Warsaw - Two Polish men were sentenced to 10 years in prison Thursday fo

Warsaw - Polish and US officials signed a deal Thursday designed to increase cooperation between Polish and American special forces in their fight against global terrorism.

Polish Defence Minister Bogdan Klich and US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates signed the memorandum of understanding on the sidelines of a NATO meeting in Krakow.

Klich called the memo a "milestone" on the road to strengthening Polish special forces in modern operations.

"I think the value of this agreement will be shortly tested out during operations in Afghanistan," Klich said.

Krakow, Poland - German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung said Thursday he opposed US plans to use NATO's embryonic Response Force (NRF) to provide security in Afghanistan during the country's presidential elections.

"The NRF should not be considered as a reserve force. In principle, it has a very different role to play," Jung told reporters ahead of a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Krakow, Poland.

Other European allies are understood to also oppose the deployment of the NRF in Afghanistan.

Krakow, Poland - NATO defence ministers Thursday were to discuss how to bolster the alliance's mission in Afghanistan amid record civilian casualties and US calls for greater troop numbers in the run-up to the country's presidential elections.

Ahead of the two-day informal meeting in the Polish city of Krakow, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said his country was committed to defeating the Taliban insurgency through the deployment of an additional 17,000 soldiers, announced on Tuesday by US President Barack Obama.

Warsaw  - Poland has begun talks with the European Central Bank (ECB) on entering the first stage of adopting the euro currency, the head of the ruling Civic Platform party said on Wednesday.

"Official talks with the ECB on entering ERM-2 (Exchange Rate Mechanism) have been ongoing since several days ago," Zbigniew Chlebowski told the Polish Press Agency PAP.

The ECB and Poland's Ministry of Finance did not comment.

Warsaw  - Poland's finance ministry sold euros on the market Wednesday from its European Union funds amid a sinking zloty, a ministry spokesman told TVN24.

The spokesman declined to say how much was sold, or if the government would sell more in an effort to boost the weakening national Polish currency.

The zloty had dipped to 4.94 against the euro on Tuesday. It had risen to 4.77 against the euro at the close of the stock exchange on Wednesday.