Three years after I investigated bogus international awards sold for thousands of euros, I got invited to pick up mine -- for a small fee of just €4,750.

A screenshot of the Otherways web site.

For long-serving spy Gjorgi Lazarevski, a 2010 raid on one of Macedonia’s few remaining independent TV stations was the last straw.

Gjorgi Lazarevski, a former Macedonian intelligence officer who helped expose a massive wiretapping scheme that brought down the government. (Credit: Nova TV)

ROME, Italy - On a hot night in early July, the southern Italian region of Calabria woke to the roar of helicopters and the wail of police sirens.

Shrouded in darkness, more than a thousand policemen in full military gear swept the streets of 19 towns on the very toe of Italy’s boot, entering neighborhoods where they seldom go.

(Photo: Eneas De Troya, CC-BY 2.0)

Belgrade's High Court (Photo: Milica Stojanovic)

On the early morning of Dec. 12, 2012, police came to the home of Miroslav Miskovic, one of Serbia’s most prominent businessmen, and escorted him into a car as cameras rolled. In no time, his arrest on allegations of corruption that cost the state €33 million (US$ 34.47 million) was breaking news on every Serbian television station and web portal.

Khadija Ismayilova in Baku studio

began her video conference to a room of parliamentarians in Brussels by apologizing to the people of her Baku neighborhood for losing Internet and electricity because of her.