Reuters World News - Trump’s Colorado ban, Ukraine's rough road, DRC elections and Brazilian geese police

Episode Date: December 20, 2023

Colorado’s top court has ruled Donald Trump is disqualified from serving as U.S. president and cannot appear on the primary ballot there. Ukraine’s economy faces a tough 2024 as Western aid concerns grow. Democratic Republic of Congo's opposition alleges fraud as elections are underway. Plus, the geese keeping Brazil’s prisoners in check.  Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, Donald Trump is disqualified from the primary ballot in Colorado. Ukraine looks to a dismal 2024 if US aid falls through. Elections in mineral-rich but poverty-stricken Democratic Republic of Congo. And the geese guards protecting a prison in Brazil. It's Wednesday, December 20th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes. every weekday. I'm Tara Oaks in Liverpool. And I'm Kim Vinal in Wonganui, New Zealand. Donald Trump has been barred from running in Colorado state's presidential primary.

The Colorado Supreme Court ruling bars him from appearing on the ballot due to his role in the January 6th attack on the Capitol. Jack Queen is in New York. Jack, how major is this? So it is an extraordinary ruling. And this is all completely uncharted terrorists. as the justice is noted in their opinion. But ultimately, the impact of it may be somewhat limited because the Supreme Court could reverse this decision and Trump doesn't need to actually win Colorado to win the election anyway.

But it is important in the sense that there are a bunch of other lawsuits like this going around in other states that he would need to win in order to win the presidency. And while this decision isn't binding on any of those other state courts, judges there will be looking at it to inform their opinions.

And it'll be the lens through which they, approach all of these novel issues. What exactly was the Colorado Supreme Court ruling? So this is an appeal from a previous trial where a judge concluded that Trump had engaged in insurrection, but stopped short of disqualifying him from the ballot, saying that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment doesn't actually apply to the president. So he was still eligible for the ballot. Now, the Supreme Court took it a step further and saying, yes, you were right that he was engaged in insurrection. But you were wrong to conclude that Section 3 of the 14th

Amendment doesn't apply to the President. Remind us, what is Section 3 of the 14th Amendment? So it's a clause of the 14th Amendment which was passed in the aftermath of the U.S. Civil War, and it was intended to prevent defeated Confederate rebels from turning around and joining the federal government after losing the Civil War. So it's aimed at people engaged in insurrection or rebellion, specifically Confederate rebels at the time. President Volodymyr Zelensky strikes a defiant tone.

in an end-of-year news conference. Telling reporters, he was certain that the U.S. would quote, not betray us. But Congress has abandoned talks on aid for Ukraine until next year. And nearly two years after Russia's invasion, fighting has reached a bloody stalemate. Zelensky dismissed suggestions of a rift with his army chief, though said he still wants to see very concrete things

from the military leadership. and the military want half a million more troops, a sign of the protracted conflict ahead. Tom Barnthorz is Chief Correspondent for Ukraine. Tom, what lies ahead for Ukraine? It seems clear for the coming months that Ukraine is going to be largely on the defensive on the battlefield. Russia is obviously on the offensive in the east. The big variable in all this is the scale of the foreign military assistance that comes in.

And I think that will probably shape the ambitions of the Ukrainian troops on the battlefields. field this year. What happens if US aid doesn't come through? The aid from the United States is vital from a military standpoint. The US is by far the largest military donor of aid to Ukraine. A Ukrainian general told us last week that troops are already facing shortages of artillery shells. They need aid to keep their operations going at the same level. Some senior Ukrainian officials have said there's a risk of losing the war if the aid doesn't come. So that's on the military standpoint. On the financial standpoint, the aid is also absolutely essential. Ukraine needs about $40 billion in foreign financing to plug a gaping budget deficit next year.

