Polish Shock - Poland's Roads Are Safer

Polish authorities released some surprising information. Poland's roads are safer. Only 94 people died on Warsaw roads last year, the first time the death toll has been in double digits in nearly two decades.

This is a 25 per cent decrease from 125 fatalities recorded in 2008, and is a trend set to continue, with Sunday January 3 the first day in memory with no lethal car accidents in the country.

“I can’t remember a year in which we had less than 100 dead,” said junior police inspector Wojciech Pasieczny.

Read more:http://www.masterpage.com.pl/outlook/201001/polish-roads-safer.html

Pope Gunman to Consider Book, Film Offers

ANKARA, Turkey — The gunman who shot and wounded Pope John Paul II says he will begin considering book, film and television documentary offers after his release from a Turkish prison later this month.

Read More:http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,582663,00.html

Poland - Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski on a visit to Hungary

Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski will pay a working visit to Hungary on January 11, 2010 at the invitation of his Hungarian counterpart Péter Balázs. The programme includes meetings with Hungary’s President László Sólyom, PM Gordon Bajnai, Foreign Minister Péter Balázs and the main opposition party Chairman Fidesz V. Orbán. Minister Sikorski will also lay a wreath by General Józef Bem’s monument and award the Bene Merito distinctions to László Cselényi and Géza Pörösow, Hungary’s Duna TV Chairman and Deputy-chairman, in recognition of their contributions to promoting Poland’s image abroad.

Read more:http://www.isria.com/pages/9_January_2010_30.php

Poland tightens crackdown on drunk drivers

The Polish parliament has passed a more restrictive law on drunk driving, national media reported Friday.

Under the new regulations, an intoxicated driver who causes a fatal accident may lose his driving license forever, Polish Radio said. Those who are caught driving under the influence of alcohol more than once will be sentenced from three months to five years.

Read more:http://en.rian.ru/world/20100108/157496619.html

Dad loses bid to speak Polish to daughters

A German court has ruled a Polish father has no inherent right to speak his native language during supervised visits with his daughters.

Wojciech Pomorski, 39, filed a lawsuit arguing the Youth Affairs Office in Hamburg did not respect his cultural identity. The court dismissed the case this week, Polish Radio reported.

Pomorski, who is divorced from his German wife, can see his two daughters only under supervision. The Youth Affairs Office said he could only speak German to the girls because Polish-speaking employees of the office are not always available.

Read more:http://www.upi.com/Top_News/International/2010/01/09/Dad-loses-bid-to-speak-Polish-to-daughters/UPI-73321263019818/

Sign theft suspect speaks out

A Swede who admitted taking part in planning the theft of the infamous Nazi German "Arbeit Macht Frei" sign from Auschwitz spoke out in the Swedish media on Friday, appearing with his name and photograph.

Anders Hoegstroem, 34, a former Swedish neo-Nazi, said he was supposed to act as an intermediary to pick up the sign and sell it to a buyer, but in the end he wound up informing Polish police about the people behind the plot.

"I was asked if I wanted to take the sign from one location to another," he told tabloid Aftonbladet.

Read more:http://www.news24.com/Content/World/News/1073/ab50ced600d94d5eb50ef0b0ad784b78/08-01-2010-09-04/Sign_theft_suspect_speaks_out

Polish president slams govt over Russia gas talks

Poland's conservative President Lech Kaczynski criticised the centre-right government for prolonging gas negotiations with Russia and deepening Poland's already-heavy reliance on Russian gas. Poland, the biggest ex-communist European Union country of 38 million, imports about two thirds of its gas from Russia and has so far failed to clinch a new gas deal with the Kremlin to cover an annual deficit of 2.5 billion cubic metres.

"The information about prolonged intergovernmental negotiations on supplies as well as signals that the agreement draft makes Poland even more dependant on Russian gas, forced Mr. President to ask Prime Minister Donald Tusk for clarification," a statement on Kaczynski's web page said.

