Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Friday boosting troop numbers by 15 percent, in a move the army said was due to “threats” associated with the Ukraine offensive.

Talking Europe hosts Pascal Canfin, the chair of the environment committee at the European Parliament. He is a former French government minister and a former director of the French branch of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). We take a look at what is coming out of the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, and at the state of the EU’s green transition. Canfin maintains that 80 percent of the laws planned under the EU’s Green Deal should be finished by the end of the current legislative term – something he calls “massive and unprecedented”.

Russia’s Supreme Court on Thursday effectively outlawed LGBTQ+ activism, in the most drastic step against advocates of gay, lesbian and transgender rights in the increasingly conservative country.

NATO member Finland on Wednesday closed its last remaining border crossing with Russia after the government decided to seal the entire border with its eastern neighbor amid rising political tensions.

Singapore and Zurich tied for the world’s most expensive city this year, followed by Geneva, New York and Hong Kong, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) said on Thursday as it cautioned that the global cost-of-living crisis was not yet over.

EU member countries and the European Parliament said Wednesday they have reached a preliminary agreement on curbing industrial emissions, including those from intensive poultry and pig farms and from ore mines.