USA - The outage at Amazon.com Inc’s cloud-computing arm left thousands of people in the US without working fridges, roombas and doorbells, highlighting just how reliant people have become on the company as the Internet of Things proliferates across homes. Multiple Ring users even said they weren’t able to get into their homes without access to the phone app, which was down. Others said they weren’t able to turn on their Christmas lights. Smart lightbulbs stopped responding to voice commands, many people reported. Basic household chores also became impossible for some. The outage prompted people to reflect on the pitfalls of having a “smart” home that’s overly dependent on not only the internet, but one company in particular - while those with “dumb” homes gloated that their fridges and light switches were working just fine.

USA - 59 years after the Cuban missile crisis, a new source of tension threatens to bring the United States and Russia to the brink of war. But instead of John F Kennedy, we have Joe Biden and his hapless minions in the White House. On Tuesday US Senator Roger Wicker went on television and told Fox News viewers that a nuclear first strike against the Russians should be an “option” that the Biden administration should keep open… That will definitely calm nerves in Moscow. I can’t believe that any member of Congress would be so reckless. Ever since the 2016 presidential election, politicians in Washington have been relentlessly demonizing Russia, and now our relations with the Russians are at an all-time low.

USA - In recent months there has been increased naval activity and tensions between countries jostling for control off their coastlines. This includes Iran buzzing a US ship with a helicopter, leading defense companies in Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) agreeing to work on unmanned surface vessels, tensions in the Black Sea off the coast of Ukraine, and tensions between the US, China, the Philippines and other countries. The exercise with the Israelis and Gulf countries is linked to threats in the region, particularly from Iran. Tehran continues to harass US ships in the Persian Gulf. In July, an Iranian drone attacked a commercial tanker in the Gulf of Oman, killing two crew members. This all appears to point to a new global focus on the sea and competition for naval supremacy. Competition at sea could have major ramifications. A naval arms race between Britain and Germany helped lead to World War I. The shadows of war are now growing over a swathe of water from Europe to Asia. Major trade routes and supply chain woes could be affected by naval rivalries. This has happened in the Gulf of Oman, where commercial ships have been attacked. The next clash could happen in the Black Sea or off the coast of Taiwan.

USA - Seventeen African countries have been invited by US president Joe Biden to join nearly 100 other invitees for a virtual “Summit for Democracy” due to take place this week. A second summit, in person, is planned for next year. There are three issues on the agenda: defending against authoritarianism; addressing and fighting corruption; and promoting respect for human rights. Africans have a great deal to contribute. It’s also an opportunity for them to advance their interests – as individual countries as well as collectively. The US claims it has already consulted widely with non-governmental actors. This means that the views of African media, scholars and other stakeholders should weigh in. The credibility of African governments is at stake at the summit. So is the possibility for building mutually beneficial partnerships that can become more inclusive. Currently, wealthier democracies have not been reliable partners with African nations in their common battle against the global pandemic. Unless the summit can lead to real partnerships with African countries striving to sustain democracy, African countries invited to the 2022 summit would be justified in declining to attend.

VATICAN - Pope Francis has denounced the EU’s attempt to replace the term “Christmas period” with a more-neutral “holiday period,” saying it was a move that some oppressive regime might well have made. The European Commission last week made a U-turn on its language replacement after a public backlash, including from the Vatican. Pope Francis minced no words as he decried, during a flight home from Cyprus and Greece, what he saw as an ill-advised idea. “In history many, many dictatorships have tried to do so,” the Pope was cited as telling journalists. Think of Napoleon: From there… think of the Nazi dictatorship, the communist one… it is the fashion of watered-down secularism… But this is something that, throughout, hasn’t worked." The EU, the pontiff added, should “be careful not to take the path of ideological colonization,” since otherwise it will only cause division among its members, leading to a fall of the entire bloc. The news triggered outrage among more conservative people, including many prominent public figures. The Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, even called it an attempt at “cancellation of our roots, the Christian dimension of our Europe”.

USA - One hundred twenty-three massive transatlantic ships Monday were waiting to unload cargo at California’s Los Angeles and Long Beach and ports. According to Marine Exchange, 123 cargo ships were waiting to unload goods onto the southern California docks, which are responsible for 40 percent of all shipped containers to the United States. Of the 123 ships, 62 were container ships, which includes 35 anchored or loitering and 27 at berth.

TAIWAN - Dozens of volunteers have been collecting highly toxic cane toads in the town of Chaotun in Taiwan in an attempt to contain their spread, while scientists remain puzzled by how these large amphibians found their way into the area. “We hope to minimize the impact brought by the invasive species by collecting them to protect our own local species,” a volunteer from the Taiwan Amphibian Conservation Society, Guava Tsai, told NBC News. When the volunteers arrived at the vegetable garden, where the first photo was taken, they were shocked to discover 27 amphibians whose toxin, as Australian experience shows, might be especially dangerous to dogs and cats, which can lick them. In the meantime, they are trying to understand the cause of the issue. One theory is that locals started breeding toads, which, despite their toxicity, symbolize wealth and good luck in Chinese culture and can be sold for up to $144, with some amphibians later escaping or being abandoned by their owners.