Kaczynski is a frequent critic of Russia and accuses it of trying to reassert its influence in the former Soviet bloc by means including energy supplies.

Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKLDE60802420100109

Chopin's bicentennial launched with Lang Lang concert

Chinese pianist Lang Lang kicked off a worldwide salute to Frédéric Chopin in the composer's native Poland Thursday night with a Warsaw Philharmonic concert that launched yearlong anniversary celebrations.

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of the Polish-French composer, and the accomplished 27-year-old Lang performed some of Chopin's most famous works during the concert, which was broadcast live on Polish television.

Approximately 2,000 events — spanning concerts and recitals, competitions, exhibitions, panel discussions, film screenings and theatrical shows — are slated to take place across a host of cities around the world this year to celebrate the bicentennial of the Romantic maestro's birth.

Read more:http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2010/01/08/chopin-anniversary-bicentennial.html

Poland's PGNiG warns PKN, Police of gas cuts

Poland's gas monopoly PGNiG PGNI.WA warned its two major clients, refiner PKN Orlen PKNA.WA and chemical maker Police PICE.WA, about possible gas cuts, the companies said on Friday.

"We are talking about a potential level of deliveries, if there is a need to reduce them," PKN spokesman Dawid Piekarz said, without giving a reason for the warning.

Poland started the year with lower-than-usual gas storage levels due to a disruption in deliveries from Russia last year, and high winter gas consumption has raised concerns the stores will not last until the end of the season.

Poland has so far failed to reach a deal with Russia to cover an annual deficit of 2.5 billion cubic metres in gas deliveries due to a last-minute disagreement over details.

Read more:http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKLDE6070CI20100108

Ancient Polish cemetery slated for destruction ‘saved by government’

An ancient Jewish cemetery slated for destruction has been saved by the Polish authorities.

The graveyard, in Wolberom, near Krakow, was supposed to have a $1 million school gym built on it. But the project was moved at the end of last year to a different site after skeletons were discovered on the grounds.

Poland’s chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, praised both the local authorities and the government for the decision.

“I have very positive support from the offices of both the president and the prime minister. They understand that it is wrong to desecrate any cemeteries, including those of the Jewish community.

“It is about awareness. The more we engage and explain, the more national and local government respond positively, though there are still people and places that are very tough.”

Read more:http://www.thejc.com/news/world-news/25870/ancient-polish-cemetery-slated-destruction-saved-government%E2%80%99

Poland Arrests Man For Spying For Russia

Polish officials have revealed that a Russian citizen was arrested in Warsaw and charged with spying for Russia, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports.

The Polish Internal Security Agency discovered equipment for encrypting messages at his house during the arrest, Polish media reported.

The arrest took place in spring 2009 but was only made public on January 6.

News of his detention was known only by the president's office, the prime minister, and the prosecutor's office.

The unnamed suspect has reportedly lived in Poland for 10 years, speaks fluent Polish, and had a business selling accessories for hunting rifles.

He was reportedly under longstanding surveillance by the Polish security service.

Read more:http://www.rferl.org/content/Poland_Arrests_Man_For_Spying_For_Russia__/1923660.html

Polish Icon, Lech Walesa Goes to Court to Clear His Name

Mr. Walesa is suing Poland's current president, Lech Kaczynski, for libel in a civil suit that began in November. He is demanding about $34,000 in damages for accusations he collaborated with the communist secret service back in the 1970s. Neither man has attended the court sessions in person.

Read more:http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/europe/Polish-Icon-Lech-Walesa-Goes-to-Court-to-Clear-His-Name-80998407.html

Former neo-Nazi leader Angers Hoegstrom ‘ordered Auschwitz sign theft’

A former leading European neo-Nazi has claimed that he was the middleman in the theft of the Auschwitz sign bearing the three most powerful words from the Holocaust: “Arbeit Macht Frei”.

