* Sergei Kupriyanov, a spokesman for Russian energy giant Gazprom, said:

// Jun. 06, 2006 - 04:30 GMT

Regarding your article: "Over 1,200 children adopted in Russia dead since 1991 – expert".  Russia wants to ban foreign adoption, endlessly citing the 12 deaths in the USA as proof of what unfit parents Americans make. Do the math: Adopted children are at least 30 times more likely to be killed by their Russian parents. The ban is a bad idea. Ask any well-informed orphan.

// Jun. 06, 2006 - 04:57 GMT

MOSCOW, June 6 (RIA Novosti) – Current processes happening in Asia present a major challenge to Russia's national security, a deputy secretary of Russia's Security Council told a government daily Tuesday.

// Jun. 06, 2006 - 05:26 GMT

TEHRAN, June 6 (RIA Novosti) – The Iran-6 countries seeking to negotiate a solution to the Iran nuclear crisis want a relationship with the Islamic Republic that would be based on mutual trust and respect, the EU's foreign policy supremo said.

// Jun. 06, 2006 - 05:54 GMT

WASHINGTON, June 6 (RIA Novosti) – The U.S. State Department has kept Russia on the list of 32 countries whose governments are not doing enough in the fight against trafficking in human beings, an annual report said.

// Jun. 06, 2006 - 06:07 GMT

MOSCOW, June 6 (RIA Novosti) – Russia's newest investment index will open Tuesday at 645.01 points, down 0.8% on the previous day's trading, following Monday evening's sessions on major world trading floors.

// Jun. 06, 2006 - 06:38 GMT

U.S President George W Bush spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday to express concern about the four Russian diplomats abducted in Iraq. The two leaders also discussed Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization and the G8 summit set to take place in St. Petersburg in July.

// Jun. 06, 2006 - 06:44 GMT

Russia on Monday bristled at Ukraine's proposal to invite other nations to join tense bilateral talks on border delimitation in the Azov Sea, news reports said. The Ukrainian proposal was "unnecessary and untimely," a Foreign Ministry envoy said after the latest round of talks.

// Jun. 06, 2006 - 06:47 GMT

Russia plans produce rare-earth metals on the Moon, a deputy head of the Federal Space Agency said Monday. Following a May announcement from the country's largest rocket corporation that it intended to seek helium-3 on the Moon for nuclear fusion, Yury Nosenko said that the agency was aiming to produce the metals for more mundane purposes.

// Jun. 06, 2006 - 06:50 GMT

A British court rejected a Russian extradition request for billionaire tycoon Boris Berezovsky, who is wanted in his homeland for allegedly plotting a coup. District Judge Timothy Workman, sitting at Bow Street Magistrates' Court, central London, said extradition proceedings would be "futile" and incur "great expense to the British taxpayer".

// Jun. 06, 2006 - 07:01 GMT