Moscow, Nov 01 - A pregnant Tampa woman recently gave birth to a healthy baby girl after waking up from coma, it has been reported.

Jenny Quiles was struck by a tow truck while walking across First Avenue North on Oct. 15 and had been in a coma since then at Bayfront Health St. Petersburg, the St. Petersburg reported.

Moscow, May 25 - Production of vodka and other spirits in Russia dropped 23.3 percent in the first four months of 2013 year-on-year to 5.7 million decaliters, a report said.

The Federal Statistics Service (or Rosstat) said in a report that beer production declined 10.7 percent compared to the same period last year, to 78.2 million decaliters.

Production of wine rose 19.1 percent in the reporting period to 3.5 million decaliters.

Moscow, March 27 - About three-quarters of Russians support raising the minimum legal age for buying alcohol to 21 from the current 18, according to a poll by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center or VTsIOM.

Moscow, June 29 - Schools should not teach difficult subjects like mathematics and physics to children on Thursdays because it was "the hardest day of the week", Russia's chief sanitary doctor has said in a recommendation.

"Children have their own bio-rhythms and Thursday is the hardest day of the week," RIA Novosti quoted Gennady Onishchenko as telling the Ekho Moskvy radio station in an interview.

Moscow, May 15 - A man detained at a Moscow railway station died after eating a pack of cigarettes stuffed with heroin, police said.

Police detained the man, who was waiting on a train, when he appeared to be under the influence of drugs.

He was led away into a security room, where he was ordered to take his clothes off for inspection.

Moscow, March 12 : Russia witnessed a five percent rise in HIV cases in 2011 compared to the previous year, a top medical official said Monday.

According to the country's chief sanitary doctor, about 62,000 people were diagnosed with HIV in Russia in 2011, five percent more than in the previous year.

Moscow, Feb 14 - About 20 percent of teenagers in Russia suffer from depression compared to the Western European average of five percent, the Unicef has said.

Alcohol and drug addiction are both symptoms and causes of mental disorder among teenagers, Unicef said.

Moscow, Feb 6 - Russia has successfully completed the first stage of clinical trials of an HIV vaccine, an official said Monday.

The State Research Centre for Virology and Biotechnology, Vektor, completed the first stage of clinical trials of the HIV vaccine, Vektor director Alexander Sergeyev said Monday.

Moscow, Dec 29 : Russia has seen a fall in alcohol sales over the past two years from 18 liters to 15 liters per capita a year, a minister said.

In an interview with the Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily published Wednesday, First Deputy Prime Minister V. Zubkov attributed the drop to restrictions that have been enforced recently.

Illicit vodka sales have also fallen and now account for a little over 20 percent, he said.

Moscow, Dec 21 - The number of children with disabilities has been increasing in Moscow by one thousand every year, a social care official said.

"There are currently 28,700 disabled children in the city," said Tatyana Potyayeva, the deputy head of the city government's social care department.

Potyayeva cited Moscow's deteriorating ecological situation as one of the chief reasons for the increase.

Moscow, Dec 1 - Russia has witnessed a rise in the number of HIV cases in 2011 in comparison to the cases recorded during corresponding period last year.

Russia registered 48,363 new cases of HIV infection from January to October; almost 10 percent more than recorded during the same period last year, Xinhua quoted health officials as saying Wednesday.

Moscow, Nov 10 - Russian lawmakers have submitted a bill seeking a ban on hookah smoking in public places. The concentration of harmful substances in hookah smoke is considered a hundred times higher than in cigarette smoke, RIA Novosti reported.

The bill, submitted by lawmakers from St. Petersburg, stipulates a fine of up to 1,500 rubles ($50) for individuals and up to 30,000 rubles for officials who smoke hookahs in public places.

Monterrey (Mexico), Aug 3 : Cynthia de la Vega, who finished second in a beauty contest that makes her eligible to represent her country at the 2011 Miss World pageant, said she was "in total disagreement" with the decision to strip her of the right to represent Mexico because she was too heavy.

Moscow, July 25 - Russia is ready to completely lift a ban on import of vegetables from Europe if there are no further cases of E. coli infections, a top official said.

Russia introduced the vegetable embargo June 2 after the E. coli bacteria killed at least 40 people in Europe.

Moscow, June 1 : An expert panel by the World Health Organization (WHO) has established a potential link between the use of mobile phones and brain cancer, the organisation said in a statement on its website.

Moscow, Feb 16 : Russia may introduce mandatory drug tests for students, including schoolchildren, this year, an official said Wednesday.

The issue of students' drug testing was raised in September 2009 by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who at that time said he backed mandatory drug testing for schoolchildren.

Moscow, Feb 16 : The World Health Organisation (WHO) has suggested to Russia to put frightening images on cigarette packs, to illustrate the consequences of smoking on human health.

WHO's spokesman in Russia Luigi Migliorini said Wednesday during a news conference that the scary pictures on cigarette pack will shock people and make them quit the habit or not starting altogether.

Moscow, Nov 30 : There are 568,217 people in Russia living with HIV, official statistics show.

On the eve of the World AIDS Day - Dec 1 - Russia's health ministry Tuesday said the number of HIV-positive cases among 30-40-year-olds in the country has risen from nine percent in 2000 to 36 percent in 2009.

Moscow, Nov 12 : Per capita alcohol consumption in Russia is twice the critical limit set by the World Health Organisation (WHO), an official said Friday.

The present consumption is currently about 18 litres a year, which has prompted the government to declare an anti-alcohol campaign which aims to halve consumption by 2020.

Moscow, June 20 - Bed bugs have been making life difficult for people in the Russian capital and figures from the country's official health watchdog show the population of the blood-sucking insect has doubled due to the influx of immigrants.

YogaYekatarinburg (Russia), May 15: As the growth story of Russia's burgeoning economy continues, Russians have actively taken to yoga to beat the stress of their cosmopolitan and fast lifestyles.

Hi-tech gyms and spas are not for them. What has captured the imagination of hard working fitness freaks in russia is B. K. S. Iyengar's style of yoga, known the world over as Iyengar Yoga.