there are headlines now iran's banks are being booted out of a global payment system the latest move to pressure tehran over its nuclear program but there's growing europe that sanctions could look back on the e.u. nations. russia says it hopes western and arab countries don't ruin the un arab league envoy for peace mission to syria hopes ride on whether kofi annan is findings can bring world leaders together to find a solution to syria's twelve months of terror. thousands of egyptians have

protested against police negligence on a football stadium stand here which killed seventy four people last month growing frustration over the new leadership is failing to bring change. next more from the unique urals hasn't got you through the russian city. a two hour floyd east of moscow will land you in a city called. it's one of russia's most populous ministers capitals and the industrial and cultural center of the european urals. lying on the banks of the comma river it's home to almost one million people and as you take a walk around it's easy to see that this is a russian city trying to create an impression. poem is quickly make you name for itself in the contemporary art world the generous local government grants means there's something colorful crunchy. just colossal

around almost every color. and right here in the center of the city you can find the highlights of its contemporary art projects. that is fifty under loads making up a cyrillic letter. and the city's artistic pedigree has been furthering haunts by menu contemporary art museum it's been open since two thousand and nine and houses of the rise here unusual and striking exhibits. among the paintings here are of the form of this little sculpture. quite an impressive bunch of criminals that. i'm ahead of perms public art program naleo believes that the changes are adding to the city's reputation. broom today is in the vanguard of cultural and social issues which affect not only these particular region you must also the country as

a whole this is very important. and it's not just professional artists that are being showcased here. now these six hundred snowmen are all part of a citywide project's designs get the people more involved in arts and they've all been made. great sits. by the local school kids. in freezing temperatures and no barrier to a good time and i see playgrounds are filled with the young and the young at heart . i believe when it all means playing.

well i had a stroll through perms winter wonderland but it seems to me that there's one. very important guy who still missing. says hello to fellow j.m. was nice to me i'm glad to see you here in perm thank you very much it always hurts that you are quite an unusual father frost is a true yes i'm a real dyed in the wool father frost complete with a real beard. yet i'd like to show you some of my winter tricks that you're brilliant through. and it's clear from the beginning that love is no wooden response or. plays and gentle you russians fittest all the frosts certainly wouldn't want to be on his milton list.

so now i get to find out how my remote news coordinator does a sixty nine year old. probably not but we'll see there is great. blimey. we. like keeping me here in a little help from. the frosts. me . u.k. i didn't break anything. thankful that i hadn't done any permanent damage i left level to his acrobatics and headed back out into the streets it was time for a little souvenir hunting there are many things more strongly associated with

russia and the bear and although you might not see too many running around the streets of perth that doesn't mean you can't find them if you know it and look. if you go down to one particular workshop you're sure of a big surprise. these are the sort of bears you really wouldn't mind running and see and hear in their maker is a bit of a superstar can seize the winner of a golden george the equivalent. of a teddy bear. his designs have been cleaning up in international competitions for several years now from her postcard bears to her jeans characters she's amassed an impressive collection of her own. some of natasha's bears a real antiques including one that's supposed to have belongs on that list the second she used to be a domain can you turn to tell us when a scottish friend brought us some plans to make their clothing now she can put

together a new furry friend in around ten hours she's a pretty good teacher too so i think she has kindly offered to say mean the arts of making your own so i'm going to see. if i can get this little guy to look a little bit more cuddly. ultra quick tutorial on stuffing my first there began to look far more healthy when i was ready for something a little more delicate. or that was easier said than done. fail. and then there was the question of how to get them in the right position and how do you with your. looks brittle and it's been called a kind promise. nine is. quite tricky. but eventually after some minor brain surgery we were ready for the

finishing touch. oh boy. oh me according to the tacit it's only when the eyes go in that the bear actually becomes a back so. i don't know what you think might not be an oscar winner i think is quite lovable. i was finally ready to explore some of the per region and i started in the southeast in the picture a city of congo back in the eighteenth century congo was considered to be the capital of the urals and it was one of the most important stops along the trade route to siberia but it was one hundred years later with the birth of its favorite son but it really reached the tate. meet alexei good can the man who became russia's most famous tea importer and.

