President Barack Obama has invited Poland’s new President, Bronislaw Komorowski to visit him in Washington. Obama telephoned his congratulations to Komorowski on July 5, 2010, after he won an election held three months following the death of President Lech Kaczynski in a plane crash. According to the White House, Obama told Komorowski that the "resilience and resolve" the Polish people demonstrated after the tragedy remains an inspiration to the world. Obama also thanked Poland for its contribution to the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan and offered condolences for Poland's sacrifices on the battlefield there.

Click Here for broadcast from Polish Radio July 8, 2010 - 3 min.56 sec.  – Allow Time For MP3 Download –

In Jewish folklore, a "golem" is an animate, but soulless, clay humanoid figure. The one that has appeared in Poznan is made of multiple openwork steel straps. The slightly 7-foot striding figure is the work of renowned and provocative Czech sculptor David Cerny. His sculptures are at once shocking and entertaining. But, Cerny’s Poznan golem neither amuses or provokes. The sculpture has been placed between the bushes out front of the National Museum in Poznan on Niepodleglosci Avenue and is hard to spot among all the greenery. It was to have been more conspicuous, but the powers that be at City Hall deemed that a golem ought not stand out let alone be an obstruction. The Wielkopolska Fine Art Association, which commissioned the work, is pushing for the object to be moved to the middle of the pathway where it will be more prominent and make an impression on passers-by walking among the trees.

In related news, an exhibition of the work of 17 painters and sculptors of various nationalities living and working in Venice, is on display at the Profil Gallery in Poznan. Painting dominates, but drawing and graphics also get a look in at the exhibition, called "Venetian Presentation of Art." Poznan artists have already shown their work in Venice as part of mutual support and now the Venetians are returning the compliment.

According to initial figures, Civic Platform (PO) spent $5 million on the Polish presidential campaign, with Law and Justice (PiS) spending $325,000 less than their rivals. Both parties spent most their budgets on TV promotion, although free time was also allocated to them by the stations. Sending is controlled under Polish law and some free TV time is required.

July 6, 2010, marked the tenth anniversary of the death of Wladyslaw Szpilman, the Polish-Jewish pianist and composer, whose autobiographical book describing how he survived the Holocaust was made into the Oscar-winning film "The Pianist" by Roman Polanski. He died in 2000, at the age of 88, and is buried at Warsaw’s Powazki Cemetery Szpilman studied piano in Warsaw and Berlin, and worked at Polish Radio for four years until the outbreak of World War II. He miraculously avoided capture by the Nazis, in the final months of the war finding shelter in the ruins of Warsaw. After the war, Szpilman resumed his professional contacts with Polish Radio, serving as director of its music department for 18 years. He then founded the Warsaw Piano Quintet, which toured around the world for more than two decades.

Following maverick Civic Platform (PO) Member of Parliament Janusz Palikot wondering publicly whether the late president Lech Kaczynski was sober when he stepped on board the doomed TU 154 which crashed in Smolensk, a Member of the European Parliament has called for his dismissal from the party. In the opinion of Filip Kaczmarek, Palikot has gone beyond the pale and has violated the party’s rules. Last year, when Lech Kaczynski was still alive, the free-speaking MP had demanded that the head of state release his medical records so it could determined if he was an alcoholic.

Polish Film Festivals were under way in three Mexican cities in early July, 2010: Mexico City, Guadalajara and Tijuana. The program consists of 15 features by directors of several generations, including Andrzej Wajda’s "Katyn" and Andrzej Jakimowski’s "Tricks." The events were organized by the Warsaw-based company Manana, which specializes in the distribution of artistic cinema, together with the Polish Film Institute, the Polish Embassy and the Cineteca National. Later this summer, reviews of the recent achievements of Polish directors are to be held also in Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, Venezuela and Brazil.

Over the July 4th weekend, U.S. Representative Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) traveled to Poland and attended a conference in Krakow commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Community of Democracies. He also laid a cross at the grave of former President Lech Kaczynski, and delivered a resolution on behalf of the House of Representatives expressing condolences for his passing. In Krakow, Quigley attended a panel discussion featuring Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Quigley continues to press Secretary Clinton and President Obama for action on including Poland in the Visa Waiver Program.

According to a new survey announced on July 8, 2010, 33% of Poles single out the election of Karol Wojtyla as Pope in 1978 as the number one event of which the nation should be most proud,. The survey by the CBOS Institute, found that the collapse of communism in 1989 is the second most proudest moment for Poles and mentioned by 22% of respondents. The rise of the Solidarity movement is third with 18%. When asked about the most important turning points in the nation’s history, Poles assign the top priority to the collapse of communism at 23%.

