WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s President Andrzej Duda signed a law Monday that will eventually increase the country’s spending on defense to at least 2.5 percent of GDP, well above the 2 percent required by membership in NATO. It is part of an effort by Poland’s conservative government to improve the nation’s defenses in reaction … Continue reading
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — With wreath-laying ceremonies and prayers, Poland on Monday observed the seventh anniversary of a plane crash in Russia that killed President Lech Kaczynski, his wife and 94 others. Poland’s ruling party, Law and Justice, is headed by Kaczynski’s twin brother, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who has led regular commemorations of the tragedy and … Continue reading
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish leaders welcomed U.S. troops to their country Saturday Jan. 14, with the defense minister expressing gratitude for their arrival and calling it the fulfillment of a dream Poles have had for decades. The ceremony in the western Polish town of Zagan comes some 23 years after the last Soviet troops … Continue reading
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish lawmakers approved Friday a government plan of bonuses for families that have a disabled child born to them, as part of a policy aimed at curbing the number of abortions. The “For Life” plan, to take effect next year, provides for a one-time payment of 4,000 zlotys ($1,000) upon the … Continue reading
KRAKOW, Poland (AP) — Hundreds of people including politicians, actors and family packed into a Polish church Wednesday to mourn the death of Poland’s leading filmmaker Andrzej Wajda, an honorary Oscar winner. A metal urn with Wajda’s ashes, surrounded by white flowers, and his black-and-white portrait were placed by the altar at the 13th century … Continue reading
KRAKOW, Poland (AP) — Hundreds of people including politicians, actors and family packed into a Polish church Wednesday to mourn the death of Poland’s leading filmmaker Andrzej Wajda, an honorary Oscar winner. A metal urn with Wajda’s ashes, surrounded by white flowers, and his black-and-white portrait were placed by the altar at the 13th century … Continue reading
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish women donned black, waved black flags and took to Poland’s streets on Monday, Sept. 26th, boycotting jobs and classes as part of a nationwide strike to protest a legislative proposal for a total ban on abortion. Many men — public figures among them — also joined the thousands of women … Continue reading
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Catholic Church authorities in eastern Poland denounced nationalist views Wednesday, Apr. 20, and apologized after a radical extreme-right organization held a Mass in a regional cathedral. Father Andrzej Debski, a spokesman for the church authorities in Bialystok, said the apology came after believers complained that a Mass was held in Bialystok … Continue reading
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A Polish prosecutor has questioned a Polish-American scholar, Jan Tomasz Gross, to determine if he committed the crime of publicly insulting the nation with a statement on Polish violence against Jews during World War II. Gross, a professor based at Princeton University, told The Associated Press he was questioned for five … Continue reading
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — As Poland’s Catholic Church prepares to celebrate 1,050 years as the national faith, a call by its bishops for a total ban on abortion has embroiled the church in a divisive and potentially harmful debate. The church that was crucial in preserving the nation’s spirit and identity in World War II … Continue reading
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Thousands of Poles rallied Saturday, Apr.9, against tightening Poland’s anti-abortion law, which is already among Europe’s strictest. Street protests were organized in Warsaw and in other Polish cities by a new pro-abortion group that opposes a recent call by some Catholic bishops for an unconditional ban on abortion in Poland, and … Continue reading
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of people whose personal fates hinge on whether Britain leaves the European Union or stays don’t even have a say in the matter: Polish immigrants, a community so numerous that Polish has become Britain’s second most-spoken language. When Poland and many other countries once behind the Iron Curtain … Continue reading
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s president is traveling to Washington for a security summit but has no meeting scheduled with President Barack Obama. Observers in Poland say controversial government policies may be the reason. President Andrzej Duda’s schedule, released Tuesday, Mar.29, includes no meetings with Obama or any key U.S. politicians. Poland’s top security official, … Continue reading
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s environment minister has approved a deeply contested plan to allow extensive logging in Europe’s last pristine forest, arguing that the decision will help save it from bark beetle, a kind of woodworm. Following weeks of deliberations and protests, Jan Szyszko said Friday, Mar.25 said he has approved the logging of … Continue reading
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The Latest on the flow of migrants into Europe (all times local): 6:35 p.m. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has started training Albanian border guards to prepare them for a possible influx of refugees. Migrants may be forced to use the country as a new route into Western … Continue reading
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The United States has long been an indispensable Polish ally — a friend in the struggle to overthrow communism and join NATO, a steady partner in times of tension with other European countries, the ultimate guarantor of security against Russia. But today ties between Warsaw and Washington are seeing new tensions … Continue reading
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A human rights body that rebuked Poland last week over moves that hobble the Constitutional Tribunal plans to investigate a new police surveillance law passed by the country’s conservative ruling party. The Venice Commission, an advisory body with the Council of Europe, will study the surveillance law passed in December and … Continue reading
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Dozens of people turned out for a short concert Monday evening in Warsaw in support of a Chilean pianist and teacher who was recently beaten by skinheads who mistook him for an Arab. The attack occurred amid a rise in Islamophobia in Poland. Dozens of Syrian Christians were granted asylum in … Continue reading
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Former Polish president Lech Walesa on Friday, Feb. 19, denied claims that he collaborated with communist-era secret police for money in the 1970s. The allegations against Walesa, who led the Solidarity movement that paved the way for the ouster of communism and rise of democracy in Poland in the 1980s and … Continue reading
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Lech Walesa, the legendary anti-communist leader who played a historic role in bringing down communism in Poland and across Eastern Europe, had served as a paid informant in the 1970s for the same communist regime that he later fought, according to documents revealed publicly Thursday, Feb. 18. It is not yet … Continue reading
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — An exhibition is opening in Warsaw of abstract works by prominent American painter Frank Stella that were inspired by painted wooden synagogues that once existed across Poland but were destroyed by the Nazis during World War II. “Frank Stella and the Synagogues of Historic Poland” opens Friday, Feb. 19, at the … Continue reading
PRAGUE (AP) — So where should the next impenetrable razor-wire border fence in Europe be built? Hungary’s right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban thinks he knows the best place — on Macedonia’s and Bulgaria’s borders with Greece — smack along the main immigration route from the Middle East to Western Europe. He says it’s necessary because … Continue reading
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s government opened a new investigation Thursday, Feb. 5, into the 2010 plane crash in Russia that killed President Lech Kaczynski, with the defense minister saying that evidence pointing to Russian involvement was covered up in an earlier probe. The new investigation could exacerbate Poland’s already deeply strained relations with Russia … Continue reading
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Thousands of Poles across the country marched Saturday Jan. 23 in freezing temperatures to protest a slew of measures by the country’s new right-wing government that they say are anti-democratic. The motto of the marches, the most recent of several that have taken place since the nationalist, right-wing Law and Justice … Continue reading
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s right-wing prime minister said Thursday Jan. 14, 2016 she doesn’t believe the European Union will impose sanctions on the country over new laws that have been criticized as running counter to the bloc’s principle of the rule of law. In a bitter surprise to Polish leaders, the EU’s executive Commission … Continue reading
Spartan Echo 