Here are some of the highlights produced by RFE/RL's team of correspondents, multimedia editors, and visual journalists over the past seven days, including content from Gandhara, the RFE/RL website focusing exclusively on developments in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Living Under The Cross: A New Architectural Tradition Rises In The Tbilisi Suburbs
Far out in the suburbs of Tbilisi, residents attach giant crosses to the rooves of their apartment buildings. Lighting up the night sky, and a beacon for taxi drivers, no one is quite sure how the tradition got started. By Tamuna Chkareuli
Putin's Stamp And The $2 Million Heist
Putin’s Men, How a committee Vladimir Putin ran in the early 1990s became enmeshed in a bribery scandal and a plan to spirit millions of dollars in illicit cash out of Russia. By Andrei Soshnikov, Robert Coalson, Olga Beshlei, and Sergei Kagermazov
Ukrainian Teachers Balk As Moscow Seeks To Impose 'Russian Standards' In Occupied Territories
Across Russia, teachers who have taken an anti-war stance have been fired from their jobs and charged by the authorities. In Volgograd, Roman Melnichenko is considering emigration -- possibly to live with his parents in Ukraine. Marina Dubrova, from Sakhalin in Russia's Far East, was taken to court after being denounced to the authorities by her own students. By Pavlo Krivosheyev and Crimea.Realities
Russia Could 'Blackmail' World Amid Global Food Crisis
In an interview with Current Time, Ukrainian president adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak has warned that Moscow aims to destroy Ukraine's agricultural infrastructure and exploit a global food crisis set off by the war. By Irina Romaliiska
'So That Children Know What Fascists Are': Art Contest Tries To Impress Kremlin's False War Narrative On Kids
Children across Russia are being prompted to produce patriotic drawings for an art contest called "Z Patriot," aimed at drumming up support for the Kremlin’s false narrative about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. RFE/RL asked locals in a town in the southern Orenburg region what they think about the initiative. By RFE/RL’s Idel.Realities
Birth Under Fire: Mariupol Midwife Recalls Daily Horrors Of Working Under Siege
Tetyana Sokolova continued to work at Mariupol's Maternity Hospital No. 2 for six weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine. She recalls not only working under fire, but also the everyday dramas of war: women breastfeeding other babies amid a milk formula shortage, and a heartbreaking stillbirth in the basement. But Sokolova says the newborns who survived gave everyone hope that life would triumph over death. By Current Time
Ukraine's Electric Cavalry: The E-Bikes Being Used In Battle
Ukrainian fighters are ushering in a new era of battlefield tactics by using powerful locally designed electric bikes. By RFE/RL
Taliban's Burqa Decree Exposes Afghan Women To Increasing Domestic Abuse
The Taliban recently issued a decree ordering Afghan women to cover their faces in public. If a woman violates the decree, the Taliban said it would punish her male relatives. Women who spoke to RFE/RL's Radio Azadi said their male relatives have prevented them from leaving their homes, where they are exposed to increasing abuse. By RFE/RL's Radio Azadi and Abubakar Siddique
Georgian Land Wrapped In Polyethylene As Plastic Bag Ban Ignored
Environmental activists in Georgia say the country's land, water, and atmosphere is contaminated with plastic bags. A plastic bag ban was introduced in 2019, but the activists say the legislation was quickly relaxed by the state. By Zurab Modebadze from RFE/RL's Georgian Service
Murdered Artist's Work Returned To Family, 80 Years After The Holocaust
After a demolition crew made a startling art discovery in the walls of a Prague house, the work of Gertrud Kauders has been handed over to her descendants. Kauders was a Jewish artist from Prague who was murdered in a Nazi death camp in World War II. By Amos Chapple and Stuart Greer
