Poland celebrated twenty-four years since NATO accession with a special illumination of the NATO and Polish flags on the facade of the Presidential Palace in Warsaw yesterday.
On March 12, 1999, at a ceremony in Independence, Missouri, Poland–together with the Czech Republic and Hungary–officially became a party to the Washington Treaty and a member of the NATO military alliance.
In a series of tweets celebrating Poland’s tenure in NATO, the Polish defense ministry praised Poland as “a strong and reliable ally” that “is not only a recipient but also a provider of security.”
Both US President Joe Biden and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg have recently praised Poland for being a key partner in the alliance and for playing a leading role in supporting Ukraine in its war against Russian aggression.
Earlier this year, Polish President Andrzej Duda signed into law Poland’s national budget for 2023, which expects defense spending to grow to 3 percent of GDP, above the NATO target of 2 percent for its members to spend on their security.
Source: Polskie Radio, PAP
The genre-bending sci-fi comedy “Everything Everywhere All at Once” dominated the 95th annual Academy Awards last night, taking home seven awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and most of the acting awards.
The story of a middle-aged woman who travels through parallel dimensions garnered additional praise and Oscar statuettes in the categories of best original screenplay and best editing, along with best-supporting actor Ke Huy Quan and actress Jamie Lee Curtis. Lead actress Michelle Yeoh also became the first woman of Asian descent to win a best actress Oscar.
Yeoh, along with directors Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan, dedicated her award to “my mother” and “all other mothers in the world” who “are true superheroes.”
Germany’s adaptation of “All Quiet on the Western Front” beat out “EO,” Poland’s entry in the Best International Feature Film category, and also picked up trophies for cinematography, original score, and production design.
Brendan Fraser’s role in Darren Aronofsky’s drama “The Whale” won him an Oscar for best actor, while the best documentary award went to the biopic “Navalny” directed by Daniel Roher.
Alexei Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, accepted the award on behalf of the jailed Russian dissident, using her acceptance speech to tell her husband to “stay strong.” Roher also dedicated the award “to Navalny” and “to all political prisoners around the world.”
Source: PAP, Polskie Radio, The Hollywood Reporter
Polish ski jumper Dawid Kubacki celebrated his 33rd birthday on Sunday with a coveted spot on the ski jumping World Cup podium in Oslo, Norway.
Kubacki delivered jumps of 127 and 130 meters to capture his 37th career World Cup podium spot, coming in third behind Anze Lanisek of Slovenia in second and Stefan Kraft of Austria in first.
Sunday’s competition in Oslo marked the third leg of the Raw Air series, which kicked off with qualifying rounds last Friday and consists of a record number of 18 jumps in 10 days.
The series is part of the 2022/2023 ski-jumping World Cup circuit, which features a total of 39 competitions, including 32 individual events, in various countries.
After 25 individual events this season, Kubacki is second in the overall World Cup standings, with 1,448 points, behind Norway’s Halvor Egner Granerud with 1,738 points.
Source: Polskie Radio, PAP
Top-ranked Polish tennis players Iga Świątek and Hubert Hurkacz have advanced to the third round of the prestigious WTA and ATP tournaments in Indian Wells, California.
Świątek easily defeated American Claire Liu 6-0, 6-1 in the second round of the WTA 1000 tournament in California on Saturday. Świątek will now face off against No. 32 seed Bianca Andreescu of Canada at 2:00 CET tomorrow (Tuesday) morning.
Hubert Hurkacz, who beat Australian Alexei Popyrin 6:3, 6:3 on Sunday, also has a chance to advance to the third round today at 19:00 when he faces off against Tommy Paul of the United States.
Despite being knocked out of the singles competition on Saturday, Magda Linette still has a chance to advance to the quarterfinals with her doubles partner, American Caty McNally. The duo is set to face off against the 4th-seeded Dutch-American team of Demi Schuurs and Desirae Krawczyk at 19:00 CET this evening.
Source: Polskie Radio, atptour.com, wtatennis.com
Weather
Today will be mostly overcast with a good chance of rain showers during the day, accompanied by strong winds coming from the southeast. Temperatures will be noticeably warmer than yesterday, climbing to a high of 9°C or 49°F during the day with lows of 2°C or 35°F overnight. Even warmer weather is expected tomorrow, with a good chance for rain showers in the late afternoon and evening.
Elizabeth Peck