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.
Andrei Sakharov And The Massive 'Tsar Bomba' That Turned Him Against Nukes
Andrei Sakharov, who was born 100 years ago this week, is widely remembered as one of the 20th century's most outspoken and dedicated champions of human rights and freedom. He was also the "father of the Soviet hydrogen bomb" and was involved in the world's most devastating nuclear weapons test. By Tony Wesolowsky
See Also: Andrei Sakharov's Life In Photos: From Bomb Maker To 'The Conscience Of Mankind'
And: The New Sakharov Exhibition Moscow Didn't Want Russians To See
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Big Sentences For Little Protests: Belarus Crackdown Targets Smallest Signs Of Dissent
Big Sentences For Little Protests: Belarus Crackdown Targets Smallest Signs Of Dissent
A Belarusian man faces two years of forced labor after being accused of insulting a policeman in an online chat room, while a 19-year-old arrested for putting an opposition flag in his student dorm window could now go to prison for seven years on extremism charges. After a monthslong crackdown on the opposition following a presidential election widely seen as rigged, Belarusian authorities are now ramping up repressive measures against the smallest signs of dissent. By Ray Furlong and Current Time
Anti-Semitic Incidents Put Focus On Romania's Dark Role During Holocaust
Recent anti-Semitic incidents in Romania have led to introspection and highlighted the dark chapters of the country's World War II history. By Alison Mutler
'I'm Not Afraid For Myself': Determined Pensioners Risk It All For Russia's Pro-Democracy Movement
Young people have grabbed most of the attention in Russia's pro-democracy protest movement. But a few resolute pensioners have joined their ranks. “I live by the principle: Do what you must and come what may,” one elderly activist said. By Yulia Paramonova and Robert Coalson
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Living On The Edge: Open-Pit Mines In Siberian City Spark Fear
Living On The Edge: Open-Pit Mines In Siberian City Spark Fear
In the Siberian city of Kiselyovsk, locals live within a stone's throw of gaping open-pit coal mines. The operations within the city limits are technically forbidden, but residents say clever legal language has allowed the mining companies to keep digging close to their homes. Some fear that their proximity to the mines puts their health and safety at risk. By Harutyun Mansuryan, Pavel Afonasyev, and Current Time
Camera In The Banya: Russia's FSB Spied On Jehovah's Witnesses In Bathhouse
Russian intelligence services have spied on and filmed Jehovah's Witnesses in a bathhouse, in the latest example of persecution against the outlawed Christian group. By RFE/RL
Grandmother Raises An Orphan Of Islamic State, As Kazakhs Confront Reintegration Question
A teenage grandson -- one of around 400 "IS children" in Kazakhstan -- is a 60-year-old Kazakh woman's only connection to her late daughter. By Yelena Veber, Asylkhan Mamashuly, and Farangis Najibullah
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A COVID Coma And The Birth Of 'Sunshine': A Hungarian New Mother Astounds Doctors
A COVID Coma And The Birth Of 'Sunshine': A Hungarian New Mother Astounds Doctors
A Hungarian woman, Szilvia Bedo-Nagy, gave birth the day she was admitted to an intensive-care unit with COVID-19. She was put on a ventilator and then on an artificial lung and kept in an induced coma for 40 days but defied expectations and recovered. Mother and baby Napsugar, which means sunshine in Hungarian, are now doing well. By RFE/RL's Hungarian Service and Neil Bowdler
Russia's Eurovision Finalist Living A 'Dream,' Warns Against Anti-Immigrant Nightmare
Immigrant songwriter Manizha vows to keep the plight of newcomers to Russian society at the fore as she performs her bouncy feminist anthem, Russian Woman, at the finals of this weekend's Eurovision Song Contest. By Khiromon Baqozoda
The Battle For Lake Ohrid
As UNESCO mulls placing North Macedonia and Albania's Lake Ohrid on its list of "world heritage in danger," some illegal shoreline constructions are being torn down while others wait to be "legalized." By RFE/RL's Balkan Service