Belarus

December 25, 2018

What does Christmas look like around the world? Here's a peek from Thailand, Pakistan, Iraq, Australia, China and several other countries.

Immigration Rewind

How 16 Americans found family, faith and their immigrant roots — generations after their parents left their homelands

November 22, 2018

Updated

02/18/2019 - 4:15pm

Through war and Islamophobia, a generation thought they might have lost their histories and faith in Eastern Europe. But, unexpectedly, they found it again.

Global Politics

Meet the man who volunteered for Obama, worked for Bernie and is now consulting Putin's opponent

February 26, 2018

Vitali Shkliarov was mesmerized by Barack Obama's Berlin speech in 2008, though he didn't speak English at the time. Shkliarov went on to work for Obama and then Bernie Sanders. Now he's an adviser in the Russian elections.

Wildlife in Chernobyl is thriving 30 years after the nuclear accident

Living on Earth

May 16, 2016

In the absence of a human population, the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone has become a de facto nature reserve.

Chernobyl and ‘the summer without children’

April 26, 2016

On April 26, 1986, the world suffered its worst peacetime nuclear disaster, when the Soviet reactor at Chernobyl went into meltdown. One survivor talks about how it affected her and her family.

Education

When Belarus closed its last liberal arts school, the university went into exile

July 14, 2015

The European Humanities University is a Belarussian liberal arts school. But it's now operating in Lithuania.

Music

Break out the kilts — or don't — it's International Bagpipe Day!

March 10, 2015

If the mere mention of the word bagpipe causes your mind to wander off to the windswept Scottish Highlands, hang on! There's a group of passionate bagpipe campaigners on a quest to show there's more to the pipes than playing on the heath in a kilt.

Conflict

War rages on in Ukraine despite talk of peace

February 09, 2015

World leaders might be talking about peace talks for Ukraine, but for civilians caught in the middle, the fighting is worse than ever. Stories from both sides of no-man’s land.

Global Scan

When it comes to police, Russia gets the gold

November 21, 2014

Russia is proud of being out in front of other countries. But on one measure, it might not be quite so proud. It has more police per citizen than any other country tracked by the UN. Meanwhile, the Loch Ness monster is back in the news after 18 months without a peep. And a 100-year-old woman has a long-held dream come true and it gives her shivers. All that and more in today's Global Scan.

Shara Worden & <em>On the Road</em>

January 21, 2011

Belarus Free Theatre

January 21, 2011

Belarus Free Theatre

January 21, 2011

Governments block internet

March 19, 2008

The World's Clark Boyd reports on governments that have found various ways to block citizens' access to internet sites; this web filtering is described in a new book, "Access Denied: The Practice and Policy of Global Internet Filtering".

Global Politics

Belarus election

September 26, 2008

Belarus holds elections this weekend that the authorities promise will be free and fair. The BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse reports on the slow pace of change in the former Soviet republic.

Arts, Culture & Media

Free Theatre Belarus

October 10, 2008

Belarus is called the last dictatorship in Europe. The government censors the arts, so performance troupe Free Theatre Belarus performs secretly, in converted houses, to avoid arrest. American playwright Aaron Landsman went to visit the group in Minsk, and learned what theater is really all about. Produced by David Krasnow and Gretta Cohn.

Global Politics

Belarus Free Theatre

January 21, 2011

In the protests that followed the most recent presidential elections in Belarus, members of the Belarus Free Theatre (BFT) were detained by the Belarusian KGB. BFT co-founder Natalia Kaliada talks with Studio 360.

Fukushima likely not as bad as Chernobyl, but what does that mean?

April 08, 2011

Nearly a month into the crisis at the Fukushima-Daichi nuclear power plant, perhaps the only thing anyone can be sure of is that we still can’t be sure of anything. And won’t be able to be for weeks, months, or maybe even years.

Arts, Culture & Media

Roots Redux: Using Crowdsourcing to Find Kashuki

April 19, 2012

I recently aired a story about using DNA to trace my roots. Now here's a story about how our listeners helped me find my grandmother's village.

Arts, Culture & Media

40 Years Ago, Soviet Gymnast Olga Korbut Dazzled the World