Globe Trot 11.09

Unemployment in Greece rose to 25.4 percent—the highest at least since 2004. But Greece isn’t alone: Spain, at 25.02 percent, has steadfastly been the most unemployed nation in the industrialized world.

Guatemala’s 7.4-magnitude quake this week has left a death toll of 52—including 10 members of one family. Only the eldest son, about to graduate with an accounting degree, survived.

Qatar and Syria fought it out at a soccer match on Thursday, as Syrian fans blame Qatar for arming rebels fighting the government. “Our souls, our blood, we sacrifice them for Bashar,” the Syrian fans screamed, waving their national flag,

Iran says a U.S. drone it fired upon on Nov. 1 had entered Iranian airspace, but U.S. officials say the unarmed Predator was in international airspace, 16 miles off the Iranian coast. The intercept was the first in 33 years of tense U.S.-Iranian relations.

With Congress gearing up for its lame-duck session that begins Nov. 14, Iran is likely to figure high on its agenda as lawmakers mull further action over its suspected nuclear program.

I’m still reading Houses of Stone by Anthony Shadid, a poignant memoir given The New York Times reporter’s death in Syria earlier this year. And already I’m anticipating two gems: The just-out final installment of the Winston Churchill biography series begun by William Manchester, The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Defender of the Realm, 1940-1965, and the Afghan-born Khaled Hosseini’s And the Mountains Echoed due next spring.