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.

Warsaw - Poland's Constitutional Tribunal was to settle a spat Friday on who represents the country at European Union summits, after a jostle for power among Polish leaders that forced one in October to charter his own plane.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk asked the tribunal to resolve the conflict that's part of a larger, years-long power struggle between the two political rivals.

The tribunal will decide if President Lech Kaczynski can decide for himself to take part in EU summits, or if the prime minister has the final word.