boy. he's going to tell me a little bit about his love for you hello again our couture earned the title of the t. capital of the russian empire thanks to the merchant aleksey who can't tell and who was responsible for the fact that tea was no longer an exotic about breach it was something accessible to all aleksey was adopted at the pioneer and discovery of sorts. to kim's achievements transformed congo and as old as museum is devoted to his life and work and seemed only right to sample his wares well in this case i think we do need to have a cup in his honor so the older you the what shall we do to kill just. because of course james let's go for it and with course. just below the main exhibition hall is a replica of a nineteenth century russian tea house burned although the brew itself became more

affordable and good can style not everyone was able to have their tea with all the trimmings. sugar was expensive so much so that ordinary people could not afford it. in this case they drank tea all gazing at the sugar. sugar was suspended from the ceiling to drinkers would just look at the sugar while sucking on the bottom it's food their brains seem to think in their tea was sweet and some of all it was also becoming more and more widespread and tea drinking part and parcel of each meal covers like this one were places to take your time and whether you were a merchant striking your deal or just friends enjoying allegedly discussion well it seems they had the royal idea to me back in the nineteenth century a foreign couple an excellent company if you want as to who can.

g.b.h. was full of we know you are doing leverage here in which case you'd be fearfully be charged it was time to return to the present but down on the congo river far more ancient tradition was taking place. i arrived in time for the russian orthodox celebration of a picnic a festival commemorates jesus his baptism and dozens of people were gathering by a hole in the ice to observe the sanctifying of the waters where you. will see the crowd coming in here on mass with as many containers as they can carry because often the water has been blessed the russian orthodox people believe that it's become incorruptible and they'll take all this force and home with them to bless themselves their families and their houses.

it was a bit of a scramble but at least for now everyone was staying drawing and i headed off to watch the festivals culmination and one of congress' most famous landmarks. this is got to be the poem regions natural highlights i'm in the congo cave and it's the only ice cave in russia that's a quick for tourist expeditions and these beautiful crystals hang from the walls all year around the caves ventilation system acts like a natural freezer minimi ice near its entrance never thought was and still uptight and starwood might step right at ceilings and for us. amazingly beautiful but. it is no slip break. became his first documented back in the ninth century and it's been

a guided tour ist attraction for well over one hundred years. it can be pretty cramped in places but as you move further back the ice receives the landscape starts to change the whole cave extends almost six kilometers on the ground and this should give you an idea of some of the variations of the size of the cross just this one is massive compared to the pole across that we saw right at the beginning and also it's much much warmer and probably about plus two here and back at the start was around minus twelve. when you get it. reaches a depth of almost sixty meters and it's here of the bottom that you find it's underground lakes and just for tonight a crowd of the faithful. so once the

this is finished here everyone queues up for a quick splash of holy water and a blessing for the priest. and for the bravest believers that's the signal to take the plunge freefall dips into the lake to all of the holy trinity and wash away all the sins from the past year. now and go the other most respects for guys like this but. purely for health and safety reasons you understand i should not be immersing my whole body in this freezing water so i think i'm going to troy and epiphany likes. it. and i may be able to take care of a parking fine something like that. i

made my way out of the cave and away from. the city maybe a beautifully preserved part of the region's industrial past but i was ready to take a trip into the countryside to a place with a mysterious strict. culture is that so much going on there to give each musician time. for a killing spree by a u.s. soldier the burning of korans image a creation of taliban forces the u.s. says it remains committed to it's. this respectable british gentleman's choice was. to leave jackets and old whiskey. a much younger wife. and more than twenty years of intelligence service in profits of the soviet union. killed his choice on party. have in

a place called. at first glance perhaps just another piece of poem region countrysides but apparently you can have close encounters here with much more than just nature. perms version of area fifty one flying saucers alien encounters and unusual goings on have been reported here i wanted to see if there was anything to get. the gold to look for extra terrestrials around. i've got the most experience. in the business strange things happening come it's supposed to have its own equivalents of the triangle some even believe that it's a gateway to

a parallel universe and larry and i believe they can prove it is not what it seems . pretty tricky. but. this part is supposed to be the most active anomalous zone so something weird is going to happen it's very likely to happen right here. and nicholai has an instrument he thinks shows up discrepancies in the areas energy fields through the first. i have a few devices with me. this one is interesting because it detects things we can't normally see. there's a pulsing signal. scanning around. you've got kind of like a pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop sound. which gets

a lot faster. when i move up. much of the total very there is infrared radiation here it may affect the operation of appliances and even human pauli when you take a photo sometimes tears appear when there is an anomaly here for sure we can hear it. it was certainly something strange afoot and the larry had yet more tales of the unexpected for me. several years ago i came across strange markings in the snow this is what they looked like. snow was only here in this place it seemed to have evaporated there was no snow here. so i saw two squares and something looking like this before. haven't we i think this was left by a u.f.o. . i barely noticed the i was passing but the sun had already started to set if i

