World Briefing: November 11, 2024

President-elect Donald Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, the first phone conversation between the two men since Trump won the election, said several people familiar with the matter. During the call, which Trump took from his resort in Florida, he advised the Russian president not to escalate the war in Ukraine and reminded him of Washington’s sizable military presence in Europe, said a person familiar with the call. The two men discussed the goal of peace on the European continent and Trump expressed an interest in follow-up conversations to discuss “the resolution of Ukraine’s war soon,” one of the people said. Ukrainian officials have been informed of the Putin call and did not object to the conversation taking place, said two people familiar with the matter. Ukrainian officials have long understood that Trump would engage with Putin on a diplomatic solution to the war, the people said - Washington Post

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron are expected to plot a last-ditch attempt to thwart Donald Trump’s efforts to scale back US support for Ukraine. The British and French leaders will discuss on Monday whether Joe Biden, the US president, can be persuaded to give Ukraine permission to fire Storm Shadow missiles deep into Russia, according to UK Government insiders. The Telegraph has been told there are hopes in London that Mr Biden will finally give the approval Kyiv has sought for months in an attempt to secure his foreign policy legacy. A senior Whitehall source said: “We are very keen to make sure we can make the most of the time between now and Jan 20 [when Mr Trump becomes US president] and not just put everything on hold until the next administration.” Another source said Mr Biden was expected to “turn on the taps” by handing over more financial aid owed to Kyiv in the weeks before he leaves the White House. Fears surrounding Mr Trump’s plans for Ukraine were fuelled over the weekend with news that Mike Pompeo and Nikki Haley, two pro-Ukraine former cabinet members in his first administration, would not be given positions this time round - The Telegraph

President-elect Donald Trump has offered Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik the job as US ambassador to the United Nations, two sources familiar told CNN. The New York congresswoman, the fourth-ranking House Republican, has been a strong ally of the president-elect and a major fundraiser for the GOP. Stefanik, the House Republican Conference chair, has for years been one of Trump’s staunchest supporters in Congress. Her aggressive performance during his 2019 impeachment hearings made her a “Republican star,” as Trump himself said at the time. And again she stepped up for Trump after his 2020 defeat, when she objected to certifying President Joe Biden’s win in the House and promoted Trump’s false claims about election fraud - CNN

The Republican Party is edging closer to overall control of the US Congress, having already secured a majority in the Senate and needing fewer than five seats to take the House of Representatives. A party needs 218 seats to win a House majority and president-elect Donald Trump's has 214, according to the latest data, compared with the Democrats' 205. The US government is made up of three branches: the Senate, the White House - both of which Trump and his party have already won - and the House of Representatives. Republicans are expected to hold at least 52 seats in the 100-member Senate after capturing three previously held by Democrats in West Virginia, Ohio and Montana. Control of the House gives a party the power to initiate spending legislation and launch impeachment proceedings against officials. Leading both chambers would mean that most of Trump's agenda would have a greater likelihood of winning congressional approval than if Democrats controlled one of them. - BBC

China has built a land-based prototype nuclear reactor for a large surface warship, in the clearest sign yet Beijing is advancing toward producing its first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, according to a new analysis of satellite imagery and Chinese government documents provided to The Associated Press. China’s navy is already the world’s largest numerically, and it has been rapidly modernizing. Adding nuclear-powered carriers to its fleet would be a major step in realizing its ambitions for a true “blue-water” force capable of operating in seas far from China in a growing global challenge to the United States. “Nuclear-powered carriers would place China in the exclusive ranks of first-class naval powers, a group currently limited to the United States and France,” said Tong Zhao, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “For China’s leadership, such a development would symbolize national prestige, fueling domestic nationalism and elevating the country’s global image as a leading power.” - AP

The UN has warned 2024 will be the hottest year on record, as its annual climate conference begins in Baku. World leaders from around 200 nations due to appear over the next two weeks at COP29 in the oil-producing nation of Azerbaijan. A particular focus will be how countries plan to limit long-term global temperature rises to 1.5C - a target set by the Paris Agreement in 2015. While this year has seen average temperatures 1.5C above the pre-industrial era, the UN says the vital target has not yet been breached - as it refers to longer-term trends

Today’s report by the UN’s World Meteorological Organization has other worrying findings: Oceans are heating up more quickly. In 2023, the oceans stored more heat than any time on record. Glacier melt is increasing. The amount of ice lost by the world’s glaciers in 2023 was the highest since measurements began in 1953. Sea level rise is accelerating. From 2014-2023, global average sea levels rose by 4.77mm (0.19in) per year - double the rate between 1993 and 2002. Sea ice is shrinking. In 2024, the yearly minimum sea-ice extent in Antarctica and the Arctic was respectively the second lowest and seventh lowest since we've been able to monitor them with satellites - BBC

Russian state television network congratulated Melania Trump on her husband's reelection as president of the United States by showing nude photographs of her on live television. On the show 60 minutes, Russian television presenters, husband and wife Yevgeny Popov and Olga Skabeyeva, spoke about Donald Trump's reelection and showed numerous photos from Melania Trump's modeling days on screen, including nude photographs from a GQ profile in 2000. During the broadcast Skabeyeva, could not hold back a smile, while Popov said: "Now that Melania Trump's husband has finally won, she is getting ready to come back to the White House for a second time. Here is how Melania looked in the year 2000. This is the cover of the magazine GQ.“ - Newsweek

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