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eastern Europe
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Finance
What is a ruble and why is it in trouble?
The World
November 10, 2014
The Russian currency, the ruble, is heading downward, after the central bank in Moscow ended its efforts to prop it up. That could mean political trouble for Vladimir Putin.
Global Politics
Human rights group Memorial is too 'inconvenient' for Putin's new Russia
The World
November 12, 2014
Russia's rights community says Putin's Russia is looking more and more like the old Russia, with a KGB officer running the country and human rights activists fighting for their existence.
Conflict
American and Russian energy giants battle over a small Romanian town
The World
December 01, 2014
Residents of a rural Romanian town claim to have driven American oil company Chevron out of town over its plans for gas exploration. But who's really behind the conflict?
Belief
The conflict in Ukraine has led to a Golden Age for Jews — though some are still leaving
The World
March 18, 2015
It's a disturbing time for Jews in Europe right now. But the conflict in Ukraine seems to be making that country a little more welcoming to its Jewish citizens, even as they continue leaving the country in large numbers.
Food
Bagels disappeared from Lithuania after WWII … but now they’re back
The World
June 16, 2015
When Menachem Kaiser discovered that the bagel had disappeared from Lithuania, along with most of the Jewish culture, he and some friends decided to bring it back.
Music
The movement to recognize an American jazz voice unheard at home
The Takeaway
August 05, 2015
Red and Hot: Willis Conover brought the liberating sounds of American jazz to Eastern Europe in the midst of the Cold War. Now there is a drive to honor him on a US stamp.
Global Politics
What's the matter with Hungary? Writer calls her homeland 'a depressive country'
The World
September 14, 2015
Migrants and refugees are trying to leave Hungary as fast as they can. Hungarians don't blame them, saying it's a depressed place where no one wants to live.
Justice
A brief history of America’s hostility to a previous generation of Mediterranean migrants — Italians
The World
November 26, 2015
A wave of migrants from the Mediterranean meets a hostile reception from many Americans. The migrants are seen as alien in religion, culture, politics, law. So different in fact that some Americans argue that they can never be assimilated. They are the Italians, in the 1890s.
Health
Thousands of people are ‘treated’ with radon baths every year in Ukraine
GlobalPost
July 08, 2016
You may know radon as that radioactive gas that can cause cancer. Well, people from all over the former Soviet Union head to Khmilnyk, Ukraine to sit in baths of the stuff to treat their health problems.
Arts
People are lining up to pose as the founder of the Soviet Union in Ukraine’s capital
GlobalPost
July 13, 2016
Anyone in Kiev who’s ever dreamed of standing in Vladimir Lenin’s shoes now has their chance, thanks to a Mexican artist.