Welcome again to World Temporary, the place we’re trying on the European Union’s monetary assist for Ukraine, Australia proposing a gun buyback program, and violent protests throughout Bangladesh.
‘We Will Not Collapse’
European Union leaders agreed on Friday to offer a $105 billion, interest-free mortgage to Ukraine over the following two years to assist its battle effort towards Russia. Nonetheless, the landmark pledge stopped in need of allocating billions of {dollars}’ price of frozen Russian belongings to Kyiv, concluding (at the very least, for now) a serious flash level that has divided the 27-nation bloc.
Welcome again to World Temporary, the place we’re trying on the European Union’s monetary assist for Ukraine, Australia proposing a gun buyback program, and violent protests throughout Bangladesh.
‘We Will Not Collapse’
European Union leaders agreed on Friday to offer a $105 billion, interest-free mortgage to Ukraine over the following two years to assist its battle effort towards Russia. Nonetheless, the landmark pledge stopped in need of allocating billions of {dollars}’ price of frozen Russian belongings to Kyiv, concluding (at the very least, for now) a serious flash level that has divided the 27-nation bloc.
With out the EU’s mortgage, Ukraine was on observe to run out of funding within the spring. In accordance with the Worldwide Financial Fund, Kyiv wants $161 billion in 2026 and 2027 to successfully fight Russia; in any other case, Ukraine can be compelled to slash drone manufacturing. However Friday’s accredited mortgage prevented this concern from changing into a actuality—overlaying roughly two-thirds of Kyiv’s monetary wants.
“It’s a sign to the Russians that there isn’t a level for them to proceed the battle as a result of now we have monetary assist, and due to this fact, we won’t collapse on the entrance line,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on X on Friday.
EU leaders additionally argued that European assist for Ukraine is important to stop future Russian aggression towards the remainder of the continent. “Now we have a easy alternative: both cash at present, or blood tomorrow,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated on Thursday.
EU member states agreed to make use of the bloc’s personal price range as collateral as an alternative of allocating frozen Russian belongings in Europe, totaling roughly $247 billion, to pay for the mortgage. Though a number of European international locations, together with Ukraine, campaigned for the usage of the immobilized Russian funds, Belgium refused to again this plan, arguing that it did not adequately defend Brussels from potential authorized and monetary dangers; round $226 billion price of Russia’s Europe-based belongings are held by Belgian firm Euroclear, which Russia’s central financial institution has already introduced a lawsuit towards in a Russian court docket.
On Friday, the European Union stated these belongings will stay blocked till Russia pays for Ukraine’s battle reparations. The World Financial institution estimates that the price of reconstruction over the approaching decade will probably be at the very least $524 billion—or nearly thrice Kyiv’s financial output in 2024.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz warned that “if Russia doesn’t pay reparations we’ll—in full accordance with worldwide legislation—make use of Russian immobilized belongings for paying again the mortgage.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced this proposal on Friday as “daylight theft,” suggesting that “the implications could possibly be grave” for the international locations that authorize it.
Not each EU member state is on board with the mortgage, although, with the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia all initially opposed. “I’d not like a European Union in battle,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban stated, including that “to provide cash means battle.” The leaders of all three international locations have been described as allies of Putin.
Nonetheless, on Friday, Orban, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, and Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico finally determined to not block the mortgage’s passage in alternate for protections from any monetary fallout—risking their relationships with Russia to keep away from additional dissent inside the European bloc.
As we speak’s Most Learn
What We’re Following
Getting weapons off the streets. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese introduced a buyback program on Friday to “get weapons off our streets.” The initiative is available in response to the Bondi Seashore mass capturing in Sydney on Sunday, throughout which two suspected gunmen whom investigators consider might have been impressed by Islamic State ideology killed 15 worshippers and injured dozens extra at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration.
One of many suspected gunmen held a firearm license and owned six weapons “regardless of dwelling in the course of Sydney’s suburbs,” Albanese stated. “There’s no purpose why somebody in that scenario wanted that many weapons.” Australia additionally issued a buyback program following the nation’s 1996 mass capturing, which specialists say melted down as many as 1 million firearms.
