Polish Consulate...

Poland has taken over a decade to rebuild relations with Israel, broken off under communism. Now it’s hoped that the country is coming to be seen as Israel’s gateway into the European Union.

posted by: Oborski at 21:54 | link | comments |

The Daily Mail of November 19th 2005 has one of their reporters aboard a plane to Poland reporting...

"Why you come here for?" Katya, my cowboy-booted neighbour asks as we touch down in Poland. "There's nothing in Bydgoszcz. It is over for young people. You should try Kidderminster. It is much better - lovely shops, I live there now with my boyfriend. I just come home to get my things and say goodbye".

posted by: Oborski at 21:29 | link | comments |

We are aware of an incident involving the burning of the Polish Flag which took place at Sealine in Kidderminster on 13th October 2005.

We are grateful to Sealine for conducting an immediate and thorough investigation and we are satisfied that Sealine have subsequently taken all necessary and appropriate action.

Although the incident was NOT in any way the fault of the company we do very much appreciate the apology issued in the company newsletter and posted on notice boards by the company.

We accept that in this case the incident was foolish and misguided and was NOT a calculated insult to the Polish Flag.

However, we must make it absolutely clear that we will NOT tolerate any form of defacement of or disrespect to the Polish Flag.

The Flag of the Republic of Poland is to be treated with proper dignity and respect in all places and at all time.

We ask every Polish citizen of good will in this area to regard this particular incident as now resolved and closed.

posted by: Oborski at 23:15 | link | comments |

Radio Polonia reports
No more chances for coalition

Any chances for coalition of Law and Justice and Civic Platform seem thoroughly lost after the return of Jacek Kurski to the latter party. Kurski was thrown out of Law and Justice during presidential elections when he accused Donald Tusk’s grandfather of volunteering to the German army during World War 2. Now after his appeal he was welcomed back in his party. Grzegorz Schetyna, secretary general of Civic Platform, commented that it was obvious now that Law and Justice preferred to cooperate with the populist Self-Defence which would soon start demanding a share of power.

posted by: Oborski at 18:12 | link | comments |

Warsaw, Nov. 7: Poland's outgoing president Aleksander Kwasniewski and his wife Jolanta are scheduled to visit Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in Buckingham Palace this Wednesday. The president is starting his two-day working visit on Tuesday. Ireneusz Bil from the president's chancellory said Kwasniewski planned to "thank the Queen for the years of friendly support to Poland". Kwasniewski will also meet British Prime Minister Tony Blair to review the past decade of Polish-British relations and Iraq.

Brussels, Nov. 7: Foreign Minister Stefan Meller announced a wish for Poland's closer cooperation with France and Germany. Meller in Brussels for a meeting of the EU diplomacy heads told a press conference on Monday he had preliminary schedule for meetings with foreign ministers of the two countries. French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy told PAP on Monday he talked with Meller and invited him to Paris. "There is a very good moment to add new impulses to the Polish-French cooperation," Meller, a onetime ambassador to France, said. Meller also expressed his deep conviction that the place of Poland is in the EU and rejected rumours on the government's renegotiation of the Accession Treaty.

Warsaw, Nov. 7: Defence Minister Radoslaw Sikorski on Monday in a phone talk with U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld discussed bilateral military cooperation. Referring to the latest NATO-Ukraine summit in Vilnius Donald Rumsfeld stressed that the U.S. attached great importance do Ukraine's euroatlantic drive. Sikorski confirmed the will to support all strivings of the eastern neighbour for NATO and European structures membership and also highly estimated the current state of Polish-Ukrainian military cooperation. The U.S. Secretary also expressed satisfaction of todate results of the Polish-U.S. military cooperation in Irak, Afghanistan and the scope of transformations in Poland's armed forces. Rumsfeld also expressed hope of meeting president-elect Lech Kaczynski in Washington following an invitation for the president from George Walker Bush to visit the U.S.

Warsaw, Nov. 7: Almost 140 Polish soldiers will leave for Pakistan on Tuesday where they will help to remove the effects of the recent tragic earth quake. The group includes soldiers and officers of military engineering corps, spokesman for the Chief of Staff Zdzislaw Gnatowski told PAP on Monday. The Polish group will be stationed near the city of Bagh, 80 kilometres outside Islamabad. According to plans the group will stay in Pakistan for six months.

