MARY LOUISE KELLY, host:
Good morning. I'm Mary Louise Kelly with this news flash. Beer counts as alcohol. That is news in Russia, which until now has counted any drink containing less than 10 percent alcohol as a food stuff, not booze. Beer is marketed in Russia as a healthy alternative to vodka. And it's working. Beer sales are up more than 40 percent in the last decade. Now Russia President Dmitri Medvedev has signed a bill aimed at curbing Russians' appetite for alcohol. It kicks in in 2013.
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