since friday right under the noses of arab league observers the u.n. says more than five thousand people have died in ten months of protests with damascus claiming that gangs for the unrest. iran is planning to carry out long range missile tests during naval drills over the next few days as it engages in military posturing with washington the move comes as the west threatens to toughen sanctions against iran over its nuclear program. and now we visit the waters of the white see above and below the ice so to meet some curiously friendly mammals on some hardcore. resume i wish you a very happy two thousand and twelve. the white sea its surface remains choked with ice been nearly seven months a year. the chilly breath of the arctic ocean keeps the water freezing cold.

near the coast however the high winds and bitter cold recede. that even in winter also can be seen through holes in the ice. board squeals and cracking sounds can often be hood around them. this is how so-called canaries of the sea communicate. typically they hide under the ice the white sea is the natural habitat. far from the civilized world in the north of russia on the coast of the white sea

sea canaries are communicating with people with great pleasure in the open waters. but not a queue and they are behaving strangely today. sure why you had a canary so why did you feel like giving us a song it was something wrong with your throat stood. before you start singing vs need. a water your best to go into is sure was more. than was a little let's give their throat some fish oil. bath now let's try to get off. sailors have dubbed baluga whales canaries because of the peculiar sounds they make .

my three want to bring is tiring. skin color distinguishes these marine mammals from their relatives. palooka carbs are of a dark blue color. when they're one year old they turn gray like these two female whales. later their skin acquires a milky shade. yes this is exactly how they should be kept but the people in society should know that the bloke a whale is not a stupid fish as many believe that. we need to tell him that these intelligent creatures are worthy of perspex a sniff not affection i think. this dolphinarium emulates the conditions of their natural habitat as much as possible it's nice reasoning.

in the come the luck should day of the white see specialists from the petersburg branch of the tryst dolphinarium in cooperation with the arctic circle dive center of set up an open enclosure to believe the whales. the nearest settlement is the village of mill mcu but no case down the coast of the white sea. it was a stoppage by local fisherman known as coast well as in the twentieth century. this place is very remote and difficult to reach only dirt roads in the cold sea found that. such things do not. the doctor's visit to steal it from different countries around they dream of getting a close look appealing to whales and swimming with them in their natural habitats. before they're allowed to do so even experienced divers have to attend a special event called i heard about. being with this same company the organizers

this trip. and then when they said they were doing this trip. i thought for got to do it be to russia. pacific place to visit species for the top of photography did that if you just speak to people in south africa about the watch either i don't know where it is of all it's a whole experience for me you know i wore i've been diving for the past eight nine years mostly in topical war. most things southeast asia you know bitching mediterranean away called a cold water but now. it's warm water compared to here. in order to get to the depths of the want to see winter divers first to break through the frozen sea. the thickness of ice is about forty to fifty centimeters in the diving school. it is hard work so the divers take

a short interval. was. this device was invented by an ancient people it's a type of leadership that was taken it a step further and designed an intelligent device for snow deals to lift chunks of ice nothing of the kind anywhere else in the world this is a regional structure does the job of cold really man. click click click. i styling in the white sea is a serious challenge in winter the water is bitterly cold. several hotspur of bannister's are situated near every water hole pier the divers

change and comfort themselves after diving. according to international diving regulations one should be certified by the professional association of diving instructor has before venturing on to the ice. divers must be wearing dry suits to make sure they don't freeze in the water the user is insulated by a small film of the air on to the suit ok ok so you have to heat up first and then you have priced it which is old and once it has sealed he is using that. theory it's not supposed to allow a person if you have an inflatable hose he it and it up though here say to keep it comfortable and you don't get squashed in the water with the pressure you put air into the suit keeps the nice and comfy and then if you're coming out of the sea you have to get ridges that they ventured out through here. a lot of preparation is needed before diving under the ice. it takes time to put on

a dry suit as well as making thorough checks on the equipment before finally getting used to the cold water. divers always had under the ice tethered to a safety line which is controlled by a team member above take their over your head your rope and your role the first dive is always made by an experienced instructor you like to tosca is to learn to navigate on to the ice to exchange signals with your partner correctly and to control the equipment. i starving is fraught with danger the visibility beneath is only twenty to twenty five meters if the breathing apparatus fails the diver will not be able to surface immediately because of the ice above. the diver has to be aware of where the exit

is. even in winter time life goes on under the white sea ice. on the seabed near the bolshoi christofi island there are underwater columns of kelp scattered about. cold water is the best environment for the seaweed. fish move slowly through the cold war to the sea bass are used to the divers and often let them come up very close. there looks a menacing and they're not even afraid of bright light. the thread like tentacles of the sea anemones give the seabed a fluffy comment. c.n.n. money's feed on plankton and other old comic con tickles the given to take green

here to the water of the white sea. just. get it very hairy danger for sure head toward. well it was true ari didn't want to come where. we only need ice cream that's going to be heaven. if they. were there.

