SLOVAKIA - Doctors in Bratislava threatened March 20 to go on strike in April if the government refuses to raise wages for medical personnel. But they said patients' health would not be in jeopardy. The average salary in the health sector is about 17,000 Sk (/$555/13,000 Kč) a month, although the number of hours workers put in each week is almost 50 percent higher than in other sectors.

POLAND - Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz signed a joint declaration on energy security in Madrid March 17, calling on the European Union to take steps to protect energy supplies. Together with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Marcinkiewicz warned that those supplies are vulnerable to natural disasters and terrorist attacks.

HUNGARY - Holding blazing torches, more than 3,600 people filled Heroes Square in Budapest March 18 and formed a human peace sign to mark the third anniversary of the war in Iraq. Such demonstrations are steadily growing in the country: Last year on the same date, 1,500 activists gathered. The year before the number was around 750.

SPAIN - Government officials say the country will tighten its borders in order to deter migrants from Africa from illegally entering Europe. The announcement came after a meeting between African and European officials in Mauritania, North Africa, March 17. In recent weeks hundreds of Africans have been detained as they attempted the perilous journey in small boats to the Canary Islands.

FRANCE - A man named Remy Martinot finally cremated his parents' bodies March 17 after keeping them cryogenically frozen for 22 years in the hope that one day science might enable them to be revived. A court in January ordered them to be buried or cremated, but Martinot only cremated them after the crypt where they were kept at –65C (–85F) heated up to –20C.

GERMANY - Gotthard Lerch, 63-year-old engineer, went on trial in Germany March 17 charged with breaking arms exports laws. Lerch is accused of aiding Libya's defunct nuclear weapons program by providing technology for a gas centrifuge. Lerch, who was allegedly paid $34 million (810 million Kč), denies the charges.

BELGIUM - The Belgian police arrested six people and charged two others March 17 for their involvement in a major soccer match-fixing ring. Authorities are also investigating Belgian soccer clubs for their possible involvement, specifically in matches against teams from Germany and Finland. One man sought, Ye Zheyun from China, is accused of fixing matches to benefit Chinese gambling syndicates.

NETHERLANDS - More than 8,000 same-sex couples have married in the Netherlands since such unions became legal in 2001, but numbers of such weddings are declining, according to Agence France-Presse statistics. This year only 1,200 same-sex marriages are expected, 50 percent less than in 2001. The Netherlands was the first country to allow same-sex marriage.