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WARSAW, Feb 22 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden will meet leaders of NATO's eastern flank on Wednesday to show support for their security after Moscow suspended a landmark nuclear arms control treaty. Hours earlier, Putin delivered lengthy remarks laden with criticism of the Western powers, blaming them for the war in Ukraine. At the meeting, Biden plans to reaffirm commitments over their security and discuss support for Ukraine before he returns to Washington. "Lithuania and other like-minded countries have several requests, which concern air defence, forward defence presence, air defence systems, and greater investments in the defence industry," Asta Skaisgiryte said. The former Soviet republic on Russia's doorstep joined NATO in 2004 and plans to host Biden in July for the security alliance's leaders' summit.

Hours before Biden spoke in Poland following a surprise visit to Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed that Moscow would achieve its objectives in Ukraine and accused the West of plotting to destroy Russia. Biden proclaimed "unwavering" support for Kyiv and a commitment to bolstering NATO's eastern flank facing Russia, while rejecting Moscow's contention that the West was plotting to attack Russia. "I can report: Kyiv stands strong, Kyiv stands proud, it stands tall and, most important, it stands free. "When President Putin ordered his tanks to roll into Ukraine, he thought we would roll over. Putin said Ukraine had sought to strike a facility deep inside Russia where it keeps nuclear bombers, a reference to the Engels air base.

☆ Polish c.bankers see CPI falling from Q2 -minutes
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

WARSAW, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Most members of Poland's Monetary Policy Council (MPC) said inflation in will start to gradually return towards the central bank's target rage from the second quarter of 2023, according to minutes from the sitting. The National Bank of Poland (NBP) left its main interest rate unchanged at 6.75% in January. Reporting by Alan Charlish, Pawel FlorkiewiczOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Olympics row deepens as 35 countries demand ban for Russia and Belarus
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Andrius Sytas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

With war raging in Ukraine, the Baltic States, Nordic countries and Poland had called on international sports bodies to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing in the Olympics. "At the same time, we know that 70 percent of Russian athletes are soldiers. He said that most participants had been in favour of an absolute exclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes. The IOC has opened the door for Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as neutrals. While Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of host city Paris, has said Russian athletes should not take part, Paris 2024 organisers have said they will abide by the IOC's decision on the issue.

☆ Too early to talk about rate cuts, says Poland's Glapinski
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WARSAW, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Inflation in Poland should start slowing sharply after the first quarter and could fall to an annual rate of 6% by December, but it is still too early to talk about rate cuts, Central Bank Governor Adam Glapinski said on Thursday. It is too early to discuss rate cuts." Analysts said that despite Glapinski stressing that the bank has not officially closed its rate hiking cycle, limited rate cuts in the second half of the year could not be excluded. "We see increasing chances for some initial rate cuts before the end of 2023." Romania's central bank kept its benchmark interest rate on hold at 7.0% on Thursday, the first pause after a 16-month hiking cycle as it expects inflation to fall.

☆ Poland to close Belarus border crossing until further notice
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WARSAW, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Poland is to close a key border crossing with Belarus until further notice, the Polish interior minister said on Thursday, as relations between Warsaw and Minsk sink to new lows. Bobrowniki, more than 200 km northeast of Warsaw, is one of the main crossing points between Poland and Belarus. In 2021, Poland and the European Union said Minsk had engineered a migrant crisis on its borders, an accusation Belarus denies. More recently, Poland has condemned the vandalism of Polish graves in Belarus. Thousands of people of Polish origin live in Belarus as the west of the country was Polish territory until the borders were redrawn after World War Two.

The most contentious reforms for those in Poland's ruling camp concern the judicial system. To become law, the bill needs to be signed by President Andrzej Duda. "We will now continue to follow the next steps in the legislative process," Didier Reynders, EU Commissioner for Justice, said on Twitter. Relaxing rules on wind farm investment is also among the milestones Poland has to pass to unlock the EU funds. The amendment will slash potential onshore wind investments by 60-70%, effectively discouraging them, according to the Polish Wind Energy Association which groups some 150 investors.

☆ U.S. President Biden to visit Poland, Polish president's adviser says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WARSAW, Feb 4 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden will visit Poland, the Polish president's foreign policy adviser said on Saturday. "We already know for sure that President Joe Biden will respond positively to President Duda's invitation and will come to Poland," Marcin Przydacz said on public TV. Przydacz said that preparations are underway for the visit which "meets the expectations of both the White House and the expectations of the Polish side". "But for us it will be very important and crucial to continue supporting Poland's security ...," he added. President Biden said on Monday that he would visit Poland but did not know when.

Pressure has been building on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government to send its Leopard tanks to Ukraine and let other countries send the ones they own. Ukraine says heavily armoured Western battle tanks would give its ground troops more mobility and protection ahead of a new Russian offensive that Kyiv expects in the near future. Germany has previously said that no country had formally asked for permission to send their Leopard tanks. A German defence source told Reuters that Poland had submitted a request to let it supply up to 14 Leopard 2 A4 tanks to Ukraine. He expressed confidence that a decision on sending battle tanks would come soon.

