Poland Honours Al Mansouri

Poland’s President Lech Kaczynski has honoured Sultan Saeed Al Mansouri, UAE Minister of Economy, with the Commander’s Cross with the Star of Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland.

This honour is being conferred for the first time at a ministerial level. Waldemar Pawlak, Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, presented the honour to Al Mansouri, who headed a UAE delegation to Poland.

Read more:http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/business/2010/January/business_January744.xml&section=business&col=

Euro-hopeful Poland to meet key eurozone target in 2012: PM

Euro-hopeful Poland will meet a key condition for joining the eurozone by reducing its public deficit to 3.0 percent of gross domestic product by the end of 2012, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Friday.

"At the end of 2012, Poland will fulfill the main Maastricht (Treaty) criteria, this means a public deficit which does not exceed 3.0 percent of GDP," Tusk said in a speech outlining the economic program of his centrist coalition government for the coming years.

Poland's public deficit hit 6.3 percent of GDP in 2009 and is expected to rise to 7.0 percent in 2010 as the government maintains spending levels to keep the economy on track.

Brussels has given Warsaw until 2012 to rein in its public deficit under the 3.0 percent of GDP limit specified by the Maastricht Treaty governing criteria for entry into the eurozone.

Read more:http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gyWje-Zo9_Se2vLEn4kBpM-eBK7g

The Traveller's Guide To: Chopin

This year is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Frederic Chopin. It will be celebrated in style with concerts and exhibitions around the world, but nowhere more enthusiastically than in Poland. Although his father was French, Chopin had a Polish mother and spent the first 20 years of his life in the country of his birth. Accordingly, 2010 has been designated by the Polish authorities as Chopin Year, and a programme of cultural events is planned; details are available from Chopin2010.pl . In addition, extensive restoration work has been taking place at many of the locations associated with the composer, in Warsaw and elsewhere. According to Waldemar Dabrowski, a former government minister and chair of the Celebrations Committee, "the Chopin heritage in Poland will be fully renovated".

Frederic Chopin was seven months old when his family moved to the Polish capital, living first in an apartment in the Saxon Palace. All that remains of this building is the colonnade that surrounds the tomb of the unknown soldier on Marshal Pilsudski Square, but the Saxon Gardens, that were attached to the palace, are still popular with local people, particularly at weekends.

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/europe/the-travellers-guide-to-chopin-1882894.html

Lech Walesa Steps Into Illinois Politics

In the final days before the Illinois primary, Former President of Poland Lech Walesa came to Chicago to support Adam Andrzejewski as the GOP candidate for Governor. 

"As you see I support Adam..I am convinced that he is right. But we live in times that people do not always listen to those that are right”, said Walesa speaking through a translator

Read more:  http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/01/29/lech-walesa-steps-into-illinois-politics/?test=latestnews

EU funded Indian studies centre established in Poland

An Indian Centre for Contemporary Research has been set up by the European Union at Warsaw University to cater to a growing interest in India in Europe.

“The centre will meet the demands of the students from Central and East European countries and it will act as a bridge between Indian universities, particularly Jawaharlal Nehru University and Central University of Hyderabad, along with other EU funded centres in the European Union countries,” said Marie-Theresa Duffy Hausler, the representative of EU in Poland.

“This new baby has to be properly nourished and let us make him healthy so that it could be a model for other EU funded institutions,” she added.

“We are honoured that the EU commission has selected Warsaw University for its pioneer step to promote understanding between EU and India in the educational field. The centre will take up a Masters Course on Indian Studies shortly and that too in English language so that it could meet the requirements of EU students,” said Pawel Wajczehowski, Poland’s vice minister for foreign affairs.

Read more:http://beta.thehindu.com/news/international/article96789.ece

Poland's PM says not to run for president

Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Thursday he would not run in this year's presidential elections but would continue as prime minister and Civic Platform' s leader in order to carry out reforms.

The government will focus now on economic growth, curbing deficit and public debt, Tusk said.

"The presidential election is important but this is an election in which prestige and honor are at stake, not power and instruments of efficient governance," Tusk told a press conference.

