Warsaw - Unemployment in Poland rose to 10.9 per cent in February and was up 0.4 per cent from the previous month, the Central Statistical Office said on Tuesday.

Retail sales were down 1.6 per cent in February compared to a year ago, the statistics office said.

The number of building permits in January and February also fell by 9.6 per cent compared to that same period last year in a country that's increasingly feeling the effects of the global economic recession.

Warsaw - A 46-year-old man called the "Polish Fritzl" took the stand Friday after he allegedly raped his daughter repeatedly and kept her prisoner for six years.

Krzysztof B. faces charges of repeatedly raping his daughter using violence and threats, and physically and emotionally abusing his family.

The proceedings are being held behind closed doors in the eastern city of Bialystok, reported the Polish Press Agency PAP.

Warsaw - Poland plans to strengthen its mission in Afghanistan and create a new "strategic reserve" force ready for deployment there at anytime, Defence Minister Bogdan Klich said on Wednesday.

The government could boost Poland's contingent in Afghanistan in April or May, Klich said, and is already working on a proposal for the president. Klich said it will be discussed how many troops will be added, with the president having the final word.

Warsaw - Thousands of Hasidic Jews will on Tuesday pray at the grave in Poland of one of the faith's most influential rabbis, marking the 223 anniversary of his death.

Rabbi Elimelech Weisblum's grave in southeastern Poland will see Jews from across the world come to pray, dance and sing at one of the most significant places in the Hasidic faith.

The anniversary is "classically Jewish - chaotic," Poland's Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Warsaw - A growing number of Poles now support building a civil nuclear reactor in their country, according to an opinion poll in the daily Rzeczpospolita on Monday.

Some 42 per cent are opposed to the project, compared to 56 per cent last year against nuclear energy, said the survey of 1,000 people.

The gradual shift in opinion comes as Poland realizes how dependent its is on Russia for energy - and susceptible to another crisis, sociologist Barbara Fedzyszak-Radziejowska said.