OFF THE WIRE

GLADIATOR TRIAL: A door glass was smashed in a court in the western Latvian town of Ventspils Nov. 13 as over 200 people tried to get into the courtroom to hear a criminal case against several youths who are charged with a brutal killing. Only about 60 people were allowed to enter the courtroom at Kurzeme Regional Court. Others crammed the corridor outside. At the end of the session, the case was sent back to the general prosecutor's office for additional investigation. The six were detained in Ventspils in March after they kidnapped a 15-year-old boy, demanded a ransom of 20,000 lats ($32,000) from his parents, then tortured and killed him. Three of the detainees also confessed to murdering a friend after a disagreement and burying him in forests in the Kolka county, western Latvia. Two of the murderers were members of medieval fight club, Curonia, which was dissolved after the incident. Two of the defendants are under 18. All six have pleaded guilty.

MOONSHINE TOLL: A month-and-a-half after the first reports of methanol alcohol poisoning in the Estonian town of Parnu, three people were still hospitalized this week, being treated for the effects of moonshine laced with the deadly liquid. The incident took the lives of 67 people. In all, 152 people were taken to hospital from the western counties of Parnu and Laane as the tragedy unfolded. In police raids carried out in connection with the poisonings, two tons of methanol-tainted alcohol were confiscated along with tons of "safe" illegal alcohol. Police are making a criminal investigation into the incident, and have brought charges against several people who sold the poisonous moonshine.

CHECKMATE: The executive body in the Lithuanian Parliament has refused a request by Vytautas Landsbergis, the man who led the Lithuanian Supreme Soviet to vote for national independence on March 11, 1990, to cover expenses for his trip to a chess match in Berlin. The Lithuanian daily Lietuvos Rytas reported Nov. 12 that the Parliament's executive body considered the leader of the Conservative Party's request and quickly decided it lacked merit. Landsbergis has established a reputation for himself as a connoisseur of both travel and chess. He said he couldn't go against the executive decision, and was considering buying his own ticket. Landsbergis said he was invited to Berlin by the president of the German Bundestag, Wolfgang Thierse, and wanted to make the trip this weekend. "I didn't think anyone would have been harmed by my dropping in on a chess match between politicians on the same day," Landsbergis explained. Besides enjoying chess, Landsbergis is an accomplished pianist, and frequently performs abroad.

MEDICAL ADVANCE: For the first time ever in Lithuania, surgeons at Kaunas Medical University's Neurosurgery Clinic have removed a brain tumor by making an incision through the nasal passage instead of cutting into the patient's scalp. Until now Lithuanian surgeons have attacked such abnormal growths in the brain by opening up the skull and operating through the brain tissue. The 50-year-old female patient who was operated on Nov. 9 is doing well, said neurosurgeon Arimantas Tamasauskas. He said such surgical procedures recently became possible with the invention of a device called a neuroendoscope. This imaging device allows surgeonÛ to pinpoint growths and cysts in the skull cavity with greater precision, and to remove them more safely. The Neurosurgery Clinic has the apparatus on indefinite loan, thanks to the company Johnson & Johnson. The clinic plans 10 more such operations this year. Such hypertrophic growths squeeze the optic nerves and can cause blindness.

LITTLE WINNER: A Chicago radio station has bought an autographed photo of former Lithuanian president and current Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas on a U.S. Internet auction. The buyer, who was introduced under the nickname "Jursenaz" and later turned out to be the radio station, bought the snap for $1,025. A company or individual based in Toronto was selling the picture, which was sent out to a 16-year-old boy in 1995, on the e-Bay Internet auction Web site. The initial price of the item was $29.99. The price did not change for five days. The first bidder threw in $30. Then the price started rising roughly every two hours. "Jursenaz" bid the largest sum eight hours before the close of the auction. Some 100 letters with the president's autographed photo were sent out during Brazauskas' term of office in 1993-1998. Several hundred items related to Lithuania have been put up for auction at eBay, including bank notes and coins, books, jewelry, CDs, maps and postcards.

LITTLE GESTURE: The Latvian government, acting on a proposal by the Foreign Ministry, resolved Nov. 13 to give humanitarian aid to civilians and refugees in Afghanistan. Foreign Minister Indulis Berzins told reporters that the next step will be to consult with the United Nations about what kind of assistance is needed more. Thousands of Afghanistan's population have been left without shelter or food as a result of the fighting between the Taliban and the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance. Many countries have already sent food, medical supplies and other assistance to the troubled Central Asian country.

PARTY TIME: A detachment of U.S. Marines based in Minsk, Belarus, celebrated the 225th anniversary of the founding of the Marines within the confines of the Lithuanian Embassy in the city Nov. 10. While it might not ordinarily be known for hosting frolicking U.S. servicemen, the embassy is one of the few buildings there meeting U.S. security requirements for holding more-or-less public events abroad since the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York on Sept. 11. Lithuanian Ambassador to Belarus Jonas Paslauskas learned of the dilemma facing the leathernecks in finding a venue for their celebrations, and offered to host the party at the embassy, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry reported.