Holiday Velvet, a holiday rental agency with over 6,000 short-term rental properties in their portfolio, predicts a rise in tourism to Poland and have added short term rental properties in Warsaw and Krakow to their website. Tourism to Poland is expected to rise in the coming years according to several indicators. The most important is that in 2012, Poland and Ukraine will host Euro 2012, the 14th European Football Championship, which is expected to generate a surge of visitors to both countries. The event is also set to improve Poland’s infrastructure, appeal to tourists and economic growth.

Grzegorz Schetyna was selected on July 9, 2010, as the new Sejm [Lower House of Parliament] Speaker, succeeding Bronislaw Komorowski, who was elected to the Polish presidency five days earlier. Schetyna, a Civic Platform (PO) member who, until now, was the head of his party’s parliamentary club, received 277 votes of support. Meanwhile, 121 parliamentarians voted against him and 16 abstained from voting. Jerzy Wenderlich of the Democratic Left Alliance was elected as deputy speaker.

Many Poles decided to take a vacation this summer within the country’s borders, opting for the Masurian lakes or the north-eastern Podlasie region. Holidays in the eastern regions of Poland have become more and more popular. Poles previously visited these regions to set up camp under open skies, but now the region provides excellent bed and breakfasts and rooms for rent. Mikolajki in the Masurian lake district has become one of the most popular destinations. The town has 10,000 residents, although there are 2,532 hotel beds, as well as a further 3,745 beds in Bed and Breakfasts and private quarters.

During his July, 2010, visit to Azerbaijan Josef Ferber, the director of Polish Security Printing Works (PWPW), stated that they intended to organize cooperation with the company Azermarka for printing of postage stamps for Azerbaijan.

Over 60 parliament members from the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party notified the new parliamentary speaker, Grzegorz Schetyna, of the calling up of a parliamentary committee that will look into the Smolensk tragedy in which many Polish leaders died. According to Antoni Macierewicz, who was Deputy Defense Minister in Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s coalition government, said that the new group "aims to clarify the [Smolensk] catastrophe" by collecting documents, contacting relevant institutions and calling up "public hearings with individuals who have information about the matter."

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia congratulated Bronislaw Komorowski on his election President of Poland via the official website of the Patriarchate. According to him, Russia, Ukraine, Byelorussia and Poland have much in common, "shared Christian and Slavic roots and also shared pain for the tragedy of Katyn, Mednoye and other places where innocent blood of sons and daughters of the our nations was shed."

Poland’s Supreme Chamber of Control (NIK) has released an audit of government institutions that shows that the offices are hiring far fewer handicapped adults than law mandates. Polish law stipulates that government offices are required to ensure that 6% of their workforce is made up of disabled people. If this number should be less, the institutions are required to pay a fine to the National Disabled Persons Rehabilitation Fund (PFRON) which supports the 5.4 million handicapped people in the country.

Politicians in Germany are calling for the reintroduction of border controls in order to try and cut down on car theft. According to figures from the Interior Ministry, 2009 saw an increase in car theft by 9% compared to the previous year and in federal areas adjacent to Poland (such as Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) that figure was as high as 30%. Cooperation between officials in Poland and Germany aimed at lowering the number of thefts has improved over recent years, but inhabitants of towns close to the border are becoming increasingly angry with the situation.

The circulation of Polish daily broadsheets fell again in May, 2010, with Gazeta Wyborcza [Election Gazette] and Parkiet [Parquet] seeing the biggest drops. Poland’s most read daily is still publisher Axel Springer’s tabloid, Fakt [Fact]. Gazeta Wyborcza is the second most-read daily, although it suffered a year-to-year drop of 8%. The only broadsheet to record a year-to-year growth in circulation was Dziennik Gazeta Prawna [Daily Legal News]. Although it has the lowest readership among the main national newspapers, its circulation leaped about 25% to 100,355.

A boa constrictor caused panic among shoppers, when it escaped from its owner and slithered along a main street in Poland. The 4-foot snake was eventually captured by police in the southwestern Polish city of Wroclaw. The authorities fined the boa constrictor’s owner $75 for failing to properly secure his snake tank.

Jerzy Waldorff’s Summer Festival opened in Radziejowice, near Warsaw, July 12, 2010. The Festival’s participants included singer Agata Zubel, pianist Cezary Duchnowski, cellist Andrzej Bauer, and Kwadrofonic with pianist Emilia Sitarz. There were also performances by Polish participants in the International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition. A Chopin bust was put on display during the opening concert as a part of the composer’s 200th birthday anniversary celebration.

