welcome to the dusty streets of zhalanash. if you can believe it, this used to be a bustling fishing village. but if you come over here and you look down at the ground, you can see what used to be the bottom of the aral sea. there's not much fishing going on now. it's been called one of the world's biggest environmental disasters. the sea which stretches the border between kazakhstan and uzbekistan was once about the size of ireland. back in the 1960s, the immense stretch of water began to dry up. around 90% of it was wiped off the map and with it, the livelihoods of many of the people who lived on the sea's produce.

i'd heard that here in kazakhstan, the sea was actually coming back, and it was bringing travellers too, so off i go in search of the aral sea, across miles of the old sea bed. i've arranged to meet a guide in this region. he wanted me to see the full extent of what the sea, which was actually a large lake, once was, thousands of years before it dried up in the 20th century. the view from the top! what caused it to recede so far?

the flow of water was diverted to feed the soviet cotton industry. uzbekistan still remains one of the world's top producers of cotton, but while the uzbek side of the sea remains mostly lost, recent interventions have meant the north aral sea in kazakhstan is returning. approaching the shore, one of the biggest draws

for travellers has been the eerie sight of shipwrecks scattered across the old sea bed. spider webs everywhere. here we are. the aral sea. at one time, it was the fourth largest inland lake in the world and soon, it will reclaim that title. i made it. birds chirping, fish jumping, sun setting — i get it. i get it now. it's a beautiful place. i wanted to see how kazakhstan‘s relationship with nature is changing, so i'm meeting up with a mountain guide. but what karla really wanted to show me was how some people are mixing old kazakhstan with the new — sandboarding

on kazakhstan‘s most famous singing sand dune. famous because under the right conditions, the dune makes a humming sound, almost like an organ. humming. wow! it's huge! i can see the little dust devils twisting up the sides. it almost looks alive. the skin of the dune, sweeping back and forth like a snake. and i heard that it almost is — it actually moves. in the past 150 years, it has moved three metres. slowly, but it is moving. it really is incredible. chuckles. i don't know how we're going to snowboard down it! laughs. along for the ride was karla's friend and olympic kazakhstan snowboard trainer yelena.

the dune stretches for 3km and reaches a height of 150 metres and let me tell you, it might look placid from a distance but it is an entirely other story once you're up there. it's a little bit windy today but we're on the singing sands and i guess that's always how it is here. for myself, i have gone snowboarding before. what are some differences with sandboarding 7 0k. lean back, yeah? that being said, it was comforting knowing that i'll be going slower than on snow. and also the cool thing about a sand dune is there's no trees! so, i mean, i guess it's safer, right? no doubt, though, this is definitely the definition of an extreme sport. and here i am, strapped in.

ok, you ready? i — i think i'm ready. woo! great start! playful music. this way, yeah? like this? oh, and then the board comes — oh! playful music continues. laughs. woo! this is a lot of fun! though i promise you that you get sand in a lot of places karla's about to come down. she's standing up. she looks excited but a little bit nervous. you got it, karla! yeah! but before long, we're starting to get the hang of it. surfing music plays.

this is a lot of work. pants. what's incredible, though, is when you come down, as the sand starts to avalanche, you can feel it shaking and reverberating underneath the board. it's very cool — it sings as you come down. we've got our final round from the very, very top — if — if i can — i can make it! let's stay here and take a break for a sec. yeah! and with that, my trip to kazakhstan is at an end. and what a ride it was.

hello there. if you're waiting for the weather to turn a little bit milder, you are going to have to wait a little while. certainly through this coming week, it is going to stay cold, we will see some rain, sleet and snow at times but equally, some spells of sunshine. what we have to start monday is high pressure to the north, lower pressure to the south, that is driving a fairly keen north easterly breeze across particularly eastern england and wales. the strength of that breeze will make it feel chilly through the day. across parts of east anglia, the south—east and down into the channel islands, expect a band of cloud and rain which will be slow—moving. elsewhere, some spells of sunshine, the best of that towards the north and the west of the uk. but also, some showers feeding in on this north—easterly breeze. some showers will be wintry.

there was the wind gusts, we are looking at gusts of 30 to a0 mph in places, so when you consider that the temperatures at best will only be about four, five, 6 degrees, with that brisk wind, it is going to feel really chilly out there. through monday night, notice the way in which that band of rain continues to linger across parts of south—east england and the channel islands, some further wintry showers pushing in elsewhere with some snow, especially over high ground. mostly rain at low levels and it is a sunshine and showers day for most on tuesday, still with that keen wind crossing wales and still is a more persistent rain across the south—east and the channel islands. those temperatures still in that range between three and 6 degrees. subtle change as we move out of tuesday into wednesday, high—pressure slips away westwards and this area of low pressure to the north starts to take a bit more control. by this stage, confidence in our forecast does start to decrease. there is uncertainty in just how quickly those changes will take place. it looks like quite late on wednesday we will see some outbreaks of rain and snow, into the north west of scotland. drier and brighter with slightly lighter winds elsewhere. through wednesday night and into thursday, the frontal

system in the north—west will try to push its way south eastwards, taking some rain, sleet and snow with it. there may well be a little bit more in the way of wet and wintry weather then these graphics suggest, as the frontal system pushes down into england and wales, so just about anywhere, could see rain, sleet and snow. there could even be some snow to quite low levels. the winds at this stage coming down from the north rather than to the north—east, but still a cold wind direction so temperatures are pegged back to between three and 5 degrees. then to the end of the week, different computer weather models have very different ideas about how exactly this area of high pressure and this area of low pressure will interact. it depends on how strongly the high is building. we could see a decent amount of dry weather, if low pressure is a bit closer, we could see some rain, sleet and snow, but one thing that is nailed on, pretty much, is that we will have a cold, northerly wind. so, another chilly day on friday but the amounts of rainfall, indeed the amount of sleet and snow, is very much open to question,

it's worth staying in touch with the forecast, but those temperatures will be on the low side, perhaps just two to 5 degrees. as we look further ahead to next weekend and into the start of the following week, it may well be that temperatures start to climb just a little, but i will emphasise once again that there is a lot of uncertainty in the forecast as we look further ahead. we may see some rain, about sleet and snow at times, that will also be some drier interludes. we will keep you up—to—date on the forecast through the days ahead.

this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines: borisjohnson warns covid restrictions in england could get tougher in the coming weeks — but labour says action is needed immediately. it may be that we need to do things in the next few weeks that will be tougher in many parts of the country. i don't, i mean, i'm fully, fully reconciled to that. there is no good the prime minister hinting that further restrictions are coming into place in a week or two or three. that delay has been the source of so many problems. so i say bring in those restrictions now, national restrictions within the next 24 hours. 0pposition politicians in india question the approval of a locally made coronavirus vaccine, saying it's premature