TVN24 News in English

TVN24 News in English

Gdańsk mayor killer Stefan Wilmont found guilty and sentenced to life behind bars

After a nearly year-long trial and 25 sessions, a Gdańsk court has found Stefan Wilmont guilty of murdering Gdańsk Mayor Paweł Adamowicz back in 2019, and sentenced him to life in prison. Justifying the verdict, the judge said that the defendant had "committed a crime without precendence in Poland's history". Due to an important public interest, the court allowed the publication of the defendant's full name and image. The ruling can still be appealed.

Interior minister: nine people detained under suspicion of spying for Russia

"Poland's Internal Security Agency have detained nine people suspected of working for Russian special services. The court has placed six of them under temporary arrest," the Minister of the Interior and Administration Mariusz Kamiński said on Thursday (March 16). He explained that the detained persons had been carrying out espionage activity against Poland and planning acts of sabotage on the orders of the Russian intelligence.

Sierakowski: money from Bayraktar fundraiser to be spent on military equipment for Ukraine

Thanks to the money collected to purchase the Bayraktar drone, which the producer ultimately donated free of charge, Ukraine will get 100 vehicles, including ambulances, "survival kits" for civilians, two mobile repair stations, and also the construction of a mobile training center will get additional funding, the organizer of the fundraiser Sławomir Sierakowski announced on Facebook.

Poles feel the pinch as February inflation is highest in 26 years

Inflation in February 2023 increased by 18.4% year on year, according to a report released on Wednesday (March 15) by Poland's Central Statistical Office (Statistics Poland). The previous time when the consumer prices passed the 18% threshold took place in December 1996. Compared to January 2023, the prices went up by 1.2%. The highest spike was recorded in the prices of sugar, liquid and solid fuels, diesel oil, and heat energy.

Activist Justyna Wydrzyńska sentenced by court for providing abortion pills

A Warsaw court handed a community service sentence to Polish activist Justyna Wydrzyńska on Tuesday, saying she was guilty of providing pregnancy termination pills, in a landmark case over abortion rights in the predominantly Catholic country. "I feel that I'm not standing alone before the court. My friends stand behind me and so do hundreds of women I have not had the luck to meet yet," Wydrzyńska said in the court on Tuesday (March 14).

Warsaw to send Kyiv its old Russian-made metro trains

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Warsaw and Kyiv have signed a deal under which series-81 metro trains will be transferred from the capital of Poland to that of Ukraine. The old Russian-made trains, which have served residents of Warsaw since the opening of the first metro line in 1995, will now be used by the people of Kyiv. The Warsaw Metro is planning a farewell ride on the number 07 train.

Stork named Rysiek has arrived in Poland six days earlier than last year

Storks begin to slowly return to Poland after winter. One of them landed in its nest located in Pasieka, near Żychlin. According to Artur Paul of Stowarzyszenie "Pomagam Bocianom" ("I Help Storks" Association), the bird arrived in the nest six days earlier than last year. Fans of storks can watch it live thanks to a special camera.

"What was the point of the meeting?". Protesters disappointed after talks with ministry

The group of disabled people and their carers who are staging a sit-in protest in the Sejm sent a delegation which met with Deputy Minister of Family and Social Affairs Paweł Wdówik. Civic Coalition MP Iwona Hartwich said after the talks that the ministry representative "was not prepared and proposed nothing". At the same time Wdówik himself said at a press briefing that the ministry would present solutions by the end of the week," aimed at supporting people with disabilities having most urgent needs". "Not evenly to all," he explained.

Protesting disabled people invite First Lady to the Sejm

We would like to warmly invite the First Lady, Mrs Agata Duda, to visit us, the protesting and disabled people, here in the Sejm," a Civic Coalition MP Iwona Hartwich said at a press conference in the Sejm on Friday. The protesting disabled people and their carers demand an increase in the social allowance. "We're not asking for a fortune, we're asking for an absolute minimum for a more or less normal life," said Andrzej Sucholewski, one of the protesters. Another one called upon Sejm Speaker Elżbieta Witek "to immediately launch procedures and provide access to the shower for our disabled children".

Central bank's latest report on Poland's inflation in 2023

The annual inflation rate in 2023 will be at 11.9%, and it is to decelerate to 5.7% in 2024, according to a report released on Friday (March 10) by the National Bank of Poland. In 2025, inflation is "to return to the band of deviations from the NBP inflation target". The report also includes forecasts regarding Poland's GDP growth.

Four pythons and an anaconda abandoned without food and water

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Five snakes were left abandoned in their owner's flat in the southeastern city of Chełm. The owner left them for a few weeks in their own feces, without food or fresh water, and in an unsuitable temperature. The reptiles have been now placed under the care of Epicrates Foundation which announced it would refer the case to the prosecutor's office.

Poland's MFA summons U.S. ambassador

The Polish Foreign Ministry summoned the U.S. ambassador on Thursday about the actions of a television station, it said in a statement without naming the station or specifying what it believes it did wrong. The MFA spokesperson Łukasz Jasina told TVN24 reporter that the reason of Ambassador Brzezinski's visit pertained to an "issue of a certain TV broadcaster, holding American capital, about which we have quite serious concerns when it comes to dividing of our society".

"We don't have access to showers". Disabled people protest in the Sejm

"Pyrotechnicians with dogs come in the morning and I've no idea what they look for or check every day," a carer of a disabled person told TVN24 on Thursday (March 9). Describing everyday life of people protesting in the Sejm, she added: "we don't have access to a shower, we clean ourselves with tissues". "I'd like each member of the ruling PiS party to tell me how to get treatment, rehabilitation, start a family, pay the rent, the bills and water for 1,200 zlotys," said another protester, Jakub Hartwich.

Bianka Zalewska becomes first Polish woman to win International Women of Courage

At an official ceremony at the White House, Polish war correspondent and Dzień Dobry TVN reporter Bianka Zalewska accepted an International Women of Courage award, which is granted by the United States Department of State. Zalewska has therefore become the first Polish woman to win this accolade. "Big day for Poland at the White House," Polish Embassy in the USA said on social media.

Monetary Policy Council leaves interest rates unchanged again

Poland's Monetary Policy Council has decided to keep the central bank's interest rates unchanged for the sixth month in a row, according to a statement released on Wednesday (March 8). The decision corresponds with economy experts' forecasts. The main reference rate has been kept at 6.75%.

An old monstrance unearthed in southeastern Poland

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An old monstrance has been unearthed in Łukawiec Forestry, a part of Lubaczów Forest District located in Subcarpathian Voivodeship in southeast Poland. Monstrances are vessels used mainly in the Catholic Church in the ceremony of the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. The origin of this item remains a mystery, much like its connection to a particular church, say researchers from the Borderlands Museum in Lubaczów, asking for help in determining the history of the find.

Bianka Zalewska with International Women of Courage award

Polish war correspondent and Dzień Dobry TVN reporter Bianka Zalewska has become one of this year's International Women of Courage award laureates. The award is granted by the United States Department of State. Zalewska shared how she had learned about winning the accolade in an interview for "Fakty" TVN correspondent in Washington, D.C., Marcin Wrona.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski sentenced to 10 years in prison by Belarus

Nobel Peace Prize winner and human rights activist Ales Bialiatski was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Friday by a court in his native Belarus which found him guilty of financing protests in a trial condemned by the European Union as a "sham". Poland's Prime Minister condemned the sentence by calling it "yet another scandalous decision recently made by the Belarusian court".