Some parents would gasp at the thought of their children playing with a toy gun, but these Russian children are actually encouraged to take up real arms. Military sports club, ‘Berkut’, (meaning golden eagle), trains up tiny Vlads and Boris’, who dream of joining the elite units of the Russian army and fighting under the command of President Vladimir Putin. Pictured on their website brandishing a hand gun, is a young boy, dressed in military fatigues with his finger over the trigger. Children as young a five are sent on forced marches, given battlefield training, taught hand to hand combat, and how to use military equipment. 12 year olds are also taught to fire Kalashnikov assault rifles and other small arms. During the clubs regular camps some children are given the opportunity to parachute jump during their paratrooper training. The club based in Zhukovsky, Russia, claims to provide military training designed to develop the younger generation of the “motherland” - a term synonymous with the former Soviet Union and the communist rule of the last century.
A weightlifter has lost a whopping 12st after swapping biscuits for biceps .
A scorned woman sparked a punch-up in an airport after she caught her copper boyfriend returning from a romantic holiday with a female police officer .
Sam Notaro built his own flood defences to protect his four-bedroom home in Moorland, Somerset Flooding is likely to get worse around Somerset as groundwater levels continue to rise .
These are the men with one of the most unpleasant jobs in the world .
A grand 56-bedroom hotel, once heaving with injured soldiers during the First World War, now lies completely abandoned .
FISTS fly as two gorillas take each other on in a dramatic battle .
CREATED over 60 years ago, this weighty machine was the Photoshop of its time .
T least three people have been killed and more than 100 injured, some seriously, in two explosions at the finish line of the Boston Marathon .
TENNIS was a game made for three according to the first Victorian rule book .
A miracle baby has overcome a one-in-five-million brain condition – after a blob of glue saved his life .
A man has made a SPUD-TACULAR amount of money sending potatoes in the post .
WITH A STERN look of determination on their faces, these adorable pooches perfect their doggy paddle as they dive head first into a swimming pool .