Read more: http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90853/6882615.html

Poland's strong economy: Horse power to horsepower

Economic growth and a strong, stable government to boot: time to rethink old notions about Poland

OUTSIDERS often have fixed ideas of Poland: a big, poor country with shambolic governments, dreadful roads and eccentric habits. Old stereotypes die hard, but the facts paint an increasingly different picture. By the grim standards of recent centuries, Poland has never been more secure, richer or better-run.

It was the only country in the European Union to register economic growth last year, at 1.2%. As Jacek Rostowski, Poland’s finance minister, likes to point out, GDP per head rose from 50% to 56% of the EU average in 2009—a record jump. By the same (somewhat flattering) measure, which adjusts for the greater purchasing power arising from lower prices, Poland now has Europe’s sixth-biggest economy.

Read more:http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displayStory.cfm?story_id=15394158

The power of history

New thinking and old wounds around the Auschwitz death camp

THE memory of Auschwitz, the best-known symbol of the Holocaust, is fiercely contested. Communist propaganda routinely overlooked the fact that nine-tenths of the 1.1m people murdered there were Jews. A Swedish neo-Nazi may be behind the theft in December of the Arbeit macht frei (“Work sets you free”) sign over the main gate, which has been found and is now being restored. This week foreign dignitaries and survivors gathered to mark the 65th anniversary of Auschwitz’s liberation by the Red Army in 1945.

A polemical new documentary by Yoav Shamir, an Israeli film-maker, suggests that his country’s authorities use visits to Auschwitz partly as spine-stiffeners to prepare youngsters for military service. After visiting the camp, one schoolgirl in the film says, “I want to kill.” It also shows guides warning the group that hostile locals make it dangerous to leave their hotel unaccompanied.

The Anti-Defamation League and others have denounced Mr Shamir’s film. Poland, like much of Europe, was home to anti-Semitism—the post-war massacres of Jews were especially shameful. But Poles object to being blamed for the crimes of their Nazi occupiers, too.

Read more:http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15403083

Polish PGNiG, Gazprom reach gas supply deal

Poland's gas monopoly PGNiG PGNI.WA on Thursday reached a long-delayed gas delivery deal with Russia's Gazprom (GAZP.MM), which ensures supply of up to 10.2 billion cubic metres annually.

PGNiG said in a statement the agreement would extend an existing delivery contract through 2037 and would also ensure transit of Russian gas through the Polish territory using the Yamal pipeline through 2045.

"Next week the deal should receive all the corporate approvals. Then it's up to the government to approve it," management board member Miroslaw Dobrut told Reuters.

Read more:http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE60R0JG20100128?type=marketsNews

Dog adrift on ice saved from Baltic Sea

A dog found floating cold and alone on an ice floe in the Baltic Sea has been rescued and brought to shore, where the search for his owner has begun.

The black-and-brown mutt was found adrift Monday 15 miles off the Polish coast by the crew of the Baltica, a Polish ship of sea scientists.
Natalia Drgas of the Baltica crew said Thursday the rescue was difficult and the dog kept falling into the icy waters.
The dog was warmed, massaged, and fed aboard the ship, and has now been taken ashore for a second veterinary checkup, Drgas said.
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/28/AR2010012801685.html

Poland - Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski at London conference on Afghanistan

Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski will head the Polish delegation to the London international conference on Afghanistan on 28 January 2010. The conference will be attended by 77 delegations representing states, international organisations and NGOs.

The London conference will be co-hosted by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the Afghan President Hamid Karzai and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The conference will be co-chaired by the UK Foreign Minister David Miliband and his Afghan counterpart Rangin Dadfar Spanta.

Read more: http://www.isria.com/pages/28_January_2010_70.php

PGNiG, Gazprom Sign Deal To Boost Gas Supplies To Poland

Polish gas monopoly PGNiG (PGN.WA) and the export unit of Russian gas firm OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) have agreed to boost gas deliveries to Poland and prolong an earlier agreement on gas transit through Polish territory, ...

Read more ($): http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100128-702924.html?mod=WSJ_World_MIDDLEHeadlinesAsia

Iranian photographer shares memories of trip to Poland

Iranian photographer Ahmad Motalaei has brought his memoirs of Poland here to Tehran with a collection of photos.

