Good morning from the Financial Times. Today is Wednesday, December 10th, and this is your FT News Briefing.

The EU is racing to get around Hungary for a Russian asset plan, and there's a widening gulf between U.S.

interest rates and the rest of the world. Plus, Australia has implemented the first ever social media ban for children.

I'm Mark Filipino, and here's the news you need to start your day.

The European Union plans to fast-track legislation that would indefinitely freeze up to 210 billion euros in Russian assets.

The legislation looks to protect the Europeans' leverage in U.S.-led peace talks over the war in Ukraine, as according to officials familiar with the plans.

So what's the rush?

Well, diplomats want to separate this idea of freezing assets from the debate

about raising loans for Kiev backed by those Russian funds. The lending question will be picked up

at a summit next week. It's worth noting that the EU is prepared to pass this without Hungary's

support. Most EU legislation requires buy-in from all 27 member states, but Brussels is invoking emergency

powers to get around Hungary, which has close ties to Russia and other countries who would oppose

the measure.

Meanwhile, sources tell the F.T. that U.S. President Donald Trump is pressuring his Ukrainian

counterpart, Vladimir Zelensky, to respond to a peace plan. That plan would accept

territorial losses in exchange for unspecified U.S. security guarantees.

The Federal Reserve meets today and is expected to cut interest rates by a quarter point.

But more largely, investors seem to be sensing a growing divide between the Fed and other central banks around the world.

Here to tell us more about what that would mean for global markets is the FTs Ian Smith.

Hey, Ian.

Hi there.

So what exactly are investors betting will happen to interest rates around the world next year?

...