Reuters World News - Zelenskiy’s double whammy, US election prep and breakdancing at the Olympics

Episode Date: December 11, 2023

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is on a last-ditch lobbying trip to Washington this week. With talks on US aid for the war stalled in Congress, he’s meeting with lawmakers and President Joe Biden. But Zelenskiy is also facing a funding battle in Europe. Groups across the U.S. political spectrum prepare for threats to the democratic process in 2024. As breakdancing makes its Olympics debut, Adidas seeks to capitalise on a new generation of sports. Plus, the latest from Gaza and a bid for Macy’s. 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, Israel presses on in its war against Hamas as pressure grows for a ceasefire. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky faces a funding battle on both sides of the Atlantic. Groups across the US political spectrum prepare for threats to the 2024 election. And with breakdancing coming to the Olympics, Adidas aims to put its stamp on a new generation of sport. It's Monday, December the 11th. 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.

Casualties are rushed to hospital in Canaanis. Israeli tanks are pushing further west in their battle against Hamas in and around the city. Amid reports of a catastrophic health situation in the enclave, the UN General Assembly is likely to vote Tuesday on a draft resolution, demanding a ceasefire. On Friday, the United States vetoed a UN Security Council proposal for an end to the fighting.

Former President Donald Trump, Trump says he will not be testifying today as scheduled at a New York civil fraud trial. Trump posted on social media saying he'd nothing more to say. In his first appearance at the trial in November, he often avoided direct answers and complained of unfair treatment. The heads of Harvard and MIT continue to face pressure over accusations of campus anti-seminatism. Penn President Liz McGill resigned over the weekend in response to criticism over the testimony of the three at a congressional hearing.

Australia plans to have its migrant intake as the left-wing labour government looks to overhaul what it calls a broken system. The government said it would tighten visa rules for international students and low-skilled workers. India's top court has upheld a decision by the government of Prime Minister Narenda Modi to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.

The decision paves the way for elections there next year and is a shot on the arm for Modi's government before a general election due by May. No I plata Argentina's new president Javier Malé warning citizens

that shock treatment is looming in his first speech after taking office Malay has pledged to introduce harsh austerity measures to overhaul the country's ailing economy

to markets now and interesting times on Main Street an investor group has made a $5.8 billion offer to take Macy's private Arkhouse management and Brigade Capital Management

are offering $21 a share for the department store That's a near 32% premium to where the shares traded on Friday, but it's a far cry from where Macy's was trading back in 2015 before competition from digital rivals took their toll. Back then, Macy's was trading at $70 a share. The investors have discussed their offer with Macy's, but it's not clear yet how the retailer views their proposal. Over in the UK, meanwhile, sales of confectionery are doing well.

Why? British shoppers are buying cheaper gifts this year. They've been stung by inflation and higher mortgage rates, and so they're snobes. snubbing toys and gadgets in favour of chocolate, which is relatively inexpensive. So sales of box chocolates are doing well in a boost for companies like Nestle and Mondelez. Ukrainian president, Vladimir Zelensky, is on a last-ditch lobbying trip to D.C. this week. With talks on a Ukraine aid deal stalled in Congress, Zelensky will meet with President Biden in the White House and lawmakers on the hill. But it's not just in the U.S. where Ukraine is facing a funding crunch.

Europe's financial support for the war against Russia also hangs in the balance. Mike Collett White is editor at large on the Ukraine war. Mike, what's going on in the European Union? The problem there is that 26 of the 27 members support giving Ukraine more military and financial aid. But Hungary is so far refusing to agree to that. And because it has a veto, it could actually undermine the whole package for Ukraine. Ukraine. Now, that comes at a very difficult time for the country. Its counteroffensive has stalled. It's heading into the winter where it needs defensive weapons against Russian air attacks. So all in all,

this is a crucial period and one of great peril for Ukraine. Will the Europeans, do we think, find a way around this, this Hungarian stumbling block? It's hard to say because at the moment, it looks like the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban could be horse trading, right? So he's bargaining hard because he's bound to get much more in return if he takes it down to the wire. The alternative view is that he won't budge this time, that Ukraine will not get the money, that Ukraine will not be allowed to begin accession talks to one day join the EU. But to be honest, if that happens, it's not the end of the road for Ukraine. There will be other ways of getting money to it. But if you start to go down the road of bilateral agreements between countries and Ukraine, you can imagine

