We know you're busy and probably don't have the time to read all of our coverage each and every day. That's why we've put together The Week's Best. Here are some of the highlights produced in English by RFE/RL's vast team of correspondents, multimedia editors, and visual journalists over the past seven days.
Fleeing Home, Chasing Hope: The Refugee And Migrant Experience
Upward of 300 million people are classified by the UN as international migrants. That’s some 3.6 percent of the global population on the move and chasing hope. RFE/RL's language services have come together to mark International Migrants Day on December 18 with a special series of stories. By RFE/RL
See Also:
Germany Has Revamped Its Approach To Migrants, But Acceptance, Integration Are As Hard As Ever
Braving Bandits And Drowning, Central Asians Make Perilous Trek To U.S. Border
While Ukrainians Welcomed, Poland's Afghans Say They Face Hardship And Exclusion
Displaced By Georgian-Abkhaz War, Survivors Revisit Lives Lost 30 Years Ago
Unseen Photos From Georgia's Civil War Discovered In A Flea Market
A young Tbilisi historian has sparked national discussion after finding hundreds of photos of Georgia's turbulent 1990s. By Amos Chapple
Unbeatable! Turkmenistan's FC Arkadag And The 'Regime Superclubs' Of Central Asia
FC Arkadag has taken the Turkmen top league by storm in its debut season. In doing so, it has become the latest in a line of Central Asian football teams to achieve overnight success following backing from strongmen and their family members. By Chris Rickleton
Shrinking Glaciers And Shallow Rivers: Kyrgyzstan Feeling The Effects Of Climate Change
Kyrgyzstan only contributes about 0.03 percent to world greenhouse gas emissions. But its thousands of glaciers and crucial agricultural sector are feeling the effects of rising global temperatures. By Farangis Najibullah and RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service
Secret Schools Offer A 'Ray Of Hope' For Rural Afghan Girls
A network of secret schools is educating around 1,000 teenage girls in southern Afghanistan, a largely tribal and conservative region that has long been the stronghold of the Taliban. The extremist group banned education for girls above the sixth grade soon after seizing power in 2021. By Abubakar Siddique
Ukraine's 'Home Depot' Reborn In Russian-Occupied Donetsk Despite Ban
Tax data shows that shopping-center firm Epitsentr K, a Ukrainian military donor, for years paid a manager who cultivated close ties with the pro-Russian forces in the occupied part of the Donetsk region while managing a firm nearly identical to Epitsentr K, Schemes has found. By Maksym Savhcuk and Schemes
How The Korean Rumored Ex-Fiancé Of Putin's Daughter Landed A Career At Gazprombank
A South Korean man who was rumored in the past to have been engaged to one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s daughters has had a long career at Gazprombank, a large state-linked lender where two of Putin’s sons-in-law have also worked, a new RFE/RL investigation has found. By Andrei Soshnikov, Sergei Titov, Dmitry Sukhavrev, and Svetlana Osipova
Displaced By Georgian-Abkhaz War, Survivors Revisit Lives Lost 30 Years Ago
The brutal 1992-1993 Georgian-Abkhaz war is estimated to have displaced some 250,000 Georgian civilians. After 30 years, many still dream of returning to the world they fled. Current Time located and filmed the abandoned residences of several displaced families. With travel to the region tightly restricted, the images offer some a rare glance at the homes they left behind in Abkhazia three decades ago. By Current Time
52 Days In Hell: One Family's Story Of The Siege Of Mariupol
Olha and Oleh Husak lost their jobs, home, and relatives in the first days of Russia’s occupation of Mariupol. Then the bodies began piling up as Russian forces were accused of war crimes in the Ukrainian port city. By Nataliya Volosatska
Under Russian Fire, A Ukrainian Postwoman Makes Sure The Mail Gets Through
In a partly abandoned town near Ukraine's front lines, residents live without gas or running water, but they know they can still rely on regular mail deliveries. One postal worker, Hanna Povelkova, wears body armor as she makes the rounds, bringing pension payments to her elderly neighbors. She says her role is vital -- not just for mail deliveries, but also to provide human connection in a time of crisis. By Current Time and Borys Sachalko
Hunger, War, Exile: An Armenian Student Journalist Tracks The Fall Of Nagorno-Karabakh
Ani Balayan spent weeks documenting how an ethnic Armenian family struggled with food shortages during Azerbaijan's blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh. But just as she was completing the project for her journalism studies in Yerevan, Azerbaijani forces overran the territory. Balayan was not only cut off from the film's protagonists, her own family was also caught up in the fighting. By Ray Furlong, Hasmik Smbatian, and RFE/RL's Armenian Service
