Ecology council “Sochi-2014” has approved additional ecological initiatives which will become part of Federal Targeted Program for Sochi.

Among approved initiatives are development of complex system for water supply and water drainage, creation of educational and scientific centers that are focused on ecology, development of program to use renewable energy sources, creation of rehabilitation center for wild animals, and development of a system for complex ecological monitoring. It also includes programs for total waste utilization and zero-carbon balance.

Program for waste utilization assumes complete utilization of solid domestic and biological waste in the whole city. For the realization of this program all current waste dumps will be closed and land restored. New plants will be built for ecological waste disposal and recycling.

Zero-carbon balance program will be realized by using energy saving technologies on all objects of the energy infrastructure, each of which will be modernized to be able to use renewable sources of energy. Quotas will be imposed on the amount of greenhouse gases produced.

Complex system of ecological monitoring will be created to monitor environment during construction of Olympic projects. It will include regular inspections of construction sites and satellite monitoring. Special attention will be focused on monitoring Sochi National Park and its surroundings.

Wow, Sochi’s going greener than ever :) Exciting stuff…

«Metropolis-tour» company canceled some of their St. Petersburg sea cruises in favour of Sochi. Now eight of their cruises will start from Sochi and head to the Mediterranean Sea.

Over 70 companies from Russia presented their services during «Hospitality and recreation industry» exhibition which is taking place in Sochi. Also, the Third Open Sochi Culinary Championship will be part of the exhibition, and will have prizes for “Young chef” (for students of culinary schools), “Perfect chef” (for professional chefs), and “Art-class” (for cooks and pastry-cooks).

International contest of A.S.Makarenko (Makarenko was great Russian teacher and writer) for educational institutions, which each year takes place in a different city, is starting in Sochi on April 1st, and will bring together student teams from 40 Russian regions. During the event, Russia’s biggest publishers will present new educational literature. Guest list includes famous Russian academicians, doctors, and professors. Also, official from Italian embassy in Russia, Emiliano Mettini, will talk about education experiences in Italy.

“Sibir” Airlines (S7 Airlines) stopped cheap tickets sales for flights from Moscow to Sochi. During last month tickets were sold for $12 (300rub; not including airport fees) if tickets are puchased 30 days in advance, and for $35 (900rub) if puchased 14 days in advance. Now both of these prices are canceled, and the ticket price is $84 plus $28 of airport fees.

This was an experimental action by S7 (these prices were also introduced to two other cities), and after analyzing the results “Sibir” will make a decision on weather to continue similar actions.

Real Estate Krasnodar reports on Carrefour’s plans in Russia.

You can read the full article on Real Estate Krasnodar blog »

«Dolmens are a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of three or more upright stones (megaliths) supporting a large flat horizontal capstone (table). Dolmens were usually covered with earth or smaller stones to form a barrow, though in many cases that covering has weathered away, leaving only the stone ‘skeleton’ of the burial mound intact.»
– Wikipedia

The monuments date between the end of the 4th millennium and the beginning of the 2nd millennium B.C. — that’s older that Pyramids of Egypt! Read the rest of this entry »

Rosprirodnadzor — Russian federal service in supervision of natural resource use — will conduct examination of Sochi’s Federal Targeted Program which was designed to turn Sochi into true year-round resort by year 2014. The commission of experts will include scientists and representatives from independent ecological organizations.

Here are some photos from the Nike Free Mountain 2007 skiing and snowboarding competition that took place in Krasnaya Polyana, Sochi on March 1-3.

See more larger pictures: »

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Association members meet regularly with people who share a strong interest in learning about Russian Federation, our Sister City Sochi, and in promoting better ties between the two great cities and nations on a social, cultural and business level.

Members gain access to the Association’s established links to Sochi and elsewhere, thus accelerating their prospects in Russian Federation and Long Beach on a social, cultural, educational and business level.

