Photo: Musée du Petit Palais (Courtesy Image)
We know that rferl.org isn’t the only website you read, and it’s possible that you may have missed some of our most interesting journalism from the past week. To make sure you’re up-to-date, here are some of the highlights produced by RFE/RL’s team of correspondents, multimedia editors, and visual journalists over the past seven days.
Aleksei Navalny, the charismatic leader of Russia’s liberal opposition to authoritarian President Vladimir Putin, has been sidelined for at least the next few months following his poisoning by a Soviet-era chemical nerve agent. But with crucial local elections looming on September 13, national parliamentary elections slated for 2021, and the ruling United Russia party in its weakest position in many years, Navalny’s supporters cannot afford to lose any time in their effort to dismantle Putin’s power vertical. By Robert Coalson
What are the chances of survival for Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny? German authorities say he was poisoned with Novichok, a military-grade nerve agent intended to kill him. Ismail Efendiyev from the European Association of Poison Centers and Clinical Toxicologists (EAPCCT) says a dose 30 times smaller than a raindrop can be fatal — but that Navalny’s German doctors are likely gaining crucial insight into his treatment from British colleagues with experience from the 2018 Salisbury Novichok poisoning. By Ray Furlong and Current Time
How a mission to introduce the world to Bosnia-Herzegovina changed the course of Alphonse Mucha’s life. By Amos Chapple
Several teenagers in a Siberia region have been placed in psychiatric institutions for allegedly belonging to social media groups discussing the 1999 Columbine school massacre in the United States. Some of the parents are now disputing the allegations, and say they’ve been barred from seeing their children. By Matthew Luxmoore and Svetlana Khustik
A lot must still go their way for a trio of Montenegrin opposition groupings to form a government, and postelection cries of “the regime has fallen” could still prove premature. By Andy Heil
Amid strict COVID-19 measures, Shi’ite Muslims in Iran marked the holy day of Ashura on August 30. The day of mourning honors the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad who was slain in a battle in Karbala in the year 680. Believers make dramatic displays of passion and faith — including recitations and processions, weeping, chest beatings, and self-flagellation. But this year, commemorations were scaled back due to the pandemic. By RFE/RL
A Tehran city council member says more than 10,000 people have died so far in the Iranian capital from COVID-19. That amounts to about half of some 21,000 deaths officially recorded nationally. Shopkeepers in the capital have revealed the impact it is having on their personal health and their businesses. By RFE/RL’s Radio Farda
Uzbek state TV is targeting “foreign” elements — such as feminism and same-sex relationships — that it says “don’t belong” in Uzbek society and has warned that an urgent fight is needed to combat such “threats” before it’s too late. By Farangis Najibullah