Warsaw, Nov. 7: Seven Polish soldiers stationing with the European Union Force (EUFOR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina were slightly injured in a car accident near the locality of Zvornik on Monday morning, spokesman for the General Staff of the Polish army colonel Zdzislaw Gnatowski reported later in the day. The soldiers have been hospitalized but they are in good condition. Their injuries are not life-threatening, according to a statement sent to PAP. EUFOR, the troops of the European Union, took over the mission from NATO in 2004. At present there are 266 Poles serving in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Minsk, Nov. 7: Poland's ambassador to Belarus Tadeusz Pawlak has handed in his resignation, the Foreign Ministry spokesman on Monday confirmed earlier reports. The motive behind the ambassador's decision is not yet known. Late in July Pawlak was recalled to Poland for consultations in connection with Belarus's repressions towards activists of the Union of Poles in Belarus. On October 10th, ambassador Pawlak returned to Belarus which met with an ambivalent response from Belarussian Poles and the opposition. Former deputy of the Polish ambassador to Ukraine Marek Bucko believes that acceptance of Pawlak's resignation may be the first swallow making spring in Polish-Belarussian relations. "If this resignation is accepted quickly it will be a positive sign for the Union of Poles in Belarus and the Belarussian opposition that for years had unsuccessfully waited for resolute actions of the ambassador, Bucko told PAP. According to Bucko, it is in the Polish reason of state to fill diplomatic posts in Belarus with people who understand what was going on over there and what is Poland's interest regarding Belarus. He believes this also relates to posts of consuls in Grodno and Brest who had been criticised for Polonian organisations and NGOs for their inertia. Bucko was convinced that Foreign Minister Stefan Meller well familiar with relations with the East would send there a competent diplomat knowing the needs of Poles in case Pawlak resignation is accepted. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Stefan Meller announced Monday in Brussels he would take a decision on accepting Pawlak's resignation on Tuesday. Belarus is an important country for us and the ambassador must be there, Meller said.

Bielsko-Biala, Nov. 7: Over 100 members of the Lions Club charity organization from Israel, Germany and Poland Monday staged a remembrance march in the onetime Nazi death camp Auschwitz in south Poland. The march, staged in the camp's female section Birkenau, is to help foster understanding between Jews, Germans and Poles, all major players in the 1939-45 second world war. The marchers paid tribute to the camp's victims and said a joint prayer. Shortly before the ceremony they also visited the Auschwitz Museum in the camp's main section. Later this evening they will attend a performance of the opera Brundibar by Israeli composer Hans Krasa. Lions Club International was founded in 1917 in the U.S. and currently operates in 194 countries with a membership of almost 1,4 million.

Warsaw, Nov. 7: The official reserve assets in October rose by 401.9 mn euros to 34,547.8 mn euros, the National Bank of Poland reported Monday. In USD official reserve assets on October 31, 2005 were at 41,679.5 mn and in the Polish zlotys they amounted to 137,821.5 mn.

Brussels, Nov. 7: Both small shops as well as hypermarkets should have the same rights on the market and should be treated in the same way, Oliver Drewes, the spokesman for European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services Charlie McCreevy, told PAP referring to a statement by Polish Finance Minister Teresa Lubinska. On Saturday Financial Times published an article headlined "Hypermarkets not welcome in Poland" in which it quoted Lubinska as saying that networks of hypermarkets like Tesco were an example of the kind of non-productive investment that was not needed in Poland. According to FT, Lubinska said that she had tried to "chase out" hypermarkets from the city of Szczecin when she was a councillor because they were destroying small shops. All enterprises should enjoy the same rights on international markets irrespective of their size until they do not break economic regulations. This applies also to hypermarkets. Such are the fundamental rules, Drewes told PAP.

Warsaw, Nov. 7: Fifty nine percent of Poles declare confidence in the European Union (3 percent more than two years ago), but at the same time more Poles voice negative opinions concerning EU institutions, according to a September CBOS poll. Polish farmers are the group in which confidence in the EU has grown from 25 percent to 45 percent since March 2003. Despite growing trust in the EU as a whole the number of Poles criticizing the European Parliament and European Commission has gone up. At present 57 percent of the respondents voice positive opinions about the parliament (unchanged since March 2003) but the number of negative opinions went up from 7 percent to 14 percent. Fifty three percent voice positive opinions about the European Commission (down by 3 percentage points) and 11 percent think the opposite (6 percent two years ago). Thirty percent of Poles believe the EU takes care of interests of ordinary citizens and 44 percent believe its main concern are interests of its employees. CBOS ran the poll on a representative sample of 1,028 adult Poles on September 14-18.

Warsaw, Nov. 7: Fiat Auto and Ford Motor Company signed a cooperation agreement to launch joint car production. The two companies plan to produce Fiat 500 and the European successor of Ford Ka in the Fiat plant in Tychy, southern Poland. "The agreement with Ford represents another significant stage in our cooperation establishing strategy designed to effectively use funds and production resources," president of Fiat Group and Fiat Auto Sergio Marchionne said. The new models will be launched onto the market in 2007-2008 with the expected annual production capacity at 240 thousand cars.

