Poland’s prime minister has encouraged American experts to take a closer look at two bills passed by Polish MPs and criticized by Washington amid a bid by politicians in Warsaw to modify media ownership and property restitution rules.
Mateusz Morawiecki was speaking after Polish lawmakers voted in favour of a contested bill that seeks to prevent non-European owners from holding controlling stakes in domestic media firms.
In a separate vote, Polish MPs on Wednesday approved legislation to introduce a statute of limitations on claims for the restitution of property, including that seized by Poland’s Nazi German occupiers from Jews during the Holocaust and kept by the country’s postwar communist rulers. Both pieces of legislation have been criticized by US lawmakers.
Source – Polskie Radio
Warrant issued for Ex-Stasi officer for killing Polish man in 1974
A district court in Poznań, western Poland, has issued a European Arrest Warrant for an ex-Stasi operative suspected of killing a Polish citizen who tried to escape to West Berlin in 1974, news website niezalezna.pl has reported.
The former East Germany security-service officer in question, a German citizen identified as Manfred N., is suspected of shooting a Polish man, named only as Czesław K., in the back and killing him more than 47 years ago. The move follows a probe by the Chief Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes Against the Polish Nation, the investigative arm of the Warsaw-based Institute of National Remembrance.
Source – Polskie Radio
Colombian rider wins 3rd stage of Tour de Pologne
Colombian rider Fernando Gaviria has won stage three of this year’s Tour de Pologne, Poland’s largest cycling race. The 26-year-old on Wednesday finished ahead of 2nd place Netherlands and 3rd placed German riders in the annual race’s 226 km third leg between the southeastern Polish cities of Sanok and Rzeszów. Polish rider Michał Kwiatkowski, who won the 2018 Tour de Pologne, finished ninth in Rzeszów on Wednesday.
Source – Polskie Radio
Baltic Sail festival starts today
The Baltic Sail international rally of tall ships returns to Gdańsk this weekend for the 25th edition. The event will be a little scaled back compared to previous years, but will nevertheless feature around 80 vessels and 7 tall ships as well as many different events, workshops and exhibitions around the port of Gdańsk and Ołowianka Island in the Old Town.
Baltic Sail is an international agreement signed by the cities of the Baltic Sea region, initiated by the German port of Rostock in 1996.
Source – Radio Gdańsk, balticsail.pl
Weather
Today will be a lovely sunny day in a gentle breeze with temperatures reaching a glorious 25 degrees centigrade (77 degrees Fahrenheit) during the day, dropping to 15 degrees overnight.
Tomorrow will be a sunny day with scattered clouds in a moderate breeze and temperatures of 22 degrees during the day and 14 degrees overnight.
Martin Caren