The prime ministers of Poland and three regional partners have urged the Belarusian authorities to release all political prisoners. The call came after the premiers of Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary, which together form a regional cooperation platform called the Visegrad Group, met in the eastern Polish city of Lublin on Friday.
Morawiecki said on Friday that the Visegrad Group wants to propose visa-free travel for Belarusian citizens. At an upcoming EU summit, the Visegrad Group aims to put forward a plan to help the Belarus economy, state broadcaster.
Poland’s Morawiecki promised last month that his country would seek to support Belarus by opening its borders and labour market while providing financial support to civil society after a violent crackdown on post-election protests in its eastern neighbour.
Source – Polskie Radio
A wide range of personal items belonging to Władysław Szpilman, the famous Polish pianist and composer of Jewish origin whose war-time plight was made by Roman Polanski into the Oscar-winning film „The Pianist”, are to be auctioned in Warsaw on September 22.
As of Friday, they can be viewed by the public at the Desa Unicum auction house in the capital. The most important item in the collection is a Steinway grand piano from 1937 on which Szpilman wrote his most popular pieces. Other items include a pen and a pocket watch which are his only personal belongings that survived the Warsaw Ghetto.
Source – Polskie Radio
An international competition for Mars rovers started on Friday in the Polish city of Kielce. Dozens of teams of students from more than 15 countries have signed up for the sixth European Rover Challenge, one of the world’s largest events of its kind.
In the competition, robot devices controlled by teams compete in carrying out tasks similar to those performed by rovers on the surface of Mars and the Moon. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the competition will take place remotely, with each team controlling identical rovers from their home universities.
Last year, 28 teams from 13 countries took part in the competition. The event was attended by over 25,000 guests.
Source – Polskie Radio
The first cruise liner of the season has docked at the port of Gdańsk this week after a year that has been disastrous for the cruise liner industry as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. The tourism industry in the region is estimated to have lost over 50 million złoty this season.
The 200 metre, Finnish cruise liner, MS Europa docked at Westerplatte having set sail from Hamburg on September 1st and calling at ports in Germany, Denmark and Sweden along the way. This year, for safety reasons, the number of passengers on the MS Europa has been reduced from nearly 400 to 60.
5 more cruise ships are due to dock in Gdańsk between now and the end of the year.
Sources – trojmiasto.pl
Weather
Today will be a sunny day with a moderate breeze and temperatures will reach 22 degrees centigrade (72 degrees Fahrenheit) during the day, dropping to 12 degrees centigrade overnight. Tomorrow will have sunny spells and a moderate breeze with temperatures reaching 20 degrees centigrade during the day and 14 degrees overnight.
MC/am
