Four years after wrapping up his second James Bond film, Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes is back, this time on the front lines of World War One in “1917,” an ambitious drama inspired by his grandfather’s experiences. Set during a single day in April 1917, the film, presented as a sweeping continuous shot, follows two young British soldiers, Blake and Schofield, who are sent as messengers across enemy territory to stop a dawn attack on retreating German soldiers. The retreat is actually a trap, and with communications down, the duo are the only hope of saving hundreds of British soldiers from death, one of whom is Blake’s brother. “(My grandfather) fought in the war between 1916 and 1918 and he told us many stories that stayed with me to this day,” Mendes told Reuters at the film’s London world premiere on Wednesday, attended by Prince Charles and his wife Camilla. “It’s not about my grandfather but it’s inspired by my grandfather. He told us one story about carrying a single message across no man’s land and that little image kept pulling at me and it wouldn’t let me go.” Known for “American Beauty” and “Revolutionary Road,” Mendes’ last major features films …

Chile’s central bank said on Wednesday it would hold its benchmark interest rate steady at 1.75%, and would likely keep it there for the next several months, even as weeks of protests begin to hammer the country’s economy. The bank said recently announced fiscal stimulus measures and a depreciating peso, which hit a historic low last week, could help push long-lagging inflation in the South American nation to its target, prompting its decision. “In line with reaching our inflation goal, and in a context of greater fiscal stimulus … the board believes that the interest rate will maintain its current level during the coming months,” the bank said in a statement. The unanimous decision to hold rates, which upended market expectations, comes as Chile’s economy takes a sharp turn for the worse. Economic activity in October marked the biggest year-on-year contraction in a decade, according to bank data released Monday, as riots over inequality overtook the country. Forecasts for quarterly growth and unemployment are equally dire. The bank said the worsening outlook had given way to an “increase in uncertainty,” and had soured business and consumer confidence. “Activity and demand have been negatively affected, and expectations for growth for this …

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Wednesday applauded Japan’s legislative approval of limited U.S. trade deals and said that President Donald Trump was expected to sign an implementing proclamation next week. The deal, which improves access to Japan for U.S. farm products such as beef and pork while reducing some U.S. tariffs on Japanese industrial products, does not require approval by the U.S. Congress, but Democrats have complained about a lack of information about the deal from the White House. “I commend Japan’s quick action to approve these important trade agreements between our two nations, which are the world’s first- and third-largest economies,” Lighthizer said after its approval by Japan’s Diet. “We expect the president to sign the implementing proclamation for the United States next week.” Lighthizer said the deal would benefit U.S. farmers, ranchers and digital services providers. The trade representative said the two countries were preparing for the U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement and the U.S.-Japan Digital Trade Agreement to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2020. The agreement does not address auto trade, the biggest source of the $67 billion U.S. goods trade deficit with Japan. U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Tuesday told Reuters that Trump has not ruled out …

Latin American lender CAF and the United Nations are seeking to provide financing to the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to improve electricity supply in the crisis-stricken nation that is suffering from chronic blackouts, the two institutions told Reuters.    Lawmakers in Venezuela’s congress have proposed a financing mechanism under which CAF would provide $350 million to make improvements to the ailing power sector, with the U.N. Development Program carrying out the investments.    But the proposal has created a deep divide within the country’s opposition between those who say the proposal will provide humanitarian assistance and those who oppose it because it will provide new funding for Maduro’s government, which is widely accused of corruption and mismanagement.    “The project is a CAF loan to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela which is requested by the Ministry of Finance and has to be approved by the National Assembly,” a U.N. official wrote in an emailed response to questions from Reuters.    CAF in an emailed response to questions confirmed that the loan would go to Venezuela’s government.  System of controls   No funds would be transferred to state electrical authorities, the U.N. official said, and the financing mechanism would have a system …