Legnica, Nov. 7: The Polish copper concern KGHM Polska Miedz SA plans to spend some 700 mn PLN (210 mn USD) for investments in 2006, concern CEO Marek Szczerbiak told PAP on Monday. "This practically means that we will build one of the world's most modern metallurgy plants. In about five years the concern will increase its production capacities and savings as the new technology is less expensive and environment-friendly, the CEO said. KGHM is Poland's second biggest electricity recipient. The annual energy consumption of the group accounts for some 2 pct of the overall home need. The power grid has signed a agreement with PGNiG on gas deliveries to meet the need of the combined production of electricity and heat. KGHM Polska Miedz SA will invest a total of 4 bn PLN in five years.

Warsaw, Nov. 7: The total value of assets managed by the investment funds TFI in October rose to 54.2 bn PLN (15.7 bn USD) or, 1.6 percent from September, according to a report of Analizy Online and the Chamber Managing Funds and Assets. The leading position on the market was gained by funds investing in shares of foreign companies as their assets rose by 12 pct. The 2nd group were funds investing in securities and other instruments of the financial market as the value of their assets exceeded 8 bn PLN in October with a 7.2 pct growth. Three investments funds reported a falling trend in October namely those investing in the Warsaw Stock Exchange, in the Polish bonds and bills and TFI investing in bonds and bills denominated in USD. The authors of the report write that interest in investment funds' offer is high. According to their calculations, in October TFI received 1.7 bn PLN in new funds and the surplus of payments over withdrawn funds was at 13.5 bn PLN. In the comparable period of 2005 the balance was negative at minus 260 mn PLN. Since the start of the year TFI assets rose by 42 pct and the annual dynamics exceeded 58 pct.

Tarnow, Nov. 7: At least one thousand new jobs within two years will be offered by companies investing in the Tarnow "Plastic Valley" industrial cluster, a part of the Cracow special economic zone. Tarnow deputy mayor Andrzej Sasak told PAP on Monday that domestic and foreign investors have purchased almost all lots of the 50 hectare industrial cluster. Investors represent such sectors as plastics, construction, chemistry and steel constructions. The first finished investment will be Elmark's production of plastic products.

Legnica, Nov. 7: The Legnica special economic zone reported investment outlays exceeding 2.7 bn PLN and 6.5 thousands of new jobs. Zone CEO Ryszard Gibu a has told PAP that by the end of the year the number of people working in the zone will probably exceed 7,000. He added that soon the 60th permit for starting business in the zone will be issued. The zone was set up in 1997 and covers the area of 417 hectares.

Szczecin, Nov. 7: Poland's Baltic coast town of Swinoujscie and Germany's Ahlbeck will receive a rail connection in two-years time improving traffic between the two sea resorts. All costs will be covered by the German Usedomer Baderbahn which will build a two-kilometre stretch of rails leading to Swinoujscie and raise a small train station. Local authorities stressed that the new line will boost local economies as well as tourism giving Polish and German tourists a more comfortable access to many interesting local attractions.

Warsaw, Nov. 7: Polish ostrich breeders expect to earn about 7 million USD this year on exports of meat, hides and other ostrich-derived products. Jaroslaw Horbanczuk from the Polish Academy of Sciences' Genetics and Animal Breeding Institute said ostrich breeders in Poland had benefited a lot from Poland's EU accession, among others gaining access to export markets in South Korea and Japan. About 20,000 ostriches are currently bred on 550-600 farms in Poland.

Warsaw, Nov. 7: "Ono" (It) a feature film by young Polish filmmaker Malgorzata Szumowska is among the seven films nominated for the European Film Academy Award in the Discovery of the Year category. The nominations were announced Sunday during the current international Film Festival in Sevilla. Szumowska's film will compete for the award with pictures from Russia, Portugal, Denmark, Italy and Norway, and a France/Belgium project. Pawel Pawlikowski with his British production "My Summer of Love" is another Polish accent among this years candidates for the award. The film has already won the prestigious BAFTA Award and of the Edinburgh Film Festival. The film of the British director of Polish origin will have the rivals in pictures of Susanne Bier of Denmark, Michael Haneke of Austria, Wim Wenders of Germany and the brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne of Belgium.

Warsaw, Nov. 7: The outstanding Polish pianist and statesman, Ignacy Jan Paderewski was awarded post mortem the Virtuti Militari Order. The decision on distinction for Paderewski was taken by General Wladyslaw Sikorski, the commander-in-chief of the Polish Armed Forces in the West in 1941, but it was carried out only at present, in a symbolic ceremony held on Paderewski's 145th birthday in Warsaw on Monday. General Stanislaw Nalecz-Komornicki recalled Paderewski's singular merits: the pianist gained support of the US authorities for Poland's independence cause during World War One, humanitarian aid for the starving population in Poland, and outstanding merits for the Polish army during World War Two. Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-1941) was the first premier of the reborn Polish state in 1919, representing it at the Paris Peace Conference.

Gdansk, Nov. 7: Gdansk will finance the construction of a European Solidarity Centre in the city, Gdansk officials decided Monday at a meeting in the office of former president and Solidarity Union founder Lech Walesa. Gdansk president Pawel Adamowicz said the city will finance the centre's construction but its final shape will be decided by a special Solidarity Centre Foundation headed by Walesa. He added that Gdansk also planned to ask the EU for extra funding for the project.

