Bayern Munich's Polish striker Robert Lewandowski won the FIFA Best Men's Player award for 2021 with Barcelona's Spanish midfielder Alexia Putellas winning the FIFA Best Women's Player prize at Monday's ceremony.

Poland is experiencing a fifth wave of COVID-19 infections, the health minister said on Monday, warning that the spread of the Omicron variant could send daily case numbers soaring to levels not yet seen in the country.

Poland is likely to have additional victims of phone hacking using spyware developed by the Israel-based NSO Group, a researcher said on Monday, following allegations authorities used the technology against political opponents.

Marta Janecka has come out of coma. The activist from Warsaw is in a hospital in the Dominican Republic, recovering after being hit by a bus. Her family says there are still many surgeries and a long recovery ahead of her.

A deer fleeing from hunters has seriously injured one of them. It trampled over a 36-year-old man who stood in its way. The incident has been recorded with the hunter's headcam.

Strong winds and snowstorms have been sweeping through Poland on Monday. Harsh weather forced firefighters to intervene hundreds of times across the country, mainly due to fallen trees. At least three people have been injured.

There is no bill aimed at liquidating the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court - deputy spokesman of the ruling PiS party Radosław Fogiel told TVN24. PiS chairman Jarosław Kaczyński said in last year that the chamber, which is a "matter of dispute" with the EU, would be dismantled."We've been talking about continuation of the general overhaul of the justice system, rather than liquidating this, or any other chamber," Fogiel argued on Monday.

A student from Legnica (Lower Silesian Voivodeship) woke up in a burning apartment and helped his family to escape. 24-year-old Mateusz Burczak also came back to the flaming apartment for two dogs. Unfortunately, only one survived. While flat is being renovated, the university at which the man is studying offered to help him and his family. Moreover, the student's friends launched a fundraiser.

Poland's PGNiG will cut gas prices for small businesses by 25% from Friday, state assets minister Jacek Sasin said on Twitter.

Warsaw Uprising veteran Karol Stefaniak, nom de guerre "Kajtek" has died at the age of 90. He was the last soldier of the legendary deaf unit. Its members were called "fearless", as they weren't afraid of the sounds of exploding bombs and gunshots.

Thirteen of the 17 members of Poland's Medical Council advising the prime minister on COVID-19 resigned on Friday, state-run news agency PAP reported, condemning what they said was a lack of scientific influence on policy.

Poland's Supreme Audit Office (NIK) has unveiled invoices for a "purchase of a special technology for detecting and preventing crime" for a total price of 25 million zlotys. The Central Anticorruption Bureau (CBA) received money for the purchase from the Justice Fund. The NIK did not specify in a statement exactly what was this special technology, and stressed that its purchase could not have been financed with money from the Justice Fund. TVN24 "Czarno na Białym" reporter Piotr Świerczek said that "te word 'Pegasus' is not mentioned in the invoices, but the mentioned price is adequate to that of this software".

Rapper Karol Jerzy Nowakowski, better known as Pjus, has died at the age of 39. His friends and fellow hip-hop artists told TVN24 how they remembered their colleague from Alkopoligamia label. "He was an icon of determination, and that he never gave up. He used to pop into a hospital like it was a repair shop. He didn't despair and responded to sustained wounds like knight, and that was beautiful," said rapper Ten Typ Mes. Łukasz Stasiak admitted that he had never met any "other warrior like him".

New Czech Environment Minister Anna Hubackova said on Thursday she was ready to hold talks with Poland next week to overcome a dispute over Poland's open-pit coal mine Turów near the two countries' border.

Poland's lower house of parliament on Thursday passed a bill by the ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party which will step up government control of schools and which critics say could curb access to teaching on LGBT and reproductive rights.

Polish scientists have found a gene that they say more than doubles the risk of becoming severely ill with COVID-19, a discovery they hope could help doctors identify people who are most at risk from the disease.

Europe is nearer war than it has been in 30 years, Poland's foreign minister warned during the third round of diplomacy this week aimed at defusing tensions over Russia's demand that Ukraine never be allowed to join NATO.

Poland's Health Ministry informed on Thursday about 16,878 new cases of coronavirus infection and 481 COVID-related deaths. Since the start of the pandemic Poland has reported 4,265,433 COVID-19 infections and 101,419 deaths related to the disease. Government spokesman Piotr Müller told TVN24 about prime minister's approach to the question of introducing vaccination duty for teachers, and a project of allowing employers to demand COVID tests from employees.

Poland's upper house of parliament, the Senate, has approved launching a special committee that will look into reported cases of Pegasus surveillance software usage. Two independent sources confirmed the tool was indeed used against opposition senator Krzysztof Brejza.

Rainbow is not offensive, the District Court in Płock said and upheld a not guilty sentence for three activists accused of insulting religious feelings. In 2019, the three women posted images around the St. Dominic Church in Płock showing Virgin Mary in a rainbow halo. This way they wanted to stand up for the rights of LGBTQIA people in Poland. "Full marks for this verdict, we're innocent," said Elżbieta Podleśna, one of the activists.

Poland's state-owned oil giant PKN Orlen informed on Wednesday that Saudi Aramco (officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company) would buy shares in a refinery owned by Lotos, whose 417 gas stations would be taken over by Hungary's MOL oil and gas conglomerate. In a separate deal, Lotos' fuel warehouses will be bought by Poland's Unimot group. The signed agreements are necessary steps Orlen needs to take in order to complete its merger with Lotos. Selling a certain part of the target company's assets is one of the conditions set out by the European Commission.

Polish passport allows holders to visit 183 countries and territories without a visa, according to the latest Henley Passport Index 2022. Japanese and Singapourean documents allow travellers to the borders of as many as 192 countries and territories, the highest number in the ranking. The top ten has been dominated by EU states passports.

Three people have been injured in a fire caused by a leak in a gas pipeline in Cesarka, a village located in Łódź Voivodeship. "The gas caught fire and the flames were approx. 10 meters tall," said Jędrzej Pawlak from Voivodeship Fire Service Headquarters in Łódź.

Polish lawmakers are expected to debate on Wednesday a nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party bill that critics say could curb access to teaching on LGBT and reproductive rights and give the ruling PiS more control over schools.

Poland will cut value added tax on gas, food and petrol as part of a second package of measures to soften the blow from surging inflation, the prime minister said on Tuesday.

A resident of Chełm (Lubelskie Voivodeship) kept a pony in his apartment. He told the city guards that he had purchased the animal for his uncle and intended to take it a nearby village soon.

The European Union executive is set to demand that Poland pay around 70 million euros ($80 million) of fines for failing to scrap a contentious system for disciplining judges, sources have told Reuters.

European Parliament President David Sassoli, an Italian socialist and former journalist, died on Tuesday in hospital in Italy, his spokesperson and office said. He was 65. Among condolences coming in from all over the world there were those extended by Polish officials and politicians, including President Andrzej Duda and the country's former prime minister Donald Tusk.

Poland's total number of coronavirus-related deaths surpassed 100,000 on Tuesday, the health minister said, as the country grapples with a fourth wave of the pandemic.

The Voivodeship Administrative Court in Kraków has nullified resolutions counteracting "LGBT ideology", adopted by Lipinki municipal council and Tarnów county council. The court pointed out among other things "aggressive and stigmatising language of the resolutions". The decision is not yet final, but activist groups do not hide their satisfaction with the ruling.