Coilin O'Connor is a digital editor for RFE/RL. He previously worked as a translator and editor for the publications department of the Czech Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes and headed the English department of Radio Prague International. He has also had numerous reports published by various media outlets, including Deutsche Welle and The Atlantic, among others.
The Czech rugby association has unwittingly raised hackles in Pakistan after being accused of disrespectfully using the word "Allah" for the national team's logo.
Czechs opposed to a populist politician say they know how to counter his anti-Muslim views -- by eating kebabs.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is no stranger to controversy but even many seasoned Turkey watchers were taken aback when he boldly claimed that "Muslims discovered America in 1178, not Christopher Columbus."
From Commander Chris Hadfield "floating in a tin can" to the "worst twerk fail ever," here's RFE/RL's selection of the funny, downright weird, and sometimes shocking clips that caught our attention in the past year.
The man who invented arguably the world's most iconic weapon, the AK-47 assault rifle, has died at the age of 94.
A new website offering a virtual tour of Gulag camps was launched last week. The project is the result of three Czech expeditions to some of the remotest parts of Siberia, which mapped the ruins of forced-labor sites from the Stalinist era. Using cutting-edge panoramic photography, the website's creators aim to provide visitors with a realistic idea of living conditions in the Siberian Gulag where millions of Soviet citizens and people from many other countries perished.
This month marks the 70th anniversary of the start of the Battle of Stalingrad, a ferocious and brutal siege that proved to be a major psychological and military tipping point in World War II. RFE/RL's Coilin O'Connor talks to the prominent British historian Antony Beevor -- author of "Stalingrad" -- about how this engagement between two totalitarian armies helped turn the course of the global conflict. Beevor also discusses the enduring legacy of Stalingrad seven decades after the event and looks at some of the popular misconceptions associated with this battle.
As is now customary in the Internet age, there were plenty of videos that caught the public's imagination and spread like wildfire across social media in 2012.
In the years that have passed since 9/11, the event has been gradually reclaimed by many genuine artists who have used their creative imaginations to describe, explain and, above all, commemorate a day that has been indelibly etched on the collective consciousness.