Lublin, Nov. 7: Paris rioters in the night from Sunday to Monday set fire to a Polish tourist coach parked in the city's Alfortville district. No one was hurt. The coach, property of a tourist bureau in Zamosc, southeastern Poland, was completely destroyed by fire.

posted by: Oborski at 18:15 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 22:57 | link | comments |

Warsaw, Nov. 3: Europeans are weary of elections and have less and less confidence in politics and public institutions, vice Secretary General of the Council of Europe Maud de Boer-Buquicchio told the council forum that started in Warsaw on Thursday. She stressed there was a need to see to it that changes undergoing on the continent produced a better Europe. The need for increasing the participation of Europeans in public life was stressed by President of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Rene van Der Linden and Portuguese representative in the Coucil of Europe Joaquim Duarte. The two-day meeting, held in the Royal Castle in Warsaw will be attended by Senate Speaker Bogdan Borusewicz and Council of Europe secretary general Terry Davis. The meeting is attended by representatives of all 46 Council of Europe member-states and a special envoy from Belarus, which is not the organisation member.

Sejm, Senate Speakers meet President of Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe

Warsaw, Nov. 3: Sejm Speaker Marek Jurek met Thursday with President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Rene van der Linden. Jurek told PAP after the meeting that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe is a very significant plane of a European debate on human rights and democratic standards. From the point of view of Poland the Council of Europe is a very significant association of countries promoting democracy, especially where it did not exist, Jurek said. According to Jurek, the future of democracy in the east is uncertain and the role the Council of Europe can play there is very significant. Rene van der Linden at a meeting with Senate Speaker Bogdan Borusewicz here on Thursday praised the third Council of Europe Summit organised in Warsaw last spring and the activities of Polish delegates to the Council. In Rene van der Linden's opinion a certain discrepancy has occurred lately as regards global and national policies, so a debate is needed in each national parliament on the state of community policies. Rene van der Linden referring to the possible referendum on the European constitution in Poland said he personally was against the referendum idea as in his opinion the document should be adopted by parliament. Borusewicz pointed out that chances for adoption of the constitution in Poland diminished after the document had been rejected by several countries. The two also spoke of Belarus. The guest said it is a difficult question since Belarus is outside the Council of Europe.

Warsaw, Nov. 3: The present epoch is 180 degrees different from the previous one when central European societies struggled for independence, said former President Lech Walesa during a Council of Europe Forum of the Future of Democracy in Warsaw on Thursday. The meeting of representatives of all EU countries was inaugurated by Poland's Foreign Minister Stefan Meller. Walesa stressed that his point of view, the point of view of a man personally involved in the freedom-oriented movement "slightly" differed from the point of view presented by today's politicians. "It should be finally said that the "homo homini lupus" attitude prevailing in those days has finally been replaced by people-friendly attitude.

Warsaw, Nov. 3: After failure to ally with the ruling Law and Justice (PiS), the Platform (PO) must now form a strong opposition, PO leader and presidential loser Donald Tusk said at a Thursday sitting of the PO National Council. The PO National Council agreed and decided to vote against the confidence vote in the Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz government. The council is of the opinion that the minority government will not be able to govern well and efficiently. The Council did not rule out a possibility of a future government but wants genuine and not propaganda proposals from PiS, it said. According to Tusk PO's failed coalition talks with PiS were the work of (PiS leader - PAP) Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who had from the start planned an alliance with the populistic groups Samoobrona and League of Polish Families (LPR). PO leader Jan Rokita accused the Marcinkiewicz team of "begging for support wherever it could" and advised PO to work on a shadow cabinet "in preparation for the crisis that will be the outcome of this minority government". Poland cannot be governed by a minority government. I'm sure this concept developed by Jaroslaw Kaczynski will lead to a crisis, Rokita said, calling the fiascoed PO-PiS talks "a deep loss for Poland".

Suwalki, Nov. 3: Outgoing President Aleksander Kwasniewski and his Lithuanian counterpart Valdas Adamkus are to meet in the locality of Sejny near both countries border on Friday morning. In the afternoon the two will go to Lithuanian Druskeninkai, the Presidential Chancellery reported Thursday. The presidents will unveil a commemorative plaque to a Lithuanian school built in Sejny by the Lithuanian government. Until recently lack of the school was the main problem of the Lithuanian minority in Poland after the Polish local authorities had closed a few small schools attended by Lithuanian children. The new school was to be opened in September but the Lithuanian side failed to keep the deadline. As of November the new school has attracted 60 kids of Lithuanian origin. In Sejny Kwasniewski, Adamkus and the Lithuanian minority in Sejny will discuss school system problems which are of top importance to the minority that accounts for nearly 20 pct of local society. The presidents are to meet representatives of the Polish minority in Lithuania in the evening. Lithuanian politicians believe that the recent 10 years in Polish-Lithuanian relations were a breakthrough period. Despite this, however, joint big economic projects, such as Via Baltica and the power bridge still remain unrealised. Adviser to Lithuanian President Czeslaw Okinczyc told PAP Poland is the first and most important Lithuanian partner. Lithuanian politicians attribute the present good relations mostly to President Aleksander Kwasniewski.

