Strikes Add Momentum To Wave Of...

Strikes have broken out across Belarus as protests grow against alleged electoral fraud and a brutal postelection crackdown by security forces. The protest wave was sparked when the authorities announced after the August 9 election that long-serving authoritarian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka had received some 80 percent of the vote

‘An Ecological Bomb’: Russians Living With...

Residents of the city of Aleksandrov, north of Moscow, say they want a giant landfill site closed permanently, claiming it’s a health hazard. Local activists started blockading the site in 2018 to stop trash from Moscow from being unloaded there. A court order in May banned such dumping, but checkpoints run by residents remain in …

Continue reading “‘An Ecological Bomb’: Russians Living With The Legacy Of A Dangerous Dump”

First-Ever Public Bus Service Launched For...

The first-ever public bus service for the northern Pakistani city of Peshawar has been launched by the local government. The Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), which uses hyrbrid buses, was completed at a cost of more than $400 million

US-backed Syrian Forces Target IS Sleeper...

The recent assassinations of tribal leaders in eastern Syria have triggered a new campaign by U.S.-backed forces to hunt down Islamic State sleeper cells in the region

COVID-19: Focus Turkey

Turkey is seeking to save its vital tourism sector amid the coronavirus pandemic, but the easing of restrictions as part of the government’s return to normalcy is leading to a surge in infections

Kenya’s Souvenir Beadmakers Struggle as Tourism...

The annual Great Migration of wildlife across Tanzania and Kenya usually attracts thousands of tourists on safari, bringing income to trades that depend on them — such as souvenir makers.  But, as the COVID-19 pandemic has dropped tourism numbers, Kenya’s craftsmen and women are suffering.  In Narok, Kenya, women who specialize in beadwork for tourists have seen their incomes drop to a fraction of what they were last year

Beatings And Humiliations In Belarusian Jails

Anxious relatives gather at the walls of Belarusian jails, while inside there are reports of beatings and humiliations. Thousands of people have been detained amid days of protests against the alleged rigging of the August 9 presidential election

Who Designs DC

Have you ever wondered where Washington, D.C., gets its singular good looks? A commission made up of experts in the arts has a say about almost every public building, monument and space in America’s capital city

Police In Belarus Violently Crack Down...

Belarus witnessed a third night of postelection protests on August 11 after top presidential challenger Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya left for Lithuania amid a widening government crackdown on the opposition. Riot police fired tear gas, rubber bullets, and stun grenades to disperse protesters. Security forces also beat people with batons and attacked cars that blared their horns in protest in the capital, Minsk

Activists Push for Spain to Legalize...

Like in other countries, the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is plunging many people in Spain into poverty