The Polish Defence Minister has said that Poland must remain vigilant and be ready „for any type” of action as Russian and Belarus kicked off a massive military drill which takes place across the border of the two nations and in the Baltic sea. The week-long war games called „Zapad 2021” involve up to 200,000 military personnel, 80 aircraft and helicopters and up 15 ships and 300 tanks – they are the biggest of their kind in the last 40 years. The drills will involve live fire exercises. The minister said that the exercises were a deliberate provocation adding that Poland remained in close co-ordination with NATO allies.

Source – Polskie Radio

British teenager Emma Raducanu, a rank outsider has won the US Tennis Open becoming the first British woman in 44 years to win the US Open.

She is also the first person ever to come through the qualifying tournaments to the US Open to go on and win the tournament. At the start of the tournament she was ranked 150th in the world and had never won a major tournament, having been wild-carded to compete in the Wimbledon championships earlier in the year. In that competition she retired in the 4th round citing breathing difficulties which were attributed to stress. A delighted Raducanu said after the unprecedented win, “it’s an absolute dream!”.

Source – Daily Mail, US Open Tennis Championships

Poland is one of the most satisfied nations in the EU, according to data gathered by the EU Eurostat agency from surveys conducted with citizens across Europe.

This positive sentiment may comes as a surprise to Poles themselves who often downplay the benefits of living in the country. According to the data, Poland ranks 4th in the EU, coming behind only Austria, Finland and Ireland in terms of overall life satisfaction. Poland also scores lowest in terms of the number of people suffering from chronic depression and scores highly in the areas of personal security, feeling safe when outside and the perception of crime, where Poles also feel safe.

Source – The First News, Eurostat

And finally, It’s been a great year for bees in Gdynia this year, according to the city hall there.

There are a number of hives situated on the town hall buildings, having put there in 2019, and this year they have produced a record haul of 210 litres of honey. The honey contains pollen mainly from maple and plum, with some apple, willow and chestnut, and also traces of marjoram, cornflower, clover and dandelion. Tests have also shown that the honey is free from the heavy metals which can affect honeys gathered in over-fertilized agricultural areas.

Source – Polskie Radio

Weather

Today will be a showery day with a gentle breeze and temperatures reaching 20 degrees centigrade (68 degrees Fahrenheit) during the day, dropping to 12 degrees overnight. Monday will remain cloudy with temperatures of 18 degrees during the day and 12 degrees overnight.

Martin Caren/ua