http://www.ziggi.pl Watching the world from the Polish perspective: Headline News. en http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=105Germany is making a last-ditch attempt to rescue a European Union summit with Russia from disaster, amid increasing calls within the bloc for a rethink of policy towards Moscow.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=104Russia has sent the European Union an unsatisfactory reply making no concessions toward ending a ban on meat imports from Poland, EU diplomats said Friday, a week before a key EU-Russia summit near Samara.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=103Two high-range officials of former German goverments disadvice president Bush visiting Poland and warn against "provoking Russia" in their article for "Welt am Zontag".http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=102Polish President Lech Kaczyński said on Saturday Poland could not accept the voting system.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=101On May 11, Poland's president Lech Kaczynski, Azerbaijan's Ilham Aliyev, Georgian Mikhail Saakashvili, Ukraine's Viktor Yushchenko, Lithuania's Valdas Adamkus and Kazakhstan's Energy and Minerals Deputy Minister Lyazzat Kiinov had a large discussion on energy security within Energy Summit held in Kraków, Poland.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=100The United States and Poland will next week open formal talks on a controversial missile defence shield that Washington wants to extend into central Europe, a US embassy official said Friday.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=99More than 3,300 delegates assembled in Warsaw's historic Palace of Culture and Science for World Congress of Families IV. They came from as far away as Chile, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia, Afghanistan, Nepal, Nigeria and The Philippines.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=98Poland will veto efforts to draw up a new European Union constitution unless Warsaw wins a battle over the voting clout wielded by member states, according to a news report Friday, 12th May.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=97The main goal of Polish foreign policy is to ensure its security, including energy security, Poland's Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga said Friday.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=96Poland's constitutional tribunal has blown a hole in a controversial law aimed at purging former communist agents from public office after it ruled that much of the law was unconstitutional.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=95In response to U.S. plans to build missile defense sites in Eastern Europe, Russia announced Tuesday it was bolstering its own missile sites.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=94Poland said Monday that it was preparing a law that would give local authorities free hand to remove monuments of "praise for the communist dictatorship" but allow for preservation of those that honor Soviet soldiers.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=93PKP Intercity wants to transport its passengers with TGV trains running over 200km/h. The railway company wants to buy 20 trains.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=92For the first time, Washington agreed on Friday to make concessions to Moscow in the anti-missile defense issue. The U.S. said it is ready to enter talks with Russia in September, concerning this and other issues worrying Moscow. It happened after heads of two influential subcommittees of the U.S. Congress criticized Washington's plans to deploy a missile defense system in Europe, and suggested taking into account the opinion of "protesting Russia".http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=91The European Union is threatening to block Russian membership of global free trade agreements unless President Vladimir Putin pledged to "de-escalate" a deepening crisis between Moscow and its neighbours.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=90Nato has accused pro-Kremlin youths of unacceptable intimidation against Estonia's embassy in Moscow.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=89Danish electricity and gas transmission network operator Energinet.dk has concluded an agreement with Polish oil and natural gas company PGNiG to explore the possibility of establishing a gas pipeline, called the Baltic Pipe, between Poland and Denmark.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=88Poland has lost its case against a group of gay parade organisers, with the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights ruling unanimously that Warsaw's ban on a 2005 rally - which took place anyway - was illegal.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=87The Czech and Polish presidents, Vaclav Klaus and Lech Kaczyński, may discuss the U.S. missile defence shield whose elements are to be stationed in their countries at a meeting of central European presidents in Brno on May 24-26, it ensues from what Klaus's spokesman Petr Hajek told CTK.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=86Poland is seeking "specific provisions" from the United States in return for allowing an American missile defense shield to be put up on its territory, the country's foreign minister said in an interview published 30 April.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=85Poland's conservative prime minister rejected European Union criticism Thursday of a proposal to fire teachers for "homosexual propaganda," saying it was not in the interest of society to have more gay people.