was going to see something in the lead it had to happen fast. so i've encountered parallel universes energy anomalies and even lapses in time but i still haven't found any of these pesky aliens so there must be some way to do it. take me to your leader. well i don't know what happened next i seem to have some strange unexplained memory loss aliens or no i needed to head north and three hundred twenty kilometer drive or switch teleportation will take you to one of the area's most populous cities and a genuine industrial powerhouse this place is called sole accounts and it may be the most important city in the whole of the region they call it russia salt cellar and it's been supplying the vital mineral to the country for more than six hundred years. the city lies on the karma river and its name

translates to salts of the common it's particularly famous for its potassium chloride which is refined and sold as fertilizer and a trip through the city shows how the process has changed over time. these buildings are tribute to a bygone age they date back to the eighteen eighty's and they're the oldest standing salt factory left in russian. all of this is original equipment and this borehole goes down to a depth of almost two hundred meters i found the down there the salt water had a higher concentration and they would pump it out and take it to the furnace house for the next stage of the process. and so it was obtained bryant operation and once it had boiled off from this great big basin here it would have been put up the top ready for the next batch and then it would all have been transported by hand in tides like this now this one was personally just for the ladies i can tell you

that's about fifty kilos they made up in those days. but this will give you a better idea of what the boy who watched you looks like this one was drilled in one thousand nine hundred sixty i was actually under another old factory for water still flowing and nowadays people basically become i'm using to some sort of tonic parities was to be very good for the skin. certainly refreshing. but times have most definitely changed. nowadays of course the salt production is a bit more sophisticated so alexander annoying or about think it's all of the past

and soul in the world. something a little bit dark so as to turn this on now we're going down about four hundred twenty five meters the right said about three minutes. away from. the front don't know if. this is rudnick show off number four and they comes out around one point three million tons of all from it every month. as we moved on would it was easy to make out the different layers present on the mines with. its belief that they have a deposits of an ancient sea that flowed through this region around two hundred fifty million years ago and they have some seriously heavy equipment to collect them. so this massive drilling machine is the softs workhorse it weighs about one hundred tons and excavates almost thirty meters down each scene every

shift and i'm going to get a chance to put it into action right. there we get to see. them once it gets going it needs to be mc pretty quickly. so our transport vehicle is coming up here. see that's really the see. the second. one is going to come down and we should see about the civil war. going on in the back here. just gets everywhere you go there's. just one. long thought. the north has forced their into again.

and we have. to get into position. a little. bit of good. strides. to the factory. this point is massive output it's believed this mine contains enough salts to last another forty years on the restore rooms to make sure the production continues around the clock but from xander and the boys the shift was nearly finished i can't get over this she saw ease and scale of this story and it's about twenty metres high and almost two hundred metres long it's like something out of a hollywood horror movie i keep thinking that something's going to jump out at me

from the shadows but just thinking about the scale of the work that must be required to fill this with all makes me tired so i think on that note it's probably time for a well earned cup of tea. and off of the journey back to the capital but also deserves a point to eat to. one of my favorite things about travelling around russia is that it gives me a chance. to try out all the different local cuisines i don't a chilly winter day like today it's the perfect excuse to eat something hops and fattening. now this is a city off the moire and hot because palm is famous for its poisonous i'm going to learn how to make one. really hello i will still watch can we cook today i can teach you how to cook our of the cyclone to keep it better be great thanks very

much. and i will. translate as juicy poise tiny supposedly to much the short hours of daylight's their winter favorite here in perth. ok overall good all right ok let's see how good i am of the rolling pin. and then the contents is even did so we've got chicken breasts with some with some young ones in there as well and a bit of cream that's going to make up awfully good. once each has a generous dollop the edge is a sealed and crimped into a shape that reminded me of what. my west country roots hope they're. used to working with the past these are the states in the past. three each one is has made and has the reputation of being the best in the city the restaurant serves

them to around fifty guests tonight. gets the best of it now frying them in lots of oil. more space for taste better. and after just a couple of minutes they're ready to be plated up and served with this special sauce appropriate poem treat it all with a good thing just his analysis ok so mustard and then they go. of course the proof of the force of course you can only need to. think i'm going to be packing on the winter insulation movies. there's no doubt that if you're visiting russia the region has a great deal so often a thriving capital that's making an autistic statements natural highlights and an

industrial center that's still going strong off to six hundred years. on slave for the end just in case.