Entitled “Mountains Tunes, Scent of Orange Blossoms: This Is Poland”, the exhibit will open at the Iranian Artist Forum on Saturday January 30 in the presence of the Ambassador of Poland and several other foreign dignitaries.

“I have the pleasure of introducing you to a photo exhibition about my country, Poland, which was prepared by Mr. Ahmad Motalaei, a very talented Iranian photographer,” reads part of the introduction written by Radoslaw Pytlak, the Cultural and Press Attaché of Embassy of Poland.

Read more:http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=213248

Poland puts faith in ‘financial rigour’

Poland is set on Thursday to launch reform measures aimed at reducing the budget deficit, public debt and the future pensions bill as the country seeks to build on its success as the only European Union member to have avoided recession in the global downturn.

Donald Tusk, prime minister, outlining the plans in an interview with the Financial Times, said he would stick with the market-oriented economic policies that he said were responsible for the country’s growth last year.

“When I have been asked how Poland is managing better in the crisis than other European countries, I have said it is more to do with an Anglo-Saxon than a Slav approach. That means the need for responsibility, savings and financial rigour.”

Read more: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4776273c-0b8e-11df-8232-00144feabdc0.html

Modern Pope John Paul Used Ancient Ritual of Self-Flagellation

New Book on Pope on Sale Today Reveals He Had Sweet Tooth and a Temper

Pope John Paul II, whose world travels helped modernize the papacy, sometimes practiced ancient rituals of self-flagellation, including hitting himself with a belt that he kept in his closet, according to a new book.

The Polish pope would also sleep at times on the hard floor of his Vatican palace and muss up the bed to avoid drawing attention to his ascetic efforts at piety. The practice is intended to remind people of the suffering of Jesus on the cross.

Such rituals, reminiscent of scenes right out of "The DaVinci Code," although practiced by very few Catholics, were revealed in a new book about the late pontiff entitled "Why He's a Saint," written by Monsignor Slawomir Oder. Oder is John Paul's postulator, or the Vatican's main researcher and advocate for having him canonized a saint.

Read more:http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/International/pope-john-paul-whipped-belt/story?id=9674114

Polish president, Israeli PM meet on bilateral ties

Poland's President Lech Kaczynski met with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu here on Tuesday to discuss what they termed as very good relations between the two countries, Xinhua reported.

"There is still potential to boost the relations, especially in science, technology, the military industry," said Netanyahu, who is on a visit to Poland to attend ceremonies marking the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazis' biggest concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau on Wednesday.
The two also discussed the situation in the Middle East and prospects of the Middle East peace process, according to the Polish news agency PAP.
Kaczynski declared that Poland invariably comes out for the existence of two states -- Palestine and Israel.

Read more:http://en.trend.az/regions/met/israel/1626590.html

Belarusian MFA files note of protest to Polish Ambassador

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus has filed a note of protest to Polish Ambassador Henryk Litwin over Poland’s statements regarding strengthening repressions against the Belarusian Poles.

“The head of the Polish diplomatic mission was drawn his attention to the facts regarding actions of certain officers f the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in the Republic of Belarus that do not comply with basic international legal documents regulating activity of foreign diplomats in the countries where they are accredited,” the press release of the Belarusian MFA says.

The Belarusian party “confirmed the country’s interest in the development of good relations with Poland based on the principles of equality and mutual respect”.

Read more:http://www.charter97.org/en/news/2010/1/27/25766/

In Poland, survivors mark Auschwitz anniversary

Auschwitz survivors, bundled against the cold and snow, are gathering at the site of the former death camp to mark the 65th anniversary of its liberation.

Survivors, some with grown children - along with others there to honor the millions killed by the Nazis - moved among the barracks and watchtowers of Auschwitz and Birkenau, neighboring camps that stand as powerful symbols of the Holocaust.

Read more:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/27/AR2010012700824.htm

PGNiG Cuts Gas Supply To Poland's PKN Orlen-Source

Polish natural gas monopoly PGNiG (PGN.WA) reduced the gas supply to the country's largest oil refiner PKN Orlen (PKN.WA), a person familiar with the matter said Wednesday.

The person added that PKN Orlen's main industrial complex in Plock is receiving less gas.