According to Polish and Swedish investigators, the theft was organised by Anders Hoegstrom — who set up the virulently anti-immigrant National Socialist Front in Sweden in the 1990s. “My role was to get the sign in Poland,” he told the Swedish tabloid Expressen. “I was the middleman and was supposed to take care of the sale.”

Mr Hoegstrom claims that he turned himself in to the Swedish authorities when he suddenly became aware that the sign was to be sold to a collector and the money used to fund a campaign to disrupt the Swedish election campaign this year, if necessary with violence.

“That was not something I wanted to be involved in or carry out in any way,” he said.

Read more:http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6980065.ece

Poland Sets Price For 10% Stake In KGHM At PLN103/Share

The Polish treasury ministry has priced its sale of a 10% stake in copper miner KGHM (KGH.WA) at PLN103 a share, the ministry said in a statement Friday.

The price for the 20 million shares in the hands of the government was set following a bookbuilding process.

Read more:http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/industrials/poland-sets-price--stake-kghm-plnshare/

Fireplace Without the Smoke?

The Lighthouse, a portable indoor-outdoor fireplace, is the newest model from Planika, a Polish company. According to the manufacturer, it doesn’t produce smoke or odor — and doesn’t require ventilation. What makes it burn so cleanly, Planika says, is Fanola, a liquid bioethanol fuel made from potatoes that the company developed and sells with its fireplaces.

Read more:http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/07/garden/07goods.html

Swedish suspect says he was middleman in Auschwitz sign theft

A former Swedish neo-Nazi suspected of involvement in the theft of the infamous Nazi German "Arbeit Macht Frei" sign from Auschwitz said Thursday he was a middleman in the robbery.

"My role was to go get the sign in Poland. I was the middleman and was supposed to take care of the sale," the man, whose name was not disclosed, told Swedish daily Expressen.

The paper referred to the man only as "a former Nazi leader."

The Polish daily Fakt identified the man as Anders Hoegstroem, who in 1994 founded the National Socialist Front, a Swedish neo-Nazi movement he headed for five years before quitting.

Read more: http://www.canada.com/news/Swedish+suspect+says+middleman+Auschwitz+sign+theft/2415922/story.html

Polish jobless rate jumps to 11.9 percent

Poland's unemployment rate rose to 11.9 percent in December from 11.4 percent the previous month as seasonal jobs were lost at the beginning of winter, the Labor Ministry said Thursday.

The ministry said preliminary data showed that some 1.89 million people were registered as unemployed at the end of December, 82,000 more than a month earlier. Poland has 38 million people.

Read more: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9D2V7V00.htm

Poland unlikely to ask refiners for dividends

Poland's treasury is unlikely to ask two refiners PKN Orlen PKNA.WA and Lotos LTOS.WA to pay dividends out of their 2009 profits, Deputy Treasury Minister Mikolaj Budzanowski said on Thursday.

Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKWAR01128520100107

Kraft gives up Cadbury operations in Romania and Poland at EC request

The European Commission authorised American group Kraft Foods to buy British company Cadbury. On one condition: the new entity must give up Cadbury chocolate producing operations in Romania and Poland, Romanian news agency Mediafax informs.

The Competition European Commissioner Neelie Kroes said she was satisfied by the conditions imposed on the transaction, indicating that Kraft's overtaking Cadbury will not have a negative impact on competition and consumers in the European Union.

"Taking into consideration the proposed collective measures, the Commission concluded that the transaction would not reduce competition significantly in the European Economic Space or in any of its other parts", an EC report read on Wednesday evening, January 6 2010.

Read more:http://english.hotnews.ro/stiri-business-6792814-kraft-gives-cadbury-operations-romania-and-poland-request.htm

Polish '09 budget gap lower than expected, risks remain

Poland's 2009 budget deficit was lower than expected, the finance minister said on Wednesday, but analysts warned this may not be enough to fend off the risk of breaching legally-binding debt safety levels.

