The Children’s Memorial Health Institute in Warsaw has banned a doctor who ran experimental cannabis-based treatment of epilepsy in children from pursuing his work.

Doctor Marek Bachański, from the Neurology and Epileptology Institute, was compelled to suspend his tests on anti-seizure treatment of a group of 15 drug-resistant children, after the institute’s top management criticised the physician’s conduct in running his experimentation.

During a press briefing, Institute spokesperson Professor Katarzyna Kotulska explained that the physician had been conducting his tests without the permission from the bioethical commission, which is necessary in the case of running medical experiments. Bachański is also reportedly yet to produce the results of his work to the body.

Months earlier, Bachański had been ordered to halt his unconventional treatment until all necessary formalities and paperwork were completed. “Doctor Bachański has still not presented the results of his research, we don’t know how many patients are under his care, what medication he used and the quantity of the medication applied,” she told the Wawalove website.

As the spokesperson underlines, using medical marijuana in Poland without the consent of the bioethical commission is illegal. Meanwhile, as Kotulska underlined, the institute has taken over the group of patients undergoing experimental treatment, following an approval of the bioethics team.

As broadcaster TVN24 reports, the cannabis-based treatment methods pursued by Bachański have been yielding substantial results, with some young patients experiencing a 90-percent drop in the number of epileptic seizures.

Two Polish video games „The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt” and „Dying Light” can be found on the list of the top 10 best-sellers in the US published by fortune.com.

The list covers titles released in the first half of 2015. „Dying Light” was placed in seventh place and „The Witcher” in ninth, although it was released only in May.

The Polish productions are enlisted next to some of the biggest, almost legendary series in the industry with a strong position in the market, a large fan-base and huge budgets, such as Grand Theft Auto, Battlefield, Call of Duty or Mortal Kombat.

Experts say it is an enormous success that Poland is able to set new standards and compete with the biggest global rivals and on a much smaller budget when compared to foreign productions.

British carmaker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is planning opening a factory in CEE, and has focused its attention on Poland.

JLR executives have told the UK’s Sunday Times that the company has been considering bids by Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Turkey for a factory to produce some 200,000 cars a year.

However, the unnamed sources added that Poland had offered “huge” incentives.

Local sources said that the plant could most likely be built in Kraków at a cost of GBP 1.2 billion (PLN 7.01 billion / EUR 1.69 billion).

Last year JLR produced 450,000 cars, but has plans to expand to one million vehicles.

While based in England, with a British heritage, JLR is owned by Indian Tata motors.

Poland is one of the worst paid nations in Europe, with Greeks taking home almost twice as much monthly as Poles.

According to Eurostat, the average Polish wage is EUR 865, while the highest average monthly salary in the EU is in Luxembourg with EUR 4,663, almost 5.5-fold more.

In the Czech Republic the average is EUR 970 and in crisis-hit Greece it is almost two-fold higher at EUR 1,541. In Germany it is EUR 2,995, in the UK 3,160 and in Ireland 3,949.

Analysis by the Think of the Future Foundation suggests that the most common gross salary in Poland is less than PLN 2,200 per month.

In the first half 2015 a drop in population was observed in 12 out of 16 provinces and is especially strong among young Poles, except in the Mazowieckie region.

With elections in October the main contenders have started talking recently about the issue of low pay, emigration and the minumum wage.

A Committee of the Council of Ministers in June proposed raising the minimum wage by PLN 100 (EUR 24) per month to PLN 1,850 (EUR 445), in line with the proposals of trade unions. The Employers’ Lewiatan Confederation had previously suggested a rise to PLN 1,800. Public administration wages have been frozen since the start of 2010.

The government expects that in 2016 GDP growth will have increased by 0.4 percentage points to 3.8%, while unemployment will have fallen to 7.6%.

The Sejm, Poland’s lower house of parliament, has passed the country’s first ever transgender recognition legislation.

MP Anna Grodzka introduced the Gender Accordance Act in May 2012 and it was passed on Thursday by 252 votes to 158, with 11 absentions.

Poland has legally recognised transgender citizens since the 1960s, although the legal criteria of what it meant to be transgender had not before been fully codified.

Under the new law an unmarried transgender citizen is legally eligible to apply for a new birth certificate and new education and employment documentation without having to undergo surgery or hormone therapy.

“It is a huge victory for trans people in Poland,” Wiktor Dynarski, president of the Polish advocacy group Trans-Fuzja Foundation, said.

For the bill to become law early next year, it still needs to be passed by the senate and signed by the president.

Grodzka, Poland’s first openly transgender MP, was elected in 2011. In May, parliament again voted against having a debate on gay civil partnerships.

While the tax rate on physical copies of books in Poland is five percent, e-book buyers online pay 23 percent. Polish judges want to know why.

