Prosecutors in Belarus say they have charged the former head of the country's state-run oil processing company with corruption and other offenses, RFE/RL's Belarus Service reported.

It has been alleged that the arms company BAE Systems has paid Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia more than £1 billion, in connection to Britain's biggest ever weapons contract, "Al-Yamamah", worth £43bn.

On June 18 the European Commission adopted a report on the implementation of Council Framework Decision 2003/568/JHA of 22 July 2003 on combating corruption in the private sector.

The U.S. Attorney Office in New York announced on June 7 that Sanjaya Bahel, a former mid-level UN procurement official, was convicted on all counts of fraud and corruption charges.

Corruption in schools creates serious obstacles to education, according to a new report launched today by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

China has delivered a death sentence to the former head of its food and drug administration, for taking bribes to approve untested medicines. The court case was heard as China faces growing complaints about unsafe drugs and food.

Amnesty International says democracy in Latin America is threatened by chronically weak institutions and undermined by a lack of independence of the judiciary, impunity and endemic corruption.

Europe breathed a sigh of relief at Paul Wolfowitz's decision to leave the World Bank and urged the quick selection of a strong successor. Wolfowitz announced on Thursday that he would step down at the end of June, his leadership undermined by a furor over the pay package he arranged in 2005 for his girlfriend Shaha Riza, an employee of the bank.

China will start a month-long campaign on Thursday to publicly shame officials for dereliction of duty and abuse of power. "We will use the campaign as an opportunity to strengthen ties with the media to fight dereliction and power abuse by officials. We will try to find clues from media reporting on official corruption and launch investigations accordingly," said Tong Jianming, spokesman of the Supreme People's Procuratorate on Wednesday.

A local court sentenced two top Russian officials, from the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank, to eight to ten years in prison for accepting a million dollar bribe, Russian news agencies reported.

Interpol and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime are placing new emphasis on combating financial crime, including money laundering and corruption. Ron Corben reports from Bangkok that also officials say they are gaining ground in the fight against money laundering in Asia.

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Evan Feigenbaum is in Tajikistan to meet with government officials, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reported.