Warsaw - Fifty-six per cent of Poles believe Russia will re- build its empire or already has imperial might because it can sway Europe and the US, according to a poll published on Monday in the Polish edition of Newsweek.

Out of 813 people taking part in the survey, a quarter said Russia's return to power was "impossible," while 19 per cent said they didn't know because Russia was "unpredictable."

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.

Osnabrueck, Germany - Polish 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.

Warsaw  - 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.

Warsaw - 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.

Moscow - 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.