The capital has set an example and now subsequent cities are following in its footsteps and are calling off fireworks shows on New Year's Eve. All to protect our four-legged friends for whom the night of fireworks is a night full of fear. Instead of firecrackers, there will be fire or laser light shows.

Appeals to the public and warnings aren't helping. In the mountains, tourists continue to venture into the high country ill-prepared for the conditions. This is not only irresponsible but very dangerous as well, say mountain search and rescue workers, who year in and year out have their hands full of work due to lack of foresight.

Patients with spinal muscular atrophies will have a chance to be treated. A very expensive remedy up until now, will be placed on the list of refundable medicines. Furthermore, beginning with January, a therapy will be funded by the state.

There will be changes to the 500+ social programme, announced the Minister of Family, Labour and Social Policy, Elżbieta Rafalska. According to the minister, it will be necessary to increase the minimum income threshold in 2019. The threshold should be set in the way that would make people entitled to the allowance even when the minimum wage is divided in two.

The 27th finale of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity is approaching and it will take place on the 13th of January. The goal for this year will be to collect funds for the purchase of equipment for specialist children hospitals. On that day, 120,000 volunteers will take to the streets, not only in Poland but also in several dozens of cities around the world.

Through the sounds of music from his film, in the presence of family, friends, filmmakers, directors, actors and politicians as well. In Katowice, they all bid their last farewell to Kazimierz Kutz. The director, MP and senator passed away at the age of 89.

It was a very successful year for Polish para-athletes. They have made great accomplishments in some of the world's most important events, thanks to which the Polish national anthem could be heard many times in Pyeongchang, Dublin, Mexico City and Berlin. In the coming year, they have no intention of slowing down.

Members of an organised criminal group could have earned up to 12 million zloties distributing narcotics. Officers from the Central Bureau of Police Investigations have detained 13 people, 9 of which are under arrest pending trial.

Three people have died after taking designer drugs in Mikołów county in Silesia. The victims were a 35-year-old woman and 2 men who just over 20 years old. The police have detained 3 people in connection to the case.

Ten years after the scandal outbreak, the former mayor of Olsztyn Czesław Małkowski was acquitted on Friday of two rape charges. It's unknown what arguments the Olsztyn District Court provided to substantiate the ruling as the proceedings were held behind closed doors. The verdict is not yet legally binding.

Thursday marked the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the Greater Poland Uprising. It was the biggest and the only victorious military insurrection of Poles against German rule during the Partitions period. The uprising broke out on 27 December 1918 in Poznań, after a patriotic speech by Ignacy Paderewski, the famous pianist, who would become the Polish prime minister in 1919. The scene of Paderewski's arrival was reconstructed in Poznań.

The Minister of Defense Mariusz Błaszczak that in discussion about U.S. military bases in Poland it is not a question of "if" but "how". The minister highlighted that the new U.S. Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan is involved in efforts to make a new base.

Former Poland's president and a legendary opposition figure said that "Putin is a wise man" and that Poland "is closer to Moscow than New York". Wałęsa gave an interview for the Russian press agency RIA Novosti in which he also spoke about the past and future of Polish-Russian relations. Apparently, Moscow is not happy with the interview.

Both houses of Polish parliament have passed a bill lowering the excise tax for electric energy and changing the transitional fee, which combined with other provisions are meant to prevent electricity price hikes in 2019. The vote was attended by 409 MPs. In favour of the government-prepared amendment were 389 representatives, 3 were against and 17 abstained. Earlier on, the Sejm rejected all of the amendments submitted by the opposition. After 2 a.m. on Saturday, the upper house (Senate) have reaffirmed the lower house decision with 76 senators backing the legislation, zero votes against and 7 abstentions.

U.S. President Donald Trump's criticism of the Russian-backed Nord Stream 2 pipeline is no reason to stop the project and any attempt to do so would be difficult now that it is being built, European Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said.

The Senate accepted a draft bill for regulations introducing a cap on fees for perpetual usufruct. According to Law and Justice, it is supposed to prevent the practices of local governments resulting in very large increases in the cost of transforming the right to perpetual usufruct of land into ownership. All amendments proposed by the Civic Platform, including the 98-percent rebate for the transformation of land owned by the state treasury, were rejected.