Poland was basking in sunshine during mid-July with temperatures over the reaching 98 F. in the shade. The hottest area of Poland was the northwestern West-Pomeranian region, with meteorologists issuing the highest warning level for people out in the sun. Experts warned against the risks of over-exposure to the sun, including sunburn, heat stroke and dehydration.

As part of a sociological experiment, 21-year-old Patryk Tomzynski volunteered on July 12, 2010, to be locked in a glass cage for seven days, being only allowed access to the Facebook social networking site. The aim of the sociological experiment was is to check what impact virtual contacts have on our lives. The volunteer received a mobile phone with access to the internet in order to be able to log on to Facebook. He was not be allowed, however, to make any phone calls. Tomzynski’s task was to create a network of virtual contacts and build a community of people who will help him get out of the glass cage situated near the Warsaw Central Station. He was provided with food, medical assistance and security, and could stop the experiment and leave the cage any time he wanted.

Films from Turkey, Georgia, Romania, Hungary, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Poland were screened as part of the Tofifest VIII International Film Festival, which marked its eighth year from June 26-July 2, 2010, in the city of Torun, Poland. Describing "10 to 11" as "an intimate, leisurely film," Tofifest’s international jury awarded Esmer’s 2009 drama with the Golden Angel Award, which comes with a cash prize of 5,000 euros ($6,500). The film is the story of an aging, passionate collector, Mithat, played by Esmer’s real life uncle, Mithat Esmer, and the building’s concierge, Ali, played by Nejat Isler, set against the breathtaking backdrop of present-day Istanbul.

A U.S. official said on July 13, 2010, that Washington signed an agreement of cooperation with Poland aimed at intensifying cooperation between the two countries in the civil nuclear energy sector. Poland plans to built its first nuclear power plants by 2020, and the deal should give U.S. companies a boost as they vie for contracts with competitors from France, South Korea and elsewhere.

The fight between Poland’s largest radio stations has officially moved online, with investments in the hundreds of thousands of zlotys [Polish currency]. Puls Biznesu [Business Pulse] reports this is far beyond encouraging listeners to visit a station’s web page to vote for or listen to favorite songs. Serious business plans have been put into play, led by Radio Zet and RMF FM. "The stakes are high," says Sebastian Wojciechowski, internet and technology director at Eurozet. "Our online services need to be self-supporting, not just promotional platforms for our radio services."

Law and Justice (PiS) party leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, wants to hold the government accountable for the tragedy in Smolensk, where 96 people died in a plane crash on April 10, among them the official’s twin brother, President Lech Kaczynski. In an interview for the conservative daily Gazeta Polska [Polish Gazette], Kaczynski said that, as the organizer of the event, the ruling government of Civic Platform (PO) was "politically responsible for the catastrophe. The charge apparently is that the government did not buy new planes.

A motion to exhume the remains of Przemyslaw Gosiewski, a Law and Justice (PiS) Member of Parliament who died in the presidential plane crash near Smolensk on 10 April, has been filed at the Military Prosecutor’s Office. The motion has been filed by Rafal Rogalski, the legal representative of the Smolensk victims’ families, at the widow Beata Gosiewska’s request. The widow thinks that the Prosecutor’s Office made a huge mistake by not ordering an autopsy of her husband’s body right after it arrived to Poland from Moscow. Three months after the crash, Russian investigators still have not provided the necessary documents from a post-mortem conducted in Moscow.

The ‘Floodwall’ installation by Jana Napoli, an artist from New Orleans, opened at the National Museum in Wroclaw, southwestern Poland, on July 14, 2010. The exhibit consists of 350 drawers and is part of the "Floodwall" project, prompted by Hurricane Katrina that ravaged Napoli’s native city five years ago. Napoli spent several months wandering amid the rotting and moldy debris of New Orleans gathering in household drawers. It is in the drawers, as she wrote, "that we store our secrets, our past lives, our photos, our mementos, our passions and our hopes and dreams." The installation is accompanied by a documentary film with testimonies of those who lost their family in the hurricane and were forced to leave their homes.

Poland may have been a European leader as far as 2009 economic growth was concerned, but its number of millionaires shrunk by 20% last year. There were some 13,500 people with an annual income of at least 1 million zloty ($325,400) at the end of 2008. Today, that number is down to 10,700, reports daily Parkiet [Parquet]. Analysts say that even as the number of millionaires was shrinking, the group of the richest of the rich grew by some 2,000 people.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk congratulated Christian Wulff on his election to post of the President of the Federal Republic of Germany. The politicians referred to, among other things, the bilateral relations and issues related to the European policy. Also, the leaders discussed the Polish presidency in the European Union, which falls on the second half of 2011.

