The European Union's chief executive said on Wednesday there was no place in the bloc for so-called "LGBT-free zones", a pointed criticism of Poland's nationalist government pushing to curb the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

The United States Ambassador to Poland Georgette Mosbacher on Tuesday wrote on Twitter that "societies are more prosperous when all people have equal opportunity to participate in political and civic life". This way she reminded that on September 15 the world celebrates the International Day of Democracy.

The Ministry of Digital Affairs has released the latest report on the most popular names for babies in the first half of 2020. There is a new leader at the top of the female names list.

The ministry of health on Tuesday informed about 605 new coronavirus infections and the death of 24 people. Such high number of deaths has not been reported since June 18, when 30 deaths were recorded. Since the start of the pandemic a total of 75,134 infections and 2,227 have been reported in Poland.

The European Parliament on Monday debated the current state of the rule of law and LGBT rights in Poland. Vice President of the European Commission Vera Jourova announced the EU executive would soon decide on how to push forward the EU law infringement procedure against Poland. She also stressed that the EU won't tolerate discrimination of LGBTI people.

Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Monday that he would put forward a "Marshall Plan for Belarus" at the next session of the Council of the European Union. The proposal would come in consultation with and on behalf of the Visegrad Group.

Life in all its fullness makes us live with others and for the others, it can be achieved through marriage and family life - the Archbishop of Kraków Marek Jędraszewski said in his address to families at the Sanctuary of Kalwaria Zebrzydowska. We live and die not for ourselves, despite various ideologies that are being spread nowadays, starting with the ideology of singles which dictates we should live as lonely islands - he stressed. The archbishop added that human beings "don't live and die for themselves", also in contrast to "gender and LGBT ideologies".

Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called on Wednesday on Germany to halt the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, as Warsaw sees the project as a threat to the stability of the region.

Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said anti-government demonstrations in her country should remain peaceful during a visit to the Polish capital Warsaw on Wednesday.

Critics have lavished praise on the movie "Never Gonna Snow Again", directed by Małgorzata Szumowska and co-directed by Michał Englert, after its premiere at the Venice Film Festival. The "Variety" magazine called the movie an "intriguing social satire" revealing "hypnotic powers".

"We've focused our efforts to make the COVID-19 vaccine available to all Poles who will want to get inoculated" - said the head of Poland's Chief Sanitary Inspectorate Jarosław Pinkas. He added that most likely the vaccine would be available to buy already this year.

After a fire broke out in a building in Gdynia, a dozen or so residents managed to quickly escape outside. However, not everyone was safe at that point. A man approached the firefighters and told them that he had left his two cats in his flat. The firemen rushed to the rescue and brought the unconscious animals downstairs.

The National Public Prosecutor's Office has launched an investigation into "unlawful imprisonment" of three Polish citizens in Belarus, "carried out with extreme cruelty". The men were detained in August during protests in Minsk that had erupted after Belarusian presidential election.

Residents of Lower Silesian province are still counting losses after heavy storms passed over the region. The worst situation is some parts of the Świdnica County. Strong wind has damaged 122 houses there. Local governments reassured residents won't get left behind. Financial aid would also be offered to the most heavily affected residents.

Extinction Rebellion movement activists blocked one of the key avenues in downtown Warsaw on Monday. The police removed them off the road, but the protest continued on the sidewalks. The activists say they want the government to announce climate alert in Poland.

During flat renovation in Bydgoszcz workers have found paintings. They decided to take them in order to sell them. It turned out the paintings were famous art works by Leon Wyczółkowski, for decades considered lost or destroyed in fire. Now, the workers will be brought to trial. Investigators are examining another thread in the case, namely, how the paintings found their way to a private flat.

The International Legal Aid Office (IRK) at Amsterdam court has temporarily suspended extraditing Polish citizens accused or sentenced in Holland. In July, the IRK asked the Court of Justice of the EU about the independence and freedom of Polish judiciary.

"There's an a belief rooted in our consciousness that if a person is overweight, they lack strong will and they can only blame themselves. This is not true," blogger Urszula Chowaniec told TVN24. Together with personal trainer Edyta Litwiniuk they discussed obesity as a social problem. The discussion was sparked by the latest video posted by Poland's famous athlete and nutritionist Anna Lewandowska, in which she dances dressed as an overweight person.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said on Thursday (September 3) that protests in the country are being influenced from abroad and named Poland, Czech, Lithuania and Ukraine as a source of the influence. Speaking at meeting with newly appointed officials in Minsk, Lukashenko said that neighbour countries want Belarus to collapse.

