The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity (WOŚP) has managed to raise over PLN 53 million in this year’s charity drive.

Donations in kind, such as medical equipment, reached PLN 605,000, while internet auctions managed to raise over PLN 3 million for the charity, which funds new medical equipment for paediatric wards as well as care for the elderly.

Speaking to Polish Radio on Monday morning, WOŚP founder Jurek Owsiak thanked Poles for their generosity, announcing that the exact figure raised amounted to PLN 53,109,172.83.

The figure is slightly higher on last year’s fund-raising result of PLN 52.4 million.

“Over the past few years the level of funding has stabilised and hovers around PLN 50 million,” Owsiak said, adding that the costs of the charity drive amount to around 4 percent of the collected sum, this year around PLN 2.1 million.

A day after the WOŚP fundraiser in January, the charity announced that it had received over PLN 36.2 million, although the exact figure is not published until the beginning of March to give time for all the money to be accounted for.

Some 120,000 volunteers helped out in this year’s fundraiser.

Warsaw’s long-awaited second metro line opened on Sunday morning, with travel free for all on the inaugural day.

”This will change the whole of Warsaw – not just those districts which it passes through,” Mayor of Warsaw Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz said on Sunday morning.

The new line, which runs from west to east, passes below the River Vistula, taking in seven stops. It complements the existing north to south line, which opened in 1995.

Construction on the new line began in mid-2011, and the walls of each station have been differentiated through the use of colour. Internationally acclaimed artist Wojciech Fangor was involved in the design.
Gronkiewicz-Waltz thanked Varsovians for their patience on Sunday, as the ultimate opening came after several delays.

Speaker of the Senate Bogdan Borusewicz, who was banned from entering Russia for the funeral of slain oppositionist Boris Nemtsov, had a letter read out at Tuesday’s ceremony.

Borusewicz had been set to head Poland’s delegation, but his address was ultimately read by Konrad Pawlik, deputy foreign minister.

”Through my presence at the funeral, I had wanted to show that Poles are not anti-Russian, they are not enemies of a democratic Russia,” wrote Borusewicz.

”By paying tribute to the assassinated I had wanted to express great respect to all those Russians, the sons of the great Russian people who think like him,” Borusewicz added.

Nemtsov, who served as deputy prime minister during Boris Yeltsin’s presidency (1997-1998), had repeatedly accused President Putin of lying over whether Russian troops were fighting in Ukraine.

He had a long track record of branding Putin’s regime as corrupt, before being gunned down in central Moscow on Friday night.

Borusewicz claimed that the Kremlin ”has led an aggressive war [in Ukraine], undermining the European order.”

He accused Russian authorities of conducting ”a chauvinistic campaign against people who do not agree with imperialistic policies and aggression against a neighbouring country.”
The senator claimed that Nemtsov ”fell victim to this policy” and that those responsible ”should be held accountable.”

Borusewicz was a key figure in the Solidarity trade union and he spent four years in hiding after martial law was imposed by the communist regime in Poland in 1981. He became a senator in 2005.

Borusewicz was a key figure in the Solidarity trade union and spent four years in hiding after martial law was declared in Poland in 1981. He became a senator in 2005. Borusewicz was a key figure in the Solidarity trade union and spent four years in hiding after martial law was declared in Poland in 1981. He became a senator in 2005.

Besides Borusewicz, Latvian MEP Sandra Kalniete was also denied entry to Russia to attend the funeral. Foreign officials present at the ceremony included US Ambassador to the Russian Federation, John F. Tefft.

General Stanisław Koziej, Head of the National Security Bureau, has warned that Poland must be ready for the possibility of a ‘hybrid’ war, similar to the one ongoing in eastern Ukraine.

“I am concerned about a hybrid war, [namely] clandestine or secret aggression which makes it uncertain as to whether or not there is a war,” General Koziej explained.

