The beatroot writes about Polish boxing and kickboxing champion who donated one of his kidneys to his sick baby daughter: “The case has highlighted the lack of donors in Poland, though the country has one of the lowest family refusal rates in the EU – where relatives block the removal of organs after death.”

Dr. Sean's Blog reviews texts on populism in Central and Eastern Europe that have appeared in the special issue of Journal of Democracy: “The irony is that this comes just as the ‘populist backlash’ seems to be waning.”

First flight of the Sukhoi Superjet 100 regional jet has slipped into early 2008, according a report by Russian business news agency Prime-Tass. The 95-seat aircraft was planned to fly by the end of 2007.
A delay was expected after flight tests of the Superjet’s Snecma/Saturn SaM146 engine on an Ilyushin Il-76 flying testbed began […]

All -premium carrier Maxjet Airways ceased operations on 24 December and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after failing to finalize a new round of financing.
“With today’s fuel prices and the resulting impact on the credit climate for airlines, we are forced to take this drastic measure,” the carrier says in a statement. […]

The UK is to dramatically increase the number of ramp checks it makes on foreign aircraft - to 600 in 2008 and 1,000 by 2009, compared with just 193 in 2006….