The Commissioner for Children's Rights Protection Mikołaj Pawlak explained in an interview for Radio Poznań that "discussion dynamics" led him to use a mental shortcut regarding sex educators allegedly offering children sex-change hormones. "I never said that it was happening in schools," he stressed.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki suggested on Thursday that Russia was a "hostile regime" after Germany said that Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a Soviet-style Novichok nerve agent.

A lawmaker from the ruling Law and Justice party, Joanna Lichocka, has demanded an apology from the people who had placed billboards across the country showing Lichocka extending her middle finger in the parliament. Lichocka argues they should apologise for "accusing her of bad intentions and portraying her in a mocking manner, as a 'face' of media dispute on public media financing". According to "Gazeta Wyborcza", the organisers are also expected to cancel their online fundraiser, and pay 40,000 zloty in damages to a charity. "Deputy (Lichocka) has ended her political and media quarantine and decided to remind Poles about her friendly gesture," the organisers of the billboard campaign tell "Wyborcza".

Prosecutor's office in Poznań received no reports regarding sex educators allegedly offering children sex-hormones or any other pills during school classes - TVN24 received such answer from the prosecutor's office. Poznań city authorities call on the Commissioner for Children's Rights Protection Mikołaj Pawlak to retract his words. Pawlak, in turn, said on Wednesday that he had notified the National Public Prosecutor. However, not regarding sex educators in schools, but a possible "illegal sale of sex-change pharmaceuticals to minors".

The Ministry of Justice, headed by Zbigniew Ziobro, released a statement on Wednesday in which it informed about reversing its decision to remove an article from "Dziecko Krzywdzone" quarterly, written by psychologist Ewa Kusz. She offered a detailed analysis of how the Catholic Church handles the problem of paedophilia in its ranks. TVN24 reporter Jacek Tacik informed on Tuesday about earlier actions taken by the ministry with regard to the quarterly magazine, which is subsidised by the Justice Fund.

Poland has joined the choir of countries condemning the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny with a nerve agent called Novichok. The situation surrounding Russian opposition politician Alexei

"I know that people have chosen me, that I'm a national leader. I'm a national elected president and I'm here with them," Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya told Fakty TVN's anchor Anita Werner in an exclusive interview on Tuesday. Currently on exile in Lithuania, Tsikhanouskaya spoke about her further political plans and about Belarusian women, heroically facing Alexander Lukashenko's regime. "I'm ready to be a transitional president or a transitional leader, just to organise new elections. That's why the Coordination Council was created, to organise negotiations with authorities that would lead to new elections," said the Belarusian opposition activist. "We are not opposition anymore. We are the majority. The majority of people want these changes, they want the president to step away, and to organise new elections," Tsikhanouskaya said. Asked if she would be ready to establish relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, she replied: "I don't see any problems in cooperating with any neighbouring country. What is going on in Belarus (...) is an internal affair".

Eleven snakes, mainly pythons and anacondas, were what the police officers have found when they entered a flat in Osiedle Lecha in Poznań. They had to call the local zoo for reinforcements. "This yellow one had to be carried by six people," the spokesperson for the Poznań Zoo aid. She added: "All snakes are already at the zoo, they have been placed in quarantine, as the conditions they were kept in leave a lot to be desired".

More than four million pupils returned to school in Poland on Tuesday (September 1), their rucksacks loaded with exercise books, geometry sets and, for many, face masks to protect them from a resurgent coronavirus pandemic.

In a rather surprising and undiplomatic interview for "Rzeczpospolita" daily, former head of Polish diplomacy Jacek Czaputowicz speaks openly about his recently ended mission. Yet, the ruling party for which he had worked, did not seem to like his comments at all.

"LGBT people exist, I'm not denying that. But the way in which certain ideas are being spread, that aren't compatible with traditionally Polish understanding of, let's say, patriotism, is not right" - Poland's Commissioner for Children Rights Protection Mikołaj Pawlak told TVN24 on Tuesday. He also said that the latest actions taken by LGBT activist Margot contradicted "what Poland really is". In reaction to his words former education minister Krystyna Szumilas said: "I wish the Commissioner for Children Rights Protection would take care of children, and stopped being a mouthpiece for the government or some misinterpreted forms of patriotism".