CHILE - Looting and demonstrations took place in cities across the South American nation, and an agreement on a political roadmap that will see Chile draft a new constitution has halted neither the anger, nor the bloodshed. Furious Chileans have since October 18 been protesting social and economic inequality, and against an entrenched political elite that comes from a small number of the wealthiest families in the country, among other issues. The crisis is the worst in three decades of Chilean democracy and has led to around 2,000 injuries, including some 280 people who suffered eye damage from shotgun pellets.

PERSIAN GULF - The deployment of 14,000 additional American troops to the Persian Gulf region since the spring has probably not dissuaded Iran from planning a major attack on the scale of the recent missile and drone assault on Saudi Arabia’s oil fields, the commander of American forces in the Middle East says. The officer, General Kenneth F McKenzie, the head of the military’s Central Command, said the additional troops, fighter jets and air defenses that the Pentagon has dispatched might have deterred Iran from attacking American targets — like Iran’s downing of an unmanned surveillance drone in June. But he said strikes against Gulf nations were another matter. “My judgment is that it is very possible they will attack again,” General McKenzie said in an interview this past week ahead of an international security conference on Saturday.

GERMANY - Local, state and federal government leaders, both military and civilian, from around Germany gathered in Wiesbaden November 7-8 for the German-US Forces in Europe Consultation Meeting hosted by US Army Europe. Held under various names with a variety of formats since 2006, the consultation meeting has evolved into a combination of presentations and briefings, exploring a variety of topics that intersect German-American interests. “The consultation's aim is to thank our German hosts, inform them, reassure and ask for their continued support and understanding,” said Master of Ceremonies Mike Anderson, director of government relations for US Army Europe. “There is not another country in the world that has a relationship with the US Army like Germany does,” said Cavoli. “This relationship is fundamental to our collective security. It has been a relationship on which we have based Western security for 75 years.”

USA - “The United States is home to some of the most reliable water and wastewater systems on earth, and many Americans believe access is universal,” the authors wrote. “But in fact, millions of the most vulnerable people in the country — low-income people in rural areas, people of color, tribal communities, immigrants — have fallen through the cracks.” Lacking access to safe water and sanitation “makes it difficult to stay healthy, earn a living, go to school, and care for a family,” they added.

USA - The Democrat Party is coming undone. Their 2020 Presidential candidates are proud Socialists. Their former President Obama is connected to the biggest political scandal in US history. And so, the Democrats’ answer is to impeach President Trump. This is quickly becoming the greatest political blunder in US history. For a very long time and for sure over the past three years, the Democrat Party is on a mission to destroy the Republican Party even if it means destroying America. But the one thing and the last thing that the Democrats have contemplated is destroying themselves.

UK - Queen Elizabeth II sanctioned Prince Andrew’s retreat from royal duties on Wednesday after a “car crash” BBC interview about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. The decision to “step aside” was presented as the Duke’s, but according to several reports, the Queen might have advised him to do so and for one particular reason. His announcement arrived days after the Prince’s widely-criticised TV interview, which saw Andrew accused of “utterly lacking in compassion” for the victims of Epstein, who killed himself earlier this year. Buckingham Palace presented his “retirement from royal duties” as his decision but a royal source said: “It wasn’t his. He was summoned up to see the Queen and told he had to step down.”

GERMANY - For the better part of this year, Germany’s coalition seemed to have been hanging by a thread. Now its existential debates are coming to a head and that could mean an early end to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s last term in office. Policy disagreements over climate and pensions exacerbated poor election and poll results for the centrist parties. Leadership struggles ensued. Now, at the halfway point of Merkel’s last four-year term, Christian Democrats meet to discuss their future at a party conference November 22-23. The Social Democrats, the junior coalition partner, elect a new leader November 30 and decide whether to abandon the government at a convention a week later.

USA - “The notion that citizens of the United States don’t actually live in a democracy has been picking up steam for decades, with scars from economic, social and political decay inflicting themselves ever more deeply into our psyches as the years move on. You would think that, with the rise of science and technology, we would have been able to build a far more prosperous nation. Instead, we have seen a vast reduction in our standard of living, and are being forced to work longer and harder in increasingly menial and unfulfilling jobs across the board. We are ever more being subjected to the control-hungry vicissitudes of mega-corporations that are swallowing up American entrepreneurship and prosperous self-employment.”

USA - Donald Trump is considering whether to launch a trade investigation against the European Union as a way to justify slapping huge tariffs on the bloc’s US exports. Mr Trump is hoping to use the threat of crippling levies as “leverage” over the bloc during future trade talks. The US President has already used the Section 301 to slap tariffs on China after a US Trade Representative Office investigation found that Beijing’s technology transfer and intellectual property policies “burden or restrict US commerce”. In a speech last week, Mr Trump said: “Many countries charge us extraordinarily high tariffs or create impossible trade barriers. Impossible. “And I’ll be honest: European Union - very, very difficult. The barriers they have up are terrible. Terrible. In many ways, worse than China.” He has often argued that the current trans-Atlantic trade relationship is unfair because the US has a £117 billion trade deficit with Brussels.

BOLIVIA - Around the world, political chaos is the order of the day. The latest victim appears to be President Morales of Bolivia, ousted in a military coup recently. He would not allow US companies to get involved in the countries reserves of the vital element, lithium, so as the following article points out, he had to go!

USA - We just witnessed one of the most monumental events of the entire decade, and yet most Americans still don’t understand what has happened. In recent months, the global economy and stock markets around the world have been buoyed by the hope that the US and China would soon sign a new trade agreement. Unfortunately, there is no way that is going to happen now.

CHINA - China will strive to reach an initial trade agreement with the United States as both sides keep communication channels open, the Chinese commerce ministry said on Thursday, in an attempt to allay fears that the talks might be unravelling. China is willing to work with the US to resolve each other's core concerns on the basis of equality and mutual respect, and will try hard to reach a "phase one" deal, Gao Feng, spokesman at the ministry, told reporters.

VATICAN - Two board members of the Vatican’s Financial Information Authority (AIF) have resigned, with one saying that there is “no point in staying on the board of an empty shell.” On Monday, the Vatican announced that Rene Bruelhart, the president of the AIF, would be leaving and that his successor has already been appointed, just weeks after unprecedented internal police raids on both his organization and the Vatican’s Secretariat of State. Bruelhart, a 47-year-old Swiss lawyer, said he resigned from the top job at the AIF, but did not go into further detail. The Vatican police raid on AIF offices resulted in the suspension of AIF director Tommaso Di Ruzza and four other Vatican employees, but so far, the Vatican has given no explanation for the raid or the suspension.

ISRAEL - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been indicted on charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust, the Israeli Justice Ministry said Thursday. The prime minister, who is the country’s longest-serving leader, has strenuously denied any wrongdoing, calling allegations against him a politically motivated witch hunt.

USA - Voice-spoofing technology was used to steal a quarter-million dollars in March from the unwitting CEO of an energy company, who thought he was talking to his (German) boss. A recent study showed that 72 percent of people reading an AI-generated news story thought it was credible. In September, a smartphone app called Zao became a viral sensation in China; before the government abruptly outlawed it, Zao allowed people to seamlessly swap themselves into famous movie scenes. Then there is that infamous case of doctored video of the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that went viral before being detected as being manipulated to make her appear drunk.