☆ German green-light for Leopard tanks is 'secondary' issue, Poland says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Poland is pushing for countries who have Leopards to send them to Ukraine, even if Germany does not want to join them. Even if we did not get this approval ... we would still transfer our tanks together with others to Ukraine", Morawiecki told reporters. Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki arrives for a European Union leaders' summit in Brussels, Belgium December 15, 2022. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Sunday that Berlin would not stand in the way if Poland sent its Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. However, a German government spokesperson said on Monday that Berlin had still not received any requests to authorise the re-export of the tanks.

☆ Poland ready to send Ukraine tanks even if Germany opposes it -deputy FM
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WARSAW, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Poland could send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine even without Germany's re-export approval, a deputy foreign minister said on Friday, ahead of a crunch meeting on weapons for Kyiv. The issue looks set to dominate talks between Western allies at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Friday. "I do not rule out that we are ready to take such a step," Pawel Jablonski told private radio RMF FM referring to the possibility of sending tanks to Ukraine even if Germany opposes it. Lithuanian Defence Minister Arvydas Anusauskas said on Thursday several countries would announce sending Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine at the Ramstein meeting. However, Germany has yet to receive a request from any country for permission to re-export German-made Leopard tanks to Ukraine, a German government source said on Thursday.

☆ Ukraine war live updates: NATO allies to make a decision on battle tanks for Kyiv; Wagner Group could have up to 50,000 troops in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda at a press conference after their talks in Kyiv on May 22, 2022. Poland is ready to take "non-standard action" and send Ukraine two of its Leopard tanks if Germany opposes the move, Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski said. "I do not rule out that we are ready to take such a step," Jablonski was quoted by Reuters as telling a private radio station. "At the moment we are trying to make Germany not only agree these tanks being sent by Poland or other countries, but also to do so themselves." Germany has been slow to approve sending heavy weaponry to Ukraine for fear of provoking Russia.

☆ Polish central banker Kotecki says no room for rate cut this year
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WARSAW, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Double-digit inflation in Poland leaves no room for loosening monetary policy this year but interest rates will not rise further, central banker Ludwik Kotecki told Reuters. Kotecki said even talking about lower rates at the moment risked weakening the impact of monetary policy. Kotecki's views follow comments last week by Central Bank Governor Adam Glapinski, who said he remained hopeful a rate cut could happen this year, despite still rising inflation rates. The MPC has de facto ended the hike cycle, although formally it is in a phase of monetary policy tightening. Talking about rate cuts at the moment is, in my opinion, a communication error," that weakens the impact of monetary policy, he said.

☆ Poland plans to give Ukraine Leopard tanks as part of coalition
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Poland's President Andrzej Duda attend a joint news briefing with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Lviv, Ukraine, January 11, 2023. Duda said that he hoped that the Polish tanks, together with tanks from other countries, would soon travel to Ukraine. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Saturday that Poland did not intend to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine without the formation of a broader coalition. Any re-export of Leopard tanks requires approval by the government in Berlin. However, a German government spokesman said on Wednesday that it was not aware of any requests from its allies to send Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine.

Off-budget spending, where the cost of activities deemed to have special characteristics is not included in the official budget, is widely used across the world. In Poland, it was initially deployed for spending to weather the pandemic but now encompasses a surge in military and other expenditures. "Budget funds are becoming less and less transparent," Supreme Audit Office President Marian Banas told Reuters. Importantly, they note that the off-budget spending still gets captured under European accounting rules. In recent years, Poland's off-budget spending has gone from insubstantial amounts to several percentage points' worth of GDP, based on spending tracked by economists and rating agencies.

☆ Mercedes-Benz Vans plans first electric-only plant in Jawor
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Dec 12 (Reuters) - Mercedes-Benz (MBGn.DE) Vans will invest more than 1 billion euros ($1.05 billion) to build its first electric-only vans plant in Jawor, Poland, pending approval of conditions such as the sign-off of subsidies for its investment, the company said on Monday. The van maker, a division of Mercedes-Benz, has signed a declaration of intent with the Polish government and other partners to add the van factory to its Jawor site where it makes combustion engines and batteries for Mercedes-Benz Cars. The plant will be the fourth in Mercedes-Benz´s European van production network, which it is reorganising towards producing only fully-electric vans built on the VAN.EA platform. A possible expansion of the plant through a joint venture with U.S. electric van maker Rivian (RIVN.O) would no longer take place because the U.S. firm had reprioritised its planned projects, the statement said, confirming a statement by Rivian. ($1 = 0.9482 euros)Reporting by Tristan Chabba in Gdansk and Pawel Florkiewicz in Warsaw, Victoria Waldersee in Berlin, editing by Rachel More and Louise HeavensOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ The US may have lost in the World Cup, but soccer is more popular than ever in America
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Harry Enten | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +36 min

The Atlas Lions made history as the first African team to reach a World Cup semifinal. They made history as the first all-female refereeing crew for a men's World Cup match. It was Morocco's first World Cup win since 1998 — and its third-ever at the tournament. Less spoken about is that they also rate better on television than the men do in the World Cup. We’ll just have to wait and see, though with the US, Canada and Mexico hosting the 2026 World Cup, soccer isn’t going away anytime soon.

