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.
Southern England, the south-west and west Wales have been warned to expect more wild weather, with heavy rain and high tides possibly leading to coastal flooding and travel disruption over the weekend .
FEAST your eyes on the £500K coin-covered Range Rover that could be the world’s most blinged-out car .
A Canadian couple celebrated their engagement by recreating iconic moments from the film The Notebook .
A young polar bear cub becomes the yogi bear as she stretches off for a morning aerobics session .
USUALLY full to bursting, these London Underground stations stand silent and completely commuter free .
A university graduate who was obsessed with achieving a thigh gap has told how she shrunk to just 6st after developing anorexia athletica .
COURAGEOUS CLIMBERS scale frozen waterfalls in Canada, as the ice threatens to collapse beneath them .
SOME OF the sea’s most terrifying creatures show their softer side as they join a group of diners for lunch .
With the full moon looming behind him, this polar bear nestles down for the night .
COURAGEOUS climbers descend 400 metres as they manoeuvre their way through thick walls of ice .
Two people have been arrested after a man and woman were shot dead at a house in the Midlands in the early hours of this morning .
FISTS fly as two gorillas take each other on in a dramatic battle .