Trouble in the Albanian Alps
How a scheme to boost economic development in Albania’s mountainous north could end up enriching a few, harming the environment and angering its neighbours There are few true mountain wildernesses left in Europe. In Switzerland, Austria, France and Italy tunnels have been bored through solid rock to connect railways and roads through the Alps. Once-remote […]
Ebola isn’t the only crisis unfolding in the DRC
How a political power struggle could distract from eradication efforts An already deadly and worsening Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is compounded by the ruling government’s controversial attempts to simultaneously revise the constitution and retain power, according to a press review compiled by Radio Okapi and cross-referenced by Translator. Citing various national press sources, the […]
End of the line for Kyrgyzstan’s women drivers
A journalist set out to profile the women trolleybus drivers of Bishkek. What she found was a means of transport – and way of life – on the brink of collapse A report in the Polish magazine Pismo begins as a portrait of a single female trolleybus driver in Kyrgyzstan and becomes something much bigger. This is […]
Nepal’s silent epidemic
The devastating human and financial toll of surging non-communicable diseases Writing for Nepal’s leading digital news portal, Online Khabar, Pushparaj Chaulagain warns us of an epidemic: the sharp rise in non-communicable diseases (NCDs). These are non-transmissible health conditions like diabetes, heart attacks, strokes, and kidney disease caused by air pollution, excessive alcohol and smoking, unhealthy diets, […]
A victory on paper and nothing more
Why Romania’s efforts to legally recognize freelance cultural workers were doomed to fail In April 2023, Romania launched a landmark programme: the Professional Cultural Worker Law. This promised to be a lifeline for the country’s 100,000 independent cultural workers – artists, curators, managers, dancers, writers, freelancers – all of whom operate without social protection, stable […]