Lech Kaczynski

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With New Moves, Poland May Not Qualify as Democracy
With New Moves, Poland
May Not Qualify as Democracy
the rundown

With New Moves, Poland May Not Qualify as Democracy

Ruling party's effort to stack the courts brings condemnation from the EU

(Newser) - The ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS) in Poland is trying to fundamentally alter the nation's court system with a spate of new bills that would give the government the power to force out the nation's top judges and replace them with those appointed by parliament—where the...

Poles Make Disturbing Find in President's Coffin

After crash, Russia returned mixed-up bodies

(Newser) - The widow of a senior Polish official killed with scores of others in a 2010 plane crash accuse the Russians of "displaying a filthy attitude towards our dead" after the reinvestigation of the crash yielded disturbing results. Prosecutors announced Thursday that parts from the wrong bodies had been found...

Poland: 'No Doubt' 3 Russians Had Hand in President's Death

Prosecutors make allegation after new analysis of evidence in 2010 plane crash

(Newser) - Polish prosecutors allege that a new analysis of evidence from the April 10, 2010, plane crash in Russia that killed the Polish president shows that two Russian air traffic controllers and a third Russian official in the control tower deliberately contributed to the disaster. Poland's National Prosecutor Marek Kuczynski...

Poland to Dig Up Every Victim of 2010 Plane Crash

Officials fear crash was an assassination

(Newser) - Six years after a plane crash in Russia killed 96 people , including Polish president Lech Kaczynski, the body of every available—that is, uncremated—victim is to be dug up, reports Reuters . The ruling Law and Justice party launched a new investigation into the crash after accusing Russia of withholding...

Polish Leaders to Blame for Crash That Killed Prez: Report

Russian investigation says crew was under psychological pressure

(Newser) - The plane crash that killed Poland’s president and 95 others can be blamed, at least partially, on Polish leaders, Russian investigators have determined. In a report that shifts responsibility away from the crew of the plane, investigators say the pilots, who crashed at a Russian airport, were under psychological...

Soldiers Stole Credit Cards of Plane Crash Dead

And actually used them, forcing Russians to apologize to Poles

(Newser) - Four not-too-bright Russian soldiers have been charged with stealing credit cards from the dead body of a prominent historian who had been part of Polish President Lech Kaczynski's entourage when his plane crashed in April, killing the president and 95 others. The soldiers, who were supposed to be securing the...

Passengers Were in Cockpit of Polish Plane

Bolsters theory that the pilots were pressured to land

(Newser) - Passengers were in the cockpit of the plane carrying the Polish president before it crashed, say Russian investigators. The flight recorder has revealed the presence of one person who has been identified (the identity hasn't been made public), and at least one other, who "will be identified by the...

Poland Bids Farewell to First Couple
 Poland Bids Farewell 
 to First Couple 
KACZYNSKI FUNERAL

Poland Bids Farewell to First Couple

Estimated 150K throng streets of Krakow to say goodbye

(Newser) - An elaborate state funeral for Poland's President Lech Kaczynski and his wife, Maria, began today bereft of many world leaders whose travel plans were paralyzed by the plume of volcanic ash that has covered Europe. The couple's bodies were flown from Warsaw to Krakow early today for the tradition-laden ceremony...

Obama Cancels Poland Trip Over Volcano

President was supposed to attend Kaczysnki's funeral

(Newser) - Not even Air Force One can brave the volcano. President Obama has scrapped plans to fly to Poland for the funeral of President Lech Kaczynski. He was supposed to leave tonight for tomorrow's services, but the ever-growing ash cloud from the volcano in Iceland has made travel impossible.

Poland Holds Memorial for Crash Victims

Thousands mass as 2 days of mourning begin

(Newser) - Church bells pealed and emergency sirens blared across Poland at 8:56am local time today to mark the minute a week earlier that a plane crashed as it attempted to land in Russia, claiming the life of Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife, and 94 others. Thousands of Poles massed...

