"The United States government shares concerns about laws that could appear to allow to the pre-empting of voters ability to vote on the candidates of their choice, outside of a clearly defined process in independent courts," U.S. Ambassador to Poland Mark Brzezinski told TVN24 on Monday (May 29). He was referring to the so-called "Lex Tusk", a controversial bill that would allow to investigate Russian influence in Poland. "We fully appreciate and understand why president Duda has forwarded this bill to the Constitutional Tribunal," the ambassador added.

Poland has imposed sanctions on a further 365 Belarusian citizens over the imprisonment of a journalist of Polish origin in Belarus, the interior ministry said on Monday, amid rising tensions between Warsaw and Minsk.

Poland's president said on Monday he would sign a bill to allow a panel to investigate whether the opposition Civic Platform (PO) party allowed the country to be unduly influenced by Russia and as a result too dependent on its fuel when it was in power.

"This place is absolutely exceptional because here we will take care of women's needs in a comprehensive way. Warsaw has never had such an establishment before," Mayor of Warsaw Rafał Trzaskowski said on Friday during the opening of Warsaw Women's Health Institute. The new medical facility, located at Inflancka Street, will provide a comprehensive in vitro fertilization procedure to all women.

The next instalment of a burgeoning three-way rivalry between world number one Iga Świątek, Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina will play out at the French Open with the world number one spot up for grabs.

German, Dutch, Portuguese, and Spanish ships arrived at Poland's port of Gdynia on Friday (May 26) to join the Polish vessels stationed there as part of NATO's Standing Maritime Group One.

Poland's lower house of parliament, the Sejm, voted in favour of a controversial bill known as "Lex Tusk". If ratified by the president, the legislation will allow for the creation of a parliamentary commission to investigate Russian influence on internal security of Poland between 2007 and 2022.

LGBT rights activists who published a directory of LGBT-friendly schools in Poland condemned on Friday a plan by a parliament-appointed official to inspect the establishments on the list, saying it could have a damaging effect on young people. Coordinator of the LGBTQplusME project Dominik Kuc announced a so-called Legal Shield for schools affected by inspections was prepared.

Polish lawmakers may vote on Friday on a bill that would create a commission to look into Russian influence in the country, in what the opposition says is a government attempt to launch a witchhunt against political opponents in an election year. "If Mr Donald Tusk has something on his conscience... he should be afraid," said PiS spokesman Rafał Bochenek. "This is a situation in which a political party, backed by one third of Polish voters, wants to change Poland's system by means of a parliamentary coup d'etat. Today we will witness an attempt at this coup," said former Interior Minister Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz of Civic Coalition.

Poland's Minister of the Interior and Administration Mariusz Kamiński has announced he will add names of hundreds of Lukashenko regime members to the sanctions list. The decision is a response to Belarusian Supreme Court's decision to uphold the "draconian sentence" for Polish-Belarusian journalist and activists Andrzej Poczobut.

Polish archeologists have discovered mass graves from WWII-era in the garden of a private villa in Wrocław's Zalesie district. The graves contained the remains of exactly 128 people - mostly civilians, but there were also a few soldiers. All of them had died in the space of approximately one month during the siege of Breslau, as the city is called in German.

Wincenty Witos and nine other former leaders of the Polish People's Party (PSL) and Polish Socialist Party (PPS) have been exonerated by Poland's Supreme Court on Thursday (May 25). The pre-WWII opposition activists had been sentenced 91 years ago in the famous Brest trials of 1932-1933, during the reign of the so-called Sanation movement. "A historic moment! After 91 years justice has been served!" - the current PSL leader, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, said in a tweet.

Poland's Iga Świątek ready for toughened-up rivals in French Open dispensed any notion that she is primarily a claycourt specialist when she claimed her third Gland Slam title by winning last year's U.S. Open.

Ukraine's parliament speaker on Thursday offered condolences to the descendants of Poles massacred by Ukrainian nationalists in World War Two, a gesture likely to defuse tensions between the allies ahead of the 80th anniversary of the killings.

