Warsaw - Former Polish leader General Wojciech Jaruzelski took the stand Thursday against charges of communist-era crimes, calling them baseless and saying martial law was needed in 1981 to avoid a Soviet-bloc invasion.

Jaruzelski, 85, read from a prepared statement in the Warsaw court, the stage for Poland's highest-profile effort to bring Soviet-era leaders to justice.

"The hard decision was motivated by a higher necessity," he testified to a room full of his former military aides and elderly former Solidarity members.

Warsaw  - Polish President Lech Kaczynski said it was "impossible" for Poland to adopt the euro by 2011, warning that the financial strictures needed for the changeover would bring economic hardship on large segments of the population.

"I think the year 2011 is a pointless question," he said on Tuesday, "because it's obvious even now that's a completely unrealistic date."

Warsaw  - An OSCE report launched Monday paints a "bleak picture" and shows "considerable gaps" in improving the situation of the Roma and Sinti people across Europe, officials said at an annual conference in Warsaw.

"The situation has not improved as much as hoped and expected" after the 56-member states adopted an action plan in 2003, said Ambassador Janez Lenarcic, director of the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. "There are still major steps to be taken to reach an acceptable level of implementation in our region."

Warsaw - Former president and Solidarity leader Lech Walesa must pay 7,500 zloty (3,277 dollars) for calling another former union activist a "cut-throat monkey" and "sick moron," a Gdansk court ruled on Friday.

The court ruled Walesa had defamed Krzysztof Wyszkowski during a TV show in June, 2005, while discussing whether the Institute of National Remembrance should grant Walesa the status of victim of the communist security forces.

Warsaw - Poland's government signalled Friday it wants oil refiner PKN Orlen to focus expansion on the energy sector and shift away from chemicals.

Treasury Minister Aleksander Grad's comments to the Puls Biznesu daily came after PKN Orlen, Central Europe's largest company by sales, named a new chief executive this month after reports of boardroom conflicts.

Grad said while he's not planning to impose a new strategy for the company, he believes it should focus more on the energy sector.

"Orlen's management board must above all decide: to buy chemical group Ciech, or to sell (chemical unit) Anwil," he told the business paper. "A more interesting direction for investment for Orlen could be the energy sector."

Warsaw - Former Polish leader General Wojciech Jaruzelski's plea against charges of communist-era crimes was postponed Thursday when another elderly defendant failed to show at the trial.

Jaruzelski, 85, has reportedly prepared a 200-page defence he plans to read out in the Warsaw court, the stage for Poland's highest-profile effort to bring Soviet-era leaders to justice.