The second day of the Second International Scientific-Practical Conference “Ethnopedagogic heritage of the nations of Siberia and Central Asia”, which started in Tuva on July 9, culminated in the suburbs of Kyzyl by a shamanic kamlanie (ritual), by the healing spring Kundustug (Beavers). The participants of the conference saw the ritual of honoring Fire, performed by shamans of the three shamanic societies, “Dungur”(Drum), “Adig Eeren”(Bear Spirit), and “Tos Deer”(Nine Heavens).

On June 24, 2009 in the conference hall of the Aldan Maadyr Tuvan National Museum, S.I. Vainshtein’s book “Mysterious Tuva” was presented to the public. A special exhibition of the ethnologist’s publications was organized in the hall of the museum.

The initiator and sponsor of this edition, Larisa Shoigu, the Tuvan representative of the State Duma, was present at the event. Also present were vice-premier of the government of the republic, Anatolii Damba-Khuurak; minister of culture and informational politics, Vyacheslav Dongak; director of TIGI Kaadyr-ool Bicheldey. They constituted the board. The auditorium was packed to bursting with representatives of scientific and creative intelligentsia of Tuva – the intellectual elite of the republic.

The first, double issue of the electronic scholarly journal “The New Research of Tuva” is now available at the www.tuva.asia site. In this issue, you can read articles by famous Russian scientists, Tuva scholars, there are interviews, overviews,, reportages, informational announcements, reviews and fragments of works of literature dedicated to Tuva.

There is a new electronic resource – scientific informational journal “New Research on Tuva” (http://www.tuva.asia/) This project of a group of the leading researchers of Tuva will enable a wide audience to find out about the latest achievements and findings of research on Tuva, and in its turn- to enrich the findings about Tuva. It will help to organize a dialogue of the scientists of various regions and schools of thought, as well as of different generations. This resource will be useful to scientists and savants, graduate students, students, and anybody who is interested in science and relevant problems of social development of Tuva.

Altai Kray and Republic Tuva will soon sigh an Agreement of Co-operation. In the sphere of mutual interests is the development of internal tourism, as announced today by the chairman of the government of Republic Tuva, Sholban Kara-ool, who came to Barnaul to participate in the meetings of the governmental committee for questions of regional development, which premier-minister RF, Vladimir Putin, is conducting here.

Famous traveler Fedor Konyukhov, who was hospitalized on June 11 after suffering a tick bite, was discharged from the infectious disease hospital in Tuva, as the Kyzyl hospital announced. Currently he is undergoing a course of rehabilitation in the capital of Tuva, and soon he will be able to re-join the international expedition, which started on May 13 from Ulan-Bator.

Today, rescuers are searching again the area Sukhoy Log in the Tandy kozhuun of Tuva, where a 69-year-old woman from the village Vladimirovka, Yelena Syurkova, disappeared on June 6. The woman went with her friends to pick berries, but never returned from the taiga. At first, only her relatives started a search, but later local people got involved, then rescue workers and the militia.

Sut-Khol kozhuun, which won the right to host the republic Naadym-2009, based on the results of socio-economic development, is getting ready to welcome quests. The regional center is being put in order and the stadium is being renovated.

The best animal herders of Tuva will gather in Sut-Aksy on June 30-31.

“The main idea of Naadym is to honor the workers of the villages, who by their daily work secure the basic necessities of life for us, - says the vice-premier Valentin Yendan, who heads the organization committee for the Naadym preparations.

Today, the local sports community welcomed Lorisa Oorzhak like a national hero, as she returned from the Championship of Russia in women’s wrestling in Stavropol with a gold medal.

In the words of the director of the sports and physical culture agency of the republic, Mergen Oorzhak, “ Lorisa’s return into the big sport is comparable to the heroism of Alexei Maresyev.” (*)

Unforeseen circumstances, which brought the famous traveler Fedor Konyukhov to Tuva, became a basis for a press-conference, which took place on June 16 in the Government House.

Vice-Premier of the Government of Republic Tuva Anatolii Damba-Khuurak, minister of health protection of the republic, Aleksandr Oorzhak, and a representative of the government of Kalmykia, the curator of the project “Along the Great Silk Road”, writer and savant Vasilii Tserenov met with local journalists to answer their questions.