President Andrzej Duda has accepted the ruling the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) but that doesn't mean he agrees with it. He signed the bill regarding the Supreme Court but the amended law still hasn't been published, throwing into question whether the dispute has been settled or not. The situation has been further provoked by Andrzej Duda's statement that justices who are sometimes stained with communism are coming back to Polish top court.

On Thursday in Kraków, died Bishop Tadeusz Pieronek, auxiliary bishop of Sosnowiec between 1992 and 1998, secretary general of the Episcopal Conference of Poland in 1993-1998 and rector of Pontifical University of John Paul II in Kraków in 1998-2004, the press office of the Polish bishops' conference informed on Twitter on Thusday.

In the district hospital in Bolesławiec, somebody dismounted the power generator and stole some of its metal parts, thereby endangering the lives of patients. Thieves most likely wanted to sell the parts as scrap metal. The generator is the centre piece of equipment of in hospitals. When the power goes out it powers all of the machines that monitor patients and sometimes keeps them alive.

At first was the word and it landed in a drawer which had belonged to a young vicar Joseph Mohr. Safely locked for two years, the drawer was thankfully opened on the Christmas Eve in 1818. That day marked the creation of the melody to the six verses of a poem that 200 years later is recognised by all Christians. Since then "Silent Night" has been translated into more than 300 languages and dialects. The history of its creation is just as simple as it is incredible.

Pope Francis, in his Christmas message to the world on Tuesday, urged people to see differences as a source of richness instead of danger and called for reconciliation in places torn apart by war and conflict.

Only on Christmas Eve alone there were 67 accidents which took the lives of 6 people, informed the Police Main Headquarters (KGP) on Tuesday. In total, 30 people died on Polish roads since Friday.

One of the men attacked in a cinema in Szczecin died on Monday. The attacker stabbed two men with a knife causing multiple injuries.

It's official. There's a surplus in Polish budget after November, amounting to 11 billion zlotys. This is an unprecedented results in the Polish public finances. President Duda has signed an act increasing VAT to 23 percent from the start of 2019. The ruling Law and Justice party have not kept their promise from the 2015 election campaign, when the now former PM Beata Szydło said the VAT rates would be lowered. Poles are paying 10 percent more for bread and experts warn that this is not the end of increases. Business news from Poland with Mateusz Walczak.

Poland is drowning in smog. It's still very bad and in the evenings in some places it's awful. The toxic smog usually attacks in the morning and late at night. It's not only possible to image what we breathe but also to see it, literally. A vacuum cleaner experiment allows to see what exactly is getting inside out lungs.

A brilliant gynecologist and one of the best specialists in Poland passed away at the age of 62. Professor Romuald Dębski was the head of the clinic of obstetrics and gynecology at the Centre of Postgraduate Medical Education at the Bielański Hospital in Warsaw. Professor Dębski attended to the most serious cases. He conducted operations that saved lives of many unborn children. He also performed abortions in situations permissible by the law. Dębski operated on patients that other doctors were simply afraid to treat. Operation unique in a global scale were performed on his ward. Professor Dębski said that he couldn't have imagined doing anything else than his "beautiful profession".

A locker room of a small local football club in Poland Wilki Różana (Wolves) has been broken into and plundered. However, the big Wolves from Premier League came to the rescue for their smaller brothers. Wolverhampton Wanderers have found out about the troubled lower-league club from Lower Silesia and sent a set of brand new football kits and equipment to Poland. Now the whole pack may howl from joy after hunting down their next prey on the football pitch.

Industrial production in Poland increased by 4,7 percent in November year on year. That's a bit less less than in October, but nevertheless is seen as a positive surprise that beat the forecasts. Christmas brings record income for shopping malls. Crude oil barrel price makes drivers around the world happy, also in Poland. Business news from Poland with Mateusz Walczak.

According to estimates, the budget deficit for 2018 shouldn’t exceed 15 billion zlotys, informed the Minister of Finance Teresa Czerwińska. She stressed, however, that the ministry is still counting the exact figure.