Finance Minister Jacek Rostowski said on Wednesday the 2009 budget deficit stood at 24-25 billion zlotys compared with 27.2 billion seen in the budget. Late last year officials said the actual figure could undershoot the target.
"I think that the result of the 2009 budget is a very good basis for further improvement of public finances in coming years," Rostowski told a news conference.
His deputy, Ludwik Kotecki added the general government deficit -- a wider measure used by the European Commission which also includes local government and state agencies -- was at about 6.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
Poland, the European Union's largest ex-communist member, is also the only one in the bloc to have avoided recession.

Read more:http://www.iii.co.uk/news/?type=afxnews&articleid=7695089&subject=markets&action=article

Poland Eyes Swedish Suspects in Auschwitz Sign Theft

Polish prosecutors say they want to question three people in Sweden about last month's theft of the Nazi sign at the former Auschwitz death camp.

Prosecutor Artur Wrona said Wednesday that two of the individuals are considered suspects in the crime. One of the men is suspected of masterminding the theft, while the other is believed to have provided the thieves with a getaway car.

The prosecutor said Polish authorities have asked Sweden to confirm the suspects' identities. He said there is enough evidence to charge one of them, and possibly both.

Read more:http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/europe/Poland-Eyes-Swedish-Suspects-in-Auschwitz-Sign-Theft-80813547.html

Russian spy caught in Poland

A Russian national suspected of spying for GRU, Russia's foreign military intelligence unit, has been arrested in Poland.

According to Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, the man had been living in Poland for over ten years, spoke Polish fluently and ran a small business.

Read more: http://www.wbj.pl/article-47994-russian-spy-caught-in-poland.html?typ=ise

Oldest Land-Walker Tracks Found--Pushes Back Evolution

The first animals to walk the Earth emerged from the sea almost 20 million years earlier than previously thought, say scientists who have discovered footprints from an 8-foot-long (2.4-meter-long) prehistoric creature.

Dozens of the 395-million-year-old fossil footprints were recently discovered on a former marine tidal flat or lagoon in southeastern Poland

Read more:http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/01/100106-tetrapod-tracks-oldest-footprints-nature-evolution-walking-land.html

Once unthinkable, a Jewish community thrives in Poland

Well, there is a bar mitzvah in my shul next week. The yearly Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow is just around the corner. Midrasz, the Jewish magazine, comes to my mailbox regularly late. My younger son graduated from the Jewish school. My older son was press spokesman of the Warsaw kehilla for some time. The invitation for the Israeli Independence Day reception just came in.

Why had I once been so sure that it was over? Maybe it was loneliness.

Read more:http://jta.org/news/article/2010/01/06/1010037/op-ed-once-unthinkable-a-jewish-community-thrives-in-poland

Marsulex gets US$150-million worth of contracts for reducing industrial sulphur emissions

Marsulex Inc. (TSX:MLX) has been awarded two new contracts, worth a total of US$150 million, to provide systems for reducing industrial sulphur emissions, the Canadian environmental control company announced Wednesday.

The first contract involves upgrades of the flue gas desulphurization systems at several coal-fired plants for an unidentified North American power producer.

The other contract is for the retrofit of an FGD system at Zaklady Azotowe Pulawy, SA, a chemical producer in Poland.

Read more:http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5i6YTMMroh6RYfLUt00Z2hyMS6ojA

Poland Wakes Up to Harsh Ukrainian Business Climate

Flashback to the early 1990s — some politicians, maybe listening to what Russia was saying or maybe just being useful idiots, were saying Poland was wrong in reorienting its own economy from Comecon to the West. Why go West if you have the vast markets of the East, they would say?

Fortunately, Poland didn’t listen and now nearly 80% of its foreign trade is with other European Union countries, with more than 50% of the total with the euro zone.

Read more:http://blogs.wsj.com/new-europe/2010/01/06/poland-wakes-up-to-harsh-ukrainian-business-climate/

Poland sees power demand up 1 pct in 2010

Poland will see 1 percent growth in electricity demand in 2010 as industrial customers consume more power in an improving economy, Poland's grid operator PSE Operator said on Wednesday.