Warsaw, Nov. 3: A Polish-Macedonian agreement mapping out main direction of cooperation in civil service and administration was signed between Macedonia's Civil Servants Agency and the Polish Civil Service here on Thursday. Head of the Macedonian Agency Aleksandar Gestakovski said that exchange with Poland of experience in the civil service and administration is very important for his country expecting to receive the status of an EU associated country at the end of 2005 and to start EU membership negotiations in 2006. Polish Civil Service head Jan Pastwa told PAP that Poland will offer schooling and periods of practice for Macedonian civil servants and will send experts and advisers to Macedonia if needed.This is the second agreement of this kind signed by Poland, the first was concluded with Ukraine.

Warsaw, Nov. 3: Interior Minister Ludwik Dorn said that the role of the Border Guard in Poland's system of internal security should be increased. Dorn on Thursday introduced the new head of the Border Guard, Colonel Miroslaw Kusmierczak. Dorn hopes that thanks to new legislature Border Guard officers will able to support the police force. He added that following Poland's EU accession tasks of the Border Guard should be redefined.

Warsaw, Nov. 3: Poland's jobless rate could be cut by even 6.4 percent if Poland was more intent on introducing reforms making it easier to do business, World Bank's Sylvia Soft said Thursday during presentation of a "Doing Business 2006" report. Soft identified three Baltic countries - Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia - as the most reform-oriented countries, working for years to cut bureaucracy. According to World Bank experts, reforms making it easier to do business could increase Poland's economic growth by 1.2 percentage points a year. The average annual GDP growth rate rose to 3.4 percent in Poland in 2000-2004, while in the three Baltic countries it rose to over 7 percent annually over that time.

Warsaw, Nov. 3: Germany's 80-million-strong consumer market offers broad investment openings for Polish firms, Volker Berresheim from the German embassy in Warsaw said Thursday in the Higher Economics School in Warsaw. Berresheim, in the school to lecture on Polish-German relations after Poland's EU accession, said about 20 thousand Polish companies were currently operating in Germany against 10 thousand German firms in Poland, nonetheless Polish operations in Germany were mostly small and one-man units while German projects in Poland were large-scale industrial undertakings. According to the diplomat, the German market was a good development chance for Polish investors.

Cracow, Nov. 3: The world's leading automotive components supplier Delphi will expand its Technical Centre in Cracow whereby 250 new jobs will be created. In line with its investment programme, Delphi will invest 2 million zlotys to expand the centre and create 250 new jobs in return for a subsidy of 1 million zlotys from Poland's state budget in 2006-2007. The Technical Centre in Cracow, one of 34 such centres in the world, employs 560 people. Delphi Corp. employs close to 200 thousand people in 200 plants worldwide.

Gorzow Wielkopolski, Nov. 3: Three investors are planning new projects in the Kostrzynsko-Slubicka special economic zone worth a total of 286 million zlotys (87 million USD). The new projects are possible thanks to the government's approval of plans to expand the zone by 124 hectares. The CDS company, operating in the automotive sector, is to prepare a production-storage-logistics centre at the cost of over 80 million zlotys. German company Homanit Polska wants to modernize a fibreboard production line in buildings of a defunct plant. It also plans to build new production halls to start the production of impregnated boards. The project's value is estimated at 200 million zlotys. The third new potential investor in the zone is Garo company, maker of electrical equipment. The company wants to invest in a new plant some 6 million zlotys.If implemented, all the projects will give jobs to some 700 persons.

Wroclaw, Nov. 3: The Wizz Air cheap airline started up a new connection from Wroclaw to Dortmund on Thursday, Wizz Air's Dominika Juniewicz said. The new schedule will come in force on March 1, 2006. Wroclaw is the fifth Polish city serviced by the Hungarian carrier, with the other four being Warsaw, Katowice, Gdansk and Poznan. From the start of its operations in May 2004 Wizz Air carried over 2 million passengers. The new schedule will come in force on March 1, 2006. Wroclaw is the fifth Polish city serviced by the Hungarian carrier, with the other four being Warsaw, Katowice, Gdansk and Poznan.

Legnica, Nov. 3: Four companies are to invest a total of 50 million zlotys (15.2 million USD) in the Legnica Special Economic Zone. All investors are tied with the automotive sectors and represent German capital, Ryszard Gibula, the zone CEO, said at a Thursday press conference. The implementation of the four projects means the opening of 100 new jobs.

