Railway in Sakhalin returns to normal schedules, snow removed.

VLADIVOSTOK, January 4 (Itar-Tass) - Traffic on the main railway line
in Russia's Far-Eastern insular region of Sakhalin is returning back to
normal after two days of disruption following a descent of snow avalanches
from mountain foothills.

Masses of snow blocked 300 meters of the line between the stations
Zaozyornoye and Pugachevo, and the height of snow banks above the tracks
there reached almost three meters.
At the time of reporting, the section of the railway was fully clear
and ready for resumption of the traffic, the press service of the regional
branch of Russia's Ministry for Emergency Situations and Civil Defense
/EMERCOM/ said.
The avalanche trapped three railway men. One of them managed to get
out of the snow on his own, and EMERCOM rescuers assisted by sniffing dogs
found the body of one more worker under the snow Sunday.
The third worker is still listed as missing.
Passage has been restored on all the automobile roads on the island,
but road repairs are still in progress in two towns and that is why entry
of their territory by cars is limited there so far.
The airport in the regional capital Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk is functioning
as scheduled.
EMERCOM officials also say there have been no disruptions of electric
power supplies anywhere on the island.

.Echo of Hellas int'l festival opening in Novosibirsk.

NOVOSIBIRSK, January 4 (Itar-Tass) - An international festival titled
'The Echo of Hellas' and dedicated to the culture and arts of Ancient
Greece opens in Novosibirsk Monday.
The list of participants includes representatives of the communities
of ethnic Greeks residing in Siberia, few as they are, and people of
various other ethnic backgrounds who have interest in antiquity.
Their scope embraces Siberian musicians, as well as dance groups and
dramatic performing companies of adolescents and grownups, officials at
the department of culture and education of Novosibirsk Mayoralty told
Itar-Tass.
The festival will be held in several stages and will last almost the
whole year.
Monday, a competition of children's and adolescents' art dedicated to
Grecian history and culture opens at the Novosibirsk Academy of
Architecture and Arts.
The festival will finish at the end of October with a mini-festival of
Greek music and choreography. It will bring together performing groups
from the amateur clubs and studios from Siberia and the Urals, as well as
from Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, Bulgaria, and Greece.
The festival is sponsored by the Novosibirsk regional cultural and
educational organization of ethnic Greeks Elpida. The Echo of Hellas
festivals started out in Novosibirsk at its initiative in 1996.
"Our association sees its main objective in teaching the Greek
language, literature, history, culture, and arts," the Elpida's President
Marina Bousik-Trofimuk said.
"Our doors are open for all those who would like to come because we
unite everyone who is concerned by maintaining the Russian-Greek spiritual
unity," she said.

.Int'l Christmas fair opening in Russia's Baltic exclave region.

KALININGRAD, January 4 (Itar-Tass) - An international Eastern Orthodox
Christmas Fair 'The Russian Region 2010' opens in Russia's Baltic exclave
region of Kaliningrad Monday.
It is the third exhibition in the Eastern Orthodox series to be held
here.
Monasteries, monastery missions, churches, pilgrimage centers,
Orthodox publishing houses, folk craftsmen, and manufacturing companies
from 26 cities of Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine have put up their fair
booths in a trading center located on Victory Square near the Cathedral of
the Savior.
Participants in the fair offer visitors to purchase icons, Orthodox
spiritual literature, jewelry, Christmas presents, items of applied arts,
unique works of folk craftsmen, a huge assortment of herbal teas, etc.
Spokespeople for the steering committee of the fair told Itar-Tass
this Christmas fair in the Kaliningrad exclave is something more than a
trading event, as the organizers offer a wide range of functions and
events for the visitors of all age groups.
Residents of the city and visitors, who are especially numerous these
days between the New Year and the Russian Orthodox Christmas, which is
observed January 7 under the Julian calendar, will be invited to concerts,
costumed carnivals and processions, theatrical performances and mass
entertainments.
The fair has been organized by the Kaliningrad and Smolensk diocese of
the Russian Orthodox Church and the regional Ministry of Culture.
"The atmosphere of Yuletide that accompanies the exhibition will
certainly give an impetus to the rise of authentic Russian traditions of
celebrating Christmas here in Russia's westernmost region.
A testimony to the popularity of this event is found in the fact that
more than 60,000 people visited each of the two previous fairs.
Last year, more than 2,000 children living in the social institutions
for orphaned and neglectesd kids received Christmas presents from charity
organizations as part of the fair.
It will be open through to January 10, the last day of the
ten-days-long New Year holiday-makging period.
-0-kle