Putin to take part in 14th congress of Russian Geographic Society

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ST. PETERSBURG, December 11 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin on Saturday will take part in the 14th congress of the
Russian Geographic Society, which will be held at the renovated historical
headquarters of the organization.
Taking part in the event will be over 150 invited delegates from 74
regional offices of the Geographic Society. The congress will summarize
the results of the Society's work in the year following the resumption of
the society's active operation, evaluate the results of projects carried
out over the past twelve months and discuss plans and development
prospects.
According to the government's press service, among the main issues on
the agenda of the forthcoming congress will be amendments to the Charter
of the Russian Geographic Society expanding its goals and objectives.
Furthermore, in accordance with previous decisions, the Congress will
consider a concept of the Russian Geographic Society's development in
2011-2015.
In connection with the new tasks several projects have been launched
under the auspices of the RGS, including practical fieldwork and
expeditions to obtain and disseminate geographic, environmental and
statistical information about Russia, as well as environmental activities.
In addition, under the auspices of the society some new multimedia
projects will be continued or developed to attract wider attention of the
international and Russian public to the unique historical, cultural and
geographical features of our country, and to encourage the intensive
development of tourism in Russia.

.Jury in US finds Russian guilty of stealing Goldman Sachs secrets.

NEW YORK, December 11 (Itar-Tass) -- The jury at the federal court of
New York City have found Russian programmer Sergei Aleinikov guilty of
stealing commercial secrets from the bank Goldman Sachs. The jurors also
declared the Russian immigrant was guilty of passing commercial secrets to
other organizations.
Aleinikov will hear a sentence on March 18, 2011. On all charges the
40-year-old defendant may get up to 15 years in prison.
Russia-born Aleinikov, residing in the U.S. for nearly 20 years,
worked for the bank as a programmer from May 2007 to June 2009. The
attorney accused him of stealing commercial codes of access to the system
of trading in commodity and securities markets. This trading system is
automatic - it carries out mathematical computations and makes the most
profitable sales and purchases.
The bank which Aleinikov quit at the beginning the of the summer of
last year complained about the employee's misconduct to FBI agents. As a
result of the probe the federal authorities found that the defendant's
office computer had been used four times to transmit information to an
external server in Germany. After that the programmer each time downloaded
data to his own computer. According to the prosecution, Aleinikov used
"the most valuable secret codes" in the interests of another company where
he took a job later - Teza Technologies. The databases of Aleinikov's home
and personal computers were searched and the hard drives and also flash
storage devices proved to contain codes stolen from the bank.
When arrested in July 2009, Aleinikov said that he had copied only
open files, not knowing that with them he also copied confidential data.
He admitted that he "got more information than he had intended to get."
The defense explained Aleinikov's attempts to hide the results of his
activities only because he got afraid of his fate, when he realized that
some sensitive information was at his disposal.
Before the court's sentence the defendant will stay free on bail (750
thousand dollars). However, due to the fact that he has retained both
citizenships - American and Russian - the court has demanded that he
should not leave his home in the U.S. and always wear a bracelet allowing
to keep track of his whereabouts.

-0-str