Warsaw, Nov. 3: Some one thousand companies from twenty two countries will take part in the 17th Poleko 2005 International Ecological Fair in Poznan, organizers said at a Thursday press conference. This year's fair, to be held between 15-18 November, is focusing on such sectors as water, wastes, municipal technologies, energy, air and noise, ecological education. The fair, the biggest such fair in Central and East Europe, is held under the patronage of Polish and German Environment Ministers.

Warsaw, Nov. 3: A skull recently unearthed in a cathedral in Frombork, north Poland, probably belonged to famed 16th-century astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, scientists gathered in Frombork at a Copernicus conference informed Thursday. The skull, discovered last August by archeologists from Pultusk near Warsaw, served as the basis of a computer reconstruction showing what Copernicus may have looked like at 70, the age at which he died. The most serious evidence that the skull really is Copernicus's is a blowmark above the left eye, visible as a scar on portraits of he astronomer. Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) was a mathematician and astronomer who proposed that the sun was stationary in the centre of the universe and the earth revolved around it. Copernicus was buried in the Frombork cathedral. His exact burial place was unknown until now.

Lublin, Nov. 3: Ceremonies in tribute to Jews murdered by Nazis in the mass execution in the Nazi-run extermination camp of Majdanek were held in Lublin, eastern Poland on Thursday. Former inmates, youth, representatives of the local Jewish community and local authorities paid homage to the memory of 18 thousand Jews killed by Germans on November 3, 1943. Prayers were said and those gathered laid flowers and lit candles at the site of the crime. Roman Litman, head of the Lublin branch of the Warsaw Jewish Community told journalists his whole family was killed there. All days in the camp were tragic, each day more horrible than the previous one," director of the Majdanek Museum, Edward Balawejder recalled. Erntefest" or "Harvest" was how the Germans named this mass execution. All in all, between 1941 and 1944 Nazis killed nearly 250 thousand people of 50 nationalities, including 100 thousand Jews brought to the camp from various places. Those who escaped mass executions perished of starvation, diseases, labour beyond human endurance and in gas chambers.

Warsaw, Nov. 2: Civic Platform (PO) leader Donald Tusk Wednesday in Warsaw said he would recommend his party to oppose a confidence vote in the Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz government and move to the opposition. Tusk said PiS's current alliance plans with the populist Samoobrona Farmer Party, Catholic-conservative League of Polish Families (LPR) and Polish Peasant Party (PSL) "did not guarantee moral renewal nor a breakthrough in economic policy". Commenting Marcinkiewicz's recent suggestion of a "programme accord" with the PO, Tusk said the idea was "somewhat strange and irritating". This is really peculiar, as it means the PO would have to blindly guarantee to endorse everything the government does without being in it, Tusk remarked. He added, however, that the PO was ready to accept all legislation by the Marcinkiewicz government that was useful to Poland "with benevolent understanding". Asked what would have to happen for PO to back the new Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz cabinet, Tusk said the precondition was abandonment of the government's alliance with the populist Samoobrona Farmer Party. The PO does not plan to persuade or buy other parties votes to vote against the government of Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz. Tusk said he saw no danger of split in the PO. He added he would recommend Jan Rokita for deputy head of the PO parliamentary floor group and deputy PO leader. Tusk said that the party position on Kazimierz Marcinkiewciz government would be made by the PO national council on Thursday.

Warsaw, Nov. 2: The appointment of to-date Polish ambassador in Moscow Stefan Meller to Poland's new foreign minister is a "gesture towards the EU and Russia", eastern affairs expert Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz said Wednesday. This is a very good choice to calm the two most concerned sides, Russia and the EU", Sienkiewicz said. Wiktor Ross, the Moscow embassy's highest-ranking official, is currently heading the office.

Warsaw, Nov. 2: Defence minister Radoslaw Sikorski Wednesday talked on the phone with NATO secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. Sikorski assured that Poland will continue to fulfill its NATO obligations. Sikorski and Scheffer discussed Poland's role in a humanitarian mission in Pakistan and planned command takeover of an ISAF mission in Afghanistan.Sikorski also invited Scheffer to pay a visit to Poland. Also today Sikorski met general Marek Dukaczewski, head of the liquidation-designated Military Intelligence Service (WSI).

Washington, Nov. 1: The U.S. Lockheed Martin corporation assured Monday that it will meet next year's offset obligations resulting from Poland's purchase of its F-16 fighters. Lockheed spokeswoman Catherine Blades said the offset agreement foresaw 6 billion dollars' worth of U.S. investments and technology transfer projects in Poland over the next 10 years.