Poland was the only European Union state to avoid recession in 2009. Analysts expect figures to show the country's economy expanded by 1.5 percent last year and forecast growth of 2.4 percent in 2010.

PSE Operator said the economic recovery would be reflected in power consumption, which dropped by around 4 percent in 2009 in year-on-year terms.

Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKLDE60518L20100106

Polish TVN pay-TV subscribers up 76 pct in 2009

TVN, eastern Europe's largest listed broadcaster, increased the number of its satellite television subscribers by 76 percent last year as it sought to carve out a position in Poland's competitive pay-TV market.

Read more:http://in.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idINIndia-45186120100106

Credit Suisse plans to expand presence in Poland

Credit Suisse has announced that it is planning to strengthen its local investment banking business in Poland by re-establishing Warsaw-based equity trading capabilities and by increasing research coverage for Polish companies in 2010.

Read more:http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/3759232

Prosecutor Argues Swede Ordered Auschwitz Sign Theft

WARSAW, Poland — A Polish prosecutor says a Swedish citizen ordered the theft of the "Arbeit Macht Frei" sign from the Auschwitz memorial and visited the site before the heist.

Krakow prosecutor Artur Wrona said Wednesday that a Swedish man visited the site with two Poles last spring. The man told them there he wanted them to steal the infamous sign, which means "Work Sets You Free."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,582133,00.html

Polish gas deliveries up, still no deal with Russia

Gas deliveries to Poland from Russia have increased since Monday despite the lack of a new gas deal that was meant to guarantee full supplies, a spokeswoman for Polish gas monopoly PGNiG PGNI.WA said on Tuesday.

Poland has so far failed to reach a deal with Russia that would cover an annual deficit of 2.5 billion cubic metres in gas deliveries due to a last-minute disagreement over details.

"We are receiving about 10 million cubic metres of gas more on a daily basis (than in December) and that is as much as we would be getting if we had the new contract in place," Joanna Zakrzewska said.

Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKLDE6040FS20100105

Polish copper group moves to slash costs

Copper prices are heading higher but KGHM, Poland's state-controlled copper miner, fears that the good times will not last and is slashing costs, which make it one of the world's most expensive producers.

Last year's economic crisis "was an argument to change and fix the company", Herbert Wirth,chief executive, told the Financial Times.

KGHM had a good downturn, buoyed by continued Chinese demand for copper. The company has been one of the best-performing stocks on the Warsaw exchange; its share price more than doubled over the course of last year and is now about 108.5 zlotys.

Read more:http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/df346dba-f999-11de-8085-00144feab49a.html

Poland cuts pensions for ex-communist officers

An government official says Poland has slashed the pensions of about 40,000 communist-era officials and secret police officers, on grounds they violated human rights.

Interior Ministry spokeswoman Malgorzata Wozniak said Tuesday the law took effect Jan. 1 and cuts the monthly payments by more than 50 percent to around $1,000 (3,000 zlotys). The national average is around $570.

Read more:http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1148160&lang=eng_news

New Year freeze, avalanches leave trail of death across Europe

PARIS — A cold snap across Europe killed 13 people in Poland over the New Year as avalanches and skiiing accidents left at least 10 others dead in the Alps, police and rescuers said Monday.

As temperatures plunged to minus 25 degrees Celsius (minus 13 Fahrenheit) in Poland at the start of the year, the number of cold-related deaths rose to 122 so far this winter, police said.

Most victims were homeless men aged 35 to 50 who died of hypothermia while drunk, they said.

In the Swiss Alps avalanches killed at least five people with three others missing, emergency services and police said.

The first avalanche hit on Sunday in the central Bernese Alps, killing one skier. Emergency services were searching survivors from another avalanche that struck half an hour later.

Eight helicopters carrying doctors, rescuers and avalanche dogs were despatched to the disaster site and pulled out eight people alive.

