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.

Warsaw - Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze during a meeting

Warsaw  - Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Tuesday the government would intervene if the country's currency drops to 5 zloty against the euro, and would then sell euros on the market.

The announcement came after the zloty dropped to historic lows on Monday, when it traded at 4.77 against the euro. It dipped further on Tuesday, when at times it traded at
4.94 against the euro.

Warsaw (Poland), Feb. 17 : The late Pope John Paul II was the subject of two assassination plots in his native Poland a senior member of the Polish Catholic Church has claimed.

Many believe that the man who made an assassination attempt on John Paul II in 1981was working on the orders of Bulgarian secret service.

Zdzislaw Krol, chancellor of Warsaw Metropolitan Curia, said the late pontiff faced plots against his life during his 1983 and 1987 pilgrimages to Poland.