London, Nov. 2: Former Prime Minister Marek Belka spoke with optimism about prospects of Poland's economic development in BBC's HardTalk programme on Tuesday. Belka also spoke about negative phenomena, unemployment, corruption and mistakes made by the former ruling party, the Democratic Left Alliance. Asked whether Poland was not threatened with economic growth slowdown, Belka said he was an optimist but complained about instances of "lack of cohesion" in electoral promises of the general election winner - Law and Justice party. Belka defended the decision to send Polish troops to Iraq, regardless of public moods both in Poland and the U.S. where the decision is more and more often regarded as a mistake. "I think it was a good decision. I think that we have strengthened our position within NATO and - poradoxically - being a permanent U.S. partner - we have strengthened our position within the E.U."

Warsaw, Nov. 2: Tourist traffic from Russia is on the rise, with around 700 thousand Russians visiting Poland last year, 10 percent more than in 2003, the Polish Tourism Organization's Moscow head Andrzej Sierakowski said Wednesday at a press conference devoted to the Polish-Russian Tourism Forum. Sierakowski said most Russian tourists to Poland came from Moscow and Kaliningrad and mainly visited Polish seaside resorts. The 2nd Polish-Russian Tourism Forum is taking place on November 2-6 in Naleczow, southeast Poland. Attending will be about 100 Russian travel agents. Last year's meeting was held in Cracow.

Warsaw, Nov. 2: The Finance Ministry expects that in October 2005 inflation amounted to 1.5 percent year-on-year and 0.3 percent from September 2005, the ministry said in a communique on Wednesday. "The Finance Ministry estimates that the prices of consumer's goods and services went up in October by 0.3 percent as compared to Septmeber. This means that October's growth of consumer's prices may stand at 1.5 percent year-on-year," the ministry reported. The Central Statistical Office (GUS) will publish a report on inflation in October on November 14. According to the recent GUS data, prices of consumer's goods and services went up by 1.8 percent in September 2005 from September 2004, and by 0.4 percent from August 2005.

Warsaw, Nov. 2: The gross revenues on privatisation stood at 3,750.55 million zlotys on October 31, 2005, or 66.17 percent of the budget plan, the Treasury Ministry reported on Wednesday. The net revenues were 2,735.7 million zlotys, or 61.63 percent of the plan.

Warsaw, Nov. 2: Poland came 54th in the World Bank's Doing Business 2006 business climate ranking of 155 countries.This year's ranking focused on creating jobs and the role of reforms in raising employment. Its authors praised Poland as "the most active reformer" regarding business laws, also commended were CIT cuts and judicial reforms. Higher than Poland were Slovakia (37th), the Czech Republic (41) and Hungary (52).

Warsaw, Nov. 2: The banks polled by the central bank NBP expect that credit granting criterions for entrepreneurs and in the housing credit segment will be eased. "The credit easing tendency will be upheld at the to-date level in the small and medium-enterprise sector. In the sector of big enterprises the banks are planning considerable easing of the credit policy," the National Bank of Poland said. The poll was carried out late in September and early in October 2005 among 24 banks whose total share in credits granted to enterprises and households totals 79.3 percent.

Warsaw, Nov. 2: The Finance Ministry has exchanged 500 million USD on the market in October, Pawel Kowalewski of the ministry told PAP on Wednesday. In the past month Poland sold 10 and 30-year bonds denominated in USD of a total value of 1.1 billion USD.

Warsaw, Nov. 2: A total of 657 thousand used cars were imported to Poland in January-September, the Samar automotive market monitoring company has reported. The biggest number of used cars has been imported to Poland's western Wielkopolskie province - 101 thousand cars. According to Samar experts September saw a 5 per cent decline in the number of imported second-hand cars compared to the August level. The average value of an imported used car was 1,747 zlotys.

Warsaw, Nov. 2: The Civil Aviation Office announced that airlines will be able to increase the number of flights between Warsaw and Kiev. Aviation officials from Poland and Ukraine met on Wednesday to sign newly agreed, liberalized regulations concerning air traffic between the two countries. The new regulations will allow a greater number of carriers to offer flights between the two capitals, while the number of flights to regional airports is, for the time being, unlimited.

Warsaw, Nov. 2: Poland's leading refiner PKN Orlen's Czech unit Unipetrol has given up plans to sell around 100 fuel stations owned by its subsidiary Benzina to Conoco Phillips. "We received an official stance of Unipetrol that it does not want to sell one third of its fuel station network owned by Benzina," PKN Orlen deputy president Cezary Smorszczewski said. Smorszczewski does not rule out arbitration proceedings. Smorszczewski also said that PKN Orlen will place a bid to buy shares in Lithuanian refinery Mozejki by November 10th. Mozejki is 53.7 percent owned by Yukos with 40.66 percent owned by the state and the reminder by small investors.

Katowice, Nov. 2: Mining company Kompania Weglowa (KW) together with several scientific centres is preparing a study on the profitability of production of liquid fuels from coal. KW experts and scientists working on the study are convinced that petrol produced from coal maybe cheaper from that produced traditionally. Also the head of the Chamber of Liquid Fuels Aurelia Kuran-Puszkarska is convinced that such production is sensible. "A barrel of oil costs over 60 USD today and according to most analysts it will never be cheaper... That is why we should review alternative sources of energy, go back to the idea of biofuels and look for new alternative sources, including the production of petrol from coal." KW is considering a 4 billion euros investment in a fuel refinery designed to distil liquid fuels from coal. The plant would process 50,000 tons of coal daily making 90,000 barrels of fuel. The price of one litre of fuel produced there would be comparable with current prices.