If that assistance doesn't materialize, then Ukraine's going to have to think about raising taxes or printing money or cutting social expenditure. All of those things are sort of fairly risky options that Ukraine doesn't really want to have to resort to. The UN will attempt to vote today on a resolution to get more aid into Gaza. The US has already vetoed action on Gaza twice at the UN. And a vote on this resolution has been delayed twice because the US isn't happy. Michelle Nichols is in New York. So there's a couple of issues with the draft resolution.

One is that there is a reference to working towards a cessation of hostilities. The United States and Israel don't like the word ceasefire. They don't want to call for a ceasefire. And I guess as a result, they're not too happy with the word cessation of hostilities either. And the second issue is to do with the creation of a UN aid monitoring mechanism. That would essentially take away some power from Israel, who is currently inspecting aid deliveries going in through Egypt. A New York State Commission is being set up to consider reparations to address the legacy of slavery.

It will look at resulting racial gaps in wealth, housing, employment and criminal justice. The state will not be required to follow the recommendations of the Commission. French lawmakers approving a controversial bill which toughens immigration rules. It includes delaying housing benefits for unemployed non-EU migrants by five years. K-pop star G Dragon has been concluded. cleared allegations of illegal drug use by South Korean police. Police had been investigating the Singarin Rapa amid an ongoing crackdown on illegal drugs by the government of Conservative President Yun Sukoyi. On markets, Red Sea tensions are keeping oil prices high. Here's

comal crimmons with more. Yes, it seems US efforts to secure the Red Sea have failed to calm fears. So the US said this week it would lead a multinational naval mission to ward off attacks by Houthi rebels. But the Houthis are vowed to keep attacking ships in protest over Israel's war in Gaza. And oil prices have remained elevated because major shipping lines continue to avoid the route. They're choosing to go around South Africa's Cape of Good Hope instead, adding more time and money to the journey. Voting has opened in Democratic Republic of Congo, her President Felix Chisakedi is competing against about two dozen challenges. The economy, corruption and mining are key issues in the huge Central African country. And in the east, worsening attacks by armed groups have killed thousands and displaced nearly 7 million people.

Barte Felix is our Western Central Africa Bureau Chief based in Dakar. So Barte, what can we expect from today's elections? Sincerely, from what I've seen this morning, I think we can expect a lot of delays, a lot of chaos. So far from what we've heard from the ground, quite a number of people are not finding their names on the hotel list. which were only published this morning. In some places, the election kits are only just arriving this morning, and voting is going to start very late in the day. So in main cities, we're going to see the election starting somewhat,

you know, maybe with an hour or two delay. But in faraway places, it is going to be a bit chaotic, and we could expect by the end of the day for people to be very angry and some complaints from the opposition that it wasn't a fair process, as they've been saying from the onset. And what's at stake here for the international community and investors in this election in Congo? I mean, as we all know, Congo is a major, major player in the mining world. It is a top producer of copper and cobal, all used in the EV evolution.

And investors are lining up to invest in Congo, but what they want to see is stability. So if Ghisatté wins, maybe there could be some stability on the policy front for the next five years. But if it's a new person in charge, we could see further reviews of policies and a bit more uncertainty on that front. And how likely is unrest no matter what the result? Very much likely because we've seen some violence during the campaign and even before, especially in Easting Congo. And the fact that the opposition has been claiming for months now that they don't trust the process. So there could be serious challenges, especially if there's a lot of the opposition. The result is tight and the thing that it wasn't properly organized,

they've already warned that they're not going to accept the results if they think it's not fair. In the southern Brazilian state of Santa Katerina, a prison has replaced its guard dogs with a different sort of deterrent. A flock of geese patrol between the inside fence and the outer wall of the prison, sounding an alarm when anyone comes near. Guards say the geese are more affordable than dogs and make excellent guard animals. That's it for today's episode of Reuters World News.

We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show. To make sure you know what's going on in the world, listen in for 10 minutes every weekday. And don't forget to subscribe on your favourite podcast player or download the Reuters app.