After the fall from power of Slobodan Milosevic, a promise was made to the people of Serbia that their nation could rejoin the international community, ending a long period of isolation. But when he lived in Belgrade in 2001 and 2002, what George ...

Kukes, in northern Albania, was the first point of refuge for hundreds of thousands of ethnic Albanian refugees fleeing Kosovo in the spring of 1999. A year later, this led to it becoming the first ever town to be nominated for the Nobel Peace prize. It ...

In the wake of the NATO bombing of Serb forces in 1999, ethnic Albanian refugees began to return to Kosovo. As they buried the dead and started to rebuild their homes, their former neighbours from the Serb and Roma communities faced up to a hostile and ...

In late 2003, Georgia's 'Rose revolution' brought the promise of an open, free and democratic future. In the years since, the new government has faced increasing hostility from its giant neighbour Russia.This has been manifested in many ways, including ...

Turkey is a strategically important nation, poised geographically and symbolically between Europe and Asia. But the tensions at its heart are becoming increasingly severe. A fierce struggle is taking place between modernity and tradition, secularism and ...

'In 2008 I returned to London having spent the last nine years living and working in Eastern Europe and Turkey and was surprised by the speed of change that had taken place. I wanted to document the city, its movements and migrations, its landscape ...

These photographs were taken in the middle of Taksim Square, the heart of modern Istanbul. The word Taksim has its origins in the Arabic word for distribution or division. That is reflected in the diversity of people that one sees passing through ...

Immigration is a divisive topic in Europe - and Britain is no different. Though probably less vociferous than in countries like Denmark or the Netherlands, anti-immigrant voices in Britain have been calling on caps on immigration and more stringent ...

On January 20th 2009 Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States. Before a crowd of more than a million in Washington DC, Obama became the first African-American to take command of a nation founded by slaveholders. This is an ...

Commissioned by the Nature Conservancy, one of the leading conservation organisations working to preserve ecologically vital waters and lands for nature and people, Ami Vitale travelled to the US states of Alaska, Maine and Idaho and to the Marshall ...

The Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary which straddles the border between Canada's Northwest Territories and Nanavut is the largest wildlife refuge in Canada, covering over 52,000 square kilometres, an area twice the size of Belgium. This shrubby, almost ...

All over the flat and sparse Great Hungarian Plain (or Alföld), hundreds of hot springs gush out of the ground. Hungary is one of the most geothermally active regions in the world, with over 150 hot water spas and the largest active medicinal ...

While the damage done to the environment by burning coal is a hotly debated topic that has become even mere pressing with the breakneck growth of developing economies like China and India, the effect it has on people across the United States and ...

A decade after Michael Pollan wrote his landmark article 'Power Steer' it appears that not much has changed in U.S. beef production, although a movement for healthier, more ethical food has certainly grown. In the Centennial Valley, the variety of...

Timbuktu, on the south western edge of the Sahara desert, has an illustrious history as a centre of trade and learning dating back to 13th century. Tens of thousands of manuscripts covering everything from astrology to medicine have been kept in the ...

Professional European cyclists with gleaming bicycles and fully equipped back-up teams compete with locals on rickety 30-year-old bikes in Africa's best-known cycle race, the 1,300 kilometre Tour du Faso. Temperatures that can hit 40 degrees Celsius make...