Nicaragua and the former Georgian republic...

Nicaragua and the former Georgian republic of South Ossetia have signed an agreement on the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations, a spokeswoman for the South Ossetian president said on Wednesday.

MOSCOW, July 31 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian...

MOSCOW, July 31 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian regional court has given a deputy director of a local branch of Russia"s Civil Service Academy a 3 1/2 year suspended sentence for bribery. The court in Vladimir, to the east of Moscow, found Vladimir Starostin, a professor at the Academy"s management department, guilty of receiving a 100,000 ruble ($4,200) bribe in February this year from an applicant for helping him to become a student, local prosecutors said. The judgment comes as Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a plan on Thursday to counter Russia"s rampant corruption. The president, a former lawyer, has made the fight against corruption one of his top priorities, signing a decree setting up a presidential anti-corruption council just two weeks after his inauguration.

The number of Russian conscripts evading...

The number of Russian conscripts evading military service has significantly increased while the courts refuse to bring them to justice, a deputy chief of the General Staff said on Thursday.