Tag: Poland

Belarussian student becomes first-ever Miss Wheelchair World

WARSAW, Poland (AFP) — A psychology student from Belarus, Aleksandra Chichikova, was chosen Miss Wheelchair World in the first-ever edition of the beauty pageant held in Warsaw on Saturday. “Fight your anxiety and your fears,” the 23-year-old Chichikova said at a gala evening, after the contestants had presented themselves in national costumes and evening dresses in elaborate choreographies. Lebohang Monyatsi from South Africa was the runner-up ahead of Poland’s Adrianna Zawadzinska in the first contest […]

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From the Garden of England to Poland, UK farmers look abroad after Brexit

ENGLAND, United Kingdom (Reuters) — For 70 years, Tim Chambers’ family has harvested fruit in south-east England, but after Britain’s vote last year to leave the European Union he expanded into Poland and is ready to sell some of his land if a shortage of migrant workers worsens. His firm, W. B. Chambers & Son, has relied heavily on seasonal staff from eastern Europe for the past two decades as it focused on growing raspberries […]

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Thousands rally against court reforms in Poland

by Anna Maria Jakubek Agence France-Presse WARSAW, Poland (AFP) – Chanting democracy slogans, several thousand people rallied in Warsaw on Sunday in demonstrations against controversial new court reforms they see as a threat to judicial independence. Protesters waved European Union and Polish flags and shouted “we will defend democracy” at an afternoon demonstration in front of the parliament, which this week passed legislation that critics say gives the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party power […]

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UNESCO puts Hebron on endangered heritage list, outraging Israel

by Anna Maria Jakubek Agence France Presse WARSAW, Poland (AFP) — UNESCO on Friday declared the Old City of Hebron a Palestinian world heritage site in danger, sparking outrage from Israel which said the decision denied a Jewish claim to an ancient burial cave that is also sacred to Muslims. The Tomb of the Patriarchs, known to Muslims as the Ibrahami Mosque, is venerated by members of both faiths as the gravesite of the biblical […]

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UNESCO urges Poland to stop logging ancient forest

Kraków, Poland (AFP) — The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization on Wednesday “strongly” urged Poland to stop logging the older parts of the ancient Bialowieza forest, a world heritage site that includes some of Europe’s last primeval woodland. The large-scale logging authorized by the Polish government began in May of last year and has since drawn concern from environmental activists, scientists and the European Union. UNESCO “strongly urges (Poland) to immediately halt all logging and wood […]

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Flower power: gardening as therapy in Poland

by Michel Viatteau Agence France Presse RUSKIE PIASKI, Poland (AFP) — An elderly woman leans over to smell a lush flowerbed of lavender in sprawling gardens surrounding an imposing early 20th-century palace in a pastoral corner of eastern Poland. Slowly a smile lights up her face, erasing her previous stony expression — she suffers from paranoid schizophrenia which often renders her emotionless. The sudden burst of happiness is one of the benefits of horticultural, or […]

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Interactive instrument uses music for child therapy and learning

WARSAW, Poland (Reuters) — The Musicon’s inventor says its rotating drum resembles a giant music box and can be programmed by children to play any melody, while at the same time inspiring them to develop a number of skills other than their musical sense. “Children seek to compose their melody and are not aware that they are learning mathematics, counting, that they have to cooperate with the partner they are playing with,” said its inventor […]

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Smog chokes coal-addicted Poland

by Mary SIBIERSKI Agencce france Presse WARSAW, Poland (AFP) — The soupy grey smog shrouding Polish cities this winter is one of the most visible symptoms of the EU member’s addiction to coal, a deadly habit forcing many to stay indoors or don masks before venturing out. Professor Anna Doboszynska, a respected specialist with more than two decades of experience treating lung disease, minces no words about the health risks it poses. “During periods of […]

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Poland to buy Da Vinci’s ‘Lady with an Ermine’

WARSAW, Poland (AFP) — Poland’s culture ministry is expected Thursday to buy a private art collection worth two billion euros that includes Leonardo da Vinci’s “Lady with an Ermine”. The 15th-century portrait of a young woman holding a white ermine, a kind of short-tailed weasel, is one of just four known paintings of women by the Renaissance master. Another is the Mona Lisa. After announcing it was in talks to buy the collection earlier this […]

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Crisis deepens as Poland’s top court rejects contested reforms

WARSAW, Poland (AFP) – by Mary SIBIERSKI Poland’s Constitutional Court struck down more government reforms Thursday aimed at clipping its wings in a deepening constitutional crisis that has set Warsaw on a collision course with the EU. Chief Justice Andrzej Rzeplinski said the court found many sections of the July 22 law, adopted by the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) government, “non-compliant with the Polish Constitution”. Pro-democracy protesters gathered outside the court building in central […]

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Gold rush still irresistible in Poland

by Damien Simonart ZLOTORYJA, Poland (AFP) — Each spring they come from around the globe to the Kaczawa river in southwest Poland’s gold rush capital, vying for the biggest flash in the pan. Knee deep in water, excited enthusiasts, young and old alike, survey the riverbed in Zlotoryja in search of tiny gleaming flakes, hoping their perseverance will pay off. “Whenever I’m in the river, I find at least a dozen tiny pieces of gold […]

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U.S.: NATO weighs four battalions in Eastern states to deter Russia

(REUTERS)  The NATO alliance is weighing rotating four battalions of troops through Eastern member states, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Monday, in the latest proposal by allies to guard against aggressive behavior by Russia. The Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – which joined NATO in 2004, have requested greater presence of the alliance, fearing a threat from Russia after it annexed the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine in 2014. Carter acknowledged NATO […]

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