The Chinese currency can now be traded at Russian stock exchanges; the exchange rate was set at 4.634 RUR: 1 RNB at the close of business on the first day. The trading process lasted for about one hour and resulted in twenty-nine deals worth 22.78m RUR altogether. The Central Bank’s representatives confess these figures exceeded their boldest hopes and signified that the banks’ customers are growing increasingly interested in China’s currency. ‘We used to use the U.S. dollars for Russian-Chinese contract settlements before, which meant the cost of converting rubles and RNBs into dollars added

‘Operations Taxi Van and Illegal Migrant that Sverdlovsk Region’s law enforcement officers carry out on a regular basis have led to about 40,000 people facing administrative liability this year; these people were both foreign workers and their employers, who had to pay a total of 72 million RUR. 501 foreign workers had to leave Sverdlovsk Region due to violations of the migration laws,’ Deputy Head of Russia’s Federal Migration Service Sverdlovsk Region division Yuri Bezborodov announced at a press conference in Yekaterinburg. ‘The foreign workers were forced to leave due to absence of an ID

The Urals’ citizens whose consumer rights have been infringed by the recent shark attacks in Egypt can count on a 100% reimbursement of their tour: Sverdlovsk Region’s division of Rospotrebnadzor (the state consumer rights watchdog) is willing to consult them on how to apply for compensation, the agency reports. A few shark attacks were registered on the beaches of Sharm El Sheikh in late November and early December; some of the victims were actually Russian citizens. A traveler from Germany whose hand had been bitten off by a shark died on December 5. Russia’s chief public health officer

A tender where bidders can compete for a preliminary agreement on the trust management of Yekaterinburg EXPO, an international exhibition center, was announced in Yekaterinburg recently. The company that placed the order for the tender is Ural Exhibition Center. Applications must be submitted by January 17, 2010.

As many Yekaterinburg-based consulates are not going to be working during the traditional winter holiday break, airlines warn their customers that all the European visa applications must be submitted by the beginning of next week at the latest, Ural Airlines’ press service reports. Getting their papers processed in time will mean that the locals will be able to benefit from the air carriers’ special New Year offers; Ural Airlines, for one, is launching some offers of its own. Ural Airlines currently operates flights from Yekaterinburg to Paris, Prague, Rome, Vienna, Munich, Salzburg, Sofia,