Warsaw - Some urbanites may complain of a Starbucks on every corner of their city, but for Warsaw residents the arrival of the world's biggest coffee shop chain means further prestige and worldliness for Poland.

For Andrzej Bacinski, 34, it means the end of an era of wondering when the next world-known brand will finally arrive in the country.

"I remember Poland's first McDonald's, and the lines were so long," Bacinski said. "And this is the end of that era. We've got everything now."

Warsaw - A Polish awards ceremony sparked debate Tuesday when the
president honoured a controversial institute accused of lying about
Solidarity icon Lech Walesa.

President Lech Kaczynski honored historians and the chief of the
Institute of National Remembrance, which prosecutes Nazi and communist
crimes.

But the honours come amid criticism that the institute slandered Walesa and should be called the institute of "national lies."

The former anti-communist leader has even threatened to leave

Warsaw  - Bankruptcies in Poland rose 11 per cent in the first quarter of 2009 compared to the same period last year, the daily Rzeczpospolita reported Monday.

Some 100 companies declared bankruptcy in the first quarter of the year, it cited a study by credit insurer Euler Hermes as saying. The number was expected to rise as the trend spreads from urban centres.

"Many companies were created for the time of economic prosperity," analyst Andrzej Sadowski told the daily. "They didn't prove themselves in hard conditions."

Warsaw - A Polish court awarded some 1.9 million zloty (566,403 dollars) to two families whose babies were switched at birth 25 years ago.

The families had demanded more than 2 million zloty in the case that's dragged in a Warsaw court for the past seven years, the Polish Press Agency has reported.

The children were switched at a Warsaw hospital in 1984 after the twins of one family were placed in the same ward with the daughter of another family.

Warsaw - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will visit Poland for ceremonies marking the outbreak of World War II, his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk said Thursday.

The visit in September will be Putin's first trip in a number of years to the former Soviet bloc, and comes after months of tension between Moscow and Warsaw.

Putin's visit will include talks on gas and energy cooperation, Tusk said.

Warsaw  - Former Polish sports minister Tomasz Lipiec went on trial Thursday on five criminal charges including corruption and fraud in 2004-2007.

Lipiec, who pleaded not guilty to the charges, faces up to 10 years in prison on conviction, the Polish Press Agency PAP reported. He did not comment to reporters and the trial was closed to media.

Prosecutors did not reveal the total amount of alleged bribes involved, but the amount is "at least 100,000 zloty (29,587 dollars)", according to the weekly Wprost.