Read more ($):http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100127-704963.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines

Livni, Barak 'wanted for war crimes' in Poland

Knesset members visiting Krakow surprised to see ads against opposition chairwoman, defense minister on number of bulletin boards across city.

Israeli leaders continue are still wanted in Europe, but not in a positive way: Knesset members visiting Poland for ceremonies marking International Holocaust Day were surprised to see ads against Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Opposition Chairwoman Tzipi Livni in the city of Krakow on Tuesday evening.

Posters hung not far from the Israeli lawmakers' hotel read in English, "Wanted for war crimes," offering the public an award of 10,000 euro in exchange for information on Barak or Livni's expected arrival in Europe. The ads included a website address for people interested in providing information on the Israeli officials.

Several members of the Israeli delegation – including MKs Israel Hasson, Yohanan Plesner and Rachel Adatto of the Kadima party and Uri Orbach of Habayit Hayehudi – spotted the posters on a number of bulletin boards across the Polish city. The four sought to tear the ads, but decided to let security officials look into the matter.

Read more:http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3840185,00.html

Cold snap kills 40 in eastern Europe

More than 40 people have died this week as eastern and central Europe battles a Siberian cold snap that has cut power and roads, disrupted air travel and stranded whole villages, officials said Monday.

Snow has blanketed swathes of western Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania, with lows of minus 35 degrees Celsius (minus 31 Fahrenheit), while Poland has again been gripped by a deep freeze that has killed more than 200 in the country since November.

Read more:http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hTNiFtcfZISHg8DaNrTVy7UdTQDw

Polish bishop says 'stolen Holocaust' comments taken 'out of context'

The remarks purporting to have been made by Bishop Tadeusz Pieronek were published just hours before Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, arrived in Poland on Monday to take part in commemorations to mark the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the death camp at Auschwitz on Wednesday.

Bishop Pieronek spoke to an Italian Catholic news website, Pontifex Roma, which alleged he told it Jews had "stolen" the tragedy of the Holocaust.

While stressing that the majority of people who died in Nazi Germany's death camps were Jews, Bishop Pieronek is alleged to have attacked Jews for apparently claiming ownership of the slaughter when others who were killed included "Poles, Gypsies, Italians and Catholics".

Bishop Pieronek said on Monday: "I have not seen the printed text of the interview, which I have given but have not authorised.

Read more:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/vaticancityandholysee/7074913/Polish-bishop-says-stolen-Holocaust-comments-taken-out-of-context.html

In search of a lost world: Poland revives its Jewish past

Almost seven decades since Nazi Germany decimated Poland's Jews in death camps like the notorious Auschwitz, Europe's former Jewish heartland is reconnecting with a lost part of its identity.

The communists who took over after World War II imposed a wall of silence on a century of Jewish life here, but this has steadily crumbled since the regime's collapse in 1989.

Today, cultural festivals, cemetery restoration programmes across Poland, school Jewish history classes, national commemorations and burgeoning academic research are reclaiming the past.

"Actually the fact there was silence for 50 years, 20 years later many people have a greater appreciation of the role of Jews -- that's a very fast change," Poland's Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich told AFP.

Read more:http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5isDYDnCpRsb062SconZhLarUOb8Q

It's a good time to be Jewish in Poland

Poland is not a cemetery and Polish Jews are not all dead, the head of the cultural institution of Polish Jewry said Monday, on the eve of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Artur Hofman urged Israel to send its youths "to see the community as well not only death camps."

"Israel's Ministry of Education annually sends thousands of students to Poland, but they're never taken to see our community," Hofman said at the office of his organization, the Social-Cultural Association of Jews in Poland, which boasts about 2,000 members.

Dozens of non-Jewish Poles come to the Jewish theater and culture compound. They come to see plays in Polish but also in Yiddish, with simultaneous translation to Polish through headsets.

Read more:http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1145118.html

Israeli PM heads to Poland for Auschwitz visit

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu travels on Monday to Poland for a highly emotional visit to the Auschwitz death camp after he warned of a sharp rise in anti-Semitism across the world.

