Paranoid Britons are being sold counterfeit Tamiflu online by Russian crime gangs, who are making millions out of anxious residents fearing they will not be able to obtain the drug through the NHS.

People are not only paying cash for potentially useless drugs, they are also putting themselves at risk of identity fraud.

With at least 1-million Russians infected with HIV, experts warn it is time Russia legalizes methadone to prevent the AIDS epidemic from spreading, further.

According to experts at a three-day AIDS conference in Moscow, over the past 8-years drug users injecting heroin from nearby Afghanistan and who account for 80% of the infected, have caused the number of HIV cases in Russia to double.

And, unless preventative steps are taken, Russia's epidemic will rapidly spread beyond drug users, to the general population of 143-million through sexual activity.

Three-time Grand Slam winner Maria Sharapova will rise back into the Top 15 after winning her first title since spring, 2008, as Serb Jelena Jankovic retired trailing 5-2 with a wrist injury at the Pan Pacific Open Saturday.

The Russian who stands 25th after spending the second half of this season returning after a shoulder injury which required several rounds of surgery, now owns 20 trophys in her career.

She improved to 20-8 overall in finals after the abbreviated 43- minute victory. It was her second title at the event which she won in 2005.

In a move coming almost a year after the bloody conflict in the Georgian breakaway republic South Ossetia, President Eduard Kokoity on Tuesday dismissed the government of Premier Aslanbek Bulazev.

A Russian business lobby and members of Parliament are in the early stages of drafting legislation that could limit or even ban the use of voice over Internet phone companies like Skype.

The measure stems from concern that landline and cellular phone companies are losing revenue to foreign operators of the Web-based services.

US Vice President Joe Biden met Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko on Tuesday for talks expected to cover domestic issues, energy and relations with Russia.

Yushchenko said relations with the US had improved lately, following concern expressed by Washington at the instability of the country's pro-Western leadership.

Dinara Safina of Russia maintained first place on the women's tennis rankings issued on Monday by the WTA.

Safina, who was beaten in straight sets by Venus Williams in the Wimbledon semi-finals earlier this month, tops an unchanged top 10 with 10,521 points.

Wimbledon champion Serena Williams has 8,758 points and her sister Venus 6,617.

Dinara Safina of Russia took the women's number one ranking in tennis into the Wimbledon fortnight which started on Monday.

Safina has 9,801 points in the WTA list as she eyes her first career Grand Slam title after losing three finals at the majors in the past.

The European Union on Thursday said it regretted Russia's decision to veto the extension of a United Nations observation mission in Georgia, calling it a blow to stability.

The 27-member bloc "regrets Russia9s decision," made on Tuesday, not to renew the observation mission's mandate in the fragmented country, EU countries said in a joint statement.