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(Adds Kudrin's reaction in last two paras)

(Adds Kudrin's reaction in last two paras)


MOSCOW, April 17 (RIA Novosti) - Copyright...

MOSCOW, April 17 (RIA Novosti) - Copyright piracy in Russia which has been a major obstacle to the country joining the WTO dropped by 15% in 2007, year-on-year, the Russian Interior Ministry said on Thursday. Russia, the second-largest market for pirated products after China, has been strongly criticized for its failure to protect intellectual property rights. Over 4,000 people were arrested in 2007, and more than 800 people in January-March this year for breaching copyright laws, said Vladimir Lukyanov, a deputy head of the ministry"s economic security department. Almost 4 million counterfeit items, mainly computer software, DVDs and CDs, worth an estimated 182 million rubles ($8 million) were seized last year, the official added. In 2007, Russia introduced a new law prohibiting the sale of pirated goods on Russian streets, kiosks and retail outlets. However, a spokesman for the economic security department, Vladimir Tsvetkov, said unlicensed CDs were now available for sale online over the Internet, especially in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In 2006, Russia was ranked in the top 10 of the world"s worst offending countries for piracy according to a report by the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA). The issue was a major stumbling block in Russia"s World Trade Organization accession talks with the United States. The sides eventually signed a final agreement in 2006 after Moscow promised to get tough on intellectual property violations. The problem of unlicensed software in Russia has been highlighted by the case of school principal Alexander Ponosov, charged with copyright violation after he bought a set of computers for his school containing unlicensed Microsoft software.


A Russian expert confirmed on Wednesday...

A Russian expert confirmed on Wednesday that Europe was facing certain problems with migrants who he said were not always ready to meet European cultural requirements.

Around Moscow

An 8-year boy adopted by an American couple...

"Today a message arrived saying that an 8-year boy, who does not speak Russian but understands Russian, has flown in from America. He had a note in which his adoptive parents said they had abandoned him and asked that the boy be taken back," Pavel Astakhov told RIA Novosti.

The boy was at a central Moscow police station, but an ambulance had been called to take him to a hospital for a medical examination. Astakhov said he would investigate the case.

The issue of U.S. couples adopting Russian children has become controversial in Russia in recent years, following the deaths of two children in separate incidents in the U.S. state of Virginia.

In 2006, Peggy Sue Hilt was sentenced to 25 years in prison for beating to death a 2-year-old girl from Siberia she had adopted.

Two years later, a 21-month-old boy died of heatstroke after his adoptive father left him in his car for nine hours in the hot sun.

Miles Harrison, 49, was acquitted of involuntary

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