IRAN - Iran is in a fury over President Trump's peace deals between three Islamic nations and the Middle East's premiere democracy, Israel. The mullah-led regime sees the normalization of relations between the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and the Jewish state as a direct threat, endangering its hegemony in the Persian Gulf, reports the Middle East Media Research Institute. It's also a "severe blow to Iran's narrative of Islamic unity and Islamic values, and to the ideological messages of the Islamic revolutionary regime in Iran that claims to be the standard-bearer of the defense of the pure and correct Islam," MEMRI said. Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei wrote in Twitter that the Muslim nations "will not tolerate any normalization with the Zionist regime." "The Americans are wrong if they think they can solve the problem of the region in this manner," he said. The Trump administration went against precedent, bypassing the Palestinian issue and approaching the Arab nations directly.

CHINA - The consequences of the presidency of Donald Trump will be debated for decades to come — but for the Chinese leadership, its meaning is already clear. China’s rulers believe that the past four years have shown that the United States is rapidly declining and that this deterioration has caused Washington to frantically try to suppress China’s rise. Trump’s trade war, technology bans, and determination to blame China for his own mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic have all confirmed the perception of Chinese policy elites that the United States is bent on keeping their country down.

USA - Fast food chain McDonald’s is making a huge push into plant-based foods with a “platform” it’s calling McPlant. New menu items based on it, including a sandwich, will be made available next year, according to USA Today. “McPlant is crafted exclusively for McDonald’s, by McDonald’s,” Ian Borden, McDonald’s international president, said during a Monday meeting with investors. “In the future, McPlant could extend across a line of plant-based products including burgers, chicken-substitutes and breakfast sandwiches.” “Markets can adopt the McPlant when they’re ready and we expect some to test the burger next year,” reads a press release. While many restaurant chains have added plant-based protein options to their menus over the past few years, the sheer scale of the McDonald’s operation could greatly accelerate the trend.

UK - An education watchdog in the UK found that some children have regressed due to COVID-19-related school closures and restrictions. A report from Ofsted, the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills, says some kids have fallen back in basic skills – and some who were greatly impacted have even forgotten how to use a fork and knife. Ofsted made visits to 900 schools and early childcare providers in September and October, according to a press release from the UK government department. It found there are three "broad groups" of children, according to chief inspector, Amanda Spielman.

UK - COVID could spark a third world war - and an army of 30,000 robots could fight in the future, the UK's most senior military commander says. General Sir Nick Carter made the claims about the future of the British forces as he warned the economic fallout of the pandemic has made the prospect of World War Three a "risk". And the chief of the defence staff said that the country's 82,000-strong Army will begin to look different as it modernises to face new and emerging threats - with "robots" potentially fighting on the frontlines. Sir Nick made the comments when asked by Sky News in the run up to Remembrance Sunday whether he feared the global economic crisis brought on by coronavirus could lead to war. He said he's worried the increase in regional conflicts playing out across the world could ramp up into "a full-blown war", mirroring the run-up to the two world wars.

ISRAEL - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday congratulated President-elect Joe Biden on his projected victory in the US presidential elections. Netanyahu tweeted: "Joe, we've had a long & warm personal relationship for nearly 40 years, and I know you as a great friend of Israel. I look forward to working with… you to further strengthen the special alliance between the US and Israel." Netanyahu also thanked President Donald Trump "for the friendship you have shown the State of Israel and me personally, for recognizing Jerusalem and the Golan, for standing up to Iran, for the historic peace accords and for bringing the American-Israeli alliance to unprecedented heights."

MIDDLE EAST - More than two dozen Israeli high-tech executives turned up in Dubai recently, six weeks after the Emirates and Bahrain signed agreements to normalize relations with Israel and open up embassies. The rancor of more than seven decades of Arab-Israeli conflict seemed to melt away in a matter of days. Emirati investor Mohamed Mandeel, CEO of Abu Dhabi's Royal Strategic Partners group, said he felt a sense of kinship with the Israelis. He recounted how he had taken a DNA test and found a match for his rare Babylonian gene in Tel Aviv. "If we set aside the religious ideologies and 70 years fueled by conflict, wars and the media, we end up with human beings," he said. "We share the same food, the same DNA, the same look," and he described the Israelis as "cousins." The Israelis said the encounter felt like a dream come true, unlike any they had experienced in the Arab world before, and different from Israel's decades-old "cold peace" with Egypt and Jordan.