Polish Pilots Knew They Were Doomed
Polish Pilots Knew
They Were Doomed

Polish Pilots Knew They Were Doomed

Black boxes yield no evidence they were pressured to land

(Newser) - As investigators pore over evidence from the Polish plane crash, it appears the pilots knew they were going down, if only briefly. “One could say that the crew was aware of the inevitability of the coming catastrophe, if only due to the plane shaking after the wings hit the...

Poles Protest President's Burial With Kings

Kacyznski continues to polarize nation

(Newser) - Poland's late president is proving to be as divisive in death as he was in life. The unified sense of national mourning that followed the death of Lech Kaczynski and scores of other dignitaries in a plane crash has been split by an increasingly bitter dispute over plans to bury...

Poland's First Couple Lies in State

Maria Kaczynska's body recovered; funeral set for Sunday

(Newser) - Poles lined up by the thousands today to pay homage to their late president and his wife. Lech Kaczynski and Maria Kaczynska, two of the 96 victims of Saturday's plane crash in Russia, are lying in state at the presidential palace in Warsaw. Their daughter, Marta, and the president's twin...

Pilots Blamed for Russian Plane Crash

Russians: Pilots ignored fog warnings

(Newser) - Error by Polish pilots likely caused the Russian plane crash that killed Poland's president, his wife, and 94 others, according to Russian officials. Investigators have ruled out any technical flaws in the Russian-made plane and blamed pilots for ignoring control tower warnings not to land in heavy fog. "The...

President's Body Returns to Poland

Lech Kaczynski will lie in state at presidential palace in Warsaw

(Newser) - Mourners filled the streets of Warsaw today as the coffin bearing the body of president Lech Kaczynski returned to the presidential palace, where he will lie in state for a week. Earlier, Vladimir Putin attended a memorial service for Kaczynski, his wife, Maria, and the 94 other victims of yesterday's...

Grieving Poland Goes Still
 Grieving Poland Goes Still 

Grieving Poland Goes Still

Nation awaits return of Kaczynski's body

(Newser) - Thousands of people in the streets of Poland's cities are standing rigid and silent, marking two minutes of silent memorial to a devastating plane crash that killed many of the country's elite, including President Lech Kaczynski. The silence was preceded by the thundering pealing of church bells and din of...

Poland Called Soviet-Era Planes 'Flying Coffins'

The jets were old but also fast

(Newser) - As Poland wrestles with the death of President Lech Kaczysnki and 96 others in today's plane crash, attention is turning to the pilots' actions and the Soviet-era plane involved:
  • The pilots ignored orders not to try to land because of heavy fog, reports AP .
  • The plane involved is a 20-year-old
...

Polish President, Wife Killed in Jet Crash

All aboard die when plane fails to reach Russian runway

(Newser) - Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife, and some of the country's highest military and civilian leaders died when the presidential plane crashed as it came in for a landing in thick fog in western Russia today, killing all 96 aboard, officials said. The Soviet-era Tupolev was taking the president, his...

Five Leaders Who Liked Bush Better
Five Leaders Who Liked Bush Better
analysis

Five Leaders Who Liked Bush Better

(Newser) - Not all foreign leaders prefer Barack Obama to George W. Bush. Joshua Keating of Foreign Policy lists five heads of state who probably miss Dubya:
  • Silvio Berlusconi. "The conservative Christian from Texas and the lecherous billionaire" were good buddies; Bush hosted the Italian president often at his ranch
...

Georgia Prez Charges Russians Fired on Motorcade

Shots fired as Georgian leader travels with Polish president to refugee camp

(Newser) - Shots were fired close to a motorcade ferrying Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili and Polish President Lech Kaczynski  to a refugee camp in Georgia near the border with the breakaway region of South Ossetia, officials said. Saakashvili blamed Russian troops at a border checkpoint for the gunfire, reports Voice of America....

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