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SPAIN The suspected military chief of the Basque separatist group ETA has been arrested in southern France, the BBC reported Nov 17. Garikoitz Aspiazu is suspected of the murder of two Spanish civil guard officers in France in 2007. While experts say ETA has been weakened by the arrest, they also warn that, in the past, every arrest of a significant ETA member has been followed by a rise in violence and attacks.

GEORGIA Russia and Georgia have traded accusations over a reconnaissance plane that allegedly crashed in Georgia, killing two Georgian policemen, the BBC reported Nov. 17. According to Georgian information, a spy drone crashed in a village that day, killing two and injuring eight civilians. Russians have denied the claims. Rows about drones were a feature of the rising tensions between Russia and Georgia that ended in war in August.
RUSSIA A 200-year-old church building has disappeared from a village in central Russia, the BBC reported Nov. 13. The Church of the Resurrection had stood near the village of Komarovo, some 300 kilometers (186 miles) north-east of Moscow, since 1809. Its disappearance was not immediately noticed. It was intact in July, but sometime in early October thieves made off with it brick by brick, officials said.
FRANCE An appeals court reinstated the marriage of a Muslim man who had sought an annulment because his bride had lied about being a virgin, The New York Times (NYT) reported Nov. 17. In April, a court annulled the marriage, citing a breach of contract. The decision, which had become a flashpoint in the tension between the nation’s secular values and the traditions of its immigrant communities, has been overturned.
GERMANY Doctors in Berlin said they have cured a man of AIDS by giving him transplanted blood stem cells from a person naturally resistant to the virus, the NYT reported Nov. 13. While the case has novel medical implications, experts say it will be of little immediate use in treating AIDS. The mortality of stem-cell transplant treatment approaches 30 percent.
GREECE Greek riot police have fired tear gas to disperse protesters hurling stones and firebombs outside the U.S. Embassy in Athens, the BBC reported Nov. 18. The clashes took place during a march by some 10,000 people to mark a 1973 student uprising that was crushed by the then-ruling military government. Every year, demonstrators march to the U.S. Embassy to protest American support for the junta at the time.
AUSTRIA Prosecutors filed murder charges Nov. 14 against Josef Fritzl, who is accused of imprisoning his daughter for 24 years and fathering her seven children, saying one of the youngsters who died in infancy might have survived if brought to a doctor, the Associated Press (AP) reported. The 73-year-old retired electrician is also charged with rape, incest, imprisonment and enslavement. His trial is expected to commence in March 2009.
SWEDEN Several forms of sexual behavior, including cross-dressing and transvestism, will be removed from a list of medical diagnoses January 2009, Sweden’s National Board of Health and Welfare told the AP Nov. 16. Other forms of behavior to be dropped include fetishism and sadomasochism.
POLAND Dozens of Poles were awarded medals Nov. 17 for assisting Jews during World War II, the AP reported. President Lech Kaczyński awarded state medals — many posthumously — to around 70 people. Among them was Zofia Brusikiewicz, 81, whose parents hid 13 Jews in a Warsaw apartment. Poland was the only country under Nazi occupation where helping Jews was punishable by execution of the entire family.


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