Category Archives: Poland

Germany spurns renewed Polish call for war reparations

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Berlin insists all financial claims have been settled as Warsaw seeks £1.2tn for war losses

Germany has rebuffed the latest push by Poland’s nationalist government for vast reparations over the second world war, saying in response to a diplomatic note that the issue was closed, according to the foreign ministry in Warsaw.

Poland estimates its losses in the second world war caused by Germany at 6.2tn złotys (£1.2tn) and has demanded reparations, but Berlin has repeatedly said all financial claims related to the war have been settled.

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‘Extreme event’: warm January weather breaks records across Europe

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At least eight countries experience record high temperatures of ‘almost unheard of’ heat, say meteorologists

Weather records have been falling across Europe at a disconcerting rate in the last few days, say meteorologists.

The warmest January day ever was recorded in at least eight European countries including Poland, Denmark, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Belarus, Lithuania and Latvia, according to data collated by Maximiliano Herrera, a climatologist who tracks extreme temperatures.

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Melanie C cancels Poland concert over ‘issues brought to my attention’

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LGBTQ+ rights groups praise ex-Spice Girl for pulling out of New Year’s Eve appearance on state broadcaster

The former Spice Girl Melanie C says she has cancelled a performance in Poland on New Year’s Eve after being made aware of issues “that do not align with the communities I support”.

She did not elaborate but was praised by allies of the LGBTQ+ community.

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The revenge of history in Ukraine: year of war has shaken up world order

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A shared sense of national history is proving to be a crucial weapon, spurring on Ukraine resistance and Russian soldiers

The Ukrainian writer Oksana Zabuzhko recalls a quote attributed to Otto von Bismarck: “Wars are not won by generals, but by schoolteachers and parish priests.” It’s a country’s taught collective memory, its shared sense of its own history, that are the decisive instruments for mobilisation, and are as important on the battlefield as weaponry.

Few conflicts have been so shaped by the chief actors’ sense of their own national story as the Ukrainian war that began in February. It is the competing grand narratives of the past, not just in Russia and Ukraine, but in Germany, France, Poland, the Baltics, the UK, the US, and even the global south, that make this war so hard to resolve.

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Former Nazi camp secretary found guilty of complicity in 10,500 murders

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Irmgard Furchner, 97, who worked at Stutthof concentration camp during the second world war, is given a two-year suspended sentence

A 97-year-old former secretary at a Nazi concentration camp has been found guilty of complicity in the murder of more than 10,500 people imprisoned there, and handed a two-year suspended sentence.

Irmgard Furchner, who has been on trial in the northern German town of Itzehoe for more than a year, spoke to the court on one occasion earlier this month to say she was sorry for what had happened, but stopped short of admitting her guilt.

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Police chief fired grenade launcher given as gift by Ukraine, Polish media reports

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Prosecutors investigating after Jarosław Szymczyk injured in blast at police headquarters in Warsaw

Polish prosecutors are investigating a “violent release of energy” at the national police headquarters amid media reports that the chief of police fired a grenade launcher in his office.

Poland’s interior ministry said on Thursday that Jarosław Szymczyk, the police commander in chief, was injured and taken to hospital when a present he received during a visit to Ukraine exploded at police headquarters in Warsaw.

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Poland’s police chief wounded after gift from Ukraine official explodes

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Warsaw seeking explanation from Kyiv after Jarosław Szymczyk taken to hospital with minor injuries

Poland’s police chief, Jarosław Szymczyk, has been taken to hospital with minor injuries after a gift he received from a senior Ukrainian official exploded, the interior ministry said on Thursday.

“Yesterday at 7.50am there was an explosion in a room next to the office of the police chief,” a statement said. “One of the presents the police chief received during his working visit to Ukraine on December 11 and 12 exploded.”

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EU states agree $60 a barrel cap on Russian oil after Polish green light

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Poland, which was pushing for low cap, says deal will keep it at least 5% below market rate

European Union member states have agreed to put a $60 a barrel price cap on Russian oil after Poland, which was holding out, gave the green light to the deal.

In an effort to reduce the Kremlin’s income from fossil fuels, the EU has agreed to limit the amount that can be paid for seaborne oil to curtail Moscow’s ability to finance its war in Ukraine.

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In eastern Poland, Putin’s war has turned former enemies into friends

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Opposition to Russian aggression has helped Poles and Ukrainians put bitter 20th-century history behind them

Patriot missiles ring the airport in the Polish border city of Rzeszów, and US troops have taken over the Holiday Inn opposite the terminal. On its runway, once the preserve of budget carriers, private jets are lined up beside cargo planes crammed with weapons.

The bristling circle of military protection, set up hastily in early spring as the historic town became the world’s gateway to the war in Ukraine, is both a shield and a constant reminder of the conflict on its doorstep.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Kremlin says ‘difficult to imagine’ public negotiations with Kyiv; new Russian missile strikes across Ukraine – live

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Kremlin spokesperson claims ‘Ukrainians do not want any negotiations’; Kyiv and Dnipro air defence systems work to shoot down incoming rockets

Ukraine’s infrastructure minister, Oleksandr Kubrakov has said that the Black Sea grain initiative will be prolonged for 120 days.

Writing in a tweet, he said the deal was agreed between UN General Secretary Antonio Guterres and Ukraine’s president, Volodimir Zelenskiy.

