Swinoujscie, Poland - German trains began operating on Polish soil on Saturday, reviving a railway line that had been ripped up six decades ago when the Oder-Neisse line became the border between the two nations.

A blue-and-white multiple-unit train arrived in Swinoujscie at Poland's end of the island of Usedom, where it was welcomed by mayor Janusz Zmurkiewicz.

The 1.4-kilometre extension line was built by UBB, a subsidiary of German railway giant Deutsche Bahn, which operates passenger services on Usedom, a Baltic island popular with German holidaymakers.

Warsaw- The head of Poland's biggest oil refiner resigned Thursday amid reports of disagreement within the management board.

Wojciech Heydel, who had served as CEO since June 7, resigned citing "the superior interest of the company as the current formula for co-operation within the framework of Management Board has been exhausted," the company said in a statement.

Heydel was replaced by Dariusz Krawiec, who had served as the board's vice-president from June 7. Krawiec was also rumoured to be favored by Poland's state treasury.

Warsaw  - Poland will toughen criteria for getting loans from banks amid the recent US financial crisis, reported the daily Dziennik on Thursday.

The changes will likely take effect at the end of this year, the head of Poland's Financial Supervision Authority told the daily. They will affect consumer and mortgage credit in all currencies. The move could lower property prices as less people would be able to afford homes.

"We see in the example of the US where excessive optimism leads in judging client's financial conditions," Krzysztof Broda of the Financial Supervision Authority was quoted as saying.

Warsaw - Polish parliament passed a resolution Wednesday that remembers victims of the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939, calling the attack to start of "the suffering of millions of Poles."

Warsaw - Polish screenwriter Piotr Kalwas, known for a popular TV show poking fun at national stereotypes, recently moved to Egypt in search of the better values he says are lacking in his homeland.

Kalwas, in the late 1990s, worked on the series, The World According to the Kiepskis, which told of a dysfunctional family and the pitfalls of unemployment, alcohol and laziness.

The move to Alexandria - along with his wife and 5-year-old son - was to escape those same faults, the daily Wyborcza reported on Wednesday.

"In Poland the sweeping, all-encompassing rudeness bothers me," Kalwas told the daily. "People from year to year are more aggressive and coarse. Basic manners are disappearing."

Warsaw - Prime Minister Donald Tusk's bold plan for Poland to adopt the euro by 2011 has strong support among the business community and ordinary Poles, but others doubt that Warsaw can meet - or maintain - the strict economic criteria for joining the club.

Post-communist Eastern Europe's largest economy has in effect chosen high growth over low inflation and fiscal restraint. Poland's gross domestic product expanded 1.5 per cent in the second quarter compared to the previous three months, while the eurozone's GDP shrank by 0.2 per cent.