One early visitor: a fireball streaking across the sky and splashing into Lake Baikal.

'Perfect husband and father' axed, stabbed or strangled full-figured women 'who resembled his mother'.

Key move to revive Far Eastern economy and compete with Macau and Busan.

Putin fires top official in Russian Far East, and calls for Investigative Committee to check how authorities performing.

Vice Premier says 'majority' of work on the replacement to Soyuz for future of Space travel likely to be in city of Omsk.

Forlorn polar bear named Umka turned up at a Russian police station as if pleading for help: now he is back where he belongs.

One estimate is half a million new jobs stemming from improvements to the Baikal-Amur Mainline link amid hopes of foreign investment.

One region alone - Yakutia - has 5 million tons scrap metal dumped in polar regions, an ugly Soviet legacy.

Fear that thawing permafrost caused damage to storage tank.