Kenya is weighing selling sovereign green bonds and debt-for-nature swap deals to fund climate projects, President William Ruto

The Kremlin is paying the wives of Russian soldiers not to protest against their long deployment following small-scale demonstrations in Moscow, the UK ministry of defence said. “The Russian authorities are likely attempting to quash public dissent by wives of deployed Russian soldiers, including by attempting to pay them off and discrediting them online,” it said. “In recent weeks, the authorities have likely offered increased cash payments to families in return for them refraining from protest.” Women have been gathering in cities across Russia to challenge the Kremlin’s argument that mobilised troops are needed in combat indefinitely to secure victory in Ukraine. It comes as a majority of those questioned in Russia have expressed their support for peace talks over continued fighting, with 74 per cent saying they would be happy for the president to sign a peace deal immediately. Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin dramatically increased the Russian troop numbers by nearly 170,000 to reach a total of 1.32 million. Read More Putin orders the Russian military to add 170,000 troops for a total of 1.32 million Ukraine’s war with Russia complicated by winter, Zelensky says European gymnastics federation rejects return of athletes from Russia and Belarus to competition

Imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been handed new charges by Russian prosecutors. The 47-year-old is already serving more than 30 years in prison after being found guilty of crimes including extremism — charges that his supporters characterize as politically motivated. In comments passed to his associates, Navalny said he had been charged under article 214 of Russia’s penal code, which covers crimes of vandalism. “I don’t even know whether to describe my latest news as sad, funny or absurd,” he wrote in comments on social media Friday via his team. “I have no idea what Article 214 is, and there’s nowhere to look. You’ll know before I do.” He said that the charges were part of the Kremlin’s desire to “initiate a new criminal case against me every three months.” Never before has a convict in solitary confinement for more than a year had such a rich social and political life,” he joked. Navalny is one of President Vladimir Putin’s most ardent opponents, best known for campaigning against official corruption and organizing major anti-Kremlin protests. The former lawyer was arrested in 2021, after he returned to Moscow from Germany where he had recuperated from nerve agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin. He has since been handed three prison terms and has faced months in solitary confinement after being accused of various minor infractions. Several Navalny associates have also faced extremism-related charges after the politician’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption and a network of regional offices were outlawed as extremist groups in 2021, a move that exposed virtually anyone affiliated with them to prosecution. Most recently, a court in the Siberian city of Tomsk jailed Ksenia Fadeyeva, who used to run Navalny’s office in Tomsk, prior to her trial on extremism charges. Fadeyeva was initially placed under house arrest in October before later being remanded in pre-trial detention. If found guilty, she faces up to 12 years in prison. Read More Russia-Ukraine war: Kremlin paying soldiers’ wives not to protest Putin orders Russian military to increase troop numbers by 170,000 Iceland volcano: Eruption ‘imminent’ as 120 earthquakes strike - live

Heavy snowfall disrupted travel in southern Germany and Switzerland, with hundreds of flights delayed or canceled so far.

COP28 Daily Reports: Sign up for the Green Daily newsletter for comprehensive coverage of the climate summit right

COP28 Daily Reports: Sign up for the Green Daily newsletter for comprehensive coverage of the climate summit right

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has made three rush trips to the Middle East since Hamas attacked Israel

Rishi Sunak joked as he switched on the Christmas tree outside 10 Downing Street that it would be

The US and Israel issued a joint advisory to highlight what they called malicious cyber activity linked to

COP28 Daily Reports: Sign up for the Green Daily newsletter for comprehensive coverage of the climate summit right

Donald Trump is not entitled to absolute presidential immunity against criminal charges over his efforts to overturn the

Lawrence Summers, a new board member at artificial intelligence startup OpenAI, said that the startup’s work was “extraordinarily