we go home yes. the legs are frozen just like a fish like. can you be careful. in mid november the arctic night descends on the archipelago. to greet it the norwegian town of longing to be an organizer is a special ceremony. for many years the occupy like it was declared terra nullus old then belonging to nobody it wasn't until nine hundred twenty that the islands became no wage and territory but even today they enjoy a unique status. any country that signed the spitzbergen treaty can freely and gauge in commercial activity here no visa or is needed to visit the island and

there are no customs of border posts anyone on the planet can come and settle on the archipelago has just one condition they must be self-sufficient. in some. places so special because a lot of people came here and they really didn't know how retore they are because i think ok and already are closer to north korea. and other people know all it's a foreigner no descriptors and everything about. four hundred times the better change very fast like rojas. this is could be very bad. if you are. about to sell some five hundred people live on the island but knowing the number of beds is more of a challenge there are at least three fields and certainly more than there are

people. you know. i don't like to. just here three. let me disagree here right well if you're going to write for. everyone. here have you ever come to. firing a rifle here was as easy as hiring a scooter but if a bear gets shot the investigation into whether it was really killed in self defense is a sorrow as it would be from the. island is indeed an unusual place shops provide special lockers where customers can store their guns while shopping and while deer amble freely in the streets. there is a distinct russian spirit in this small norwegian town only two countries currently maintain their presence on the island russia and norway. this is the reason

why i go back and i hear that are. going to grow more because they have the russian. yeah still and in fact you these people took an interest in the russian language for a reason they often visit the town of balanced budget for decades the neighboring towns have shared visits for sporting events. we may be different in many aspects but i'm sure everyone's happy to have a neighbor pool you see there are no other neighbors around here. and we've had a lot of enjoyable meetings in baron's burg. often how you're leaving for work yes to have a regular working day of course not it's

a holiday today a holiday there are no holidays in the mind two years ago maxim to above came to spitzbergen alone to see how it would work out. many people can't bear being separated from their relatives is not everyone manages to move their families here . you can not everyone can cope with the atmosphere in this arctic night in which. he left his wife and three children at home. we didn't feel anything for the first six months. then mum started missing dad. and so did we we are well he wasn't there we could only talk on skype he had to call me every day as soon as he was home from work. knowing that he was safely back from the mine was the most important thing for me. two months ago the duble family

at last moved to barents burg. and i'd like to spend at least ten years here and i want to settle properly and save enough money to buy flats for my kids. i do your homework yet a bit. i haven't seen you for ages so does it feel better having a family with you or do you need to ask you must feel more like real man yes. in the past barons but was always a male domain not a place for women with children. men still account for the majority of the population. there are no old or socially disadvantaged people here. every inhabitant of the island has to be young and healthy enough to be able

to work because. my grandfather worked here in nine hundred fifty six so that he spent two years on this island and dad always dreamed of going where his own father had worked at the show he came in two thousand and eight with my mom at the show and in two thousand and nine my wife and i came here to you know i think that i'm the head of the tourist agency and the hotel administrator that's part of my job description. although it's my wife's job to deal with the mail that rests on my shoulders too. difficult so why not during tourist season i also work as a guide. you know and when we have excursions i work in the souvenir shop in the morning i teach english at the local school which is why i'm not in the office. there's only one employer in better. cold is a russian company everything in the village the houses shops and canteen old belong

to the. people can only get tibetans but once every two months. both cooks they decide to change after a wedding anniversary stephanie has brought her two children to be with her husband . that's come alone. her husband that's a first. year ago another woman came on her own she left pretty soon though.

she was an accountant. usually it's the other way around. well after their husbands try to find jobs for their wives on the island. of the. new arrivals beside the personnel department. brings her children with her. there's no one else to babysit because everyone is at work. also owns a productive mine the parents. everyone has to attend a briefing when they first get here. there is going to work. she'll start as soon as her children are going to kindergarten but first we have to get used to the new home. movies in britain to get started

whimpering and i decided to leave so we wouldn't disturb anyone. it's always dark outside so i'm constantly sleepy and my eyes hurt but i'll get used to it. other people cope somehow so will i will wait for the light i hope will settle here well like the place. i think. now the main thing is for the kids to adapt to the climate and be healthy. the first contract is usually for six months the second for two years on average people have spent four to five years in balance back but there seems to be changing workers or nell spending longer periods of time here printing furnished apartments and so the arctic cold trust is renovating many of the houses and was there a t.v. set yes so there it's so nice just great.

