Biden cautions Netanyahu, Orban blocks Ukraine aid, COP28 conclusions, AI books flood Amazon

The US Senate is putting off its Christmas recess for a shot on voting on military aid for Israel and for Ukraine. Ukraine's president has been globetrotting this week, with stops that included Washington, where Volodymyr Zelensky lobbied senators as well as the pro-Trump speaker of the House of Representatives. Mike Johnson is holding out for domestic border control reform. To keep Kyiv's financial lifeline alive, Zelensky travelled all the way to Buenos Aires for last Sunday's inauguration of Argentina's new populist president, Javier Milei, but the main reason was to lobby Viktor Orban ahead of a crucial EU summit.

In the end, Hungary's prime minister left the room to abstain when fellow leaders approved the start of membership negotiations for Ukraine and Moldova. But despite the European Commission unfreezing €10 billion in funds for Budapest, held up over Hungary's rule of law issues, it was still a no to a four-year, €50-billion aid package for Kyiv. 

No one expected a COP28 summit hosted by the world's seventh-biggest oil producer to save the planet in 12 days, but COP28 in Dubai did conclude with a document that for the first time recognises the need to transition away from fossil fuels.

Finally, relatives are bemoaning the second death of World War II hero Léon Gautier. The last surviving French soldier from D-Day, who landed on the Normandy beaches with France's Kieffer commando, died back in July aged 100. Relatives are now suing over a book on Amazon and Kindle written by a certain Grace Shawn that's filled with factual errors, including Gautier's supposed detention in Germany. Grace Shawn is unknown. Amazon has pulled the book over the outrage. But we did find that for £8.99, one can buy a biography of