North Korea told the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday that it would consider any discussion of the country’s human rights situation a “serious provocation” and Pyongyang would “respond strongly.” North Korea’s U.N. ambassador Kim Song delivered the warning in a letter, which was seen by Reuters. Diplomats said several members of the 15-member council planned to request a meeting this month on human rights abuses in North Korea. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump have met three times since June last year in a bid to broker a deal that Washington hopes will lead to North Korea dismantling its nuclear and missile programs. But no progress had been made and Pyongyang has carried out a series of short-range ballistic missile tests. The United States is president of the Security Council for December. Kim Song wrote that any meeting on human rights would be an “act of conniving at and siding with the U.S.’ hostile policy, which will lead to undermining rather than helping reduction of tensions on the Korean Peninsula and resolution of the nuclear issue.” A minimum nine council members need to support a request for the meeting in order to defeat any …

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu describes the Iranian empire as “tottering” and says Israeli is “actively engaged” in countering Iranian aggression. Netanyahu spoke Wednesday alongside U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo while both were in Lisbon for separate talks with Portuguese leaders. Netanyahu said, “Iran is increasing its aggression as we speak” in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, and Gaza. He thanked President Donald Trump for keeping up the pressure on Iran, while Pompeo expressed support for the Iranian protesters. “These are people that are seeking freedom and a reasonable way to live, and they recognize the threat that’s posed by the kleptocrats who are running the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Pompeo said. Neither the prime minister nor Pompeo commented on Netanyahu’s proposal for Israel to annex the Jordan Valley in the West Bank—a move that would infuriate much of the world and likely would extinguish Palestinian hopes for an independent state in the West Bank.   …

Colombian unions and student groups held a third national strike Wednesday amid fraught talks between protest leaders and the government over President Ivan Duque’s social and economic policies.  The strike was the latest demonstration in two weeks of protests, which have drawn hundreds of thousands of marchers and put pressure on Duque’s proposed tax reform, which lowers duties on businesses.  The protests prompted him to announce a “great national dialogue” on social issues, but government efforts to stop new demonstrations have failed as the union-led National Strike Committee has stuck firmly to demands for one-on-one talks and refused to call off protests.  Demonstrators hold flags during a protest as a national strike continues in Bogota, Colombia, Dec. 4, 2019. The demonstrations, while largely peaceful, resulted in damage to dozens of public transport stations and curfews in Cali and Bogota.  Protesters have wide-ranging demands, including that the government do more to stop the killing of human rights activists, offer more support for former leftist rebels who demobilized under a peace deal and dissolve the ESMAD riot police, whom marchers accuse of excessive force. “We’re continuing to march to send a message to the president and to Congress: Don’t play with the people,” said student …

The world may be heading for an even greater oversupply of oil, and that possibility — which could drive down fuel and energy prices — is hanging over members of the OPEC cartel as they head into negotiations Thursday. The oil-producing nations will decide whether to stick with production cuts they’ve endured for the past three years, relax them or deepen them in the hopes of propping up prices. They’re negotiating through a tangle of tensions driving members in competing directions. Saudi Aramco’s stock market debut, which will get off the ground Thursday when the state-run oil giant prices its shares, has put Saudi Arabia in a precarious position as it bets on what volume of oil production will hit a sweet spot for prices, with the added pressure of considering the interests of its shareholders. The nation is already bearing the burden of the largest share of OPEC’s production cuts. But some nations such as Iraq have been ignoring the agreement and producing more than their allotted amount. “If people are already not complying to the current agreement, what’s the point to those that are complying cutting more? So the others can go on cheating?” said Bhushan Bahree, executive …

The Czech Republic’s prime minister is facing fraud charges after the country’s chief prosecutor overturned a previous decision to drop the case.                     Pavel Zeman announced the move Wednesday after evaluating a September finding to dismiss the charges despite a police recommendation to indict Babis.                     The case involves a farm that received European Union subsidies after its ownership was transferred from the Agrofert conglomerate owned by the prime minister to members of his family. The prime minister has denied any wrongdoing.                     The EU subsidies were meant for medium-sized and small businesses and Agrofert would not have been eligible for them. Later, Agrofert again took ownership of the farm. …

Three years had passed since the Colombian government signed a peace agreement with the revolutionary armed forces FARC. After years of conflict, Colombians thought this agreement would change the country for the better. Nevertheless, the process is still ongoing and a new wave of violence against local leaders and journalists is erupting in different parts of the country. VOA’s Celia Mendoza reports in Bogota, Colombia …