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=84Poland's first post- -communist prime minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki has refused to comply with a new vetting law launched by the ruling conservatives to extend an anti-communist purge, AFP reported.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=83The Russian Federal Veterinary and Phytosanitary Control Service (Rosselkhoznadzor) has sent its conclusions on an earlier European Commission report regarding meat supplies from Poland to the Delegation of the European Commission to Russia, a Rosselkhoznadzor representative told Interfax.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=82Poland's National Defense Minister Aleksander Szczygło said that Moscow's tough stance toward U.S. plans to deploy anti-missile system elements in Europe is related to the upcoming elections in Russia.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=81The Council of Europe has come under heavy attack from human rights groups who claim it is failing to address abuses on the continent. Speaking at a parliamentary assembly in Strasbourg, Amnesty International Secretary General Irene Khan accused the Council of turning a blind eye to the situation in Chechnya.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=80Trust between the EU and Russia has reached its lowest level since the end of the Cold War, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson has warned.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=79Poland will maintain its veto on new talks between the EU and Russia, Poland's prime minister said Sunday after negotiations failed to lift Moscow's embargo on Polish meat.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=78Scotland Yard detectives are to issue arrest warrants against three former KGB officers suspected of poisoning ex-Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=77EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou and Russian Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev were seeking a breakthrough toward a deal for Moscow to lift its embargo on Polish farm products on Saturday, April 21, in the coastal city of Limassol in Kyprianu's native Cyprus.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=76A settlement in Trans- -dniestria is bad news for Moldova—and the West, its consequences may be disastrous, but a deal on the worst territorial dispute in Europe's poorest country was still too tempting.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=75On a visit aimed at overcoming his image as an ultraconservative skeptic of the European Union, Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński warned Wednesday that the EU's faltering constitution would undermine Poland.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=74Poland and Ukraine have been chosen to co-host the European Championship soccer tournament in 2012, UEFA announced today.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=73Anti-abortion update to constitution failed in divided Polish parliament (Sejm). Ruling coalition of conservatives and populists was unable to collect necessary 2/3 voting majority to promote constitution update providing "protection of human life from conception to natural death".http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=72The Federal Veterinary and Phytosanitary Watchdog (Rosselkhoznadzor) has compiled a report on the examination of European Commission documents related to meat deliveries from Poland and insists on joint inspections of Polish meat packing facilities with European experts.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=71Korea's LG Philips LCD, which is currently constructing a large plant in Biskupice near Wrocław worth EUR 429m, is having difficulty finding staff.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=70Poland's defence minister Aleksander Szczygło has said the changes to the character of Poland’s mission in Iraq has been been imperative.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=69According to Polish Business Center Club, the European Commission's decision to grant Poland smaller carbon dioxide level limits may slow down the economic development of the country. Earlier, Poland's Forum of Industrial Economical Organizations expressed similar concerns.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=68Just when it seemed that Polish-Russian relations could not get any cooler, a cold front appeared in the east again.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=67A dispute has broken out between Poland and Russia over a memorial at the Auschwitz death camp to Russian victims of World War II and the Nazi Holocaust, rekindling old resentments between the two countries.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=66The Poland's Government is making a swift amendment to the new vetting law because it will expose current Polish secret agents that work in foreign countries.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=65A bizarre and destructive law entered into force in Poland on March 15. Called the lustration law, as in a purification ritual, it requires some 700,000 citizens to fill out a form that asks, "Did you secretly and knowingly collaborate with the former Communist security services?"http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=64Warsaw sent a series of diplomatic signals that it would be willing to lift its veto of talks on a new partnership pact between Russia and the EU if Moscow moved to drop its embargo of Polish food imports.