to see everyone likes this place it's nice and tidy. new residents meet up at the home supply store everyone has a long shopping list. because that's a small pan. i think our first two paychecks will be spent entirely on the household number one two and the third one as well there's no cash on balance budget in two thousand and eleven there was an attempt to introduce a local currency called the bone but norwegians were unhappy about the idea of bank notes circulating on wheat and soil with the russian federation printed on them. it's rumored that to avoid conflict the governments decided not to use any money at all. and no more bank cards to work here either the shops only accept a special internal card which is given to all up to coles employees everyone sets

their own credit limit and the balance is a ventilated ducted from salaries. it's easy squire laying money away because there is nothing to spend it on no rest trends or days cuz i'm sure that if we do you manage to leave here for some time it will be closer to each other to just those stories that my uncle told me about people living their husbands and wives for other men and women. it must be an island of temptation here. berland social science center just published a study suggesting that two thirds of muslims in western europe hold their religious roles and the laws of the countries that believe that if you read the

bible if you get if you go into christianity you find the sentence that you should obey god more than caesar. that means religious schools more important and more convincing those of the students in the very same thing that is now referred to the muslims. if you. know opportunity. to start to construct your own. noland be a bit give don't want to be gangstas you don't want to be. they don't want that blow with all the time that the king came to be we can see. you just meet the boat as i was in my problems in the hood and what the bible

thirty round clip. about i said. i don't want to die i just really do not want to die young young age. such. as the country fourteen olympics what's this place like the line is is so special as the russian resort prepares to local the world power the games should be the city's present and future ludlow so it will bring it this is the moment they're reporting from a very cold and dead. snowy windy mountainous stuff yeah beyond the olympics but come on one thing. on our team.

go to kindergarten my daughter asks me does not it's still done quilly going it will always be dark now i tell her the sun has gone to sleep she says i want to go home i don't want to live by the sea she thought it would be warm and sunny. through no four hundred thirty people in bennett's book including a hundred and thirty women and fifty five children no one is ever born on the island it's against the rules that pregnant women must return to the mainland. spitzbergen children never catch colds the virus come survive here. it's only the newly arrived to bring infections to the island. that's why children are always quarantined for their first ten days when they can't go to school or can to go to.

sometimes though children just can't adjust to the climate. their parents either have to send them away or leave the island for good. it's too cold to go outside so the kids wrap up the play in an unheated hall where they can exercise without being exposed to the elements even though the temperature is almost the same as outside the kids are protected from the biting. ok. ok well. thank.

you again heavy you know i am not. in the first year but all the students sit together in one classroom irrespective of age. the teacher gives each student individual assignments and then checks them separately. after classes the children stay in school there's nowhere else to go and the teachers always try hard to find new ways to entertain them. you know. it was useless i realised why running small difficult here would be ed pressure on the island is higher than on the mainland and it's not difficult to brief. you the worst of them all sometimes i ask myself if a normal life would make it easier for him in the future. i still don't really know

. but i'm not sure if we've made the right choice. although the spitsbergen coal reserves are being depleted to continue mining is a matter of principle a presence on the archipelago is a political imperative for both russia and norway. the mind works around the clock so the adults work in shifts they often leave as early as six in the morning leaving dunhill to wake the younger kids. but also when the alarm clock goes off. i wake marine or in the silly they want to stay in bed. with us still duck live where we go and they ask. bush marina's teeth i

mean obviously does he's own. style you can i put the kettle on and dress them. more when i grow up i'll move to the mainland and go to university. i want to be an interpreter. to make good money. is not love it's always good to know a foreign language. the most important event in autumn is the sports competition. people from the norwegian to. visit the russian to attend. it's a tradition that dates back many years some say it began as the nine hundred thirty s. when both norway and the then soviet union was still new to the occupy. the

norwegians told their neighbors their traditional game called. we never even seen a stick before when we started playing we didn't know the rules and we were constantly asking questions now we've got the hang of it how one wants. about this. but i think we're on equal ground we're good at volleyball and always win a basketball we're about even in football and as for chess we've got a new player who will bring us victory.

