Hungary — Photos of the rooftop creatures of Budapest Photo: Amos Chapple (RFE/RL)
Hey, you’re busy! We know rferl.org isn’t the only website you read. And that it’s just possible you may have missed some of our most compelling journalism this week. To make sure you’re up-to-date, here are some of the highlights produced by RFE/RL’s team of correspondents, multimedia editors, and visual journalists over the past seven days.
Reestablishing Armenia’s direct links with Azerbaijan and Turkey is seen as crucial for regional peace following the war over Nagorno-Karabakh. But fears and animosities still run deep. By Ron Synovitz and Susan Badalian
With an exposé on the German villa where opposition politician Aleksei Navalny recuperated from a near-death poisoning, Russian state television tried to discredit the corruption crusader. It didn’t go so well. By Mike Eckel
The European Union says Bosnia-Herzegovina has the continent’s deadliest pollution. The district of Bukinje is so badly affected by a local coal-fired power station that its mayor says nobody wants to live there. By Ray Furlong and RFE/RL’s Balkan Service
Exciting new research suggests an iced-in band of ancient northeastern Siberians kicked off mankind’s domestic relationship with dogs at least 23,000 years ago, then exported “man’s best friend” to America and around the world. By Andy Heil
Construction of the final section of the controversial Nord Stream 2 natural-gas pipeline has resumed despite calls from Washington and elsewhere to scrap the Russian-led project, especially after the jailing of Aleksei Navalny and crackdown on protesters. Is the project now a done deal? By Tony Wesolowsky
A new Georgian documentary tells the tale of a billionaire’s quest to move 200 massive trees, at huge expense and with great difficulty, across land and sea to a private park. Taming The Garden, by the filmmaker Salome Jashi, premiered at this year’s international Sundance Film Festival. Georgian businessman and former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili is said to have ordered the trees for his family’s Shekvetili Dendrological Park. The park’s director defended the tree transplantation, telling RFE/RL that only one had withered in transit and that around 1 million people had visited the park in the second half of 2020. By RFE/RL’s Georgian Service and Neil Bowdler
Despite rising influence across the continent, the 17+1 summit has highlighted growing skepticism toward Beijing in Central and Eastern Europe. By Reid Standish
Students in the southern Russian city of Astrakhan have sued their university for expelling them after they protested against corruption and the jailing of opposition leader Aleksei Navalny. Amid reports of similar expulsions across Russia, it suggests a new pushback from the student community. By Matthew Luxmoore
Kazakh conservationists fear that the construction of a new highway linking central and western Kazakhstan could disrupt the migration of critically endangered saiga antelope and lead to a further reduction in their population. The dominant subspecies of the animal can now only be found in Russia and Kazakhstan. The company building the road has promised to build special crossings for animals, but conservationists want it rerouted. By RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service and Neil Bowdler
These monsters, maidens, and heroes have watched history unfold from high above the streets of the Hungarian capital. By Amos Chapple