☆ Polish lender PKO BP actively seeking M&A opportunities - official says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

GDANSK Dec 8 (Reuters) - Poland's largest lender PKO BP (PKO.WA) is actively seeking out M&A opportunities, the bank's management board vice president Pawel Gruza said during a conference call with investors and journalists on Thursday. "We will actively monitor the market situation regarding realistic acquisition opportunities in order to build our additional competencies," he said, adding that it would take too much time to expand through the bank's existing operations. On the same call, CFO Bartosz Drabikowski said that the bank aims to maintain its dividend policy. "We can imagine that...ROE may even have a '2' in front - of course it depends on the assumptions, conditions," he said. Reporting by Maria Gieldon and Patrycja Zaras in Gdansk; Editing by Kirsten DonovanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Polish c.bank governor says no decision on ending rate-hike cycle
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Anna Koper | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WARSAW, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Poland's Monetary Policy Council (MPC) has made no decision about ending its tightening cycle, the central bank governor said on Thursday, as he reiterated that the series of rate hikes was paused rather than definitively finished. "We are still on hold," central bank governor Adam Glapinski told a news conference. "The Council... did not discuss whether to end the rate-hike cycle or not." Glapinski said he expected inflation would start to fall in March or April after rising at the beginning of 2023. "Then there will for sure be such a discussion in the Council.. whether to end the rate-hike cycle."

The major bourses in Europe also declined as concerns mounted about a global slowdown before a raft of major central bank rate decisions next week. The dollar gained against the euro, yen, British pound and Canadian dollar, among other major currencies. Treasury yields fell, but more at the long end of maturities than the short end, which deepened the inverted yield curve, a market indicator of a looming recession. The dollar rose as investors waited for next week's expected 50 basis points rate hike by the Fed. Euro zone government bond yields fell after two European Central Bank officials signaled inflation and rates may be close to peaking in the run-up to a raft of major central bank decisions.

☆ Croatia beats Japan on penalties to reach World Cup quarterfinals
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Ben Church | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +28 min

CNN —Goalkeeper Dominik Livaković made himself a national hero as Croatia beat Japan on penalties 1-1 (3-1) to reach the World Cup quarterfinals. Marko Djurica/ReutersJapan’s heartbreakDespite its defeat, Japan can look back at an impressive World Cup campaign. They made history Thursday as the first all-female refereeing crew for a men's World Cup match. Mbappé was one of the leading stars of the team's World Cup triumph four years ago. He also became just the third goalkeeper to save three penalties in a single World Cup shootout.

☆ Japan vs. Croatia: Samurai Blue aiming to reach World Cup quarterfinals for first time
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( Aimee Lewis | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +31 min

CNN —In a World Cup of surprises, Japan has played a leading role in headline-making shock results. Croatia is a team undefeated in nine of its last 10 World Cup matches. They made history Thursday as the first all-female refereeing crew for a men's World Cup match. Frappert became the first woman to referee a men's World Cup match. It was Morocco's first World Cup win since 1998 — and its third-ever at the tournament.

☆ USMNT’s youth and talent at Qatar 2022 bodes well for 2026 World Cup
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( Issy Ronald | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +31 min

The Netherlands knocked the USMNT out of the Qatar World Cup on Saturday. They made history Thursday as the first all-female refereeing crew for a men's World Cup match. Frappert became the first woman to referee a men's World Cup match. It was Morocco's first World Cup win since 1998 — and its third-ever at the tournament. Qatar is the first Islamic country to host a World Cup.

☆ France reaches World Cup quarterfinals with 3-1 victory over Poland as Kylian Mbappé breaks Pelé’s record
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( Matias Grez | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +30 min

CNN —France was made to work hard for its place in the World Cup quarterfinals, overcoming an improved Poland side 3-1 thanks to goals from Olivier Giroud and Kylian Mbappé. That is Mbappé’s fifth goal of Qatar 2022 and already his ninth World Cup goal overall, breaking Pelé’s record of seven World Cup goals scored before the age of 24. They made history Thursday as the first all-female refereeing crew for a men's World Cup match. Issei Kato/Reuters Kylian Mbappé scores his second goal on November 26, leading France to a 2-1 victory over Denmark. Mbappé was one of the leading stars of the team's World Cup triumph four years ago.

"We are talking with our allies about how to handle Poland's ... suggestion," a German government spokesperson told reporters in Berlin. Berlin offered Warsaw the Patriot system to help secure its airspace after a stray missile crashed and killed two people in Poland last week. Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak later asked Germany to send the fire units to Ukraine instead. Stoltenberg's comments came after German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht on Thursday said sharing Germany's Patriot units outside NATO territory would require prior discussions with NATO and the allies. Duda later said that Germany could send the Patriot units to Ukraine without NATO troops to operate them, something he says Kyiv has been asking for for a while.

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