WORLD
Croatia will join the European Union on July 1, 2013 under a treaty it signed in Brussels on Friday with the 27 current EU members
Vladislav Kovalyov, one of the two men sentenced to death in Belarus for bombing a metro station in the capital, Minsk, has appealed to President Alexander Lukashenko for clemency
Greece is satisfied with the recent EU summit, which resulted in stricter financial discipline for eurozone members, Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos said
RUSSIA
Russia’s governing party, United Russia, will have 238 seats in the new State Duma following Sunday’s parliamentary elections, Central Electoral Commission deputy head Leonid Ivlev said
Opposition activists have been allowed to hold a 30,000-strong rally in downtown Moscow on Saturday to protest the results of the December 4 parliamentary elections
Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev instructed regional police heads on Friday to report on their investigation into alleged voting irregularities during Sunday’s parliamentary election.