Underneath the proposal, the Australian authorities would pay gun house owners to give up “surplus, newly banned and unlawful firearms.” The initiative provides to different proposed measures geared toward tightening the nation’s already strict gun legal guidelines, together with imposing a restrict on the quantity and forms of firearms that a person can personal. Albanese has additionally vowed to additional fight antisemitism by rising penalties on these convicted of spreading “hate, division and radicalisation.” The buyback program should nonetheless be accredited by lawmakers. Australian opposition chief Sussan Ley known as on Albanese on Friday to recall Parliament earlier than Christmas to go the laws.
Violent nationwide protests. Bangladeshi officers urged for calm on Friday after mass, violent protests swept the nation over the killing of a youth protest chief. Sharif Osman Hadi, 32, was ready to launch his parliamentary marketing campaign forward of elections deliberate for February 2026 when he was shot in Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, final week. Hadi was a distinguished determine of the student-led motion that ousted then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina final August and a vocal critic of India’s political affect on Bangladesh. Medical and celebration officers confirmed Hadi’s demise late Thursday after he spent six days on life assist.
Approaching the heels of one other nationwide Bangladeshi demonstration this week towards New Delhi’s resolution to host Hasina throughout her self-imposed exile, interim chief Muhammad Yunus warned on Friday that current instability—together with arson assaults on journalists—might undermine February’s parliamentary elections.
“This can be a vital second in our nation’s historical past once we are making a historic democratic transition,” the interim authorities stated in a assertion. “We can not and should not enable it to be derailed by these few who thrive on chaos and reject peace.”
TikTok’s new house owners. TikTok’s Chinese language proprietor, ByteDance, reportedly signed binding agreements with three main traders to type a brand new U.S. three way partnership to personal the app, in response to an inside memo by TikTok CEO Shou Chew that was seen by Bloomberg on Thursday. The deal—anticipated to shut on Jan. 22, 2026—will enable the favored U.S. social media app to proceed working in the US, a future as soon as thought-about unsure as a result of its ties to Beijing.
Final 12 months, the U.S. Congress handed a legislation requiring ByteDance’s divestiture from TikTok over fears that the app’s consumer knowledge could possibly be accessed by the Chinese language authorities and due to this fact posed a nationwide safety menace. On the time, ByteDance owned 100% of TikTok’s shares. Trump signed an govt order throughout his first time period successfully banning TikTok and vowed to additional crack down on its U.S. presence this 12 months. Nonetheless, a deal to switch TikTok possession to U.S. firms proved more difficult than anticipated, requiring months of negotiations and a number of other monthslong extensions.
Underneath the new consortium, almost half of TikTok will probably be owned by a gaggle of non-Chinese language traders. The U.S.-based Oracle and Silver Lake funding firms in addition to the Emirati agency MGX will every personal 15 p.c of TikTok’s shares; U.S. consumer knowledge, together with TikTok’s customized algorithm, will probably be saved regionally in an Oracle-run system. ByteDance will retain a 19.9 p.c stake, with one other 30.1 p.c held by ByteDance associates. It’s unclear who will personal the remaining 5 p.c of the corporate.
What within the World?
José Antonio Kast received Chile’s presidential election runoff on Sunday. What’s Kast’s political alignment?
A. Communist
B. Onerous proper
C. Centrist
D. Liberal conservative
Odds and Ends
‘Tis the season for … festive crimes? Canadian police are investigating a large shoplifting incident that befell on Monday, by which a number of individuals dressed as Santa Claus and his elves stole greater than $2,000 price of meals from a Montreal grocery retailer. The Robins des Ruelles (or Robins of the Alleys) group has claimed duty for the theft, including that they redistributed the stolen items underneath a Christmas tree on the close by Place Simon-Valois and introduced leftovers to numerous neighborhood fridges. The thieves, likening themselves to modern-day Robin Hoods, have accused grocery store chains of utilizing excessive inflation to justify elevating costs.
And the Reply Is…
B. Onerous proper
If Kast’s right-wing insurance policies show profitable in Chile, they might turn into widespread in different international locations across the area, Michael Albertus argues.
To take the remainder of FP’s weekly worldwide information quiz, click on right here, or signal as much as be alerted when a brand new one is revealed.
Correction, Dec. 19, 2025: A earlier model misstated the title of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
