ITAR-TASS overnight news cycle for January 15 - 4.

.No good substitute today for hydrocarbons, nuclear energy - Kapitsa.

MOSCOW, January 15 (Itar-Tass) -- No adequate substitute for the
fossil fuels and nuclear energy exist today, an associate member of the
Russian Academy of Sciences, Andrei Kapitsa, told Gazprom magazine in an
interview.
He agreed that renewable energy projects were being actively promoted
in Europe and the USA.
"I've seen wind farms in California, Denmark, Norway and other
countries. Although the wind and the sun help tap some extra energy
resources, one should not count on them too much in addressing global
energy challenges. Tidal power plants have proved not very effective,
either. In addition, all renewables are too dependent on natural
conditions of a specific region, which adversely affects their
reliability," he said.
Kapitsa believes that "in the coming decades the process of
thermonuclear fusion will be mastered at last."
"It is this technology that I pin the greatest hopes on, because,
unlike hydrocarbons and radioactive metals, the sources of water - the raw
material for the production of fuel - deuterium and tritium - are
practically inexhaustible," Prime-Tass quotes Kapitsa as saying.
In addition, Kapitsa warns of the risks of what he described as
greenhouse hysteria - "huge resources are spent not on promising areas but
on addressing non-existent problems. "
"The former president of the US National Academy of Sciences,
Frederick Seitz, after the signing of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997,
addressed the U.S. government with a petition to urge it to dismiss this
agreement and any other such arrangements. He argued that "the proposed
restrictions on the production of greenhouse gases by humanity (methane,
carbon dioxide and others) would harm the environment, hinder the
development of science and technology, as well as affect the health and
welfare of mankind."
The petition mentioned, among other things, the existence of solid
scientific evidence to the effect increased concentrations of carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere have a beneficial effect on the growth of plants
and animals. The document was signed by 16,000 scientists. At present the
United States is one of the few industrialized countries not bound by this
treaty," Kapitsa said.
He believes that "climate change is really happening, but humanity is
nothing to do with these changes."

.In 2010 number of convicts in Russian jails decreased by 45,000.

MOSCOW, January 15 (Itar-Tass) -- The number of convicts in Russia's
prisons and detention centers is reducing. As the Federal Penitentiary
Service has said, Russia's correctional system as at January 1, 2011 kept
in custody 819,200 people - 44,900 less than on the same date a year
earlier.
The most significant reduction occurred in the penal colonies - by
almost 30,000. In the 755 penal colonies 694,500 are serving sentences
today.
In the 160 semi-open type of penitentiaries where conditions are the
softest the number of convicts has decreased by 3,000 to 49,300. In the
penitentiaries with the most stringent regime of punishment - seven
prisons - the number of convicts has reduced by more than a third - to
1,800 people.
In the five penal colonies for the lifetime convicts 1,739 persons are
serving their terms - over the past year the number grew by 14.
According to the FPS, last year saw a ten-percent reduction in the
number of persons remanded in custody - at present the 228 investigation
centers and 165 pre-trial detention facilities keep 118,900 persons
(12,000 less than a year ago).
The number of juvenile convicts last year reduced by a third - in 62
correctional establishments 4,000 adolescents were serving sentences. The
number of women in prisons and those detained for investigation decreased
to 66,4,000.
The FPS added that the penal inspections kept on files 491,900 men and
women with non-custodial sentences.
The Federal Penitentiary Service today remains one of the largest law
enforcement agencies of Russia - it has a staff of more than 346,000.
Fifteen years ago Russia was the world's leader as to the number of
prisoners - in the late 1990s there were 1.3 million people in prison and
detention facilities. Subsequent changes to the government's penal policy
allowed the state to reduce the number of imprisoned convicts to 800,000
by the mid-2000s. But then Russia saw an increase in the number of
prisoners and detainees once again - from 840,000 in 2005 to 895,000 in
2009.
The Ministry of Justice-initiated changes to punishment policies -
expansion of the list of punishments alternative to imprisonment, more
solid reasons for detention, and others have caused the number of
prisoners in Russia to decline over the past two years once again (by
30,000 in 2009, and by nearly 45,000 in 2010).

-0-str