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Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty broadcasts in 28 languages. Most of our programs are available on FM and medium-wave frequencies of local radio stations in the countries of our broadcast area. If you are having problems listening to programs on the internet, please read our technical help document.
In mid-December, noted Uzbek photographer Umida Ahmedova was charged with defamation and insulting the country's image. - The charges stem from photographs and videos that Ahmedova shot in remote parts of the country for an assignment sponsored by the Swiss Embassy in Tashkent. The project focused on poverty and gender inequality in Uzbekistan -- taboo subjects, apparently, for the Uzbek authorities. Ahmedova faces a fine and up to two years in a labor camp or six months in prison. She is not being allowed to leave the country until her case is resolved. Ahmedova has donated hundreds of her photos from Uzbekistan to RFE/RL's Uzbek Service for use on its website. Here is a selection of those photographs, many of which are among those considered to be injurious to the country's reputation.
Thousands of Iranian opposition supporters launched street protests to coincide with one of Shi'ite Islam's holiest days, Ashura, on December 27, to demonstrate their resolve in the face of a tough government clampdown. These images are from Iran's capital, Tehran.
Thousands of Iranians mourn Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who was buried on December 21 in the shrine of Masoumeh, a revered Shi'ite figure, in the holy city of Qom.
Suicide Bomb Attack In Kabul -- December 15, 2009
U.S. photographer Julia Calfee spent several months in the Swiss Alps taking pictures and sound recordings to document the changes in a glacier as local temperatures rise.
As world leaders meet in Copenhagen to address the threat of climate change, some people are already witnessing its effects firsthand. U.S. photographer Julia Calfee spent several months in the Swiss Alps taking pictures and sound recordings to document the changes in an ancient glacier as local temperatures rise.
Images from the news events that shaped the world in 2009.
Turkmen Fashion Designers Hit Moscow Runway
Anniversary Of U.S. Embassy Siege In Tehran 1979
RFE/RL archival photos of the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961.
At the start of the 20th century, photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorsky won the support of Tsar Nicholas II to conduct an ambitious photographic survey of the Russian Empire. Between 1907 and 1915, Prokudin-Gorsky traveled widely in a railroad car equipped with a darkroom, recording aspects of Russia’s diverse culture.
Moscow-based photographer Maxim Marmur spent two weeks in Beslan in 2004 and returned five years later, in May 2009, to photograph survivors of the siege and the families of the victims.
On August 23, 1989, thousands of people formed a human chain linking the three Baltic capitals – Vilnius, Riga, and Tallinn -- in a peaceful demonstration for personal freedom and national independence. The event marked 50 years since the signing in Moscow of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, in which the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany agreed on the division of power in Europe and the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states.
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As some Orthodox believers flocked to see Russian Patriarch Kirill during his visit to Ukraine, others came to protest what they see as an attempt to exert Russian authority in their country.
Kashgar is an ancient Silk Road trading hub located more than 4,000 kilometers west of Beijing, in China's autonomous Xinjiang region. Its old city has survived, and remains an important Islamic cultural center for the Uyghurs, the Turkic ethnic group living in Xinjiang. But Kashgar's rich Central Asian heritage is being threatened by an ambitious government redevelopment plan that some say has a hidden agenda. Here's a look at life today amid Kashgar's old streets.
Iranian women have taken a highly visible role in the public protests since the contested June 12 vote. Hundreds of thousands have turned out to support reformist candidate Mir Hossein Musavi, while others voted mainly to say “no” to President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, who they see as setting back the cause of women’s rights in Iran. Meanwhile, one woman has become an icon of the reformist movement: Neda Soltan, who was fatally shot during an opposition protest.
The Prague Biennale, an international exhibition featuring some 200 artists, pays special attention this year to young painters from Georgia. The 11 featured Georgian artists are united not by style or specific themes, but by a high degree of engagement with political and social issues in their rapidly changing country.
Nursultan Nazarbaev has led Kazakhstan, Central Asia's largest and richest country, for 20 years without interruption. For some, Nazarbaev is an autocrat who has suppressed freedom and democracy, but for many he remains a guarantor of prosperity and stability.
Hundreds of thousands of people protested in Tehran on June 15 against what many are calling a stolen election. The protests turned violent as demonstrators clashed with members of the Basij militia. At least seven people were reported killed and many others wounded.
Iran's government has declared President Mahmud Ahmadinejad the decisive winner in the June 12 vote, described as one of the most important elections in the Islamic republic's history. The election reportedly drew a turnout of more than 85 percent.
Thirty-seven children live in the run-down state orphanage in the Moldovan village of Cupcui. But only one of them is actually an orphan. Many children in Moldovan state institutions have been placed there by their parents, motivated by grinding poverty, alcoholism, or other family problems and encouraged by a paternalistic state. A project spearheaded by UNICEF and the European Union to reunite children with their families, when possible, or place them in foster homes, hopes to change that.
Millions of migrants from Central Asia and the Caucasus have sought work in Russia, but as jobs dry up, many are returning home. The wave of return migration has meant a rising number of children left behind. Ahead of International Children's Day, RFE/RL visited Moscow Children's Home No. 19, where many sons and daughters of migrant workers have been taken into care.
In countries across RFE/RL's broadcast region, satire plays a special role for writers and artists seeking to shed light on repression, corruption, and violence. These editorial cartoons offer a cross-section of perspectives on issues from energy politics to press freedom.
RFE/RL broadcaster Hozhaber Shinwary is one of Afghanistan's best-known editorial cartoonists. His bold drawings are meant to "encourage people to stop for a second, think, and be aware of what is happening all around them.”
In Russia and other post-Soviet states, the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45 is marked on May 9, a day later than the rest of the world, since it was early morning in Moscow when Germany's official surrender was signed outside Berlin. While Victory Day is marked with grand military spectacle in Moscow, other former Soviet states also have their solemn remembrances.
The Hill Of Crosses is a place of pilgrimage and devotion for Catholics in Lithuania and throughout the Baltic region. During the Soviet era, many of the thousands of crosses there were destroyed by Communist authorities or looted for scrap material. But since Lithuania declared independence in 1990, the Hill of Crosses has become not only a tourist attraction, but also a national symbol.
Photojournalist Reza Deghati, known internationally simply as "Reza," captured iconic images of the Iranian Revolution and the ensuing hostage crisis at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979.