Stories by Dominique Soguel

From citizens’ pockets to soldiers’ hands: Ukraine’s crowdfunded war

‘Life doesn’t stop, it just changes’: Entrepreneurs flourish in Odesa

After a hard winter, optimism is returning to Odesa’s businesspeople. Small and medium enterprises are coming to life, expanding and launching new products despite the war.

Priority test: Can officials fight inflation and buoy banks?

How can officials both tame inflation and ensure bank stability? It’s a difficult balance that for now, at least, appears to still include interest rate hikes.

By sharing housing, seniors and migrants in Sweden build bridges

Migrant youths and Swedish seniors face different difficulties, but help each other solve them in a shared-living project, finding common ground.

Bakhmut battle lays bare high stakes for both sides in Ukraine war

Thousands of Ukrainian and Russian soldiers have died in 10 months of fighting for Bakhmut. Kyiv sees the battle as key to homeland defense.

Will exiled Kurds pay price of Sweden’s NATO entry?

Turkey holds the key to Sweden's application to join NATO. Ankara's demands that Stockholm drop its support for Kurdish independence groups is worrying Kurdish exiles.

After quake, Syrians lost outside aid. They’re working to help themselves.

The Feb. 6 earthquake in Turkey rocked rebel-held northwest Syria as well. Locals are doing the best they can to deal with the disaster, but aid is in short supply due to the region's isolation.

In Ukraine, Russian collaborators flee or face justice

Ukrainian authorities have made dealing with Russian collaborators a top priority when they restore their control over liberated territories.

As assisted dying broadens, countries wrestle with new ethical lines

Many people view assisted dying as an act of compassion, prompting some countries to expand eligibility. But for some left behind, the practice feels very wrong.

Under occupation in Ukraine, a dairy cow makes a difference

Many older Ukrainians were unable, or unwilling, to evacuate their homes when Russian troops invaded last year. Liberated, they recount their travails.

In Ukraine, families scramble for news of their POWs

Nobody has an accurate idea of how many POWs have been captured in the Ukraine war, nor can families easily find out about their loved ones.

Protecting kids in Ukraine: Three tales of courage and care

War has shredded Ukraine’s network of state-run boarding schools, leaving thousands of youngsters without support in the face of mortal danger.

Fans have a problem with this year’s World Cup: Host Qatar

This year’s World Cup comes under a shadow due to the human cost Qatar paid to prepare for the tournament and the country’s poor human rights record. And that has left soccer fans torn.

Even as shells fall, Ukraine’s deminers work to make the land safe

Even when the fighting is over in Ukraine, danger still lurks in the form of unexploded ordnance. Ukrainian deminers work to make explosives safe.

Facing blackouts, Ukrainians seek candles and camping stoves

Russian airstrikes on Ukrainian energy facilities are forcing blackouts on more than a million households. Citizens are girding for a cold, dark winter.

They are Black. They are Italians. And they are changing their country.

It’s not easy for Black Italians to grow up feeling Italian when significant portions of Italy treat them as outsiders. But legally, artistically, and socially, Black Italians are staking their claim to Italy.

Why is Italy swerving far right? Many feel they have no choice.

Italians have seen a variety of governments come and go over recent decades, but with few results that they want. Now they look set to elect a new leader, despite her fascist ties: Giorgia Meloni.

To build for a warming planet, architects look to nature – and the past

Indigenous construction methods from around the world offer ways to beat the heat from a time before air conditioning – and are coming back in vogue.

Fires sweep a sweltering Europe. How is the EU fighting back?

Like the United States, Europe is facing increasingly fierce wildfire seasons, endangering lives, land, and livelihoods. But the European Union is working on new ways to control the flames.