Warsaw - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will visit Poland for ceremonies marking the outbreak of World War II, his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk said Thursday.

The visit in September will be Putin's first trip in a number of years to the former Soviet bloc, and comes after months of tension between Moscow and Warsaw.

Putin's visit will include talks on gas and energy cooperation, Tusk said.

Warsaw  - Former Polish sports minister Tomasz Lipiec went on trial Thursday on five criminal charges including corruption and fraud in 2004-2007.

Lipiec, who pleaded not guilty to the charges, faces up to 10 years in prison on conviction, the Polish Press Agency PAP reported. He did not comment to reporters and the trial was closed to media.

Prosecutors did not reveal the total amount of alleged bribes involved, but the amount is "at least 100,000 zloty (29,587 dollars)", according to the weekly Wprost.

Warsaw  - A military place crash in northern Poland was linked to budget cuts that forced pilots to cut back on flight time, reported the daily Rzeczpospolita on Wednesday.

Four people died in northern Poland near Gdansk Tuesday when a military transporter crashed upon landing during a training flight. The Bryza transport plane went up in flames as it crash-landed, local media reported.

Two weeks earlier, Rzeczpospolita reported, pilots had told the daily they would only fly for 20 minutes once a week because of budget cutbacks.

Warsaw - Four people die

Warsaw - Polish football is considering using referees from Germany and the Czech Republic amid a corruption investigation which is leading to a shortage of match officials, it was reported Friday.

Sports Minister Miroslaw Drzewiecki said referees from the two neighbouring countries could be considered to help out in the Ekstraklasa, the country's top league, the Polish press agency PAP reported.