GERMANY - “Dear Chancellor Dr Merkel, “We, the signatories, are doctors from all areas of healthcare, who have been serving people in practices and clinics for decades. During this time, we have witnessed more than one seasonal infection in Germany, most of them with far more severe conditions and significantly more deaths than since January 2020 from COVID infectious diseases. The circumstances of the coronavirus wave in the FRG have been perceived differently than the media and the ongoing warnings of politics, which were unjustified in fact, presented to the public for months. Predictions of individual advisory virologists with millions of seriously ill and hundreds of thousands of deaths in Germany have not been true in any way. According to the data situation, there hasn’t been a threat to the German population from Covid-19 for months. This must be the reason to return to normal life in Germany – a life without restrictions, fear and infection hysteria. We call on politicians and medical professional representatives to refrain from daily public warning and fear machines in the press and talk shows – this creates a deep and unsubstantiated fear among the population.”

UK - Official data is 'exaggerating' the risk of Covid-19 and talk of a second wave is 'misleading', nearly 500 academics told Boris Johnson in open letter attacking lockdown. It is signed by immunologist Dr Charlotte R Bell, paediatrician Dr Rosamond Jones, consultant surgeon and Keith Willison, Professor of Chemical Biology at Imperial College. The doctors and scientists said the Government's response to the coronavirus pandemic has become 'disproportionate' and that mass testing has distorted the risk of the virus. They said tests are likely to be producing high numbers of 'false positive' results and the Government must do more to put infection and death rates within the context of normal seasonal rates. The letter criticised the Government's handling of coronavirus for 'causing more harm than good'. The open letter to the Prime Minister was signed by 469 medics and is titled First Do No Harm - the medical principle that a cure must never be worse than the disease itself. The Government faced a stern rebuke from the UK Statistics Authority this week over its use of data.

USA - US president-elect Joe Biden will hand Boris Johnson a ruthless ultimatum in their first phone call, according to Nigel Farage. Mr Farage said it was "becoming clear" that Joe Biden will warn Mr Johnson to back down on his Brexit demands, or risk serious tensions with the US. Mr Biden, who has Irish roots, has been vocal against Boris Johnson's plans to override parts of the EU withdrawal agreement if no deal is reached with the bloc. Mr Farage told LBC that the election of Joe Biden is a "very very difficult result" for Boris Johnson and Brexit. The leader of the Brexit Party told LBC: "For Brexit, and for Boris, this is a very, very difficult result. What is already becoming clear is that Biden's first phone call with Boris is simply going to say, 'Sign the right deal with Monsieur Barnier, or there is no prospect of a trade deal'. Boris finds himself in a difficult position."

EUROPE - Brussels is facing a new Brexit deadline as the EU and UK conduct crucial talks this week in order to secure a trade deal. Michel Barnier and Lord David Frost will meet in London today in a new bid to break the current Brexit deadlock. Boris Johnson has insisted a deal is there to be agreed between the two sides but No10 has now warned the EU there are only 10 days for a deal to be reached, Politico understands. This has sparked concern in the EU, who need a longer period to finalise details. Due to the ratification process needed for MEPs to sign off on any deal, there is concern on the continent over the reduced timetable. If a deal is agreed by the end of this week, EU sources believe it could still take two parliamentary sessions before MEPs sign off on any deal. European lawmakers have warned a deal will not be agreed by the end of this week - despite Mr Barnier admitting to MEPs last week: "We have to see movement next week if we want an agreement at all."

GERMANY - The infirmity of transatlantic relations is a strategic crisis for Germany. Few countries need America more urgently in Europe than Germany. And not just because Germany is only partially ready to defend itself. In addition to its military protective function, America's second important role is easily overlooked: The United States is the great reinsurer of European unification and thus the peacemaker of Europe. [Note: This is a google translation]

USA - Trump berated and baffled European allies. They aren't sad to see him go. President Donald Trump called Europe a "foe." He said the continent's cities were migrant-ridden, dangerous "no-go zones." He threw leaders into a panic with threats to withdraw from NATO.

VATICAN - In private remarks, the pope has challenged the Catholic Church’s teaching on homosexuality, creating uncertainty among the faithful. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, the authoritative handbook of doctrine published by the Vatican in 1992, states that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered,” the inclination to perform them is “objectively disordered” and “under no circumstances can they be approved.” The catechism also states that “men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies… must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.” Pope Francis hasn’t changed a word of this teaching since his election in 2013. But he has dramatically shifted perceptions of the church’s stand on the subject — most recently with a statement endorsing civil unions for same-sex couples, which appears in a documentary that premiered at the Rome Film Festival last month. Pope Francis’s statement about civil unions is the latest of a series of high-profile comments and gestures that started with what remain the most famous words of his pontificate. In 2013, he responded to a reporter’s question about gay priests by asking, “Who am I to judge?”

JAPAN - The power plant was built on the coast just 4 meters above sea level with five-meter-high breakwater dams, in a tsunami-prone area with waves 10-15 meters high. Furthermore, there had been serious failures by the private company Tepco managing the plant, in the control of the nuclear plant: the safety devices did not come into operation at the time of the Tsunami.