Ukraine is now on a good and fast track toward EU membership while Poland has supported and will continue to provide military, diplomatic, and humanitarian support to Ukraine to repel Russian aggression, Speaker of the Sejm Elżbieta Witek said on Wednesday (May 24) after meeting with Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk. "We expect Polish companies will too take part in rebuilding of Ukraine," the Ukrainian guest said. Stefanchuk, who is expected to address Polish lawmakers on Thursday, also met with Speaker of the Senate Tomasz Grodzki and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

Poland's Ombudsman for Children Mikołaj Pawlak has announced he wants to send inspectors to schools the students have named most friendly to LGBTQI+ pupils. Pawlak wants to check "how this friendliness is manifested". "We were shocked by this plan, because it's a stab in the back for schools which create a safe and open environment in their regions," coordinator of LGBTQ+ Friendly School Ranking in Poland, Dominik Kuc, told TVN24.

"We are purchasing state-of-the-art equipment virtually never before seen in Poland," heart surgeon and co-founder of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity (GOCC) Professor Bogdan Maruszewski said on Wednesday (May 24) at a press conference devoted to the 66th Open Tender, which is to buy medical equipment facilitating the fight against sepsis. The motto of this year's Grand Finale of the charity fundraiser was "Stay Healthy in a Healthy World". Although the tender was still ongoing, the chairman of the GOCC Foundation Jurek Owsiak said: "I'm confident we will beat sepsis".

Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak said on Wednesday that Poland plans to launch a submarine purchase programme in 2023.

In his Tuesday's speech at London Defence Conference, Poland's President Andrzej Duda listed the country's priorities ahead of July's NATO summit in Vilnius. Said priorities include boosting the defence potential of the eastern flank by increasing the number of NATO troops deployed there as well as motivating all allies to increase their defence spending.

"I don’t think that the war will go beyond next year," the Russian chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov said in an interview for TVN24's Michał Sznajder. Asked how long the reign of President Vladimir Putin of Russia would last, the political activist and dissident said he did not know exactly. "But clock is ticking and I think he is at his endgame, if we use chess terminology. It will depend on timing of Ukrainian victory," Kasparov added.

"We are ready to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16 aircraft," Poland's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence Mariusz Błaszczak said on Tuesday (May 23) in Brussels. "I proposed this task be carried out within the framework of the EU mission that is being carried out in Poland," he added. Minister Błaszczak also discussed military issues with German counterpart Boris Pistorius.

The Polish Air Navigation Services Agency (PANSA) decided not to purchase special radars, even though the military requested Polish airports be protected against drones - tvn24.pl has found out. Civic Coalition MPs commented on this negligence at a press conference in the Sejm on Tuesday (May 23). "This should be treated as a form of sabotage, as there's nothing more important than the safety of passengers and crews in Polish planes," said Dariusz Joński. "Any potential collision with a drone is a huge danger to passengers," stressed Maciej Lasek, former head of the State Commission on Aircraft Accidents Investigation.

"It's the press that holds the government and public officials accountable. You keep us in check. The voices of journalists are essential in ensuring transparent and trustworthy governance," U.S. Ambassador to Poland Mark Brzezinski said on Monday (May 22) at a conference organized by Polish Chamber of Electronic Communications. The ambassador stressed that "media freedom is an essential pillar of democracies around the world".

Ministers from the NATO's Northern Group, comprising 11 NATO countries and Sweden, met near Warsaw on Monday (May 22) to discuss security issues and the upcoming Vilnius summit. "I wish to say for the first time publicly that we are advanced in talks to obtain Swedish early warning aircraft," Poland's defence minister announced.

Polish referee Szymon Marciniak, who officiated the World Cup final in December, will take charge of next month's Champions League final between Manchester City and Inter Milan, UEFA said on Monday.

The 18th-century painting

"Further 7 K2 Black Panther tanks from South Korea have arrived today by sea in the port of Gdynia," Poland's Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak informed on social media on Friday (May 19). He added the tanks would be delivered to the 20th Mechanized Brigade.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Thursday "opened" a bridge in the village of Tylmanowa in southern Poland. Although it sounds quite ordinary, the quotation marks in the previous sentence are necessary as said bridge has been open for months now. This has not been first such "grand opening" ceremony of a new investment involving government officials.

Poland called on China to exert pressure on Russia to end its war in Ukraine during a meeting between two top officials in Warsaw, the Polish foreign ministry said on Friday. China attaches importance to Poland's key role in regional affairs, and is willing to continue to communicate with Warsaw on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis, said China's Special Envoy for Eurasian Affairs, Li Hui.

Polish mountaineer Kacper Tekieli has died in Swiss Alps at the age of 38. He was married to the acclaimed cross-country skier Justyna Kowalczyk, who has published a short post in social media in memory of her late husband. "He was absolutely wonderful," she wrote.