all the competitions are held simple to flee. winning is a matter of those countries especially when it comes to football and bundy. only twice in the competition's history as the better to be from the norwegians at the national game. the second time was last year but fortune wasn't to smile on them this time. the football had the fans on the edge of their seats with the team's neck and neck. as though the russians proved victorious. i lost two games. and i played with and one that says well. there's my

boy. did you know the done he did clever boy. surprisingly the basketball game is the most dramatic. the norwegians are less than happy with the referee and one spectator is quite indignant. still. do we need a ref at all no referee you can do without a ras while you are afraid let him do it while you do it but him referee give him a whistle. go over there. there'll be two of you go on. to referees take to the court. the people of spitzbergen do know how to compromise. there are more than forty different ethnicities living together on the island.

northern life dumond's tolerance and cooperation if it's to be survived. thank you . right now. the sporting event is one of the very few opportunities people have to socialize and meet up especially during the long arctic night. you work here. and you just miss it. working often. so my ok and table tennis are football. ok. but you got one. making ambitious plans to

develop its own tourist industry. the abandoned mining town. will be home to the new russian tourists. and there's no people there so it's kind of like a ghost town there was one guy named toby. he tried to go for a hike so. it took him by two weeks and he had had to get. picked up by a fisherman because you have no more food left so i think you should only have yeah. but it can only be reached in daylight that the devil is already of. the for when the polar night ends and the snowmobile season begins the all those russian six will be teeming with people or who.

would you know tourists used to stay like watching us locals picking up the kids from school the guide probably tells them where the natives use them very well and that if we have to say hi and smile we go to work or come home shopping or just walk in and they're going yeah that's it we stay right back. but that won't happen until the poland and the northern sun has risen again. for people only venture away from the settlement for emergencies perhaps to repair vital and hard to reach equipment no one leaves the village without a very good reason. that usually people only leave the village to admired the beauty of spitzbergen oil and like watching the sea at night nothing.

there's absolutely nothing to see. during the long pole a night the residents tend to live ordinary workaday lives in new arrivals are given time to get their bearings but today is oldest first day at work. i was anxious. to do everything on time. but i managed it fine the husband only starts work tomorrow he's here and will to support his wife we're going to spend at least two years here but we'll have to see how it goes to here is a long time maybe six months will do it. before starting to work independently elaine i will shadow a colleague for a few days. i have a boyfriend. but i'm not sure she'll come here.

stephanie children couldn't start at kindergarten because one of them has a cold only time will tell if he can cope with the climate i want to. play her behave. let you know i don't like it and tomorrow you go to kindergarten no yes. and let's proceed see if you. just. that the weather is awful look how strong the wind is and it's so dark. and it will stay. until the next day begins.

it was very interesting because i had dropped out of the sky in the lower orbit a little or shift across a few degrees. and do a circle i'm at a speed which you know just astronomical speeds as you know they travel very very thoughts is it just looks like a falling star that falls really quickly and then rises again what does it look like a lot of just look like. the year that was two thousand and thirteen and what has made it memorable we ask in this edition of crossfire who excelled in who disappointed us what stories captured our attention because of hope or do you despair.

why is the price of gold so high. demand global demand do you think gold is money. no the value of the only plays we have to live of the water that we need to survive it's not compared to i mean gold we're not going to eat gold we're not going to be. we're not going to drink oh well clearly one of my all is and is in a desperate economic situation absolutely right what we're wrong to do is say therefore any kind of economic development from the outside is going to be

a benefit their only purpose is to extract as much money as possible to feed into the global financial system. with me you're a part of the political economic system that's extremely exploited or. first was a question whether mining should even be carried out altogether can it be done in a way which doesn't destroy people's lives resources environment well you know those are pretty serious questions mining is not a what a moment problem it's happening in asia in africa and south america in central america in mexico and it's even happening in canada and the united states. these labels have been counted salaheddin braving the elements in order to stand up

to us oil giants chevron. this comes after a massive hunger strike that returned the world's attention to the place that sometimes dubbed the gulag of our times. is an undeclared global battlefield in which a young and it's just one of the front lines. is that it.

it's now thought a terror attack in the russian city of volgograd could have been carried out by a man fifteen were killed by a suicide bomber targeting the city's main railway station. and to this week's top news in turkey riot police crackdown on protesters demanding the government step down after a high ranking corruption scandal. and our key looks at events in that shape to the world in two thousand and thirteen we review the revelations by former n.s.a. contractor edward snowden which exposed america's mass surveillance. the old media organizations. branch of the establishment. we also talk to wiki leaks founder julian assange about the state of journalism today and his new media stand up road movie.