Two Azerbaijani bloggers were sentenced to jail on Wednesday. Charged with "hooliganism", the pair were arrested shortly after posting a satirical video online which mocked the government's alleged purchase of a dozen - suspiciously priced - 41,000 dollar donkeys from Germany. Read more and watch the video...

In an attempt to do away with religion, Soviet Russia turned its churches into swimming pools, warehouses and sobering-up clinics. Now, the trend is being reversed - schools, cinemas and hotels are being transformed into churches by Orthodox parishioners. Read more and see the photos...

Once one of the world's largest inland seas and home to thousands of species, in under 20 years the Aral Sea has shrunk to ten percent of its original size and is so salty that barely any life form remains. The Russians were taught to believe that the sea was an "error of nature" and therefore pointless, but as our Observer points out, the real catastrophe was man-made. Read more...

This video clip, released by the EU to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the iron curtain, has prompted a furious response from Poland. Read more...

Russian TV watchers have just finished voting for their most treasured countryman. The icon to take the crown was medieval prince Alexander Nevsky. But that's not what everyone's talking about. It's the unlikely figure looming at number three that's stolen the show. Read more...

A group of Neo-Nazis who filmed themselves committing violent acts in the heart of the Jewish state have been condemned to jail. Read more and see the video...

The Czech press is dismayed bu Milan Kundera after a document, dug out of Czechoslovakian police (SNB) archives, reveals that the esteemed writer was an informant in the 1950s. Read more...

The streets of Minsk are full of protesters, a particularly rare event in Belarus, which is considered the worst dictatorship in Eastern Europe. The demonstrators aren't asking for freedom of the press or fair elections, but just to be able to get on with their simple trade. Our Observer Ales, who collaborates with the site Nasha Niva Online, which is banned in Belarus, sent us photos from the event. The photos are not likely to be found in a local paper, since the entire media is controlled by the state. Read more...