Stories about Polish
Poland: Obama's “Polish Death Camp” Gaffe Causes Controversy
In the last days of May, a storm of controversy struck the Polish public opinion when the US President Barack Obama used the expression "a Polish death camp" rather than stating clearly that what he meant was a Nazi Germany-operated death camp on the Polish territory. Anna Gotowska reports.
Poland: The ‘Web Kids’ Manifesto’
Originally written in by Polish photographer and poet Piotr Czerski, the 'Web Kids’ Manifesto' is appearing on the web in many other languages since its publication on February 11. Samy Boutayeb explains more.
Poland: Gossip Portal Accuses Mainstream Media of ACTA Ignorance
A Polish gossip portal's take on the massive anti-ACTA protests has highlighted issues that are truly relevant for today's young people. Katarzyna Odrozek reports on the avalanche of reactions from netizens and the mainstream media that this unlikely source of serious reporting has created.
Poland: Government Will Sign ACTA Despite Massive Protest
Despite a massive Internet protest and controversies around the secret manner of negotiations, the Polish government will sign the anti-piracy agreement ACTA on January 26, as planned. Katarzyna Odrozek reports.
Poland: Netizens Protest Government's Plan to Sign ACTA Next Week
With the world still talking about the aftermath of the SOPA/PIPA Blackout Day, Polish netizens are confronted with another backstabbing development in the fight for free Internet. Katarzyna Odrozek reports.
COP17: Young Trackers Share Final Thoughts on Climate Change Talks
Adopt a Negotiator Project trackers updated their blogs daily during the two weeks of climate change talks at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, COP17, held from November 28 to December 9, 2011, in South Africa. In this post we share some of their conclusions.
Poland: Change to Drug Law, Change in Policy?
On December 9, an important change was introduced to Poland's drug policy: an amendment to the law on illegal drug possession came into force, which would allow prosecutors to abandon initiation of the criminal procedure against those in possesion of drugs. Anna Gotowska reports.
Poland: Netizens Debate Proposal to Re-Introduce Death Penalty
The leader of Poland's largest opposition party has announced his support for re-introduction of the death penalty for "the gravest crimes." Although this announcement may be treated as a way to win over some voters, a huge debate on the subject has started nevertheless. Anna Gotowska reports.
Poland: Bloggers reactions to Tomasz Lis’ announcement of “Polish Huffington Post”
Tomasz Lis, editor-in-chief of one of Poland's biggest weekly magazines, “Wprost”, and a host of a political talk show, announced the upcoming launch of a new journalistic platform in 2012 – unofficially called the “Polish Huffington Post” [pl]. His presentation generated lots of reactions, especially on Polish tech blogs, which...
Poland: Bloggers React to the Death of Popular TV Show Character
Kominek [pl] summarizes bloggers’ reactions to the death of Hanka Mostowiak [pl], a fictional character of one of the biggest TV hits ever in Poland, a soap opera called “M jak Miłość” (“L for Love”) [en]. In episode 862, Hanka dies in a car accident (as the actress who played...
Poland: Open Government Data Camp 2011 and the Future of Open Data
At this year's Open Government Data Camp in Warsaw, "you could talk to techies, members of transparency-oriented NGOs, journalists, social activists, government officials, EU Commission representatives and so on." Jakub Górnicki reports.
Czech Republic: Open Source Initiative to Visualize State Budget
KohoVolit‘s Michal Škop and Centrum Cyfrowe [pl] from Poland announced that the open source application Raw Salad [pl] used to hack the Polish state budget will also be used in the Czech Republic. Besides publishing the budget data using this new way, Czechs will also create a dedicated portal with...
Poland: Election Results Signal Imminent Generation Shift
Poland's parliamenary election results seemed to be a relief to many and a surprise to everybody. The current PM Donald Tusk has become the first Polish prime minister to be elected to a consecutive term, but the real dark horse of the election is the anticlerical and libertarian Janusz Palikot, whose party has gained 10 percent of votes.
Poland: Facebook Initiative Puts Pressure on Politicians
For the past two months, a Facebook initiative with more than 60,000 fans has been crowdsourcing ideas to improve Polish legislation. Ahead of the October parliamentary elections, the organizers promised to endorse political parties who would support the most popular of the netizens’ proposals.
Poland: Parties Not So Eager to Obey New Gender Quota Act
With the announcement of the date of the Polish parliamentary elections this October 9, bloggers are discussing whether the country's political parties will follow the new rules introduced by the Gender Quota Act.
Ukraine: Basic Language Tips
The Kalpak shares some Ukrainian language tips that should “help with basic sign reading that a new visitor to Ukraine will need to do in order to navigate around Kyiv.”
Poland: Smolensk Report Blames Both Polish and Russian Sides
On July 29, Poland presented its final report on the 2010 Smolensk plane crash, in which 96 people died, including the then president of Poland Lech Kaczynski. While putting the major blame on the Polish pilot's error, the report also pointed at the fault of the defective lighting at Smolensk airport and Russian air controllers.
Poland: The State of Reading
A few weeks ago, a new social campaign - Reading in Poland - was launched by one of Poland's largest daily newspapers due to the fact that reading rates in Poland are very low: one reports states that 56 percent of the Poles don't read books at all - and are also incapable of reading texts longer than 3 pages. A huge debate has started on the reading culture in Poland and the reasons for the crisis it is facing.
Poland: Citizen Initiative for Complete Abortion Ban
Some 600,000 people have signed a petition in support of the draft amendment to Poland's abortion law intending to ban abortion in Poland without exceptions – even when the life of a woman is threatened. Katarzyna Odrozek reviews online reactions of the supporters and opponents of the complete ban on abortion in Poland.
Video: Celebrating the Solstice
The celebrations for Summer and Winter Solstices were full of lanterns, dances, flowers and bonfires. Lets tour around the world to check out the different celebrations: Solstice at Stonehenge, Feast of Saint John's bonfires in Spain, Inti Raymi in Peru, we tripantu in Chile and Kupala Day in Russia or Midsummer's night in Poland.
Japan: Earthquake, “how to protect yourself” in 30 languages
TUFS students launched a website with advices on risk management translated in more than 30 languages. The website provides “a basic guide in several languages to what to do when you have to evacuate because of the earthquake.”
