BUDAPEST/SOFIA - When thinking about adoption, poor countries in the global South come to mind. Yet Flanders and the Netherlands adopt children from other European countries, such as Bulgaria and Hungary. This cross-border investigation shows that Roma children in these countries are discriminated against and end up in the adoption system due to stigma, poverty and a lack of support for families.

BEIROET - The ‘Arab Spring’ of 2011 had huge consequences: dictators fell, wars followed, the refugee crisis came. Now the Middle East is in a new maelstrom, from Gaza and Lebanon to Syria. Do younger generations see hope alongside misery?

DONETSK - As a young reporter, Arnaud De Decker toured Ukraine, a country torn apart by the biggest war on the European continent since World War II.

NOUAKCHOTT - In the Sahel, Mauritania is the only country spared from jihadist incursions and large-scale violence. Meanwhile, nearly two hundred thousand Malian refugees are staying both in the Mauritanian refugee camp of M'bera and in the villages of the Hodh Chargui border region.

MINSK/MOSKOU/VILNIUS/TBILISI - A totalitarian state has emerged in Belarus and Russia since the suppression of pro-democracy protests in Belarus and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Criticism and anti-war voices are suppressed with draconian punishments. Democratic Belarusians and Russians are building the alternative in the Baltics and the Caucasus. 

THE HAGUE - The Ministry of Defence is considering hiring private companies to guard the North Sea because the navy and coastguard do not have enough equipment and personnel. The decision follows research findings on Russian spying activities in the region among others investigated by Pointer KRO-NCRV and VRT NWS in cooperation with six other countries.

GOMA - Blue Helmets' retreat from Congo ushers in new chapter. 'Must we die in the graveyard of the international community?'

ENONTEKIO - The Arctic region is warming up four times as fast as the global average. This impacts people and animals.

CLUJ-NAPOCA/VALENI - As the European Union grows eastward, many children in Eastern Europe are left behind in their home countries while their parents go to Western Europe for better economic opportunities.

HSINCHU - Microchips are at the heart of our digital world. Without them, our smartphones and laptops do not work, our cars fall silent and the internet crashes. So it comes as no surprise that car factories are halting production due to a global chip shortage, China and the US are fighting a trade war over chips, and the European Union is investing billions in the chip industry.

GAZA - Nadia AlHassanat was born in Gaza during the First Intifada. In her twenties, she fled her conservative family to pursue her dream of becoming an actress. Today, she has been living in Belgium for eight years. The only person she stayed in touch with by phone is her older sister Fatma, who remains in Gaza with her two children.

BARAY - Billionaires, luxury tour operators and airlines legitimise their CO₂ emissions with carbon credits from the Hadzabe, a group of hunter-gatherers in Tanzania who hardly emit any CO₂ themselves.

BAKU - In September last year, violence came to a head in Nagorno Karabakh, the disputed area between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Just about all 120,000 Armenians were expelled from the region then. But the conflict has been going on for much longer.

BAHIR DAR - For the past 19 months, Ethiopia’s Amhara region has been devastated by a conflict between federal forces and the Fano militia, which seeks full control of Amhara territory. 

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan is not so much a country with an army, but rather an army with a country. Like the black kite, a powerful bird of prey, the armed forces keep a close eye on the people of Pakistan.

ZURICH/ALTMULTHAL - Fossils of dinosaurs are the new Picassos and Van Goghs. Millions are often given for precious skeletons. Such is the case for Trinity, the skeleton of a T. rex that Antwerp entrepreneur Fernand Huts bought a year and a half ago.

BRUSSELS - Journalist and writer Catherine Vuylsteke chronicled the life stories of Mar Maremoto, Ann Telnaes, Rachita Taneja, Doaa El-Adl, Victoria Lomasko and Amany Al-Ali, six women cartoonists from Mexico, the U.S., India, Egypt, Russia and Syria to whom the documentary series Draw for Change, recently awarded at Cannes, is dedicated.