It's much more complicated. It's harder for them to predict how much money they're going to get. It's harder for them to budget their military campaigns. So it's really going to go down to the wire and we'll only know by the end of Friday probably. Of course, US funding is even more important. It's a much bigger pot. If Ukraine does not get fresh aid from the US, how dire could things get for Ukraine on the battlefield? I don't think you'd see the impact immediately, although the US says that its aid for Ukraine is running very, very

low. We're down to the last sort of a few hundred million dollars probably. Again, I don't think it would be the end of all money from the United States. I do think that they would find ways of supporting Ukraine. But if it's not on the same scale and they're not going to be sending over enough money and enough heavy weapons to support Ukraine, then it will begin to tell on the battlefield fairly quickly. And of course, one suspects that Russia and Vladimir Putin is waiting about to happen. As we gear up for next year's U.S. presidential election, groups across the political spectrum are preparing for threats to the democratic process.

To guard the vote, and you should go into Detroit, and you should go into Philadelphia, and you should go into some of these places, Atlanta. Former President Donald Trump recently in Iowa, warning against voter fraud in swing states and repeating unproven claims against his 2020 loss. Then they rigged and sold the election of 2020. They rigged it and they stole it.

Julia Hart is one of our national affairs correspondents and has been looking into how various groups preparing for the upcoming election. Julia, what are activists worried about? Well, there's two sort of main sets of concerns. On the side of Trump and like-minded groups and figures, there's concern about, as we heard in that clip, voter fraud. And according to all election analysts that are credible on this, existing safeguards make voter fraud exceedingly rare. But they do continue to trumpet it as a big concern. And so we've seen groups like the Republican National Committee aiming to train tens of thousands of poll watchers and launching a full-time election integrity department with the stated aim of catching and rooting out this voter fraud.

On the other side, we've got voter advocates who are concerned that calls like those that Trump issued at that rally will, in fact, galvanize his supporters to come out and intimidate voters and vote counters. election workers. Is this setting up for conflict at polling stations next fall? One of the cities that Trump specifically urged his supporters to go to next year was Detroit. And in the 2020 election, during the vote count there, there were crowds of vote challengers who were coming right up to the windows of vote counting centers banging on them, screaming things like stop the count. I spoke with the city clerk, Janice Winfrey, who actually was one of those election workers who faced harassment and intimidation after that election. A stranger came to her home to accuse her of

regaining the election against Trump, and she began to carry a firearm as a result to protect herself. And so in Detroit, they're going to institute a more rigorous process for screening the poll watchers. They're going to make sure that they're kept further away from the actual vote counters and election workers, and they will be monitored by more police. At Tokyo 2021, this was a new sound for the Olympics. Skateboarding, making its first appearance as an Olympic event. And for brands, stars performing on half pipes is perhaps cooler than in a swimming pool or on the track, especially when you're trying to attract a Gen Z audience. In Paris, this will be the new sound at the Olympics. Breaking or breakdancing, as some might call it.

Now Adidas is expanding its portfolio to include these events. Helen Reid has been looking at this story. Helen, why is this so important to Adidas? So Adidas is in the midst of a turn around. Last year, they cut ties with Ye, who was previously known as Kanye West. They ended their highly profitable, Yeezy shoe line. And that's resulted in a lot of financial issues for Adidas and in a new CEO starting. Bjorn Golden is really trying to reboot the brand's image and trying to put the focus back onto sports and less onto celebrities. This is also key for the Olympics, isn't it? It's kind of a two-way street, bringing in new events to attract a younger audience.

So increasingly younger fans are second screening. They're watching something on TV and watching something on their phone at the same time. And that means that the format of the Olympics has to also change with those changing consumer habits. 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.