French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo goes on sale in Poland on Tuesday as protests from Muslims against the magazine continue around the world.

The weekly is being distributed in Poland by EuroPress Polska, with sales beginning in Warsaw, while other cities will receive copies on Thursday. It will be sold for PLN 39.90.

Since the shootings of journalists and cartoonists at the magazine’s Paris office on 7 January, the print-run of the weekly has jumped from 30,000 copies to 7 million.

The first edition following the killings also featured a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed, sparking protests from both French Muslims and among Muslim communities elsewhere across the globe.

Meanwhile, it has been announced that Gerard Briard, the new editor-in-chief of the weekly, will visit Poland in March. He has been invited by the organisers of Warsaw’s Atheism Days programme, which runs from 27 to 29 March.

Unions representing miners held a press conference Tuesday to say that they are ready to strike again if PM Kopacz does not give in to their demands made in 2013.

“The agreement with the government was a turning point, but this only marks the beginning of the changes.

Today’s meeting was devoted the future – how to start negotiations to prevent a repeat of situations which took place in Silesia,” said Piotr Duda, head of the Solidarity trade union.

Among the stipulations requested by the unions are not to increase the retirement age and the abolition of unfavourable work contracts.

The group, which also includes the All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions (OPZZ) and the Trade Unions Forum (FZZ), sent an open letter to the Prime Minister that they will give her until 31 January to commence talks with the unions. They added that they are willing to strike if such requests are not met.

Smallpox is becoming increasingly commonplace in Poland, the country’s Main Sanitary Inspectorate (GIS) has reported.

Last year 220,000 cases of the contagious disease were registered in Poland, which constitutes a record number over almost two decades.

GIS spokesman Jan Bondar said it would be difficult to pinpoint one major factor contributing to this abrupt rise in statistics.

He noted that contagious diseases are often characterized by the occurrence of so-called compensatory epidemics, especially among populations with large numbers of people who have never been infected with a given type of such disease.

Jan Bondar also explained that in Poland vaccinations against smallpox are only advised, therefore, they are not financed from public sources. Only children in orphanages, as well as young oncological and transplant patients are entitled to free vaccinations.

The cost of a smallpox inoculation is around PLN 200 (roughly USD 64 or EUR 47.5).

Poland’s biggest online auction business is due to be sold by South African parent company Naspers, it has been reported.

According to sources interviewed by Reuters, Naspers is aiming to sell all its Polish enterprises.

„The Allegro business has ripened,” one source told the news agency.

”Naspers is looking to sell the whole lot.”

The South African company is supposedly keen to focus on emerging markets such as China and Brazil.
The Allegro company is headquartered in Poznan, western Poland, and the website was ranked in December 2014 as the 194th most used in the world.

According to Reuters, bidders for the business include internet giants wp.pl and onet.pl.

Neither Naspers nor Allegro has commented on the claims.

Almost 90 percent of flights arriving and departing from Warsaw’s Chopin Airport are on time, reveals the latest OAG Punctuality Report.

OAG, a global flight scheduling company, placed the Warsaw airport 18th in its “small airports” category with an 87.6 percent punctuality rate.

OAG’s “small airports” category is defined as “fewer than 10 million seats per annum,” despite Chopin Airport actually handling over 10.5 million passengers in 2014.

“This is a fantastic result and a great success for our services, but it is also the effect of better cooperation between airlines and baggage handlers,” underlined Radoslaw Purazel, deputy director of Chopin Airport.

“We are continuously working on procedural optimisation and better workload organisation,” he added.
In the “small airports” category, Bristol in the UK topped the ranking with a 94.4 percent punctuality rating, followed by Belgium’s Charleroi (93.1 percent), Berlin Schoenefeld (92.3 percent) and Norway’s Trondheim (92.0 percent).

In the “medium airports” category, where airports serve between 10-20 million passengers annually, Osaka topped the list with 93.2 percent. If Warsaw were placed in this ranking, it would come in 8th place.
Meanwhile, Germany’s Munich Airport topped the “large airports” ranking, with an 89-percent punctuality rate.

The OAG report compiles the punctuality ratings of some 1,000 airports worldwide.

Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), mocked European Council President Donald Tusk after the latter’s maiden speech at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

”Migration is the big problem,” Farage complained to Tusk.

”You promised your voters that young Poles would return home but you have become the newest Polish émigré,” he said.

”EU voters want massive reforms, and you are not the man to provide them,” he claimed.

Farage, who leads the Eurosceptic Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD) within the European Parliament, also quipped that Tusk had won ”the European jackpot” by getting his current job.

”You used to earn 60,000 euro a year, now it’s 300,000 euro,” Farage said.

”I know why you were chosen, you’re perfect,” the UK politician added.

”You have outdated opinions on the subject of Europe.”

Tusk said later that Farage’s outburst was an example of the differences in political culture within the EU.

The former Polish prime minister was elected as European Council President on 30 August 2014, assuming the position on 1 December.

Warsaw is waiting for a binding decision from Indian sanitary authorities on the possibility of importing Polish apples.

The move comes as Poland is eyeing a greater presence on the Indian market, with Deputy PM and Economy Minister Janusz Piechocinski closing a three-day visit to Gujarat, Monday, with a delegation of almost 25 Polish businesses and government officials.

The announcement was made by Poland’s Deputy Agriculture Minister Tadeusz Nalewajk following talks during the Vibrant Gujarat business summit in Ahmedabad, where a Polish delegation met with Union Cabinet Minister of Food Processing, Harsimrat Kaur Badal.

