In distant times, parts of California and Hawaii were administered from the city of Irkutsk.

These stunning images were taken by Russian photographer Alexander Tyryshkin on a unique Siberian lake that never freezes, no matter how cold the winter.

Her fun blog from 'cool and exciting' Yakutsk has tips on making the most of the extreme cold.

You've already run the great marathons in Berlin, London or New York, tried Paris, Amsterdam or Hololulu? Have a look at Omsk, Western Siberia. 

Real-life adventurers to a 'professional blonde' queue to participate in the ultimate brutal television reality contest, where 'rape and murder' are not banned.

At first sight it maybe a UFO but in fact this both a boat and a plane - and it is to be tested in Spring on the River Lena in the Sakha Republic.

Our map shows the attacks by bears on humans across a swathe of Siberia and the Russian Far East.

Vital for making its waters so 'pure', one theory is that rising underwater methane leaks are killing off the sponge, but is there a silver lining?

New 'bear security rules' follow mailings of humans from hungry animal in remote towns and villages.

Husband watches as wife is carried away by fast moving mud river after major flooding.