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=63Polish and Czech governments have agreed on negotiations with the USA concerning positioning elements of the American anti-missile shield system on their territories without any prior conditions - undersecretary of defense for policy, Eric S. Edelman announced on today's Pentagon briefing.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=62Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko dissolved the country's Parliament on Monday.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=61Finance Minister Zyta Gilowska has revealed that in 2009 Poland will be prepared to hold talks on technical matters with the European Central Bank and the European Commission concerning accession to the euro area.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=60An anti-Zionist rabbi who attended a conference in Iran that questioned the Holocaust said Wednesday (March, 14th) he was beaten while in Poland by Jews furious at him for his actions.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=59Publishing the names of serving spies is a huge taboo in the intelligence world. It endangers not only them, but anyone they have met. You might do it to your enemies on occasion, but never to your own side.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=58TNK-BP, the Russian oil company 50% owned by BP, seems unable to meet the fast-approaching final deadline to correct alleged licence violations at the giant Kovykta gasfield, and so may lose its licence. The authorities have refused to compromise and seem minded to hand Kovykta to Gazprom, the state-owned gas monopoly.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=57European Commission officials will travel to Moscow next week to try to solve the dispute over Polish meat exports to Russia before it escalates out of control.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=56The U.S. anti-missile system, a part of which is to be a radar to be stationed in the Czech Republic, will protect Europe, British Minister of State for Europe Geoff Hoon, said at a discussion forum staged by Prague's Charles University today.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=55If the U.S. officially requests that Tbilisi host elements of the missile defense on its territory, the parliament will seriously consider the issue, a prominent Georgian parliamentarian told journalists on Friday.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=54Azerbaijan is not considering the possibility of the United States stationing a missile defense system on its soil, the head of the Presidents Office international relations department, Novruz Mammadov, has said.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=53Supporters of the stationing of a U.S. radar defence base in the Czech Republic today presented a new civic initiative called Pro that is preparing a public rally in support of the U.S. plans to be held in Prague centre on March 18, the organisers have told CTK.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=52Poland is studying the proposal of the United States on stationing missile defense systems, its foreign minister Anna Fotyga said after meeting her Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov in Baku on Thursday.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=51On Friday, the prime ministers of Poland and Lithuania signed an agreement concerning co-operation in constructing a nuclear power station in Ignalina. Jaroslaw Kaczyński and Gedyminas Kirkilas assured the public that energy companies from both countries have their full support.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=50U.S. considerations about the stationing of a radar missile defence equipment in the Caucasus are only theoretical, U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic Richard Graber said in a discussion programme on public Czech Television (CT) today.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=49Germany stepped up calls on Friday for NATO talks on creating a missile defense shield for Europe, a day after the United States vowed to press ahead with its system without alliance approval.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=48The Czech Republic will probably agree with the launching of talks on a U.S. radar defence base on Czech territory in its response to the U.S. official note, Czech deputy PM Alexandr Vondra (senior ruling Civic Democrats, ODS) said in a TV discussion programme Vaclav Moravec's Questions on public Czech Television (CT) today.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=47Ukraine's prime minister is calling for talks with the United States and the European Union over U.S. plans for a missile defense system.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=46More than three-fifths of Czechs, or 61 percent, are opposed to the possible building of a U.S. missile defence radar base on Czech territory, according to a CVVM poll released today.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=45U.S. Missile Defense Agency Director Lt. Gen. Henry Obering addressed permanent representatives of the NATO-Russia Council on Wednesday.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=44The prospective deployment of U.S. missile defense elements in Poland and the Czech Republic does not endanger Hungary, Hungarian Ambassador in Kyiv Andras Barsony told a Thursday press briefing.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=43The Federal Veterinarian and Phytosanitary Control Service (Rosselkhoznadzor) is ready to discuss the delivery of Polish agricultural products with the European Commission after March 12, service chief Sergei Dankvert told Interfax.