While NATO leaders are professing unity as they gather for a summit near London, several seem to have been caught in an unguarded exchange on camera apparently gossiping about U.S. President Donald Trump’s behavior. In footage recorded during a reception in London at Buckingham Palace Tuesday evening, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was seen standing in a huddle with French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Britain’s Princess Anne, daughter of Queen Elizabeth II. After Johnson asked Macron, “is that why you were late?” Trudeau could be heard saying ”he was late because he takes a 40-minute press conference off the top.”  That appeared to be a reference to Trump’s long and unscheduled question-and-answer session with journalists earlier Tuesday. Trudeau also said: “You just watched his team’s jaws drop to the floor.” Trump wasn’t mentioned by name during the exchange. Footage of the palace reception was recorded by a pool camera. The clip was posted online by Canadian broadcaster CBC and has been viewed more than 5 million times. Canadian officials didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Trudeau spoke briefly to Trump as NATO leaders gathered for a summit Wednesday …

Iran’s President Hassan Rohani has called for the release of protesters who were arrested in recent demonstrations against a sharp hike in gas prices if they were unarmed and simply voicing their opinion. “Religious and Islamic clemency should be shown and those innocent people who protested against petrol price hikes and were not armed…should be released,” Rohani said in a televised speech on December 4. Protests erupted on November 15 after the government announced a fuel price hike of up to 200 % but were quickly stifled by security forces who also imposed a week-long near-total Internet blackout. Earlier this week rights group Amnesty International said at least 208 people were killed in the crackdown, a number that is “evidence that Iran’s security forces went on a horrific killing spree.” Iranian judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili rejected the high death toll estimates on December 3, calling them “utter lies.” On December 3, Rohani ordered a panel to investigate possible compensation for civilians who suffered personal or property damages during the protests. …

Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are stepping down from their roles within the parent company, Alphabet. Sundar Pichai, who has been leading Google as CEO for more than four years, will stay in his role and also become CEO of Alphabet. Page was Alphabet’s CEO, while Brin was its president. Both have been noticeably absent from Google events in the past year. Both stopped making appearances at the weekly question-and-answer sessions with employees, and Page didn’t attend this summer’s Alphabet shareholder’s meeting even though he was still in the CEO role. Alphabet has been positioning Pichai as the de facto leader for quite some time making him the top executive voice at company shareholders meetings, on earnings call and as a spokesperson at Congressional hearings. Page and Brin announced the news in a Google blog post Tuesday, saying the company has “evolved and matured” in the two decades since its founding. “Today, in 2019, if the company was a person, it would be a young adult of 21 and it would be time to leave the roost,” they said. Page and Brin started the search giant in 1998 in Silicon Valley. Both founders promised they plan to stay …

NATO leaders are gathering at a golf resort outside of London Wednesday to present a united front amid bitter differences over terrorism, Turkey and increased burden sharing with the United States. The 29 leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump, posed for a traditional “family” photograph before retreating for the planned three-hour meeting.  The leaders are expected to release a statement afterwards promising to focus more attention on the challenges posed by Russia and rising superpower China.   On the sidelines of the meeting Wednesday, Trump met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.  The White House said “the  two Presidents discussed the importance of Turkey fulfilling its alliance commitments, further strengthening commerce through boosting bilateral trade by $100 billion, regional security challenges, and energy security.” A day earlier, leaders had gathered for informal meetings to mark the 70th anniversary of the alliance’s founding, but the day was overshadowed when tensions between President Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron broke out in full public display. Macron vs Trump In an almost 40-minute session with journalists the two leaders clashed on a number of issues including burden sharing within NATO, terrorism, Turkey’s invasion in northern Syria, and the U.S. withdrawal from an arms …

More than 200 people have perished in east African floods and mudslides since the beginning of the rainy season, which is not over yet. Experts say the rains were especially heavy this year due to a phenomenon called the Indian Ocean Dipole which can cause a rise in water temperatures in the Indian Ocean of up to 2 degree Celsius. This leads to higher evaporation rates off the East African coastline which results in more rain inland.  VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports. …

