Poland

Missing Polish diver feared dead in eastern Indonesian sea

Jakarta - Search teams failed to find any sign of a Polish tourist who went missing eight days ago while scuba diving off the easternmost Indonesian province of Papua, local media reports said Sunday.

Kemal Abbas, chief of the Cenderawasih Bay National Park, said Robert Zsupuru, along with 10 other Polish tourists, left for the Auri Islands, near Matas Island off the Papua province August 27.

"On their third day, all of them went diving, but since then Robert has not been found," Kemal was quoted as saying by The Jakarta Post.

According to the search teams, Robert had most likely run out of oxygen while diving at a depth of greater than 80 meters, the newspaper reported.

Poland's Tusk calls for new debate over Baltic pipeline

Osnabrueck, Germany - Poland's Tusk calls for new debate over Baltic pipelinePolish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has called on Germany to rethink the Baltic Sea pipeline project with Russia in light of the ongoing crisis over Russia's military presence in Georgia, German media reported Saturday.

Referring to a plan by a Russian-German consortium to build a 1,200-kilometre pipeline to supply the Europe Union (EU) with natural gas from Russia energy giant Gazprom, Tusk said Europe should not increase its dependence on Russia with this project.

Polish cardinal wants Virgin Mary as patron of European Parliament

Poles spend record amount in getting ready for 2008 OlympicsWarsaw  - If a Polish cardinal had his way, the Virgin Mary would be patron of the European Parliament, the daily Metro reported on Friday.

Cardinal Jozef Glemp first raised the idea in August, but now the proposal is also slated to be presented to the Commission of Episcopates of the European Union, the daily says.

The Virgin Mary last year became the patron of the Polish parliament, in a move that got wide support from both left- and right-wing politicians.

Activists urge Poland to ban cluster munitions

cluster munitions bombWarsaw - Activists from a human rights organization have urged Poland to ban cluster munitions, the daily Polska reported on Thursday.

A petition has been sent to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, asking him to subscribe to the Oslo Process and ban the controversial weapon, said Adam Bodnar of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights.

Responding to Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski, who the daily quoted as saying cluster bombs are "not so oppressive," Bodnar said "these are irresponsible words in the light of the international process" to ban the munitions.

Russia's Lavrov to visit Poland to discuss missile defence

Poles spend record amount in getting ready for 2008 OlympicsMoscow - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will visit Poland to discuss a controversial US anti-missile defence system, the Interfax news agency reported Wednesday.

Russia's top diplomat also was likely in talks with Polish leadership to lay out the Kremlin's position on the South Ossetia war, according to the report.

Survey: Poles split on results of EU summit on Georgia

Warsaw - Polish public opinion is split on the outcome of Monday's EU emergency summit on Russia, according to a poll published on Wednesday in the daily Rzeczpospolita.

Thirty-eight per cent thought the EU's reaction to the Russia- Georgia war, which threatened to suspend a cooperation agreement but did not lay down sanctions against Russia, was "sufficient" after the summit in Brussels on Monday, while 37 per cent said it was "too soft." Fifteen percent thought the EU had been "too tough" on Russia.

Poland had led several former Eastern Bloc countries in calling for a tough EU stance on Russia, wary of their eastern neighbour's growing assertiveness.

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