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=42No missile defence system can eliminate a mass missile attack, former Czech chief of staff gen. Jiri Sedivy writes in the daily Mlada fronta Dnes in connection with Russia's opposition to the planned stationing of parts of the U.S. missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=41Tony Blair suffered a rebuff last night after the US poured cold water on an offer to site elements of their "son of Star Wars" missile defence system in the UK.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=40Bratislava, Feb 22 - Chairman of the government coalition Slovak National Party (SNS) Jan Slota told journalists today that the planned U.S. anti-missile bases in the Czech Republic and Poland were aimed against Russia.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=39European Commission is ready to ask the European Court of Justice for a formal writ against Poland demanding suspension of construction the motorway around the city of Augustów, north-east Poland, what is planned to cross unique wetlands of the Rospuda Valley - the commissioner of environment, Stavros Dimas told today during a meeting in Brussels with Poland's minister of environment, Jan Szyszko.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=38Warsaw, Poland — Flying in the face of public opinion in Poland, the Polish government confirmed afternoon, 12th February that it will permit a controversial section of the Via Baltica expressway – the Augustow Town bypass – to plough through the country's treasured Rospuda Valley in north-east Poland.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=37Having acquired Mazeikiu, the oil giant PKN Orlen now wishes to ensure good oil supplies, and intends to compete for the Russian oil fields belonging to the bankrupt Yukos.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=36Poland's defence minister, Radek Sikorski has resigned today due to the conflict with president Lech Kaczyński.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=35President Vladimir Putin said yesterday that Russia faced unfair criticism and needless military threats from the West, lashing out in an annual news conference at US plans for missile defence sites in former Soviet satellite states and at suspicions that Moscow is wielding its energy wealth for political purposes.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=34On Wednesday evening, Polish petrol giant PKN Orlen announced that it would buy 3.36m tonnes of oil annually from Russia's Rosnieft, at least until the end of 2011.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=33The USA probably wants to place its missile defence system in two Central European countries - a radar in the Czech Republic and a missile base in Poland, Polish general Stanisław Koziej said on Saturday in reaction to the U.S. request for Prague to launch talks on the radar's location.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=32Germany's chancellor and current EU president Angela Merkel called for a reference to Europe's Christian roots in a constitution for the bloc, in an interview to be published Monday.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=31Poland, increasingly jittery about its reliance on Russian energy, is to hold talks with Algeria that could lead to a natural gas supply deal, said Economy Minister Piotr Wozniak.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=30Poland's Veterinary Service chief officer, Mrs Ewa Lech has just announced her surprise the issue of Russia's embargo on Polish meat remain unsolved.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=29Russia's state-controlled gas monopoly Gazprom called today for more talks with its Polish counterpart PGNiG in their dispute over transit fees on a major pipeline that carries Russian gas to Europe.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=28A dispute over a major pipeline carrying Russian gas to Europe resurfaced on Tuesday, Jan. 16, when Poland's state-owned gas monopoly accused Russia's state-controlled natural gas giant Gazprom of partially suspending cooperation.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=27Belarus backed down in its trade conflict with Russia on Wednesday by abolishing an export duty on oil pipeline transits. The move allows Moscow to resume supplies to Europe via its neighbour.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=26Ultra-conservative Catholic radio station "Radio Maryja" is going to popularize writings and teachings of abp. Stanisław Wielgus regardless his collaboration with communistic secret service.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=25Poland's president, Lech Kaczyński, has nominated close ally Sławomir Skrzypek to succeed Leszek Balcerowicz as head of the central bank.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=24Russia stops its oil flowing through Belarus to Europehttp://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=23Dramatic events in Warsaw archcathedral revealed deep crisis in Polish Catholic Church. While the crowd of belivers gathered at the door of Warsaw cathedral awaiting ingress of abp. Stanisław Wielgus it was already decided he has to resign just two days after his controversial nomination.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=21Polish Catholic Church on the Crossroad !On December, 6th 2006 the Pope Benedict XVI elevated bishop Stanisław Wielgus to the range of archbishop with a seat in Warsaw. Today it has become clear bishop Wielgus was a sane and active collaborator of the secret service during communism.http://www.ziggi.pl/news.php?id=20Gazprom, the Russian gas company, struck a five-year deal to supply gas to Belarus just minutes before a New Year deadline, narrowly avoiding a gas price war that threatened to disrupt supplies to Europe.