Free Republic

WARSAW, Poland - Poland will cut its troop strength in Iraq by nearly a third in February as part of long-standing plans to reduce its presence there, the government said Tuesday. Poland's 2,400-member contingent will be cut to 1,700 from mid-February, with 700 soldiers remaining on standby in Poland, Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski told a news conference. Poland, a staunch U.S. ally on Iraq, commands an international stabilization force of about 6,000 troops in central Iraq. The cuts will come as part of a regular troop rotation due to begin in early January, but Szmajdzinski stressed that troop levels will...

(...) GOD THE FATHER... But some experts believe any male-dominated religion, in which God and his prophets or apostols are male figures, creates conditions for the subordination and abuse of women. Predominantly Catholic Poland, although free from "honour killings", has a problem with violence against women, rooted in the strong influence of the Catholic church on public life, Polish minister for gender equality Magdalena Sroda said. "Catholicism does not directly support or oppose violence against women. But there are indirect links through culture which is strongly based on religion," Sroda told Reuters. "It is a structure based on patriarchal domination...

Friday, December 10, 2004 WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s upper house of parliament approved a bill last week that would allow gay couples to gain legal partnership rights, immediately drawing sharp criticism from the nation’s powerful Roman Catholic Church. The Senate voted 38-23 with 15 abstentions to send the draft to the lower house, or Sejm, where the bill was expected to meet resistance. If it becomes law, the bill would allow gay couples to register with city or town officials, which would give them inheritance rights and other legal guarantees — but not the right to adopt children. Sen....

US aircraft maker Boeing will begin talks in Poland in December on the possibilities of producing parts here for its new long-range 7E7 model, a company official told Polish news agency PAP. "Next month we and a number of companies in Poland are going to discuss their role in the production of the Boeing 7E7," the company's vice-president in Europe, Craig Johnstone, said in remarks translated from the Polish. "In coming months will have to find the machine and parts makers needed for producing the 7E7. We are talking about 10 million working hours," he said, in remarks quoted Sunday....