Picture: Amos Chapple (RFE/RL)
We all know you are busy and possibly haven’t got the time to learn all of our protection each day. That is why we have put collectively The Week’s Greatest. Listed below are a number of the highlights produced in English by RFE/RL’s huge staff of correspondents, multimedia editors, and visible journalists over the previous seven days.
Iranian Environmentalists, Archaeologists Warn New Dam Challenge Will Change into Pillar Of Salt
As one among Iran’s largest dam initiatives nears completion, archaeologists and environmentalists are warning that the Chinese language-financed Chamshir Dam will probably be yet one more towering instance of the nation’s damaging historical past of water mismanagement. Whereas the authorities see the venture as a solution to electrical energy and water shortages in southwestern Iran, critics say the dam is a cultural and environmental risk and can flip agricultural lands right into a salty mud bowl. By RFE/RL’s Radio Farda
Surovikin’s Down, Gerasimov’s Up: Russia’s Battle On Ukraine Pivots Into Politics
Three months in the past, Normal Sergei Surovikin was charged with refocusing Russia’s struggle on Ukraine. Now he is been demoted, and a rival common named the highest commander. And with that, President Vladimir Putin has roiled the 11-month invasion, injecting Kremlin politics into the struggle ad infinitum. By Mike Eckel
Homeless Afghan Drug Addicts Face Few Therapy Choices, Harsh Winter
Huddled crowds of drug addicts in Afghanistan’s southwestern Nimroz Province illustrate the nation’s rising opium and heroin disaster. Worldwide support for combating habit has dried up for the reason that Taliban seized energy in 2021. And United Nations knowledge exhibits habit is rising alongside poverty with the nation’s financial system largely frozen. By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi and Will Tizard
Salt Of The Earth: Deep Inside Japanese Ukraine’s Huge Soledar Mines
Russian forces in Ukraine are attempting to seize the japanese salt-mining city of Soledar in a sustained offensive that Kyiv’s Protection Ministry has described as “maniacal.” Capturing Soledar and its salt mines would have symbolic, army, and industrial worth for Russia. In 2019, RFE/RL visited Soledar because the salt-mining operation hoped to crack Western markets after Russia blocked its imports. By Amos Chapple
How Ukrainian Coronary heart Surgeons Hold Working Amid Blackouts
RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service was given entry to the Kyiv Coronary heart Institute, the place surgeons proceed to carry out life-saving operations regardless of blackouts. For the reason that begin of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the institute has needed to put together for every kind of disasters, together with utilizing a number of diesel-powered mills and digging a properly to ensure the provision of water for sufferers and important medical companies. Regardless of the challenges, the Kyiv Coronary heart Institute says it carried out a document variety of surgical procedures in 2022. By Iryna Sisak, RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, and Austin Malloy
Crimean Property Costs Crash As Ukraine Battle Hits Dwelling
Russians who had been actively investing in Crimean properties after Moscow occupied the peninsula in 2014 abruptly stopped doing so following the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February, with gross sales of residential actual property falling by 72 p.c in only a yr. By Nikolai Berg