Polish judges from the Constitutional Tribunal have asked the Polish case to be interpreted by the European Court of Justice. They suggest that the list of products has not been fully consulted with the European Parliament.

The list, they argue, may undermine the rule of „tax neutrality” that imposes different taxes on the same product, depending on its format, the daily Gazeta Wyborcza notes.

Each country in the EU is entitled to set its own tax rate, but tax relief can only be used with certain products that are listed by the EU directive.

France and Luxembourg have bypassed the list altogether, imposing lower taxes on electronic versions of books. In March the EU reiterated that e-books are a „service” and not a „product” and demanded both countries use the base tax rate.

After the decision, Minister of Culture Małgorzata Omilanowska called on the European Commission to immediately start working on a directive that would make electronic and traditional books legally equal. Omilanowska has been backed by her counterparts from France, Germany and Italy.

The number of people living in Poland has dropped by more than 17,000 over the previous year, according to the Central Statistical Office (GUS).

The decrease was noted in 12 of the the 16 regions in Poland.

The least populated region in the country is Bieszczady, which has an average population of 19 people per square kilometre.

One the other hand, the most populous is the Pruszków district in the Mazowsze region, with 648 persons per km2.

According to the authors of the GUS study, the biggest decline in residents was seen in Silesia (a 0.3 percent drop), Łódź region (-0.4 percent), and Lubelski region (-0.4 percent). Not all regions saw a decline however.

The biggest increase in the number of residents was seen in the Poznań district (+1.8 percent) and Wrocław (+2.4 percent).

Government spokesperson Cezary Tomczyk has confirmed that the prospective asylum due to be given to 2000 refugees from Syria and Eritrea will be paid for by the EU.

The EU-led asylum initiative is designed to take pressure off Italy and Greece, where thousands of refugees are being held in temporary camps, as well to aid non-EU countries that are likewise struggling to cope with the ongoing exodus of asylum seekers.

In an interview with Polish Radio on Friday, Tomczyk stressed that the refugees had fled military conflicts in their homelands.

“Quite simply they would be killed if they stayed,” he argued.

“And that’s the truth about these people.

“The second very important piece of information is that all costs associated with the stay of these people in Poland will be covered by the European Union,” he underlined.

“This too is important, because a lot of our citizens are concerned about that, and there is nothing to hide.”

Although Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz has already declared that Poland will house 2000 refugees, the matter is due to be officially approved at a cabinet meeting, most probably next Tuesday.

The number of refugees expected to be given asylum is smaller than EU’s original proposal, as Brussels had wanted Poland to take in 2,659 from Italy and Greece and 962 refugees from camps outside the EU.

Poland is one of several EU countries that has been called on to take on a portion of the refugees.

If elections to the Sejm were held this week the opposition party Law and Justice (PiS), in alliance with two smaller conservative groupings, would win 43 percent of the vote.

The conservative PiS and its allies would therefore be able to command a majority in the 460-seat lower house.survey

According to a survey carried out by Estymator Institute for the weekly Newsweek Polska, the Prime Minister’s ruling Civic Platform (PO) party would receive 28 percent of the vote, while an emerging grouping formed by rock musician Paweł Kukiz could count on 10 percent.

The remaining two parties that would breach the five percent threshold and gain parliamentary representation are the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) and the Polish People’s Party (PSL), the junior partner in the ruling coalition, both with five percent. The survey was conducted over the last four days on a representative group of 1,062 adult Poles.

Over 330 people have been poisoned in the southern Polish region of Silesia after using designer drugs.

Most have used the drug sold on the Polish market as Mocarz (“the Mighty One”).

“The drug has been on the Polish market for some years, although it is only now that it has caused so much damage,” Artur Malczewski from the National Bureau for Drug Prevention told Radio Poland.

The reason behind the sudden spike in casualties is twofold, Malczewski explained. Firstly because of the introduction of a new law making many of these substances illegal in Poland, producers increased the dose in the products to get rid of inventory.

In order to avoid being caught by authorities selling such products following the law’s introduction on 1 July, shops also sold them for as little as PLN 4-5 (EUR 1-1.25), Malczewski said.

The drug authorities that have been investigating the composition of these designer drugs – which look like loose leaf green tea and can be smoked like marijuana – found they are laced with a synthetic cannabinoid that is up to 800-times stronger than marijuana.

Malczewski also said that „the hands of the police are tied” in terms of halting the sale of such products, as they are sold as “collector’s items”, and are clearly labelled as “not for human consumption”. However, the expert stressed, “everyone knows what they are”.

From a legal standpoint, as soon as lawmakers introduce laws to curb a particular strain of synthetic chemicals, manufacturers come up with a slightly different formula which is not banned, and are therefore allowed to sell them.