Warsaw, Nov. 2: Polkomtel SA, the operator of Plus GSM digital mobile network, posted 310 million zlotys net profits in the 3rd quarter, according to a quarterly report of the Danish TDC, a Polkomtel's shareholder. Polkomtel's contribution into TDC's net result was over 60 million zlotys. TDC owns 19.61 percent of Polkomtel. In the first half of 2005 Polkomtel posted 527.1 million zlotys in net profits with EBITDA at 1.15 billion zlotys and sales revenues at 3.005 billion zlotys. After the first six months of the year it had 7.88 million clients. Polkomtel expects to make 1 billion zlotys in net profits this year and to increase the number of subscribers to 9 million.

posted by: Oborski at 13:57 | link | comments |

From Warsaw Voice

Contrary to prevailing opinions, Polish soils are among the least polluted in Europe.

The content of trace elements-heavy metals-is considerably lower than in many European countries, according to recent research by the Institute of Cultivation, Fertilization and Soil Science (IUNG). Over 50,000 samples were tested from all over Poland, both from industrial regions and typical farming areas, for soil content of harmful heavy metals: cadmium, copper, nickel, lead and zinc. The research reveals that 80 percent of arable land and meadows are clean areas with a normal content of these metals-only 17.6 percent of soils have a slightly higher metal content. The soils qualified as slightly polluted account for 2.18 percent of farmland, while medium polluted areas-for 0.5 percent. All kinds of crops, in controlled conditions, can be cultivated there. Only badly polluted soils-0.27 percent, and extremely polluted soils-barely 0.08 percent of farmland, should be excluded from agricultural use and designated for afforestation.

IUNG researchers have discovered considerable variations in soil pollution even in heavily industrialized areas, such as the Upper Silesian Basin. The worst pollution is found in mining and metallurgical regions. But there are also areas entirely free from this kind of contamination. In light of this research, Poland ranks among European leaders in terms of soil purity. Polish soils, featuring a high purity level, enable production of healthy food-top quality farm produce. This is of great significance for the export of Polish food to European Union markets

posted by: Oborski at 12:18 | link | comments |

From Warsaw Voice...

"At this festival, Satan is called up, he arrives, takes over, wields evil and doesn't want to leave."
-Stanisław Napierała, a bishop from Kalisz, who opposes a youth music festival held in nearby Jarocin

"Now only losers will pay the poll companies for their services."
-Michał Kamiński, one of the key members of Lech Kaczyński's election staff, on the dramatic difference between forecasts based on polls and the results of presidential elections

"Sometimes we act as if we were still under martial law: we remain underground until we attract 10-15 percent of employees. Conspiracy is necessary because often the employer's first reaction is to fire [those who join trade unions]."
-Janusz Śniadek, chair of NSZZ Solidarity trade union, on problems with creating trade unions at super- and hypermarkets

"It turned out that the doctor, appointed as court expert to establish the cause of death, kept it-out of absent-mindedness, he claims. We found it in the wardrobe in his office."
-A police officer from Kalisz on the scandal with incomplete corpse of an accident victim; before the funeral, the family discovered the head was missing

"It's outrageous how we are treated by television now. They're showing us like some kind of freaks, and after all, we have the right to vote for whom we want, like all other people."
-A resident of Stare Dzikowo village in Podkarpacie province, where in the first round of presidential elections, 60 percent of voters supported Andrzej Lepper, the leader of the radical Samooobrona party

"They were satisfied with my work until they asked me what I do back in Ukraine. When I told them I'm going to complete my Ph.D. dissertation shortly, they never called me again."
-Olga, a 34-year-old Ukrainian earning for a living by cleaning up houses in Poland, on her clients, a family of warehouse owners posing as intelligentsia

posted by: Oborski at 12:13 | link | comments |

From Warsaw Voice

Chances for a coalition of Law and Justice (PiS) and the Civic Platform (PO) are getting thinner and thinner. Today a PiS minority government seems more likely. Having won the presidential elections, PiS has clearly toughened its policy. The presidiums of the Sejm and Senate were elected at the party's bidding.

The prime minister-designate Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz said Oct. 27 he would present a Council of Ministers ready to be sworn into office Oct. 31. He denied conducting talks on appointing a government with any other party than the PO. Marcinkiewicz says the best solution to the present situation is to resume program talks of the PiS and PO and set out common goals for the repair of the state. In his opinion, the PiS and PO's talks "moved on to the issue of division of ministries much too fast;" the parties should have worked out a joint program first.

"Cześć!"

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