“We [Poland] need to prepare for such an eventuality by ourselves and at the same time convince our allies in NATO to take steps to make sure that the alliance is able to quickly deal with such a situation, because rapid action is crucial.”

Koziej added that although NATO membership should deter any open aggression, in the case of an unconventional hybrid war “it would be difficult to gain a consensus within NATO” concerning the alliance’s response.

The general said that apart from military forces, all of Polish society would be needed in the event of a ‘hybrid’ war, including the police and firefighters.

However Koziej added that the threat to Poland remains relatively low regardless, and “a more likely scenario would be attempts to act not against Poland, but, for instance, against the Baltic States, where there is a large Russian minority.”

Bohdan Tomaszewski, veteran Polish sports commentator, has died in Warsaw aged 93.

Tomaszewski worked for Polish Radio for several decades, covering twelve Olympic Games – both summer and winter – from Melbourne in 1956 to Moscow in 1980, achieving enormous popularity.

The broadcaster made his debut on the air in 1947 covering the Poland-England tennis match in the Davis Cup. Following the imposition of martial law in December 1981 he refused to work for the official media and did not return to Polish Radio until the collapse of communism in 1989.

Having retired from Polish Radio, he continued to work as a freelancer into his nineties. Two years ago he did a live commentary of the Wimbledon tournament for one of the commercial television stations.

Tennis was, next to athletics, Bohdan Tomaszewski’s favourite discipline. In his late teens, he was a promising tennis player, and was vice-champion in the national Under-18 championships. In the 1970s he launched the annual Tomaszewski Cup tennis tournament for teenagers, whose past winners include such stars as Agnieszka Radwańska.

During World War Two, Bohdan Tomaszewski was a member of the Home Army. He was the recipient of numerous distinctions, including the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Poland Reborn and Polish Radio’s ‘Golden Microphone’. He also had several books and film scripts to his credit.

The Ministry of Defence has announced that Poland will send an unspecified number of military instructors to Ukraine, with the purpose training their Ukrainian counterparts.

”We are preparing a mission under the auspices of NATO for the training of non-commissioned officers,” Minister of Defence Tomasz Siemoniak told the TVN24 news channel on Wednesday evening.

”We want our instructors, who will be working in training centres in Lviv and Kiev, to school Ukrainian instructors so that they in turn can train non-commissioned officers,” he expanded.

Siemoniak’s comments followed a tweet from Generał Bogusław Pacek, who is in charge of preparing the training program, that “Ukraine’s Defence Ministry turned to NATO countries with a plea to help train its soldiers,” adding that ”Poland will respond affirmatively.”

This came just hours after President Bronisław Komorowski praised the UK for pledging to send soldiers to assist Ukraine.

Defence Minister Siemoniak has confirmed that the final decision about the numbers of Polish soldiers will be made in March.

Although the minister did not rule out delivering weapons to Ukraine in the future he stated that “like the US and the UK we believe that this is not a good moment [to transfer weapons], as it would escalate the conflict. That is why other forms of assistance are more important.”

Siemoniak also added that unlike Lithuania, Poland will not be reintroducing compulsory military service.

„Why you should marry a Polish girl” is a title of an article David Huerta wrote on his blog. A Mexican living in Warsaw claims that Polish women are, among other positive characteristics, „the most beautiful, sexy and faithful”.

Huerta, who have been living in Warsaw for two years now, claims that the idea for the article came, surprisingly, from his female readers. He also notes that it is not his intention to offend anyone, especially women. „The truth is that it is incredible how many times a man can fall in love in this country” – warns Huerta before enlisting 15 reasons for why Polish women make the best wives.

Apart from being sexy and beautiful, Polish girls are apparently also smart and intelligent, plus speak at least one foreign language. Additionally, most of them can hold their drinks better than most foreigners, which Huerta does not seem to mind. Maybe his understanding in this field comes from the fact that most Polish girls also cook well, so after the wild party night you can count on hearty hangover-curing bowl of Polish comfort food.