Read more:http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iuijzpNUXxZjS0-3IWWyy5iwByNg

British and Swedish Neo-Nazis behind Theft

Speculations over who actually commissioned the theft of the infamous Auschwitz death camp sign have been going on for weeks and Polish prosecutors early said that a trail leads to Sweden. On Sunday, the British tabloid Sunday Mirror published a story that confirms that suspicion.

According to the Sunday Mirror, it was a wealthy British Nazi sympathizer who commissioned last month's theft of the infamous entrance sign to the former Auschwitz death camp in southern Poland. Quoting an unnamed source, the tabloid also reports that the plan had been to ship the sign to a group of Swedish neo-Nazis, who would keep it in a cellar in Stockholm until they could transfer it to the British collector.

Read more:http://www.sr.se/cgi-bin/International/nyhetssidor/artikel.asp?ProgramID=2054&format=1&artikel=3348755

Key witness in murder of top Polish police official dies in prison

Polish officials say a key witness in the 1998 murder of Poland's national police chief has died in prison.

Justice Minister Krzysztof Kwiatkowski said Monday that Artur Zirajewski died Sunday in a prison hospital in Gdansk. He said preliminary results from an autopsy and a probe into the death were expected Friday.

Read more:http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jwHIE8Y2EW7YLR0YHtdL10lrNNAw

Polish Zloty At 3-week High Against US Dollar

Monday, the Polish zloty rallied against the US dollar after the report showing Poland's Manufacturing output grew for the fifth consecutive month in December and reached its highest since March 2008. The zloty surged to a 3-week high of 2.8245 against the greenback before slightly reversing its course around 6:30 am ET. The dollar-zloty pair is presently quoted at 2.8498.

Read more:http://www.rttnews.com/Content/CurrencyMarket.aspx?Node=b3&Id=1169707

Krakow Mountain Festival

The 7th Krakow Mountain Festival (KFG) has come to an end. This edition proved once again that Krakow hosts the biggest mountaineering festival in Poland. This year, over 5,000 people turned up at the Krakow University of Economics and the interest was so big that not everybody was able to get tickets for the evening shows.

Every year something exceptional happens during the festival. This year there were at least a few such unique occasions - e.g. the 100th anniversary of TOPR or the 70th anniversary of the Polish ascent of Nanda Devi (7434 m, Himalayas). Yet, the most memorable event for the festival audience was a symbolical farewell to a man who was a symbol of the modern Polish Himalayan climbing – Piotr Morawski. This great Himalayan climber and exceptional man died on Dhaulagiri in April 2009. Frankly speaking, the show Opowiesc o podrózach zycia – a very intimate, sincere and moving presentation – prepared by Piotr’s wife, Olga Morawska, was one of the strongest moments of all editions of KFG.

Read more:http://www.planetmountain.com/english/News/shownews1.lasso?l=2&keyid=37164

British Nazi sympathizer linked to Auschwitz sign theft

A wealthy British Nazi sympathizer was the impetus for last month's theft of the famous entrance sign to the historic Auschwitz death camp in Poland, the British tabloid Sunday Mirror reported Sunday.

The collector, whose name was not given, allegedly let it be known in the wider neo-Nazi scene that he was prepared to pay a large amount of money for the sign, the recent theft of which has caused a global stir.

Read more:http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1139587.html

Russia halts oil flows to Belarus refineries

Russia has halted oil supplies to Belarussian refineries after failing to agree terms for 2010, traders said on Sunday, threatening a repeat of a dispute which disrupted supplies to elsewhere in Europe three years ago.

Deliveries to Belarus refineries were halted after talks broke down on New Year's Eve, two traders from major Russian oil firms told Reuters.

Transit flows to other parts of Europe have not so far been affected, but Germany and Poland are closely watching the stand-off after supplies to some of their major refineries were cut during a similar row between Moscow and Minsk in January 2007.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE60204520100103?type=marketsNews