Everyone is invited to participate in a variety of business, cultural, educational and social programs, all of which contribute towards fulfilling individual and Associate goals. Members also have opportunities to meet with delegations of Russian officials who visit Long Beach and other California locations.

Members receive discounted fares on occasional, Association-sponsored group trips and trade visits to Sochi and other Russian Federation locations.

JOIN TOADY!

I haven’t had a chance to write more Sochi news as im working to implement a new feature for my other website. But here a quick run down on what interesting had been happening in Sochi:

• Abkhazia asks for direct postal services from Russia. Because Russia officially recognizes Abkhazia as part or Georgia, all mail from Russia to Abkhazia goes through Georgia. Even from Sochi, which borders Abkhazia. Georgia, in turn, uses it as a pressure point on Abkhazia, which is virtually independent from Georgia since 1993. This results in people of Abkhazia asking others to send correspondence to Sochi’s post offices, and then they to commute to Sochi to pick it up.
• Sochi officials will lobby to get some of the Olympic projects construction contracts to local companies.
• Residents of Long Beach (CA), USA – Sochi’s twin city since 1990 – support Sochi 2014 bid.
• «Development of telecommunications in Russia» all-russian forum is scheduled to take place in Sochi in April.
• «Banks of Russia – 21st century» international forum is scheduled to take place in Sochi in September.
• Archeologists find ancient writings on Sochi’s dolmens

Governor of Krasnodar Krai Alexandr Tkachev signed seven deals worth more than €950 million during the first day of the international real estate summit in Cannes — MIPIM-2007, reports REGNUM information agency. Some of those deals are investments in Sochi, for new multifunctional centers and a hotel complex. Krasnodar Region’s exhibition os one of the largest on the event. This year they showcase around 1 400 projects worth €47 billion, including new projects in newly established special economic tourism and recreational zones and Olympic projects in Sochi. One hundred presented Sochi projects include hotels, sport structures, mountain resorts, and a golf club.

Meanwhile, Russian minister of economic development German Gref, announced that the price of the federal program of making Sochi into year-round resort may go up due to the increased price of some projects, and that Russian government will increase its funding. These money will go into infrastructure projects, he clarified. The new numbers will be known in the end of this year. Just to remind you, currently $12 billion is planned to be invested in this program, $7.5 billion of which will be invested by the government.

61% or Russians believe Sochi has better chances to win 2014 Olympics bid then its competitors, Salzburg and PyeongChang. 11% believe in Salzburg’s chances, and 5% in PyeongChang’s. This was revealed during most recent survey by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM). Same survey showed that 81% of Russians thinks that it is important that 2014 Olympics will take place in Sochi, 43% of which think its “very important”, and 38% think its “rather important”.

Last year’s survey showed that only 45% of Russians believed in Sochi’s chances.

The finals of the international Missis World 2007 pageant took place tonight in «Zimny» Theater in Sochi, Russia. And here are the results!

Missis World 2007: Mrs. America – Diane Tucker
Missis Benevolence: Mrs. Canada – Mai-Lea Dejong
Missis Fitness: Mrs. Russia – Maria Gufronova
Best Dress: Mrs. France – Rejane Klein Maurer

Video 

I found three video clips on different Russian news sites. All three are different, some are from before the event, some are videos of the event itself. But they all have Russian narration. If you want to see the picture, here’s the list with instructions. Also, below I’m posting a few screenshots from two of those clips. Tip: if the playback is faster then the download and the video is jerking, press pause button after playback begun, and give it a little time to buffer data up; then press play button again to watch the video.

Screnshots

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These are just photos from the Mrs World website, they are not from Zimny Theater. If I find photos from the event in Sochi I’ll post ’em here too. Update: event photos and links to videos in the new post.

Missis World 2007

Mrs. America – Diane Tucker

Missis Benevolence

Mrs. Canada – Mai-Lea Dejong

Missis Fitness

Mrs. Russia – Maria Gufronova

Best dress

Mrs. France – Rejane Klein Maurer

Photos (c) MrsWorld.com