Berthold Beitz, who was honored for saving hundreds of Jews in occupied Poland during World War II and became one of post-war West Germany’s leading industrialists, has died at 99. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Tag Archives: Poland
Physicists can use their tools to help understand how, in real life, opinions form and change
Social phenomena fascinate with their complexity, but are not easily understood. Pawel Sobkowicz, an independent researcher based in Warsaw, Poland, has developed a model to study the dynamics of normal people, called ‘agents’, and their response to a given piece of information, depending on their emotional state. In a study about to be published in the European Physical Journal B, the author shows that opinion dynamics differ depending on whether the agent is agitated or not. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
Wiggins to race in Tour of Poland
Former Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins will return to action for Team Sky in this week’s Tour of Poland. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
More 'Vampires' Found in Poland
By Kate Seamons
The four suspected vampires unearthed by archaeologists in Poland may have been in good company. Der Spiegel reports that the number of skeletons found buried with their head placed between their legs (so arranged to ensure that a possible bloodsucker couldn’t find his head and come back to life) has… …read more
Archaeologists find vampire grave site in Poland
GLIWICE, Poland, July 22 (UPI) — Archaeologists in Poland say they have discovered a grave filled with the skeletons of apparent accused vampires. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at UPI Odd News
'Vampire cemetery' found in Poland
By hnn
Construction workers building a road near the town of Gliwice in southern Poland this month came across four skeletons buried in a bizarre way. Their skulls had been cut off and placed between the knees or hands of the dead. Later, a further 13 skeletons arranged in a similar way were found.
Adding to the mystery, nothing — no jewellery, remains of clothing or coins, not even a button — was found on the bodies.
Archaeologists now believe that the bodies date from the 15th or 16th centuries, when the fear of vampires was widespread in Eastern Europe. Lukasz Obtulowicz, an archaeologist from the monument protection office in the nearby city of Katowice, said there were clear indications that this was the site of a vampire burial, noting that stones had been placed on the skulls. “All this served to prevent the vampires from returning to life,” he said in a television interview….
Source:
Der Spiegel
Source URL:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/suspected-cemetery-of-vampires-located-in-poland-a-912363.html#ref=nl-international
Date:
7-22-13
Source: FULL ARTICLE at History News Network – George Mason University
Radwanska defends 'beautiful' naked photo-shoot
Polish tennis star Agnieszka Radwanska on Friday defended her controversial nude photo-shoot which saw her dropped by a Catholic youth movement, claiming the pictures were in good taste.
Radwanska, 24, who makes no secret of her strong Catholic faith, was photographed in the “Body Issue” of ESPN Magazine in profile without a stitch, sitting in a lawn chair by a pool filled with tennis balls.
While not explicit, the nude proved too much for a Catholic group known as Krucjata Mlodych (Youth Crusade), which runs a campaign dubbed “I’m not ashamed of Jesus”.
The young Catholics, who claim more than a million followers, dropped Radwanska last week for what they said was “immoral behaviour” in the ESPN spread, which can be seen at espn.go.com/espn/bodyissue.
But world number four Radwanska insisted the pictures were a celebration of the “beauty of the bodies of the best athletes in the world”.
“My tennis colleagues Serena Williams, Daniela Hantuchova and Vera Zvonareva have all participated in the past,” Radwanska wrote on a statement published on her Facebook page.
“The pictures are certainly not meant to cause offense and to brand them as immoral clearly does not take into account the context of the magazine.
“Moreover, they do not contain any explicit imagery whatsoever. I train extremely hard to keep my body in shape and that’s what the article and the magazine is all about.
“It has been suggested by some members of the press (among others) that I was paid for the photo shoot. This is absolutely not the case. Neither I nor any of the other athletes were paid.
“I agreed to participate to help encourage young people, and especially girls, to exercise, stay in shape and be healthy.”
This year’s beaten Wimbledon semi-finalist previously appeared in a television commercial sponsored by the group in which she spelled out the word “Jesus” with tennis balls and urged young Poles not to be ashamed of their faith.
Other athletes in the buff in the special issue include Puerto Rican motocross champ Tarah Gieger and nine-time major golf champion Gary Player, the oldest model at 77.
Home to the former pope, John Paul II, Poland remains one of Europe’s most devout nations. More than 90 percent of the population declares itself Roman Catholic.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Researchers: Polish men admire tough guys
WARSAW, Poland, July 18 (UPI) — A Polish university said its survey of 500 men indicates the country’s males value courage and independence and see movie tough guys as role models. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at UPI Odd News
Poland and shechita | JPost | Israel News
By Dave Robbins
In the present political climate in Poland, it is unclear whether last week’s decision by lawmakers to keep in place a ban on ritual slaughter is reversible. The move, however, definitely raises serious moral questions: For instance, where does a nation that just seven decades ago facilitated the massacre of the largest Jewish community in […]
The post Poland and shechita | JPost | Israel News appeared first on Endtime Ministries | End Of The Age | Irvin Baxter.
