Neil Bowdler is a multimedia editor at RFE/RL.
A kindergarten for Ukrainian refugees has opened in Prague in the Czech Republic and has already accepted 25 Ukrainian children aged from 2 to 6. It was set up by a local Ukrainian education foundation after Ukrainians struggled to find places for their children in Czech kindergartens.
Women in the Iranian capital, Tehran, burned their head scarves amid the annual fire festival known as Chaharshanbeh Suri. Videos posted on social media showed anti-government protests erupting in several Iranian cities as celebrations ahead of the Persian New Year, Norouz, turned to defiance.
Nana Malashkhia, 47, became an icon of the March demonstrations in Georgia after she was seen waving a European Union flag while being blasted by a water cannon. She told RFE/RL about how she came to be at the heart of the protests.
RFE/RL spoke to younger Georgians -- the so-called "Generation Z" -- who joined protests against a controversial new law that would have forced entities with over 20 percent of overseas funding to register as "foreign agents."
RFE/RL Georgian Service reporter Sophie Datishvili explains the background to Georgia's controversial "foreign agents" law and talks about why following two days of violent protests, it's now being withdrawn.
There have been clashes with police in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, after a controversial new law passed its first reading in the national parliament. The law would require companies with over 20 percent funding from abroad to register as "foreign agents."
Afghan musician Farida Tarana's new song, Group Sex, in which she criticizes polygamy and Taliban restrictions on women, has caused an uproar in Afghanistan since it was released three months ago. She told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi she's only just getting started.
There has been a wave of mass brawls on streets and at shopping malls in Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus involving members of the Ryodan youth group and their rivals. The Ryodan "private military company" is thought to have originated in Russia and draws on the Japanese manga series Hunter x Hunter.
Vyacheslav Yalov's mother died in his arms after she was hit by Russian shelling as they walked home together in the village of Verkhnotoretske in Ukraine's Donetsk region in 2022. Yalov, who has just turned 19, is now the guardian of his four siblings.
A new exhibition of anti-war posters in St. Petersburg by the veteran Russian artist and activist Yelena Osipova has been closed the day after it opened after police confiscated all the works. Speaking to RFE/RL, she said her protests against Russia's invasion of Ukraine would continue.
A Russian restaurateur with terminal cancer is dedicating what remains of her life to feeding pensioners and poor families in the Siberian city of Yakutsk. Irina Guzova runs a "social canteen" where about 40 people come each day to eat for free.
A man who wheeled books around Kabul and gave them out for free in response to a Taliban ban on higher education for girls and women was arrested on February 2. The day before, RFE/RL interviewed him as he made his rounds through the Afghan capital.
Buda Munkhoyev and Vladimir Popov moved from the Siberian region of Buryatia to the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, to avoid mobilization and the war in Ukraine. In Kyrgyzstan, they started making videos about local life and culture there, notching up hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube.
A hospital in the city of Balaklia in Ukraine's Kharkiv region has reopened after state and international funds were used to repair and reequip it. Medical staff say the hospital was shelled by Russian forces.
Damian Duda is a military paramedic from Poland who has volunteered to save lives on the front line near the eastern Ukrainian city of Soledar. He volunteered to work in Ukraine in 2014 and returned in 2022.
A memorial service was held in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on January 29 to remember Briton Chris Parry and Andrew Bagshaw, a dual citizen of New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The two aid workers were killed on January 6 near the city of Soledar in Ukraine's Donetsk region.
With temperatures plummeting to -20 degrees Celsius in January, Kyrgyzstan's Naryn region is ideal for winter sports. Despite being scarcely populated and lacking investment, the region offers winter activities like ice fishing, skating, and skiing thanks to a few family businesses.
With temperatures falling as low as -30 degrees Celsius in Astana, stray cats and dogs struggle to survive on the streets of the Kazakh capital. Shelters are full and animal-welfare groups are asking locals to provide food and warmth for strays who risk freezing to death.
Lyudmil Yordanov is a third-generation maker of traditional Bulgarian "kuker" masks. He returned from doing menial jobs in the United States to develop the family craft.
A song by Tajik rapper Suhrob Soliev about a Tajik man sent to fight in Ukraine with the Russian Army has become popular on social media. The song is based on a conversation with a real Tajik soldier who contacted the rapper from a hospital. The injured soldier was later killed in action.
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