He added that Ukraine had officially appealed to extend the initiative, which was agreed in July and enables Russian and Ukrainian wheat and fertilisers to be exported through the Black Sea, for one year and to include the Mykolaiv port.

His remarks could not immediately be confirmed independently.

The July deal has helped stave off a global food crisis by allowing exports through ports that had been blockaded by Russia.

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Missile that hit Poland likely came from Ukraine defences, say Warsaw and Nato

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Poland says no evidence to suggest missile was launched by Russia – but Kyiv insists ‘it was not our rocket’

Ukraine’s air defence was probably responsible for a blast that killed two people in south-eastern Poland, the Polish president has said, while Nato said Russia was ultimately to blame as Moscow had started the war and launched the attack that triggered Kyiv’s defences.

While fears eased of a dangerous escalation in the war, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, insisted on Wednesday he had “no doubt” the missile concerned was not Ukrainian.

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Poland considers calling meeting of Nato ministers after missile strike

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Two farmers killed near border with Ukraine by what Poland has claimed were Russian-made weapons

Poland’s president Andrzej Duda said he expected his country would call for an emergency meeting of Nato members on Wednesday after “Russian-made” missiles strayed over into the country killing two people.

The incident is the first time that the territory of a Nato country has been struck during the near nine month Ukraine war, and follows an intense 100-missile attack by Russia on Ukraine, which saw millions lose power and supply in neighbouring Moldova also disrupted.

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Poland explosion unlikely to spark escalation – but risks of Nato-Russia clash are real

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Incident in which two people died probably falls short of threshold needed to prompt collective Nato action against Russia

• Russia-Ukraine war – latest news updates

If it was a Russian missile that struck a Polish village on Tuesday, killing two people, it would be the first time a Russian weapon has ever come down on Nato territory.

The Soviet Union and the US managed to get through the whole cold war without making such a mistake, because Washington and Moscow were well aware of the risks of going to war by accident or miscalculation.

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Dutch MEP says illegal spyware ‘a grave threat to democracy’

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European Commission wears ‘velvet gloves’ when dealing with spyware used on citizens, says chief of inquiry on hacking software, including Pegasus

The senior MEP leading an inquiry into spyware has accused the EU commission of ignoring the “grave threat to democracy” posed by the use of the technology, and national governments of failing to co-operate with her investigation.

The Dutch liberal MEP Sophie in ‘t Veld said there was illegal use of spyware in Poland, Hungary, Greece and Spain and suspicions about Cyprus, while other EU member states made it easy for the “shady” industry to operate.

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Polish politician blames low birthrate on young women drinking

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Jarosław Kaczyński, leader of the ruling party, criticised by opposition for ‘nonsense’ comments

Outrage built up in Poland on Monday after the governing party’s leader, Jarosław Kaczyński, claimed excessive drinking by young women was to blame for the EU country’s low birthrate.

Opposition politicians, female celebrities and others denounced the 73-year-old as out of touch and patriarchal, dismissing his comments as nonsense.

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Sebastian Kalinowski: couple jailed for murdering teenage son

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Agnieszka Kalinowska and Andrzej Latoszewski sentenced to 39 years for torturing boy to death

A woman and her partner have each been sentenced to 39 years in prison for the “horrific” murder of 15-year-old Sebastian Kalinowski.

Agnieszka Kalinowska, 36, and Andrzej Latoszewski, 38, were convicted at Leeds crown court in July of murdering Kalinowska’s son at their home in Huddersfield in a prolonged campaign of physical abuse amounting to torture.

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Oil pipeline to Germany partly shut after leak found in Poland

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Cause of leak in Druzhba line, which supplies oil from Russia, not yet known, says operator

The Druzhba oil pipeline linking Russia and Germany has been partly shut after a leak was discovered in Poland, the Polish operator Pern said on Wednesday.

“The cause of the incident is not known for the moment. Pumping in the affected line was immediately stopped. Line 2 of the pipeline is functioning normally,” the operator said.

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Poland suggests hosting US nuclear weapons amid growing fears of Putin’s threats

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Request is widely seen as symbolic, as moving nuclear warheads closer to Russia would make them less militarily useful

Poland says it has asked to have US nuclear weapons based on its territory, amid growing fears that Vladimir Putin could resort to using nuclear arms in Ukraine to stave off a rout of his invading army.

The request from the Polish president, Andrzej Duda, is widely seen as symbolic, as moving nuclear warheads closer to Russia would make them more vulnerable and less militarily useful, according to experts. Furthermore, the White House has said it had not received such a request.

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Nuclear attack in Ukraine should spark ‘devastating’ Nato response, says Polish foreign minister

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Zbigniew Rau rules out a nuclear reprisal but says the alliance is sending a clear message to Russia

Poland’s foreign minister, Zbigniew Rau, has said Nato’s response to any use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine should be non-nuclear but “devastating”.

Speaking on a visit to Washington, Rau said the alliance was in the process of delivering that message to Moscow.

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Roger Waters cancels gigs in Poland amid row over Ukraine war comments

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Pink Floyd co-founder's stance on Russia's war against Ukraine has sparked ‘indignation’ in Kraków

Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters has cancelled concerts planned in Poland amid outrage over his stance on Russia’s war against Ukraine, Polish media reported on Saturday.

An official with the Tauron Arena in Kraków, where the musician was scheduled to perform two concerts in April 2023, said they would no longer take place.

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