The Russian government has dismissed the head of the consumer protection agency, a notorious official best known for waging apparent trade wars against the country's neighbours.
A suspected female suicide bomber set off a blast on a bus packed with students in southern Russia, killing at least five people and raising security fears.
President Nazarbayev has called Kazakhstan to follow the example of India, Singapore and Malaysia and develop three languages - Kazakh, Russian and English.
US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden says he did not bring any secret documents with him to Russia when he fled there, ensuring Moscow had no access to the files.
A senior Dutch diplomat at the Netherlands embassy in Moscow was beaten up at his home in the Russian capital by unknown individuals who scrawled the letters "LGBT" on a mirror.
Australia, New Zealand, the United States, France and the EU on Wednesday stepped up pressure on Russia for a swift agreement to create vast Antarctic marine sanctuaries.
Moscow police arrested more than 380 people Sunday during a race riot in which nationalists outraged by a murder blamed on a migrant smashed shop windows and assaulted security guards.
The UN Security Council on Thursday backed a plan by UN leader Ban Ki-moon for a joint mission with the global chemical arms watchdog to destroy Syria's weapons.
Despite its expertise at risky protests, Greenpeace's head admitted he was "extremely surprised" by Russia's response in the Arctic and never imagined activists would face piracy charges and years in jail.