More than a dozen years have passed since Bosnia and Herzegovina's bloody civil war ended. Although the country has repaired physically, its citizens are experiencing political and social challenges. Special correspondent Kira Kay examines political instability in Bosnia 14 years after the end of a brutal civil war that resulted in the deaths of 100,000 people.
The smells coming from Ramiz Sinanovic's homemade distillery weren't so appetizing, but the promise of the fruit brandy it would eventually yield overrode the immediate discomfort. As Ramiz cranked the handle of the elaborate contraption, the call to Friday midday prayer echoed through the hilltops around us – Ramiz didn't seem to mind that he was making booze at the time of worship. It is his only way of earning money, he explained to me – as a Muslim returning to the Serbian part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, there are not a lot of other economic opportunities around.
On August 5th, 2003, Los Angeles trial lawyer Alvin Michaelson and his wife arrived in Paris for vacation. Before long they were having dinner at a swanky bistro. Michaelson says it was "clearly hot, very humid" when he arrived and, as he noted, air conditioning is not common in Paris. His restaurant certainly had none. Michaelson didn't realize it but he had landed near the start of what scientists now say was the worst European heat wave in at least 500 years. The temperature had climbed to 99 degrees and had failed to cool off at night.
Recently, Milorad Dodik, the controversial prime minister of the Serb-majority part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, made public comments suggesting that Bosnian Muslims had staged two notorious attacks against them during Bosnia's bloody civil war, presumably to win the support of the international community. The comments created an uproar among many Bosnians and received condemnation from the international community's high representative in the country.
Recently, Milorad Dodik, the controversial prime minister of the Serb-majority part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, made public comments suggesting that Bosnian Muslims had staged two notorious attacks against them during Bosnia's bloody civil war, presumably to win the support of the international community. The comments created an uproar among many Bosnians and received condemnation from the international community's high representative in the country.
More than 400 protesters blocked two bridges last week to oppose the closing of the only hospital in Bauska, a rural city (population 50,000) about an hour away from the capital Riga.
"Bauska's hospital has been here since the 19th century. It lived through both wars, all regime changes ... I don't understand, why we have to close it," Bauska's City Council chairman, Valdis Veips, was quoted as saying by the Latvian newspaper Diena.
Mohammed Salifu, a street-savvy youth counselor, helps women and girls who leave home to look for work in Ghana's capital, Accra.
Featured on Foreign Exchange beginning Friday, July 10, 2009.
Produced by Scott P. Harris
In association with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting
In 1998, the historic Good Friday Agreement ended the thirty-year sectarian war in Northern Ireland known as "The Troubles." Although great strides have been made, the poor working class neighborhoods of Belfast remain fiercely divided. Giant walls, known as "peace lines," keep Catholics and Protestants separated, and while they keep the people safe, they also prevent true peace.
Teenagers in working class Belfast belie success of integration efforts.
Until recently, Latvia has not seen any anti-government protests and riots since the end of the Soviet Union in 1991. After entering the E.U. in 2004, Latvia posted Europe's highest growth figures, fueled by access to cheap credit and domestic consumption enabled by a spike in private debt.
Kristina Rizga, for the Pulitzer Center (Photos by Akim Aginsky)
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