Reuters World News - UN climate deal, Zelenskiy sidelined, Hungary's hardline and Sunak survives

Episode Date: December 13, 2023

Nations strike a deal at COP28 to transition away from fossil fuels. Zelenskiy leaves DC empty-handed after facing a skeptical reception from Republican lawmakers. Meanwhile in Europe, Hungary is threatening to veto a multi-billion euro aid package for Ukraine. Plus, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak wins a key vote on his contentious immigration policy but his leadership and government are still risk.  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, COP28 agrees a deal to transition away from fossil fuels. Zelensky leaves D.C. empty-handed, as Hungary plays hardball over Ukraine aid in Europe. And Rishi Sunak survives a major threat to his leadership. It's Wednesday, December 13th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, every weekday. I'm Carmel Crimmons in Dublin. We have a deal. That's the message of COP28 president.

Sultan al-Jabber at UN climate talks in Dubai. And we have language on fossil fuel in our final agreement for the first time ever. The agreement calls for countries to transition away from fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal, that are heating up the planet. It's the first time a UN climate summit has mentioned reducing use of all fossil fuels, but it fell short of a complete phase out of their use after pushback from major oil exporters like Saudi Arabia. Climate vulnerable countries said it didn't go far enough.

Here's Anne Rasmussen, chair of the Alliance of Small Island States. We have made an incremental advancement over business as usual when what we really needed is an exponential step change in our actions and support. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky met with House Speaker Mike Johnson and President Biden on Tuesday, pleading his case for more aid to Ukraine. That's significant. Ukraine is gradually becoming less depend on aid. We are moving to the right direction. President Biden urged Congress to act this week.

Congress needs to pass a supplemental funding for Ukraine before they break the holiday recess. Before they give Putin the greatest Christmas gift they could possibly give it. But the Republican House leader doesn't seem moved. After meeting with Zelensky, Mike Johnson returned to a couple of repeated demands. We need a clear articulation of the strategy to allow Ukraine to win. And thus far, their responses have been insufficient. That and U.S. border security. Our first condition on any national security supplemental spending package is about our own national security first.

Our White House correspondent Trevor Honeycutt was at the joint press conference between Biden and Zelensky. Trevor, what can Zelensky do to move the needle on for the folks holding up U.S. aid? It's really difficult to say at this point. So Zelensky and Republican leaders came out of those meetings saying completely different things. At his press conference, President Zelensky suggested that there were positive signs that he had in these private meetings. But when you look at what House Speaker Johnson and other folks were saying when they came out of these meetings, they were much more pessimistic about doing anything until there's a deal on immigration with Democrats. Is this congressional logjam indicative of America's position more broadly? When we look at the polling, that's just not where Americans are. So there is more support for continuing to arm Ukraine than there is opposition to it. And so what we see here is a kind of cohort, particularly within the House of Representatives, that is opposed or at least skeptical of sending more aid to Ukraine without more information from the administration about what the ultimate endgame here is and what the ultimate strategy is. And you've also got the 2024 elections around the

corner, and a lot of people are lining up with President Trump, who's been very skeptical of increased aid for Ukraine. Meanwhile, in Europe, EU heavyweights are set for a showdown with the one nation holding out over aid for Ukraine, Hungary. Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban has touted his ties with Moscow and threatened to veto a multi-billion aid package at a summit this week. As it tries to win Orban's support, the EU executive is today expected to unlock Hungary's access to as much as $10 billion in aid. Earlier, EU chief executive Ursula von der Leyen called on the block to support Ukraine for as long as it takes, a sharp contrast to Hungary's position.

We all know that Putin's failure will not automatically translate into Ukraine's victory. As the war drags on, we must prove what it means to support Ukraine for as long as it takes. Hungary is also doubling down on another hot topic of the summit. whether the EU should start membership talks with Ukraine. In an interview broadcast this morning, Orban said the EU is preparing to make a, quote, terrible mistake if they start accession talks. President Biden has warned Israel its indiscriminate bombing of Gaza

is losing it international support. His remarks at a donor event came as the UN General Assembly passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire. Three quarters of member states voted in favor, but the US and Israel argued that a ceasefire would only benefit Hamas. A far-right Polish lawmaker has provoked outrage for using a fire extinguisher to put out

Hanukkah candles in the country's parliament. He also described the Jewish holiday as satanic. Members of the Jewish community, including children, had gone to the parliament for its annual Hanukkah celebration. New York's Court of Appeals has thrown out the state's congressional map. That means Democrats there will draw a new map that could flip as many as six Republican held seats in the House in 2024. Pope Francis is simplifying the papal funeral rights.

The pontiff, who turns 87 on Sunday, disclosed plans for his funeral in an interview with Mexican television. He says he wants to be the first Pope to be buried outside the Vatican in more than a century. He's decided to be buried in Rome's Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore instead. In markets, it's all eyes on the Fed and any hints on when it might start cutting rates. Jerome Powell's words could be make or break for world stocks. They're up more than 1% so far this month, fueled by hopes the Fed will be shifting into easing mode early next year.

We may find out later if they're being overly optimistic. The ECB, the Bank of England and the Swiss National Bank all follow the Fed with meetings on Thursday. And like the US Central Bank, they're expected to keep borrowing costs steady. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak lives to fight another day. His contentious plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda has avoided defeat in Parliament. But his Conservative Party is fractured along multiple lines, and the plan still faces hurdles. Kate Hilton is in London. Kate, what lengths did Tsunak have to go to to get the bill passed? Well, he spent the last few days meeting with his lawmakers of all different factions throughout the day to try and get them on side.

He also cancelled any international travel for his lawmakers, which meant that the minister who was in Dubai at COP had to fly back just to vote. He voted and was then seen running out of the chamber to get back into his car to go back to Dubai. Although the margin of victory was actually pretty comfortable, it shows that they were very worried that it would actually come down to one or two votes and that he needed all his ministers in the chamber. Does this win make an election more or less likely? I'm not sure is the answer. The expectations for an election next year are either in May or perhaps September, October. you would think a party that has been 20 points behind Labor would be unlikely to want to go for an election early. But there are some sort of economic reasons, the phasing of people's mortgages rising that could make May more attractive.

I think if Sunak had lost last night, then you would be into the territory where either he had to quit or call a general election. He could be forced out and he could be replaced by another leader. you would think they would try to hold off having a general election until they are on slightly stronger footing. So I don't know, it all moves to January on that front, but it's almost one of the stronger hands that the government has because it can say if you bring this bill down, we will end up with a general election

and most of you are likely to lose your seats. The problem on that is that quite a lot of conservatives have already said they will stand down at the next election, and when you're in that situation, there's no reason to stick to party discipline because there's no threat against you. So I think it means it's incredibly unpredictable as we go into January

as to whether he can hold the different factions of his party together. 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.