Domino’s Pizza plans to create 27 new stores in Warsaw during 2012. In February, the chain’s chief executive said he believed that Domino’s could grow with the Polish economy and double its number of stores in the 10 biggest foreign markets.

Poland’s Ministry of National Defense has not taken steps to cut spending, despite the Prime Minister’s and Finance Minister’s promises to save on defense. The spokesperson, Janusz Sejmej, told newspaper Rzeczpospolita [The Republic] that the ministry is not preparing any changes to the law which guarantees spending on national defense at 1.95% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Cutting spending in the department was one of the Finance Minister’s ideas for decreasing public debt, which in 2009 was 7.1% of GDP.

Sting will be the star of the opening ceremony of the new football stadium in Poznan, western Poland, on September 20, 2010. The famous British singer will appear with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra conducted by Steven Mercurio, as part of a tour promoting his new album "Symphonicities." It will be Sting’s seventh visit to Poland. The first one was in 1996.

Civic Platform (PO) MEP Jacek Saryusz-Wolski Has been named Poland’s number one representative in the European Parliament. The daily Rzeczpospolita [The Republic] has published its second ranking of MEPs, though the head of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, was excluded due to his high rank and exceptional position in the parliament. Saryusz-Wolski, a longtime specialist in European Union (EU) matters, ranks number one due both to his expertise in the EU, but also due to his deft managing of foreign affairs and his negotiation skills. The daily’s ranking is based partially on the written opinions of Polish correspondents working from Brussels.

The European Commission has threatened to take legal action against Poland for failing to comply with European Union flood-control legislation. The commission said on July 14, 2010, that it wants to know within two months how Poland intends to comply with a directive on managing risks that floods pose to human health, the environment, cultural heritage and economic activity. In a statement, the commission said Poland failed to meet a November 26, 2009, deadline to implement the legislation. If Polish authorities do not provide a satisfactory response within two months, the commission said it may refer the case to the European Court of Justice.

Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal has ruled that current Polish law setting the minimum retirement age for women at 60 and for men at 65 is constitutional and not discriminatory. The motion to declare the current regulations discriminatory was filed three years ago by the former Ombudsman, the late Janusz Kochanowski, who died in the April 10 Smolensk plane crash. Women work for a shorter time than men, contributing less to their pension funds, which thus gives them lower pensions. The Constitutional Tribunal ruled that the shorter working time was not discriminatory, since women have the option to retire at 60, but are not required to do so.

Three hundred million zlotys ($97 million) is being invested in the construction of a new shopping mall in Kielce, central Poland. Korona Kielce Mall, will be built in the center of the city, with construction began at the end of July and the opening is planned for the first quarter of 2012. About 2,000 people will work on the mall’s construction and the building itself will house 140 shops and food service locations. Parking facilities will accommodate 1,200 cars.

For fear of losing revenue, the Polish postal service has opposed allowing entrepreneurs to send invoices by e-mail. The Polish Post fears that it could lose 170-200 million zloty ($55-$65 million) in revenues if the Ministry of Finance begins considering invoices sent by e-mail equally valid to those sent by post or to those sent digitally with an electronic signature. So far, when it comes to digital invoices, the Ministry of Finance has only considered those invoices that are verified with an electronic signature as legal. However, companies have been reluctant to invest in e-signature technology, as it is expensive. In May this year, a Polish company won a case it brought before the Supreme Administrative Court (NSA), in which the court determined that e-mail invoices sent without an electronic signature were equally valid to those sent by post.

Five murals by artists from Poland, Germany, Italy and China were unveiled on July 16, 2010, on the walls of ten-story buildings in the Zaspa Housing Estate in the Baltic city of Gdansk. The works were within the framework of the European Festival "Monumental Art," held under the motto "Freedom in the Time of Crisis." The curator of the project, artist Piotr Szwalbe, says the idea of the festival is to create in Zaspa Europe’s largest collection of large-size paintings. The project is to consist of twenty four works covering a total area of 64,500 sq. ft.

The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation has delivered 3,473 signatures calling for the removal of the statue of Joseph Stalin from Bedford, Virginia, to the National D-Day Memorial Foundation’s President, Robin Reed, and to the office of Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Department of the Interior. All 50 states and over 40 nations are represented by signers of the petition. Lee Edwards, Ph.D., Chairman of the Foundation, has stated that this will be the first batch of many. Delivered along with the signatures are personal messages written by signers of the petition.