a double landlocked country steeped in silk road legacy. it s like something from a 60s spy movie or something. it s incredible. ..where soviet influences. horns sound ..meet ancient traditions. this is amazing. i can t believe this. this is where arches would have stood. ..and vast landscapes hide impressive relics. it s pretty astonishing that i m able to still walk around here. for the best part of a century, this country has been off limits to many outsiders. but in recent years, that s been changing, and i m on a journey to see what we ve been missing out on. this is uzbekistan! once part of the enormous soviet union, uzbekistan is a country of arid deserts, lush mountains and ancient cities. in its long history, it s been home to many civilisations, remnants of which can still be seen today. and now, its more recent past is as much of a draw. i m starting myjourney here in tashkent, the biggest city in the whole of central asia. it s dynamic, full of young people wit
a double landlocked country steeped in silk road legacy. it s like something from a 60s spy movie or something. it s incredible. ..where soviet influences. horns sound ..meet ancient traditions. this is amazing. i can t believe this. this is where arches would have stood. ..and vast landscapes. ..hide impressive relics. it s pretty astonishing that i m able to still walk around here. for the best part of a century, this country has been off limits to many outsiders. but in recent years, that s been changing, and i m on a journey to see what we ve been missing out on. this is uzbekistan. once part of the enormous soviet union, uzbekistan is a country of arid deserts, lush mountains and ancient cities. in its long history, it s been home to many civilisations, remnants of which can still be seen today. and now its more recent past is as much of a draw. i m starting myjourney here in tashkent, the biggest city in the whole of central asia. it s dynamic, full of young people wi
dc later this year and one foundry in gloucestershire has played a key part. the extraordinary work of art has taken pangolin foundry in stroud and american sculptor sabin howard around 10 years to create, as amanda parr reports. a depiction of one soldier s journey through the great war and a creative journey like no other for the team here at pangolin. the american sculptor, sabin howard, searched the world for a foundry he trusted and he discovered it in stroud. as you can see, the casting has come beautifully, really sharp detail. i m really happy with that. it s been a decade in the making. the process has been astonishing. actors with clothes from the period flew from the states to pose before this rig of cameras. sd images were then made up in foam and clay and sent back to the us for the sculpting, from life, each figure taking hundreds of hours. and then they ve been shipped back to stroud to be cast in bronze. the project of a lifetime. how s the work going? how s
this is uzbekistan. once part of the enormous soviet union, uzbekistan is a country of arid deserts, lush mountains and ancient cities. in its long history, it s been home to many civilisations, remnants of which can still be seen today. and now its more recent past is as much of a draw. i m starting myjourney here in tashkent, the biggest city in the whole of central asia. it s dynamic, full of young people with almost half under the age of 30 and it s booming. though wherever you look, you are reminded of its soviet past. so what s this impressive building? incredible. this is our circus. munis nur has been studying the unique blend of soviet and islamic architecture that tashkent is known for. after a massive earthquake in the 60s, the soviets rebuilt the whole city. at that time, as you know, many different architects came from the soviet union, and all the architects tried to build the ideal city here. the circus is one of the many examples of the era s modernist arc
of will be in the milder zone. some significant snow to begin with in the mountains in the north east. on saturday there will be some sunny spells and temperatures up to about 12. warm christmas eve, back to you, i2. warm christmas eve, back to you, sophie. thanks, matt. and that s bbc news at ten. this is bbc news. we will have the headlines at the top of the hour as newsday continues straight after hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk, i m stephen sackur. are the machines about to take over? that basic fear seems to underpin much of the discussion about artificial intelligence, and parallel developments such as synthetic biology. the latest wave of tech advances offers us extraordinary new possibilities, but do we flawed human beings have the will and the means to contain and control them? well, my guest is mustafa suleyman, ceo of inflection ai and the author of a challenging book on al and us. is that a doomed relationship? mustafa suleyman, welcome to hardtalk. thanks for havin