Poland's Kamil Stoch is on course to retain his Four Hills title after overcoming Richard Freitag for the second leg in a row to triumph at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany on Monday.

Polish climbers hope to pull off a mountaineering first with a wintertime ascent of the world's second highest peak, K2, the only one of the 14 exceeding 8,000 meters (26,200 ft) not to have been conquered at the most testing time of the year.

The U.N. independent expert on the independence of judges and lawyers criticised Poland on Friday for legal reforms that have already attracted unprecedented censure from the European Union, dubbing them a serious breach of the rule of law.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Friday said that Hungary sees a strong Poland as a vital component of a central European caucus within the European Union, and so will block any action to suspend Poland's voting rights in the EU.

British Prime Minister Theresa May gave Poland a rare dose of big power support on Thursday by saying that its constitution was its own affair, a sharply different tone to that of the European Union which has scolded Warsaw over judicial reforms.

Polish President Andrzej Duda has decided to sign into law two bills overhauling the judiciary, he said on Wednesday, in defiance of European Union criticism that the legislation undermines the rule of law in central Europe's largest economy.

The EU executive launched an unprecedented process on Wednesday to suspend Poland's voting rights in the European Union after two years of dispute over judicial reforms that Brussels says undermine Polish courts' independence.

Poland's parliament has passed a bill that gives the government, rather than a panel of top judges, control over who conducts elections, a move the opposition called "satanic".

Poland's new prime minister said on Thursday he expected the European Commission to launch an unprecedented punishment procedure against Warsaw next week after months of wrangling over the rule of law.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was tired of hearing allegations from Warsaw that a 2010 plane crash that killed then Polish President Lech Kaczynski was the result of a Russian conspiracy, drawing a sharp rebuke from Warsaw.

Poland's new prime minister faces a difficult balancing act trying to repair bruised relations with the European Union without alienating the eurosceptic government's core voters.

Poland's new government led by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki won a vote of confidence in parliament just before midnight on Tuesday, voting records showed, opening the way for the Cabinet to start functioning.

"We're tremendously concerned about the direction that Poland seems to be going in,” said the spokeswoman for the US Department of State Heather Nauert. “A free and independent media is a fundamental pillar of democracies," she said, commenting on the decision of the National Radio and Television Broadcasting Council concerning TVN24's reporting on the political crisis in December last year. The US Department of State has also issued a statement on the matter.

Poland should defend its national identity and interests at a time when the European Union is debating its own future, the country's new Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told parliament on Tuesday.

Mateusz Morawiecki was sworn in as Poland's new prime minister on Monday, replacing Beata Szydlo, who became a deputy prime minister.

Mateusz Morawiecki. From the onset of this cabinet we couldn't stop hearing how much Kaczyński valued him, hardly an incentive for PM Beata Szydło. The story how Morawiecki, a banker and one of advisors of Donald Tusk's cabinet got Kaczyński's ear.

A day after the L&J heroically defended the Prime Minister Szydło in the Sejm, the President, upon the motion of that very same Law and Justice, designated her successor. It is Mateusz Morawiecki as designated by Jarosław Kaczyński. First, L&J trumpeted that whoever attacks PM Szydło, attacks Poland, now they say that for the good of Poland she must be replaced.

First he remained in the shadow of his father's political legend, then he became rich, took the world of politics by storm, in just two years becoming the Prime Minister. Mateusz Morawiecki in the eyes of his friends.

Poland's President Andrzej Duda designated Finance Minister Mateusz Morawiecki as the country's new prime minister after Beata Szydlo tendered her resignation.

Polish lawmakers approved an overhaul of the judiciary on Friday, giving parliament de facto control over the selection of judges in defiance of the European Union.

The Venice Commission, a panel of constitutional law experts of the human rights body Council of Europe, said on Friday that Poland's proposed court overhaul poses serious risks to all parts of the country's judiciary.

Poland's ruling conservatives named in an expected move Finance Minister Mateusz Morawiecki as the country's new prime minister on Thursday as they gear up for a series of elections in the coming years.

Poland is ready to defend its decision in the European Union's top court to refuse to accept migrants from Africa and the Middle East under an EU plan to redistribute them, Deputy Foreign Minister Konrad Szymanski said.

Poland's ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party may replace Prime Minister Beata Szydlo next week with her government's finance chief, Mateusz Morawiecki, to prepare for a series of elections in coming years, political sources said.

Goldman Sachs is looking to hire about 250 staff in Poland in 2018 and Standard Chartered is also considering the country as a possible new hub for around 500 staff, the banks said on Tuesday.

Success-starved Poland will be banking on the goals of top striker Robert Lewandowski to make up for lost time when they make their first World Cup appearance in 12 years.

"I have made it clear what I consider the red lines for any amendments to the bills on the National Council of the Judiciary and the Supreme Court. I have said that I would not permit a return to the solutions I rejected in July," President Andrzej Duda said during his visit in Vietnam. During a press conference, he commented on amendments introduced by Law and Justice (PiS) to his bills on the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS) and the Supreme Court (SN).

Poland has repeatedly breached a European Union court ruling banning logging in the Bialowieza forest, a UNESCO World Heritage site, environmentalists said on Tuesday.

The president of the European Parliament said on Monday he would ask Poland's prime minister to ensure the security of Polish members of the assembly after a far-right protest staged a symbolic hanging of the politicians.

I will watch how these amendments are made. There are two my representatives in the Sejm - the President Andrzej Duda said on Suday in TVN24's "Kawa na Ławę", commenting on his proposed bills on the National Council of the Judiciary and the Supreme Court, which from his office were sent to the Sejm last week. "I think my proposals are not in breach of the Constitution and that they are very good solutions" - said the President.