et al on long rates, by flooding the global bond market) far too low for many years, encouraging debt. BANKS WERE THE INSTRUMENTS, NOT THE CAUSE. That is an elementary point that many people – including Mr Steinbrück, obviously – still fail to understand.

The former Government minister and one of the architects of the British efforts to rescue the financial system, told a high-level business conference in Sussex: "I don't think we are through it yet… an IMF study showed at the middle of this year that BANKS HAD ONLY DECLARED HALF THEIR LOSSES ON THEIR BOOKS: we have a long way to go."

She added: "I don't think all banks - not actually the UK banks – have come clean yet… SOME OF THE CONTINENTAL EUROPEAN BANKS STILL HAVE ISSUES." Baroness Vadera admitted that the apex of the financial crisis last autumn was "frightening." She added: "I still have nightmares about it."

NOW HER CONCERNS ARE NOT WITH NEXT YEAR, when she said the fiscal and monetary stimuli around the world will be "similar to 2009", but the year after when the support measures are withdrawn. She said: "The issue is what is going to replace it in terms of private investment and private demand when it's withdrawn. THE DANGER POINT COMES NOT NOW, AND NOT IN 2010, BUT AT THE START OF 2011."

GERMANY'S ENTIRE EXPORT ECONOMY IS SUFFERING AS A RESULT OF THE DECLINE OF THE AMERICAN CURRENCY. In addition to the auto industry, companies like Airbus and steelmaker ThyssenKrupp, as well as machine tool makers, are having more and more trouble selling their products in the United States. They cannot raise prices to offset exchange-rate losses, because that would make their products too expensive. Conversely, not raising prices means selling their products at a loss. This leaves German automakers, steel companies and machine tool makers with only one option: TO SHIFT SOME OF THEIR PRODUCTION TO THE DOLLAR ZONE.

This process has been underway for many years. Daimler, BMW, machine tool makers and suppliers started building their own factories in the United States as far back as the mid-1990s. For the most part, the trend has not resulted in the loss of German jobs thus far, primarily because the US plants were producing additional models. But that was only the first step. Now BMW and Daimler are expanding their US plants, and the jobs being created there are replacing workers back home. EUROPEAN JOBS HAVE BECOME THREATENED BY THE WEAK DOLLAR.

Airbus is in a dilemma, because aircraft are paid for in dollars, even though the most important production sites are in France, Germany and Spain. As EADS Chief Executive Louis Gallois has said repeatedly, when the dollar loses 10 cents in value against the euro, it costs the group about €1 billion. Hardly anyone expects this trend to turn around in the foreseeable future. IT WILL BE DIFFICULT FOR THE DOLLAR, AS A GLOBAL CURRENCY, TO REGAIN ITS FORMER STRENGTH. "I'm relatively pessimistic," says Michael Burda, a professor of economics at Humboldt University in Berlin.

Undeterred by growing voter resistance to a European Union whose BORDERS ARE PUSHING EVER EASTWARD and soon possibly even further into the North Atlantic, the European Commission in Brussels and individual EU member states are currently working on plans for a further accession round.

According to the current plan, at least five new member states could join the EU by 2014. Accession negotiations with Croatia may be completed as early as next year. Should that happen, the Balkan nation could become an EU member in 2011. Iceland, crisis-riddled and deeply indebted as it is, wouldn't be much further behind.

On Thursday and Friday, EU heads of state and goverment will be in Brussels for their December summit. During the meeting, they are expected to set a date for the start of formal membership negotiations with Macedonia. The Greek government in Athens is still trying to block negotiations over a name dispute with Macedonia, which is also the name of a region in Greece. But it is unlikely Athens will be able to secure much more than a modest delay in opening talks with its neighbor. Efforts to reach a deal on an "interim treaty" with Serbia are also on the summit agenda, and official accession talks are expected to commence soon thereafter. Neighboring Montenegro is also expected to join the lineup for accession negotiations soon.