Tuvan opposition has released an open appeal to Russian President Putin attracting his attention to the power crisis in Tuva which under 16 years of Sherig-ool Oorzhak's leadership has come to poor results. It is a second of its kind address to the President with the almost similar critic of the current leader of Tuva. The first one was launched a year ago by the majority in the Tuvan parliament.

Shagaa, a new year according to the Lunar Calendar, is celebrated throughout a whole month after its first day. Tuvan new year in Moscow will be a special event on March 3 for a numerous Tuvan diaspore based in the Russian capital. Famous Tuvan singer Andrei Mongush, Chirgilchin group and other Tuvan stars are expected to perform in the Moscow Shagaa festival.

The first volume of Tuvan anthology under the name 'Uraankhay. Tyva depter" (Uraankhay is an old name for Tuva in the early 20th century. Tuvan Notebooks) is released by Moscow Editorial House 'Slovo'. The edition is initiated and sponsored by Russian minister, native Tuvan Sergei Shoigu. The first book of the anthology in 7 volumes is introduced by Sergei Shoigu, a word of welcome is given also by Nikita Mikhalkov, famous Russian film-maker, head of the Russian Culture Foundation. The whole anthology embraces the period from 5-6 century A.C. to the Tannu-Tuva republic in early 20th century. It contains the rare works on Tuva which are now in 1 copy kept in the largest Russian libraries and almost unavailable to the majority of Tuvan people.

Speakers of thousands of the world's languages are now abandoning their ancestral tongues at an unprecedented rate. What is lost when a language dies? And what are the implications?

"Languages are the repository of thousands of years of a people's science and art - from observations of ecological patterns to creation myths," says Swarthmore College linguist K. David Harrison, who spoke this weekend at the American Association for the Advancement of Science's annual meeting held this month in San Francisco.