Head of the delegation, Deputy PM Piechocinski also met with Indian PM Narendra Modi to discuss the possibility of exporting Polish apples.

“Modi instructed the agriculture ministry to look into the matter, hence an agreement thanks to which we will be able to export apples to India,” Nalewajk explained.

Poland’s move on India’s apple market is due to its enormity: the country imports some 200,000 metric tons of the fruit annually, with most coming from the USA, New Zealand and Australia.

Hovever, a large proportion of domestic production goes rotten as there is a lack of funds to store the apples in favourable conditions, Nalewajk said.

Mining capabilities

Piechocinski underlined that Polish businesses have a lot to offer the Indian market. Recently the country has seen over 5 percent GDP growth, with Gujarat State seeing over 10 percent year-on-year growth.
During his visit, Piechocinski also met with the Chief Minister of Gujarat Anandiben Patel as well the coal and steel ministers, as Poland is pushing for exports of mining machinery for the growing Indian mining sector.

According to India’s Ministry of Coal, India has over 300 billion metric tons of coal reserves.
Meanwhile, in the first nine months of 2014, trade turnover between Poland and India reached USD 1.9 billion, a rise of 18 percent on the same period in 2013.

Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz took part in a 12-hour session of talks with unionists representing striking miners on Monday, but no compromise was reached over the restructuring of state-controlled mines.

Talks between government delegates and unionists are due to continue on Tuesday, with as many as 8 mines now involved in underground strikes.

Among the chief grievances of the strikers is the prospective closure of four Silesian mines belonging to state-owned company Kompania Weglowa.

”I came here to Silesia with a very solid proposal, a proposal that would protect jobs for miners, whose work I have enormous respect for,” Kopacz said.

The prime minister said that her offer ”is still on the table,” inviting unionists to continue the talks with government delagates on Tuesday.

However, Dominik Kolorz, head of a regional branch of the Solidarity trade union, said that no assurances had been made that the four mines ear-marked for closure would endure for long.

He said the proposals made by the government ”do not give any guarantee that these mines could function for more than a year, or a year and a half.”

Likewise, Kolorz noted that unionists proposals calling for ”very deep” restructuring and recovery programmes for the four mines in question had been rejected by the government.

According to plans accepted by the government on 7 January, nine other Kompania Weglowa mines would be taken over by state-controlled company Weglokoks.

State-owned coal mining firm Kompania Weglowa has been recording vast losses in recent times.
In mid-September the then-CEO of the company Miroslaw Taras stated that only three out of the firm’s 14 mines were profitable.

In the first half of 2014, the company recorded a net loss of PLN 342.7 million zloty (EUR 81.8 million) compared to PLN 228.7 million zloty (EUR 54.6 million) in losses a year earlier.

Polish government-led efforts to evacuate around 200 people of Polish descent from the pro-Russian rebel-held Donbas region in eastern Ukraine got underway, Sunday.

Some 162 people are waiting at the Polish Consulate in Kharkiv to be transported to Poland within the next few days, although the exact date is being kept under wraps by the Polish authorities for security reasons.

An additional 20 people are expected to arrive at the consulate on Sunday.

Speaking to journalists on Sunday, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry Marcin Wojciechowski said that all evacuees have access to medical care, with the group ranging in terms of age.

“There is a pregnant woman in the group, but she has been given the all clear to travel, and we are making every effort to look after her,” Wojciechowski said, adding that “there are also a few dozen children, as well as entire families […] and of course a number of elderly evacuees, although they are in the minority.”

Meanwhile, Deputy Foreign Minister Konrad Pawlik is in Kharkiv to oversee the evacuation.

“We haven’t come across any serious problems, although we have had to alter our travel plans due to the weather conditions,” he said.

“We had a general plan which covered a number of scenarios, the most difficult was the transportation of these people from the Donbas to the assembly points, although from there to Kharkiv everything went according to plan,” Pawlik highlighted.

Among those who have made it to the Polish Consulate in Kharkiv is Anton Yakushevskiy from Luhansk, which was overtaken by pro-Russian rebels in April last year.

“It is impossible to describe it in one word,” he told Polish Radio. “The war has been ongoing for half a year, and even earlier I lost my job in Luhansk. I was even arrested and sentenced to death by firing squad.”

After completing consular procedures, the evacuees will be able to leave for Poland with 30kg of luggage. An airport in Malbork, northern Poland, has been opened up to international traffic especially for the evacuation efforts.

According to the Polish Foreign Ministry, the entire evacuation should be over “within a few days”.

Initial figures reveal that annual fundraising bonanza the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity (WOSP) could trounce last year’s takings following Sunday’s grand finale.

Figures released by the foundation early on Monday morning indicate that the fundraiser has raised PLN 36 228 912 so far.

Last year, the initial figure after the finale was PLN 35.5 million, but this rose by PLN 17 million as online auctions continued to garner funds.

The final sum for the 23rd edition will be confirmed by impresario and charity chief Jerzy Owsiak in March.

About 120,000 volunteers took to the streets of cities and towns across Poland on Sunday to raise money for pediatric care as well as aid for the elderly.

As usual, donors were given the charity’s trademark heart-shaped stickers. Concerts were staged in countless localities, followed by fireworks, adding a dash of razzmatazz to the day.
As tradition dictates, tired staff in the charity’s Warsaw studio rounded off the finale with a late dinner of ice cream and cake.

This year’s fundraising focuses on pediatric oncology, cardiology and rheumatology, as well as improved care for the elderly.