„Hypnotizing” and „eternally beautiful” Polish women are not only about good looks and having fun, mind you. According to Huerta, they respect their traditions and care about their families as well. Even when they live far away from their hometowns, a few visits a year are a must.

If you want to know, what other reasons are there to come to Poland and find a perfect wife, visit chido-fajny.com

Paweł Pawlikowski’s 'Ida’ has won the Academy Award for best Foreign Language Film on Sunday, making it the first Oscar for a Polish film in this category.

The Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles burst into cheers when Australian actress Nicole Kidman announced Ida as the winner of the Foreign-Language Oscar.

“Oh, God. How did I get here?,” asked director Paweł Pawlikowski after arring onstage to pick up the golden statuette.

“We made a film – as you saw, black and white – about the need for silence and withdrawal from the world and contemplation. And here we are at this epicentre of noise and world attention. Fantastic, you know, life is full of surprises.”

'Ida’ follows the plight of an orphan in the 1960s who was handed over to a nunnery as a child during the Second World War.

Just before she takes her vows, her Mother Superior instructs her to visit her sole surviving relative, a disillusioned Stalinist judge, and the mystery of her Jewish past is revealed.

“There are no words to describe the happiness which has washed over me, and I think, everyone who was in any way involved in the making of this film,” Adam Szyszkowski, one of the actors in the film, told IAR news agency.

This was the tenth nomination for Poland in the category, with the first being in 1963 for Roman Polański’s Knife in the Water. The award was officially introduced in 1956.
There were four other Polish nominations for other Oscars: Joanna (Documentary Short Subject), Nasza Klątwa / Our Curse (Documentary Short Subject), Ida (Cinematography), while Anna Biedrzycka-Sheppard was nominated for Best Costume Design.

One woman has died and one is suffering from acute hypothermia after an avalanche swept through the Wielka Świstówka cirque in the Western Tatras on Saturday night.

The avalanche caught four people on a caving course in the mountains. Two members of the group were saved by TOPR rescuers from under the snow without sustaining major injuries.

However, one 30-year-old died despite resuscitation attempts by TOPR rescuers, while another was transported to Zakopane, from where she was taken to the Centre for the Treatment of Hypothermia in the provincial capital, Kraków.

There are no hiking trails in the region where the avalanche came down, altough people participating on alpine courses are permitted to be in the area.

Currently there is a ‘Level 2 Moderate’ danger of avalanche in the Tatras, although sunny weather and a strong Halny foehn wind on Saturday made the snow heavy and increased the risk of an avalanche.

Polish PM Ewa Kopacz has appealed to her Hungarian counterpart not to forget Western participation in the two countries’ histories, during a meeting in the Polish capital on Thursday.

“The unity of the Visegrad Group and condemnation of aggression is fundamental,” Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz told a press conference following a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

“In a frank and difficult conversation, the kind which friends usually have – when you talk your mind looking straight into someone’s eyes – I told Prime Minister Orban that the unity of the European Union countries and the Visegrad Group is of paramount importance to the situation in Ukraine,” Kopacz said.

“I believe that a great European nation, such as Ukrainian, also has the right to decide about its own destiny. In our common history, Poland and Hungary always lost when in international politics, rights were substituted with power,” Kopacz said.

“I am convinced that countries such as ours, which, thanks to the help from foreign [powers], thanks to the support of Western democracies became independent 25 years ago. Now [our countries have a chance] to help those who are denied the right to independence,” she added.

PM Orban travelled to Warsaw on Thursday following a meeting on Tuesday with Russian President Valdimir Putin. The leaders discussed a gas deal between the two countries.

The meeting was seen by observers as a move by the EU member to strengthen ties with Russia at a time of cooling diplomatic relations between the EU and Moscow. Tuesday’s visit was the first official visit by President Putin in the EU since June 2014.