Source: Endtime Ministries
Israel rejects Polish ban on kosher slaughter
Israel said Monday a Polish ban on the ritual slaughter of livestock for food is “unacceptable” and a “blow” to Jewish tradition, calling on the parliament to review its decision.
The foreign ministry also summoned Poland’s ambassador Jacek Chodorowicz to express its discontent, an Israeli official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
“Israel is disappointed in the decision of the Polish parliament to forbid an important religious ritual which has been common practice among millions of Jews since ancient times,” the ministry said in a statement.
The slaughter of animals for food — a ritual among Jewish and Muslim communities — has been banned in Poland since January 1 after a constitutional court ruled it was incompatible with animal rights law.
The government had sought to overturn the ban and sent a bill to parliament to that effect, but it was struck down on Friday in a move that angered the Jewish community, farmers and companies that export kosher meat to Israel and halal meat to Muslim countries.
The Israeli foreign ministry said the decision by the Polish parliament “to reject kosher slaughter in Poland is totally unacceptable.
“We call on the Polish parliament to review its decision and we expect the relevant parties to find a way to prevent this brazen blow to the religious tradition of the Jewish people.”
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Israel angered by Polish ban on Jewish slaughter
Israel is condemning a recent decision by the Polish parliament to forbid the traditional Jewish slaughter that makes meat kosher.
The Foreign Ministry says Israel is disappointed with the decision to “forbid an important religious ritual which has been common practice among millions of Jews since ancient times.”
In the statement Monday, Israel said it was “totally unacceptable” and a blow to restoring Jewish life in Poland after World War II, when most Polish Jews were killed.
The Polish parliament’s lower house last week upheld a ban on the religious slaughter of animals. Rights groups say the practices cause unnecessary suffering because the livestock aren’t stunned before being killed.
Israel called on Poland to review the decision, calling it a “brazen blow to the religious tradition of the Jewish people.”
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
'Vampire' Graves Unearthed in Poland
By Kate Seamons
No word on whether they kept garlic or a crucifix nearby as they dug, but Polish archaeologists say they’ve unearthed four “vampire” skeletons. The remains were found with the head placed between their legs; folk tradition held that this burial arrangement would ensure that a possible bloodsucker couldn’t find his… …read more
US philanthropist savors opening of Jewish museum
As his train rolled across Germany in 1939, passing through small towns where swastikas fluttered from flagpoles, Tad Taube cowered in fear each time Nazi police entered his compartment and barked orders for his documents — papers that plainly identified him as an 8-year-old Jewish boy from Poland.
But Taube got safely through to France, and then to the United States, making a narrow escape from the Holocaust.
Now the 82-year-old Taube (pronounced TOH-bee), who lives in California, is back in Poland to celebrate the partial opening of a new Polish Jewish history museum for which he has spent years raising funds, including millions from his resources.
The Museum of the History of Polish Jews opened its doors to the public for the first time Saturday.
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/4fv_G435aVQ/
Poland honours Jews who fought Nazis in Warsaw Ghetto
By Jonathan_So
A major ceremony is under way in the Polish capital Warsaw to honour Jews who fought overwhelming Nazi German forces 70 years ago in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.
Sirens wailed and church bells tolled in the city, where several hundred Jews battled the Nazis in World War II.
About 13,000 Jews died in the ghetto when the Nazis reduced it to rubble. Survivors were sent to death camps.
Poland‘s president praised the Jews’ “last stand” in a speech on Friday.
President Bronislaw Komorowski and Israel’s Education Minister Shai Piron spoke at the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes, on the site of the former ghetto…
Source:
BBC
Source URL:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-Europe-22215414
Date:
4-19-13
From: http://hnn.us/articles/poland-honours-jews-who-fought-nazis-warsaw-ghetto
EU teachers need more IT training, report says
The latest European Union survey of ICT in schools has found that 20 percent of secondary students have never or almost never used a computer in school.
Speaking at the presentation of the survey on Friday, the E.U.’s Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes said there was a very real need for more IT skills training for teachers. “ICT skills and training must be available to all students and teachers, not just a lucky few,” she said.
Teacher training in ICTs is rarely compulsory, so most teachers are forced to use their spare time to improve ICT skills.
The survey, which takes place every five years, found that although computer numbers have doubled since 2006 — largely thanks to laptops, tablets and netbooks, which are replacing desktop computers in many schools — there are still vast differences between Scandinavian and Nordic countries (the best equipment) and countries such as Poland, Romania, Italy, Greece, Hungary and Slovakia.
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From: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2035766/eu-teachers-need-more-it-training-report-says.html#tk.rss_all
Payleven launches person-to-person card payments in Europe
Germany-based card payments startup Payleven is going to make its chip-and-PIN service available to individuals, the company said on Wednesday.
Payleven offers a similar mobile card payments service as the U.S. based Square. Up until now, Payleven’s chip-and-PIN service was only available to small merchants but as of Wednesday Payleven is offering the ability for private individuals to sign up for card payments in the U.K., the company said. Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland and Brazil will follow soon, it added.
Payleven’s Chip & PIN card reader device accepts European payment cards that have chips in them and require PIN numbers. Cards accepted include MasterCard, Visa, Maestro and V PAY cards. Acceptance of additional card schemes will be announced in the future, the company said on its website.