for quite a few people the underwater world is not the only attraction of the white sea it's smooth ice is an excellent environment to kite sledging founds. only one of fail often visits this remote place in the past he would only dive under the ice with scuba gear now he prefers to ride over the top with a special sledge and a parachute good milosevic almost what i like about kites sledging is that you have a choice of parachutes or a three metre parachute is good for strong winds up three to six to seven metre parachute is the right size for milder winds this one is nine and a half metres their case for any weather conditions or all of them will kill you forward you won't get you.

by might be a good one you're catching the wind is what i enjoy most of all it is like riding a giant horse galloping up breakneck speed you go i am carried away by a feeling of exhilaration because i am fully aware of the infinite power of nature's forces well they could pulverize my yacht sledge and kite in no time i make mincemeat out of me but yesterday. the weather on the white sea often changes abruptly but after a long struggle a leg is finally able to catch the wind. witnesses

. to history in the making of. testimony. ten stories that shapes two thousand and eleven on our t.v. . beluga trainer alexander biologist natalia are cut off from civilization. they live

in the village of new monkey bugs and work in the nearby arctic circle dive center . but now so are you ready. for luca wails of plays an important role in their lives this is where they first met and then got married. let's go below go. to the belugas numa trio now were brought to the white seato finale him when they were about one year old. alexandra natalia became their foster parents they tended fed and trained them. keeping in touch with palookas is not only that job but it is also a hobby and a way of relaxation. training

the lukas means playing with them any hostility against them is totally ruled out. whales and dolphins have an acute sense of how humans are disposed towards them they respond to friendly treatment. and of course very many people come here they want to communicate with the beluga. yes and touch them to show you what's most important is that this is not a circus showing off animals ability to leap a carry balls in there to meet them through the fear people simply communicate with a living creature. belugas get attached to humans very quickly if they communicate with them for a long time they learn the habits. of the middle with you when you look at your

sometimes their skin ages you and i have certainly experienced that thought you but they have no hands to scratch the spot. so they like being scratched hard but you afford to turn it over and offer their sides make a point of scratching and stroking all the if she spots but. we also massage their stout bodies. they open their mouths but we don't allow everybody to touch their nice looking tellings you. many people don't do it gently enough so we put them off we protect our charges and for you. this is an offshore enclosure for belugas even a natural environment in wintertime these palooka whales always flock to go where winds and currents create cracks and holes in the ice. then they can resurface to brief. large patches of open water close to the village of new

never freeze over. according to geological evidence the white sea appeared some twenty thousand years ago. the people who first settled in this northern land five hundred years ago close to us. fishing and hunting with their means of subsistence. many of them drowned during hurricanes and storms. local still put up lamarck's of the most dangerous sites they serve as a warning to others. along the shore of the white sea their villages founded hundreds of years ago by coast one of. the oldest one is jordan i already which means black river. it is first mentioned in historical scripts in fifteen eleven. the church stands above the village it was named after some trifle

the protector of hunters and fishermen. according to local tradition this church had to look like a ship. sailed north along the white sea coast and reach the shores of spitzbergen island even the women made the long distance see trips. position i've also look at the women went fishing in the city on rowing boats as they caught fish many kilometers away from their homes and they went by these robots not by ships you can still see women on such boats spin with their own in a particular way saddle oarsmen usually sit with their backs facing forward as a negative at the local women sit facing each other like this thing why do they deserve what i've heard also because there's only so the course of course that letter to a fishing area takes a long time and those in a moment which is off. in winter time far from.