A typhoon that swept over the Philippines Tuesday killed at least 10  people in a path of destruction that reached the capital Manila. But the country averted a larger-scale disaster, the likes of which often bedevil the impoverished country, due to stronger preparations including mass mobile phone alerts. The typhoon known internationally as Kammuri and called Tisoy in the Philippines reached the Bicol Peninsula southeast of Manila late Monday with wind speeds of up to 208 kilometers per hour, according to the British forecasting service Tropical Storm Risk. Philippine officials had warned citizens via mobile phone messaging and traditional broadcast media about the storm’s potential damage, people on the ground say. Local government offices urged evacuations and more than 200,000 complied, media reports from Manila said. Those offices also readied emergency meals for displaced families. Compared to past typhoons, “I think there is a greater emphasis on disaster risk mitigation,” said Christian de Guzman, vice president and senior credit officer with Moody’s Sovereign Risk Group. “I think it’s across the board and especially at the top.” Extensive damage — most likely from flooding — would hobble rural populations in already poor, inaccessible parts of the mountains and threaten $157 billion …

House Democrats launch a new phase of the impeachment inquiry into U.S. President Donald Trump Wednesday, as the investigation moves to the House Judiciary Committee. The Democratic-majority House of Representatives is expected to hold a vote by year’s end on whether to impeach the president for allegedly leveraging almost $4 million in U.S. aid to Ukraine for his own political benefit. But the following step will be in the U.S. Senate where things look much more favorable for Trump. VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson has the look ahead. …

Happy families are all the same, according to Tolstoy. Unhappy families, though, have too many members who are overworked, according to Nguyen Thien Nhan, one of the officials at the forefront of Vietnam’s fight to decrease the work week down to 40 hours. As one of the few communist nations still left on the globe, Vietnam has a legal work week of 48 hours, six days a week — even while other nations are now questioning if it is realistic to expect employees to be productive for even eight hours a day, 40 hours a week. Nations from Chile to Australia have trended down to 35 hours. Vietnam is now pushing companies toward the 40-hour mark, with considerations for an official law in the future.  Advocates such as Nhan argue that making people work for longer hours does not increase their productivity. He also referred to the stress on families, urging people to imagine how their own households would be strained if someone were out to work for as much as half of the day. “Do we want our husbands or wives, our children or siblings to work nine to 10 hours a day all year round, or 10 to …

Despite Washington’s efforts to maintain a dialog with Pyongyang, chances for a diplomatic breakthrough leading to the denuclearization of North Korea are fading away, said experts, as the two nations remain locked in their position. “At some point, there needs to be a determination that diplomacy is yielding diminishing returns,” said Robert Manning, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. After almost two years of diplomacy, North Korea has been repeating an ultimatum more frequently that the United States has until the end of this year to present a new proposal for denuclearization. As the Pyongyang-imposed deadline approaches, the regime has increased threats to change Washington’s stance. Washington has been demanding North Korea conduct full denuclearization. Pyongyang wants the U.S. to relax sanctions and cease regularly held joint military exercises with South Korea, which it claims as a threat against its regime, before denuclearizing. Those positions have remained unchanged for months, despite the publicly affectionate relationship between North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump. Christopher Ford, assistant secretary of state for International Security and Nonproliferation, said on Monday that the U.S. is still seeking “the final and fully verified denuclearization” of North Korea. On Tuesday, Ri …

The Organization of American States (OAS) should avoid “extreme” positions when confronting regional crises like Venezuela’s social and economic collapse and instead promote dialogue, a challenger for the body’s top job said on Tuesday. Hugo de Zela, a longtime Peruvian diplomat and his country’s ambassador to the United States, is running to unseat the organization’s secretary-general, Luis Almagro, who is seeking a second five-year term. Almagro’s current term is set to end next May. The OAS must push for problems to be solved within its member countries by facilitating dialogue between different factions, de Zela told Reuters on the sidelines of a diplomatic meeting in Bogota. “If the organization puts itself on one of the extremes, it stops being effective at solving problems, it stops being present in the solution and it becomes part of the problem,” said de Zela. “That cannot happen.” Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro gestures as he speaks during a news conference in Caracas, Venezuela, Sept. 30, 2019. Venezuela’s economic and political crisis – which has led to widespread shortages of food and medicine and an exodus of people – has dominated recent OAS meetings, with some member states denouncing President Nicolas Maduro as a dictator, while …

