Warsaw, Nov 19 : Following a wide coverage by the international media quoting Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski as jokingly saying that US President-elect Barack Obama’s grandpa was a cannibal, the country’s foreign minister has come to his rescue claiming that he never passed the racist jibe about Obama’s lineage.

The episode could potentially strain relations between Warsaw and Washington.

Warsaw - Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk was going to Kuwait and Qatar Monday for three days of talks on gas contracts and lessening Poland's reliance on Russian supplies.

Tusk would meet with Gulf leaders for talks on economic cooperation, energy, and the chemical and petrochemical industry, his chancellery said.

Warsaw - Union members in Warsaw left Prime Minister Donald Tusk's office on Friday morning after spending two nights in the building, threatening a general strike and saying it was "cowardly" to relocate the office.

Members of "August 80" - a more hard-line group than the Solidarity union - have been occupying Tusk's offices since Wednesday in protest over a bill that would slash early retirement. But they left the building on Friday morning after officials said Tusk's office had been temporarily relocated.

Warsaw - Polish President Lech Kaczynski is unable to meet French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy next month for talks on unblocking the European Union's reform treaty, an aide said Thursday.

Sarkozy, whose country holds the EU's six-month until December 31, has previously said he would meet Kaczynski on December 6 to discuss the Lisbon Treaty. But the Polish president's office said he will be visiting Asia.

Warsaw - Some 30 union members in Warsaw continued to occupy Prime Minister Donald Tusk's office Thursday after a group spent the night in the building, demanding a meeting with Tusk - who is on a foreign visit - to discuss a bill that would slash early retirement.

Members of "August 80" - a more hard-line group than the Solidarity union - said they wouldn't leave until they got a meeting.

Warsaw - Some 200 labor union members in Warsaw occupied Prime Minister Donald Tusk's office on Wednesday, demanding a meeting with Tusk on a bill that would slash early retirement.

Members of "August 80" - a more hard-line group than the Solidarity union - said they wouldn't leave until they got a meeting. Tusk was at the time in Frankfurt for talks with the European Central Bank on Poland's entry into the eurozone.