their own was several shots out to sea belonging to divers. they were located in front of the rocky shore of bio filter bank. the white seas under the influence of the tide its water level of the shore rises up and down twice a day. in the bay even in winter you can see a change of ice level of the coastline. as they do you know why there are daily tides in the whites see only what they're triggered by the moon's orbit around the earth at the. the amplitude of high and low tides in the wide sea is about tonight is both in summer and in winter well the ice i'm standing on will take six hours to rise to this level at that would you want that would listen names that six hours later anyone standing here will have no problem stepping on to the will to have eyes frozen to the rock.

and by a field to bang a diver's learn how to work in pairs on their own so that they will be able to dive under the ice without an instructor. some divers stand above the ice hole and control those who are underwater then they swap places. after the first two dips divers understand clearly that their lives depend on those above the ice. when everything is working fine it's fine but obvious funny the moment something goes wrong you have what they called narrowing of vision you'd lose the ability to to think like which increases your breathing and this and creates a panic so it's like a circle you just create more and more panic very difficult to get out of it so. decides the obvious part of getting you back to the hold this is like an umbilical cord that keeps you calm. in the depths of the ice

world the sense of danger is very relative. near the rocks piles of ice a formed. ice piles up of the white sea coast due to the ebb and flow. huge chunks of ice create corridos and labyrinths stretching over many metres. this is the underwater world bio filter bank. it is so cold because plankton lurking on the rocks in ice cleans the water do. also gives it a unique color as. divers call this place the ice kingdom. bus so you can flies or another planet and nobody can certainly not now see the americans a visit at the moon and probes of landed on mars and venus let's listen but

actually another planet is right here on earth with a parallel world with a parallel dimension everything is different here and i think people know much more about how to space than they do about what's under the sea the bush's vision should be the building. there are hundreds of maritime biological research stations in the world today one of the most remote ones is in the come to laps of gulf of the white say. an old wind powered generator is the symbol of the bottle tickle research station belonging to moscow state university. and only a handful of staff stays at the station in winter young students from moscow state university's biological faculty often pairing their theses presentations. biologist yellin across nova has served at the station for twenty five years she often comes here with family in winter. she studies c i did

ducks sure and i stay here. i just spend nearly all of the life time on water and in the end. it is only during the brief reproduction period that they make nests on the shore they always stick together on land as they do on the sea. young female dogs with their own nestlings help the out of females to race they baby birds and sometimes several get together to form a kind of kindergarten where they grow their flash things together ship with him to find a safe place with enough food for their ducklings raising them together is the convenience thing to do. on. the water in the white sea remains cold even in summer time but the odds of dogs are never affected by the cold water they bob in the waves the whole day. undercoat is the best biological heat insulator

it doesn't lead to one thought in the old days where there were new modern synthetic materials around the fluff was used to make clothes for polar explorers and sleeping bags and it's indeed an excellent insulator. like seabirds beluga whales simply don't feel the cold the temperature of their bodies always stays at ninety eight point six degrees fahrenheit thirty seven degrees celsius. the thick layer of hypodermic fat keeps the heat in well however it makes them look somewhat cumbersome. instinct compels palookas to save energy. they're easy movements never exhibit aggression. after a brief course of ice diving almost all divers go swimming with belugas in an open closure. for many it is

a dream come true because nowhere else in the world can you communicate with blue whales in their natural habitat. and. our task is to provide a good dive that so that the whale school so we in the deep waters for a while communicate with people and then come back to the surface we treat them to fish if they fulfill the task correctly the is the syllable in the pride and. the whales although it's careful divers cannot move as fast and graciously as they can so they adjust themselves to the divers movements. people always talk to the whales in their own language but beluga whales can barely hear human speech they perceive high frequency sounds.

the huge forehead serves as an acoustic tool thanks to that palookas has perfect echo location. in communicating with human beings they can comprehend body language and facial features. but divers always calm feeling that the whales understand them perfectly and even on so back with their unusual speech. for that reason sailors nicknamed them sea canaries.

you're watching our duty with our lima special coverage this new year's eve the final hour on the year in twenty eleven here in moscow kevin owen and i need to know it here with our best view overlooking red square and you can see behind us beautiful is that the chilly to tell about the minute twenty twelve is already arrived at the homes of billions of people of course of the pacific region in asia to most of russia if you will part of them we wish you all the very best for twenty twelve a very happy new year well as we prepared to weigh farewell to twenty eleven the world looking back at the.