Representatives from over a dozen nations that are signatories to a Cold War-era defense treaty for the Americas moved Tuesday to further isolate close allies of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro with economic sanctions. The 1947 Rio Treaty signatories concluded a meeting in Bogota by vowing to cooperate in pursuing sanctions and travel restrictions for Maduro government associates accused of corruption, drug trafficking, money laundering or human rights violations. “The political, economic and social crisis in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela represents a threat for the peace and security of the continent,” Colombian Foreign Minister Claudia Blum said in the meeting’s final remarks. While the United States and the European Union have targeted Maduro associates with economic sanctions, Latin American nations who are supporting opposition leader Juan Guaido have largely resorted to diplomatic pressure – and it will be up to each individual nation to decide how to move forward. The promise of enhanced economic pressure against Maduro comes at a time when Venezuela’s opposition is faltering. Guaido has struggled to mobilize supporters onto the streets and dipped in popularity. Meanwhile, fissures within the opposition are coming to light amidst recent controversies involving alleged abuses of power. David Smilde, a senior …

Argentina’s incoming cabinet has already been chosen and will be revealed on Friday, President-elect Alberto Fernandez said on Tuesday, while his team confirmed a few major picks, including the incoming foreign minister and chief of staff. As the country and markets watch closely for the make-up of the Peronist’s core leadership team, the key economic roles are still under wraps, with talks ongoing about how those will be structured, a spokesman for the leftist leader said. “The cabinet is defined. Everything is already chosen and we are all working. We will present it on Friday at 6 pm (2100 GMT),” Fernandez said a post on an official Twitter account. This followed comments made on local radio station Metro 95.1. The incoming center-left leader gave little detail away, though he downplayed the influence of his vice president-elect, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. Argentina’s creditors, energy investors and grains traders are watching Fernandez’s picks closely, worried that Latin America’s No. 3 economy could shift toward populism after four-years under market-friendly conservative Mauricio Macri. The spokesman told Reuters that young political scientist Santiago Cafiero, heir to a historic Peronist family, will likely be Cabinet chief, and that former Buenos Aires governor Felipe Solá will take …

U.S. President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, often spoke to Representative Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, as Giuliani peddled unproven allegations at the heart of the Trump impeachment inquiry, a congressional report said on Tuesday. Previously undisclosed telephone records appended to a House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., center, flanked by Daniel Goldman, director of investigations for the Democrats, left, and Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif, the ranking member. But, he said that it was “deeply concerning that at a time when the president of the United States was using the power of his office to dig up dirt on a political rival, that there may be evidence that there were members of Congress complicit in that activity.” The phone records were obtained from AT&T, the report said. The company acknowledged it complied with a request. Biden is a leading contender for the Democratic nomination to run against Republican Trump in the November 2020 election. Parnas’ lawyer Joseph Bondy said his client was prepared to testify to Congress about the substance of the phone calls. In an Oct. 5 interview with Reuters, Giuliani said he had been in contact with Nunes about Ukraine, but …

The far-right Vox party won a seat on the committee responsible for running Spain’s parliament on Tuesday, raising its national profile as the Socialists struggled to form a government following an inconclusive national election last month. The Socialists, meanwhile, again held talks with a Catalan separatist party in a bid to gain support. Vox became the third-largest party in a fragmented parliament in the election, more than doubling its seats to 52 after campaigning on a platform of staunch nationalism and an anti-feminist and anti-immigrant stance. Amid some chaotic scenes and scuffles in the parliamentary chamber as the new legislature was sworn in, Vox lawmaker Ignacio Gil Lazaro was elected as one of the oversight committee’s four vice presidents. The nine-strong committee decides when bills are admitted for debate and its members represent parliament overseas, giving it considerable influence. Santiago Abascal, leader of the Spanish far-right party Vox, reacts upon arrival at the first session of the Parliament following a general election in Madrid, Spain Dec. 3, 2019. Founded in 2013, Vox won two dozen seats in an inconclusive election in April, the first time a far-right party had won more than one seat since Spain returned to democracy in …