Individuals who want to allow chip-and-PIN card owners to pay them have to buy a payment terminal for €100 (US$130). All payments have a transaction fee of 2.75 percent, charged to the terminal owner, said Christian Hillemeyer, head of Payleven’s PR. When a terminal is purchased, however, the first €50 of transaction fees is not charged, he added.
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Tesco Prepares to Exit U.S. With Sale of Fresh & Easy
By Reuters
Filed under: Company News, Earnings, Retail, Food & Beverage, Stocks
By James Davey and Kate Holton
Britain’s biggest retailer, Tesco, wrote down the value of its global operations by $3.5 billion and announced plans to exit the United States, as it sought to rebuild after a year in which profit fell for the first time in two decades.
The group, the world’s third largest retailer after Walmart and Carrefour, said on Wednesday abandoning loss-making Fresh & Easy in the U.S. would mean restructuring and other one-off costs of 1 billion pounds ($1.5 billion).
Tesco also wrote down the value of its property in Britain by 804 million pounds, reflecting a decision not to develop more than 100 sites, and its businesses in Poland, the Czech Republic and Turkey by 495 million pounds, to account for a sharp slowdown in demand.
Though Chief Executive Philip Clarke hailed Tesco’s fourth quarter performance in its home market as its best quarterly outcome in three years, it still represented a slowdown in growth since Christmas, despite a year of huge investment.
“I’ve been working for Tesco for nearly 40 years and I can tell you this – it already looks, feels and acts like a different and a better business,” Clarke told reporters.
“We’ve closed the gap in the [U.K.] market, at times we’ve outperformed it,” he said.
Shares in Tesco, up 24 percent over the last three months, were down 3 percent at 1004 GMT, valuing the business at 30 billion pounds.
“Management cannot claim concrete evidence of a U.K. recovery with these numbers,” said Panmure Gordon analyst Philip Dorgan.
“It will take time — retail is detail — but we believe that Tesco is on track and we expect recovery in the U.K. to slowly emerge in FY2014,” he said, adding that Tesco could commence share buybacks in 2015.
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Tesco made a statutory pretax profit of 1.96 billion pounds in the year to Feb. 13, down 51.5 percent. It also reported an expected 14.5 percent fall in underlying full-year profit to 3.55 billion pounds, largely reflecting the cost of a 1 billion pounds turnaround plan for its home market, launched after a shock profit warning in January last year.
Earnings were also hit by the impact of the euro zone debt crisis on eastern European markets, restrictions on store opening times in South Korea, and the Fresh & Easy losses.
Fourth quarter sales at British stores open over a year, excluding fuel and VAT sales tax, grew 0.5 percent. Though at the top end of analysts’ forecasts it was worse than growth of 1.8 percent recorded in the six weeks to Jan. 5.
Tesco’s fightback plan for Britain, where it makes over 60 percent of revenue and profit, has focused on more staff, refurbished stores, revamped food ranges and price initiatives
From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/17/tesco-exits-united-states/
President Obama Announces Presidential Delegation to the Republic of Poland to Attend the 70th Anniversary Commemoration of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
President Barack Obama today announced the designation of a Presidential Delegation to the Republic of Poland to attend the 70th Anniversary Commemoration of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising on April 19, 2013.
The Honorable Stephen D. Mull, U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Poland, will lead the delegation.
Members of the Presidential Delegation:
Mr. Douglas A. Davidson, Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues, U.S. Department of State
Ms. Lesley L. Weiss, Chair of the United States Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad
Mr. Joseph D. Gutman, Member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council
Ms. Estelle W. Laughlin, Warsaw Ghetto Survivor
Heir to Johnson & Johnson wealth buried in Poland
Hundreds of people have gathered for the funeral ceremonies for Barbara Piasecka Johnson, a Pole who worked as a maid for an American heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune before marrying him and eventually inheriting much of his wealth.
Johnson, an art collector and philanthropist, died April 1 near Wroclaw, in southwestern Poland, where she lived and studied art history before moving to the United States in 1968. She is to be buried in the city on Monday.
This farmer’s daughter found a job as a cook then chambermaid for J. Seward Johnson. In 1971 she became his third wife. After his death in 1983 she inherited some $300 million from a fortune of over $500 million, following an ugly legal battle with his children.
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/pgu49vpvrTM/
Events mark 70 years since Warsaw ghetto uprising
A month of commemorative events marking the 70th anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising has begun, with a communal cleaning of a Jewish cemetery and a religious ritual at a new Jewish history museum.
The key event will be a ceremony Friday led by President Bronislaw Komorowski remembering the hundreds of Jewish fighters who fought the Nazis in 1943 in their doomed revolt.
City residents turned out Sunday to help clean the Okopowa Street Jewish Cemetery, answering a call by Polish authorities to get involved in remembering the Jewish tragedy.
Poland‘s chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, also unveiled a mezuzah at the entrance of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, which opens Friday. A mezuzah is parchment with Hebrew scripture contained in a decorative case.
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/CZX0tLKIqN4/