Dec 14 update

The 198 countries at the COP28 summit unanimously agreed to pass a landmark final agreement that “calls on” nations to “transition” away from fossil fuels—although it falls short of suggesting they be “phased out”. An earlier, weaker draft agreement had said they should merely be “limited”, provoking much criticism. No previous COP summit has managed to negotiate collective action that could eventually end the oil age.

Israel’s foreign minister said the war in Gaza will continue “with or without international support”, despite the Israeli army suffering its worst day of casualties since October. Earlier the UN General Assembly passed a resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. More than 150 member states voted for the non-binding resolution; ten, including America, voted against.

Britain’s economy contracted by 0.3% in October, after modest growth of 0.2% in September. Struggling services were the main reason for the fall, with higher interest rates and severe weather conditions weighing heavily on businesses. The Bank of England is expected to hold interest rates at 5.25% when it meets on Thursday.

Germany’s ruling coalition reached a deal to resolve the budget crisis. A controversial court ruling in November had left the government with a significant funding gap. The coalition said on Wednesday that it would retain borrowing restrictions in 2024, making savings of €17bn ($18.3bn) in its core budget and cutting back on its climate and transition fund.

The IMF approved around $1bn of loans for Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The funds for Sri Lanka will help stabilise the country’s economy after it defaulted on its sovereign debt last year; those for Bangladesh will be crucial for easing currency pressures. Both countries have general elections scheduled next year; the loans may help boost support for incumbent politicians.

Tesla will recall more than 2m vehicles in America after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that its Autopilot mode does not do enough to prevent “driver misuse”. The American regulator opened the probe in 2021, after around a dozen incidents involving Teslas crashing into emergency vehicles. Tesla said it would “incorporate additional controls” to affected vehicles.

Albania said it will use ChatGPT, a chatbot developed by OpenAI, to translate thousands of pages of legal documents into Albanian to speed up its accession into the EU. The government hopes the tool will allow it to incorporate EU rules into the country’s existing legal structures more easily. The decision follows a deal with OpenAI’s CEO, Mira Murati, who was born in Albania.

Figure of the day: $45bn, the amount that Amazon expects to earn from posting ads alongside search results this year. Read the full story.

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PHOTO: AP

COP28’s landmark deal

The main culprit behind the greenhouse-gas emissions driving up global temperatures has long been known: burning fossil fuels. But in almost three decades of international diplomacy, countries have never managed to forge an agreement that addresses the source of the problem directly. That changed on Wednesday morning at COP28 in Dubai when—within sight of the largest oil plant on the planet—the UN’s climate summit concluded with a commitment to “transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems” in “this critical decade”.

The deal came after protracted days and nights of fighting. Big oil-producing states such as Saudi Arabia staunchly opposed an earlier attempt to “phase out” oil, coal and gas, as did some smaller nations which argued that they simply could not afford to overhaul their economies without much more financial help. Disfiguring compromises were made. Several countries—including many small island states—were left angered by minimal progress on adaptation and, they claimed, underhand tactics used in the negotiations as well as a “litany of loopholes”. Sultan Al Jaber, the Emirati president of COP28, hailed the outcome as “historic”. It was, but it came at a heavy cost.

PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

Republicans go after the Biden family

As early as Wednesday Republicans in the House of Representatives will vote to formalise their impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden. Three House committees have been investigating the president since September, with little to show for it. According to James Comer, the chairman of the House Oversight committee, a formal inquiry would strengthen its hand in court against “anyone who refuses” a subpoena.

That is a reference to Hunter Biden, the president’s son. In November Mr Comer’s committee issued a subpoena to Hunter, demanding he testify at a closed-door deposition. Hunter countered with an offer to appear at a public hearing, which Republicans rejected. They hope to show that the president profited from his son’s foreign business dealings. Hunter was recently charged with failing to pay $1.4m in taxes (a claim his lawyer suggested was politically motivated) and may face further investigation. Still, Mr Comer is far from building a case against what he has called the “Biden crime family”.

PHOTO: AP

The EU’s difficult meetings

A tense series of meetings start in Brussels on Wednesday with a summit featuring leaders from the EU and Western Balkans. The regular gathering was long an exercise in justifying why countries including Serbia and North Macedonia were making little progress in their two-decade quest to join the bloc. But prospects for enlargement have improved since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The war has made members keener to bring its neighbours into the club to fend off Russian interference.

That enthusiasm will be tested again on Thursday and Friday when EU leaders meet for their last summit of the year. Diplomats from the bloc’s 27 members had hoped to open formal negotiations over Ukraine’s accession, and to sign off on a €50bn ($54bn) aid package for the country over four years. But both are being held up by Viktor Orban, Hungary’s autocratic prime minister, partly because of his enduring willingness to appreciate the Kremlin’s point of view.

PHOTO: AP

Poland’s new government

The handover of power was no less bitter than the years of political brawling that preceded it. After a disappointing result in an election in October, Poland’s Law and Justice (PiS) party lost a vote of confidence on Monday. Parliament then backed Donald Tusk of the Civic Coalition as prime minister. The leader of PiS, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, accused Mr Tusk of being a “German agent”—an insinuation that stems from his friendly relations with European leaders.

Mr Tusk, who was sworn into office on Wednesday, has promised to mend Poland’s relations with the EU after years of disquiet over PiS’s undermining of the rule of law. By Thursday he will be in Brussels for a leaders’ summit. As a former president of the European Council he can expect a warm welcome. But to restore his country to the bloc’s good graces (and unlock billions of euros in funds) he will need to depoliticise Poland’s courts and media.

PHOTO: DAVE GUTTRIDGE

Big data and dementia

The UK Biobank, a British repository of medical data, holds a conference in London on Wednesday. Experts will talk about the role of genomics in predicting disease, as well as the latest research on dementia. Around 55m people worldwide have the condition. Yet up to 40% of cases could be prevented or delayed by tackling environmental and behavioural factors that heighten the risk of developing dementia. Biological changes begin many years before noticeable symptoms prompt a visit to the doctor.

The Biobank recently released its largest genomic dataset yet for global researchers to analyse. It includes whole genome sequences from half a million volunteers, as well as information from the past two decades on their lifestyle and health. Such comprehensive data could improve understanding of conditions like dementia. It should also enable detailed analyses of how genes interact with the environment—and contribute to the risk of future disease.