USA - One of North America's most active fault lines sprung to life on Tuesday after a swarm of more than 40 earthquakes - ranging from a magnitude 3.5 to 5.8 - rattled off the coast of Oregon, catching the attention and concern of millions in the region. The series of quakes, which began early Tuesday morning and continued into Wednesday, were all clustered between 200-250 miles west of the coastal town of Newport, Oregon, far enough to be mostly undetected on land, but given the area's seismic history, it is creating quite a buzz. The fault line responsible for the quakes is the Blanco Fracture Zone. According to an analysis by Oregon State University, it is more active than the infamous San Andreas Fault in California, having produced more than 1,500 quakes of magnitude 4.0 or greater since the 1970s.

GERMANY - Germany has been in crisis management mode at European level for far too long. Germany needs to be a driver of new ideas and provide impetus to challenges such as migration policy, security and defence policy, and on making Europe a pioneer of cutting-edge technologies with a strong SME input. Europe looks to Germany, and it is now time for Germany to look to Europe. European reactions to a German government embracing the Future of Europe Conference in the coalition agreement have been quite positive, and rightly so: a German commitment to EU reform is now clearly on the table. "Germany needs to be a driver of new ideas and provide impetus to challenges such as migration policy, security and defence policy".

GERMANY - Angela Merkel was assured of a place in the history books as soon as she became Germany’s first female chancellor on November 22, 2005. Over the next 16 years, she was credited with raising Germany’s profile and influence, working to hold a fractious European Union together, managing a string of crises and being a role model for women. Now that near-record tenure is ending with her leaving office at age 67 to praise from abroad and enduring popularity at home. Her designated successor, Olaf Scholz, is expected to take office Wednesday. Merkel, a former scientist who grew up in communist East Germany, is bowing out about a week short of the record for longevity held by her one-time mentor, Helmut Kohl, who reunited Germany during his 1982-1998 tenure.

USA - An upcoming banking crisis with record amount of bank loan defaults could be on the horizon. With your money on the line, banks and financial institutions could use it for either: Bail-in - where you pay for it right now as the bank takes some of your deposits. Bail-out - where you have to pay for it through future taxation

USA - Being in debt is an incredibly stressful way to live. We owe a trillion dollars on our credit cards — which often have interest rates as high as 28%! We've borrowed a trillion dollars to buy new cars — which plummet in value the minute you drive off the lot. And we've racked up about $1.5 trillion for college diplomas with dubious worth. It's gotten so bad, 73% of Americans now die with debt... with an average total of more than $60,000.

USA - Elon Musk took aim at the US government’s lavish federal budget, and President Biden's infrastructure bill in particular, arguing that spending has reached an “insane” level far beyond what the country is able to sustain. Speaking at Tesla’s new ‘Gigafactory’ in Austin, Texas for the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit on Monday, Musk criticized a massive infrastructure bill signed into law by President Joe Biden last month, namely its trillion dollar price tag, ranking among the most expensive pieces of legislation passed in US history. “You can't just spend $3 trillion more than you earn every year. If you don't cut government spending, something really bad's gonna happen. This is crazy,” he said.

USA - Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has called all those believing our planet is overpopulated to think again. It is depopulation, not overpopulation, that is going to be humanity’s doom, the Tesla CEO believes. The world population is nearing 8 billion, but Musk believes there are still “not enough people” on Earth. “I think one of the biggest risks to civilization is the low birth rate and the rapidly declining birthrate,” the Tesla and SpaceX head, who is also a father of six, told Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council on Tuesday.

USA - A Los Angeles police detective is warning tourists to stay clear of the city, saying that they will be unsafe, and comparing conditions to the horror movie ‘The Purge.’ “We’re telling people don’t visit because we don’t think we can keep you safe right now,” Los Angeles Police Department detective Jamie McBride told Fox News on Monday. The city, he added, is like the movie ‘The Purge,’ a popular horror film set in a US where crime is legal for a set period of time every calendar year. The difference between the movie and the city, however, is that in Los Angeles, criminals have 365 days to run riot, McBride said. Like numerous other critics, McBride, also director for the LA Police Protective League, points to Proposition 47 as key to California’s laid-back attitude towards crime. The 2014 measure made theft below $950 a misdemeanor. The attempt at criminal justice reform, critics have said, has only fueled home invasions and smash-and-grab robberies as most criminals know they will be released not long after being caught and usually with little to no bail set.