This winter is very cold in Tuva – the air temperature has been staying below -40 degrees centigrade for already the second month.

Yesterday and today morning, the local media announced that the temperature is -44 degrees, but the actual thermometers of Kyzyl inhabitants were registering -50 degrees.

Two recent free days, when the thermometers registered only -35 degrees, were welcomed as a serious warming.

It is interesting that the station “Taiga” is much warmer, with its -18 degrees.

The director of the TV channel “Rossiya 2” (formerly “Sport”), Aleksandr Papyn, will be among those who provide direct broadcasting of competitions which involve Russian athletes from the Olympics in Vancouver.

On February 13, exactly at the eve of the Lunar New Year – Shagaa, Aleksandr will be working at the opening of the Olympic games. This way, the necessary condition for the year of Metallic Tiger to be successful, that is, wakefulness during the night before Shagaa, will be completely inescapable for Aleksandr.

Today, the artist Nadia Rusheva would have been 58 years old.

According to the Lunar calendar, the New Year, Shagaa, will be met in Tuva with the first rays of the sun on February 14. Because this day falls on a Sunday, the free day will be transferred to Monday, February 15, as specified in the law of the republic, “Concerning the holidays of Republic Tuva”. The day of welcoming Shagaa is calculated every year by astrological tables. As the administration of Kamby-lama of Tuva announced, the coming year is the Year of White Metal Tiger.

One of the most popular programs of Tuvan television “Bolchag Shagy” (Star Hour) which was first aired on May 17, 1989, received the main prize of the 8th contest of journalist excellence “Agalmatolit Pen”. The Grand-Prix in the form of a pen made of chonar-dash, the soft stone which has became a visiting card of Tuva, was presented to the permanent author of the program, Orlan Damba-Khuurak. In the 20 years of the existence of the show, more than 300 guests were on the show. The very first one was the First Lady of Tuvan theatre, Kara-Kys Munzuk.

In Tuva, a special project “Nine Treasures” (in Tuvan – “Tos Ertine”) started officially today. All the citizens of the republic, regardless of age or profession can participate. Even all those, who simply love the republic, but live outside its borders, are also invited to participate, whether they live elsewhere in the Russian Federation of altogether in foreign countries. The head of the Republic, Sholban Kara-ool, announced the project “Tos Ertine” at a meeting with representatives of the press, which was dedicated to the Day of the Press, on January 13.

The Tuvan expedition of the automobile extreme club OffroadMaster from Novosibirsk has finished.

This year, 20 groups participated, including those from Ekaterinburg, Krasnoyarsk, Tomsk, and Zheleznogorsk. As the leader of the expedition, Yelena Dmitrieva told the NGS.NOVOSTI, the participants of the trip reached the final point of the route on January 5, when they got to the abandoned fortress of the Uighur kagan.

Tuvan spa Ush-Beldir (Triple confluence), located in a difficult to get to eastern taiga part of the republic, 360 km from Kyzyl, won a Gold Medal in an interregional competition “Gemma-2009”, which just took place in Novosibirsk.

Among the best products and services of Siberia, the spa exceeded the famous “Krasnoyarsk Mountains” and “Shira”.

“Especially the effectiveness of the healing was evaluated, not the material basis”, Mira Opeyen, the head doctor, explains the sensational success of the Tuvan spa.

Despite infrastructural problems, the balneologic spa, which opened in 1933 at the elevation of 1127 meters above sea level, won great popularity by its healing methods and means not only among Siberians. The spa is connected with “Greater Tuva” only by air.

Trophy-Expedition “Metel-2010”, consisting of 10 off-road vehicles started out on Jan. 2 from Novosibirsk, taking the route: Novosibirsk – Abakan – Kyzyl - Saryg-Sep - Kungurtuk. The main goal of this trip is the abandoned fortress of the Uighur Kagan Eletmish Bilge-Kagan, which was built in 8th century. The total length of the route is about 3100 kilometers.

On New Year’s Eve, around 40 people aged 17 to 70 years ascended to the top of Mount Dogee north of Kyzyl.

“20 minutes to twelve, we were already on the peak of the mountain, - says Maadyr-ool Khovalyg, one of the originators of this ascent. – The challenge to meet the “Year of Tourism” in field conditions received a response from enthusiasts from Tes-Khem, Shagonar, and Ak-Dovurak”.