On 11 February between 4 and 6 AM, Shagaa, the Lunar New Year, will come to Tuva. On the proposal of Buddhists of Tuva, the Supreme Khural of the republic unanimously declared this day to be a holiday.

A day off for welcoming the Buddhist new Year is stipulated in the Constitution of Tuva as a day off.

However, this is a floating date, and every year the Buddhist organization of Tuva has to go to the parliament for approval of the date as calculated.

The entire planet Earth was following the time of epochs according to the Mayan calendar. Some quietly observed the events, others "prepared" for the expected cataclysms, yet others prepared for the rare date like for a holiday. But in the center of Moscow, in one cozy backyard…they lit a ritual shamanic bonfire.

One of the most extreme actions of the World Snow Forum - 2013, taking place in Novosibirsk, has finished. Participants in the beauty contest "Miss Snow World", one of the cultural components of the forum, were involved in a photo-session on the background of the snow sculpture compositions created during the International championship of Snow Sculpture specially for decoration of the current event.

A row of snow symbols of the World Olympics showed up by the Expo-Center building on the eve before the opening of the Forum.

What is the secret hiding in the eyes of this rider, half-turned to face the visitors? The people of Novosibirsk visiting the opening of the Eighth International Siberian Festival of Snow Sculpture have quite a few questions. What is the animal at the bottom of this composition, why is the taiga woman sitting on a reindeer?

How does one explain to them, that Tuva has not only reindeer, but camels as well…

More than 1,500 people have been employed to repair a heat supply station breakdown in Russia's Tuva region, officials said Tuesday.

The breakdown forced the evacuation of 3,000 people from the settlement of Khovu-Aksy, ITAR-Tass reported.

Investigators said the breakdown happened Dec. 20, due to defects in the station's steam boilers.

Its not surprising that a town located at the exact geographic center of Asia has special psychic energies. Kyzyl, the capital of the Tuva republic, is 3,700 kilometers to the east of Moscow. But as far as its style of business is concerned, it might as well be on another planet.

"If a person decides to move to Kyzyl to start a business," said Otkun Dostay, the head of the Tuvan branch of UNESCO, "he will gain mental and spiritual equilibrium. Finding himself in the middle of the taiga, a person becomes placated by the energy and the breath of nature. It is like recharging a battery."