Rail Travel news.

Today "Dzherelo SPK" Centre has received the confirmation from the foreign partners concerning the r/w tours operation planned for the autumn this year.
In this connection we are glad to inform that in September - Octobers 2004  we'll operate 4 fascinating railway tours:
 
- from 10 to 17 September - the tour for the group of the "Kultur Resor" company (Sweden). Itinerary: Kiev-Poltava-Zmeevka-Crimea (Sevastopol, Yalta,
Bakhchisaray) -Odessa-Kiev. The best hotels and great culture program
 
- from 18 to 25 September - travelling for the lovers of railway from Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, West Ukraine (Carpathian mountain region). Travelling along the forest and torf narrow gauge lines with photo of trains and unique diesels
 
- from 26 September to 07 October - the next group of our reliable partner from Holland (OAD company) will travel Kiev-Odessa-Lvov-Carpathian mountains-Kiev.
Tremendous culture program, visits protected corners of the wild nature by our private tourist train, travelling along the narrow gauge lines in the remote corners of Ukraine
 
- from 09  to 23 October - the group of the German railway enthusiasts ( tour operator Detlef Hanske) - Gala Tour - For the first time we travel Ukraine-Moldova by our
tourist train. "Enigmatic Moldova reveals its Secrets".
 
All who would like to join these tours can contact us directly.
You are welcome ! dzherelo.spk@ua.fm

You can understand why she's in no rush to eat it - the Ukrainian student has just been served pork fat covered in chocolate.  
Chocolate salo: Salty on the inside, sweet on the outside
"It's salty on the inside and very sweet on the outside. It's unusual yes, but it's completely disgusting," says Dasha Khabarova. Forget deep-fried Mars bar. One of the unhealthiest snacks in the world can now be found in Ukraine.

For years people here have loved pork fat, known as salo.

Normally, small slices of the white fat are eaten with black bread, raw garlic and vodka. But this new twist is designed to appeal to Ukraine's love of all things fatty.

Eurovision fan

For the equivalent of ?1 you can now get four small sticks of salo covered in chocolate at Kiev's poshest Ukrainian restaurant. "Our head chef likes to experiment so now we have this new creation." says Roman Novitski, the manager of Tsarske Selo restaurant.   Young girl, come and try my tasty salo, it's super salo

Katya Feschenko,
salo seller 
"It's turned out quite well, and most people seem to like it."

After Ukraine's victory at the Eurovision song contest, Kiev is gearing up to welcome thousands of visitors from Europe. Chocolate salo is likely to be one of the dishes they are offered especially as Ruslana, Ukraine's winning entry is a fan of it.

And you can also get hold of the sweet salo - nicknamed Ukraine's Snickers - in Ruslana's home city of Lviv in Western Ukraine. "I love it as it's unusual. I was given the first serving of Lviv's chocolate salo. Perhaps they were testing my bravery, but I ate it and I'm still alive!" Ruslana laughs.

But the chocolaty pork fat should come with a health warning, according to Dr Svetlana Fus from the Kiev Medical Research Centre.  
Unusual: Pop singer Ruslana says she likes chocolate salo
"It's the worst combination you could have. I think that people should steer clear of the Ukrainian Snickers."

The former Soviet republic already has one of the highest death rates from heart disease in Europe. "Young girl, come and try my tasty salo, it's super salo," Katya Feschenko shouts to me.

Katya is the salo queen at Kiev's busy Bessarabska Market.

Slabs of white fat sit next to spare ribs and hunks of bacon on her stall.

"Ukrainians love salo. It comes from villages so it has a good flavour. It's very tasty," says Katya, who has been selling salo for the last 20 years. And now that salo comes with a chocolate coating it could become even more popular.

Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin and Ukrainian Transport and Communications Minister Heorhiy Kyrpa will discuss in Moscow on September 3 issues involved in integration of the two countries' transport systems, the Russian Transport Ministry press service reported Wednesday.

The parties are also planning to call a meeting of Russian and Ukrainian businessmen on new transport initiatives, the press service says.

Apart from this, the Ministers are expected to sign a number of documents.

The Ukrainian Interior Affairs Ministry's interior troops guarding foreign embassies have tightened security at the Russian embassy in Ukraine in connection with the August 31 terrorist attack in Moscow.

The press service of the Interior Affairs Ministry troops disclosed this to Ukrainian News.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, President Leonid Kuchma has sent condolences to Russia's President Vladimir Putin and the relatives and families of the people killed in the terrorist attack.

The terrorist attack took place near the Rizhskaya subway station in Moscow on Tuesday evening, as a result of which ten people were killed and 51 injured. Forty-nine people were taken to hospital.

According to the preliminary information from investigators, a suicide bomber blew up an explosive device stuffed with bolts and other metal items at 20:15 on Tuesday.

"I am sure that we will as before search for ways to solve many problems facing Ukraine and Russia together and rejoice at common success. By uniting efforts we will be able to jointly solve many issues," declared prime minister of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovich at the opening of the roundtable discussion of a Common Economic Space (CES).

According to Yanukovich, Russia's assistance to Ukraine when it lacked ration wheat is a good example which confirms this.

"Our Russian friends were the first to help us," the prime minister said. He pointed out that many Ukrainian regional governors established contacts with the Russian regions themselves and thus resolved this problem.

Addressing the heads of the two countries' regions which are taking part in the roundtable, Yanukovich called on them to continue solving the emerging problems together.

The Ukrainian prime minister stressed that the decision taken by Russia to hand over the VAT to the country of destination when exporting the energy products creates conditions for deepening integration within the framework of the CES.

That Russia lifted the VAT on oil and gas from the Russian side will create conditions for deepening the integration process which is going on and whose final objective is to create a Common Economic Space," Yanukovich stressed.

He pointed out that due to this step Ukraine and Russia

would be able to raise the competitiveness of their economies.

According to him, this, in particular, will concern relations with the European Union. "Only the improved system of regulation may raise the quality in the field of power engineering. Russia and Ukraine, uniting their efforts, improve quality and raise competitiveness which creates a possibility to deliver quality goods to Europe," the Ukrainian prime minister said.

Moscow and Kiev can efficiently work on the global market only by uniting their efforts, he pointed out.

Yanukovich believes it is necessary to simplify the regime of crossing the Russian-Ukrainian border as soon as possible. According to him, joint points should be created for ensuring more comfortable and not humiliating conditions for citizens of the two countries when crossing the border as well as more convenient conditions for cargo movement.