A ceremony on Wednesday will mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi camp where some 1.1 Jews perished between June 1940 and January 1945.
Netanyahu will be accompanied by a delegation of Israeli MPs and Holocaust survivors.
The visit was set to be a particularly emotionally charged for the hardline premier, whose wife's father was the only member of his family to survive the Nazi Holocaust in which some six million Jews were murdered.
Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iq6vMoL2qwB_UmxiRZCGrVPbpIIg

Poland's Deployment of U.S. Patriot Missiles Conflicts With Obama's Plan

www.missiledefenseadvocacy.org released a statement on the reaction to the Polish government announcement on the deployment of a U. S. patriot missile defense system in the vicinity of Morag, Poland, which is located 35 miles from the Russian border. Ellison is one of the top lay experts in missile defense.

"In an agreement with the United States, the Polish Defense Minster Mr. Bogdan Klich announced that U.S. Patriot Air Defense Units will be placed in a Polish Military Base located 35 miles from the border of the Russian enclave, Kaliningrad, which is in the vicinity of Morag, in northern Poland. The U.S. Patriot Air Defense Units are a terminal phase missile defense system that engages and destroys missiles in the atmosphere and are designed specifically for short-range tactical missiles and aircraft over a small tactical valued area. "

Read more:http://www.defpro.com/news/details/12670/

Polish power plant blast kills one, injures three

One person was killed and three injured when an explosion rocked a thermo-electric plant near Poland's northwestern city of Gryfino, PAP news agency said on Sunday.

Read more: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3838886,00.html

18,000 Poles without electricity amid subfreezing temperatures

Poland's Interior Ministry says that more than 18,000 people across the eastern European country are without electricity during the coldest weekend so far this winter.

Ministry spokeswoman Malgorzata Wozniak said the outages were caused by icy trees and branches that damaged power lines in many places. She says people without electricity were being offered shelter over the weekend in heated public buildings.

Read more:http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jmBtspMvoM-l49YWUOuA_Ybgd1oA

Poland to mark anniversary of Auschwitz liberation

Poland will mark the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp on Wednesday with events to include a mass, a conference of education ministers and speeches by Israeli and European leaders. The ceremonies, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, will launch with a meeting of education ministers in Auschwitz and an international Holocaust forum in the nearby city of Krakow.

The Third International Holocaust Forum is slated to be addressed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek, with video messages expected from US President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Attendees will include Holocaust survivors, members of the European Parliament, and students. The event that marks the date when the Soviet Red Army liberated the camp where the Nazis killed some 1.1 million people, mostly Jews. "It is a vital part of the human experience to learn from past mistakes," Moshe Kantor of the European Jewish Congress, one of the event's organizers, said in a statement.

Read more:http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305419,preview-poland-to-mark-anniversary-of-auschwitz-liberation.html

Minister's visit to Poland to boost trade

UAE Minister of Economy Sultan Saeed Al Mansouri will lead a high-level delegation on a four-day official visit to Poland on Sunday.

Al Mansouri underscored the visit as a step forward to furthering economic, trade and investment relations between the UAE and Poland.

The volume of trade between the two countries reached $642 million (Dh2,361 million) in 2008 and Polish investments in the UAE reached $80 million through 18 companies operating here.

The UAE is now Poland's leading trading partner in the Gulf.

The UAE's imports from Poland reached $617 million, he added.

He noted that the two countries signed a series of agreements covering double taxation in 1991 and civil aviation in 1994, among other areas.

Read more:http://gulfnews.com/business/economy/minister-s-visit-to-poland-to-boost-trade-1.572661

Patriot Games: Poland playing on Russia’s nerves over missiles

In response to Warsaw’s recent announcement that it will base US Patriot missiles near the border with Kaliningrad, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow needs more information.

On Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held a news conference (click here for RT coverage) where he summed up the political events of 2009, and provided insight into what to expect for 2010, which included discussion over Poland’s recent decision to risk a conflict with Russia.

While acknowledging that Patriot missiles based on Polish soil “is a subject of bilateral relations between Poland and the United States,” Lavrov said he did not understand why Warsaw needed such defense weapons, especially so close to Kaliningrad. After all, the stated reason for introducing a missile defense system in Europe was to guard against a possible missile strike from Iran, not Russia.

Read more:http://rt.com/Politics/2010-01-22/patriot-poland-russias-missiles.html