Warsaw - Poland so far has felt just the beginnings of the financial crisis and the worst is yet to come, said a Polish Chamber of Commerce study on Monday.

One out of five firms in Poland plans to lay off workers, according to the study for the daily Gazeta Wyborcza. One-fifth of the companies' stocks lost value.

Nearly 90 per cent of businesses said the crisis in Poland is in its beginning stages and will get worse, the study found, while a third reported a drop in orders.

Gliwice, Poland  - The Gliwice mine in southern Poland no longer produces the coal that made the region known as an industrial powerhouse during communism. But it's hardly a relic of the past.

The mine's smoky bricks have been polished to a lively orange, and its interior renovated to house a business and education centre with a state-of-the-art lecture hall.

The city's mayor, Zygmunt Frankiewicz, says Gliwice is a symbol of the changes in the coal-rich Silesia region, and a sign pointing to the province's dynamic future.

Warsaw - Thousands of workers from Poland's defence industry protested in Warsaw Friday over military budget cuts and the growing financial crisis.

Members of the Solidarity trade union burned tyres and threw small explosive charges in front of the Ministry of Economy, demanding job security for the country's defence industry workers.

"The only miracle (Prime Minister Donald) Tusk has accomplished is uniting the trade unions," said Janusz Sniadek, head of NSZZ Solidarity, speaking to protesters in front of parliament.

Hamburg - The woman at the focus of a stand-off between Germany and Poland will not be nominated to the board of a new, taxpayer-funded museum, it was announced Wednesday.

Poland had protested at the nomination of Erika Steinbach, 65, national leader of a refugee group, to join a
13-member board to set up a Berlin museum depicting the ordeal of Germans expelled from eastern Europe after World War II.

The Federation of Expellees said it would not nominate Steinbach because it did not want to be accused of jeopardizing the museum project, which she initiated.

Hamburg - Germany and Poland showed no signs Friday of settling the dispute over a controversial museum appointment, as the neighbours' heads of state met for an historic dinner in the German city of Hamburg.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk were meeting for the first time since an ongoing dispute over a museum remembering expulsions after World War II had flared up again in recent weeks.

Washington  - US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met with Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski on Wednesday as the United States reviews plans to field a missile-defence system in Eastern Europe.

The two diplomats did not raise the issue during their brief appearance before reporters before meeting behind closed doors.

The Bush administration forged an agreement with Poland for hosting 10 interceptors missiles, while the Czech Republic would be the site for its radar.