EU leaders to honor Poland's WWII efforts

Point of honor for me since my dad was a sailor on a torpedoed ship and in a French POW camp during WWII. Many in our family fought with the Polish Underground too.

GDANSK, Poland, Aug. 22 (UPI) -- A total of 14 prime ministers and seven foreign ministers will honor Poland for the country's World War II efforts against Nazi Germany, an official says.

Polish Minister of Culture Bogdan Zdrojewski said the foreign officials will gather in Gdansk, Poland, Sept.1 to honor Poland's fight against invading Nazi forces at the start of World War II on Sept. 1, 1939, Polish Radio reported Thursday.

"This year there are three great anniversaries commemorated in Europe: Sept. 1, 1939; June 4, 1989 (the first free election in communistic bloc) and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Two of them are being held in Poland," Zdrojewski said Wednesday.

(snip)

Zdrojewski said the ceremony is intended to connect the start of World War II in 1939 with the events of 1989, Polish Radio reported.

"The real end of World War II came with the free election in Poland in 1989 and with the fall of the wall which divided Berlin," the culture minister said.

Happy Biden Photos

He certainly looks like he's having a good time. Via.

Up to 120,000 people march in protest over Irish economy

Note the highlighted bit. I'm good with street protests, how about you?

Up to 120,000 people have marched in Dublin in protest at how the Government is handling the economic crisis. The march, which was organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu), took nearly one and a half hours to make its way from Parnell Square to Merrion Square.

Ictu maintained that the protest today was the first step in a campaign in support of a fairer way to achieve economic recovery.

Addressing the demonstration Ictu general secretary David Begg said that “a business elite” had destroyed the economy and had not yet been held to account for it in any respect.

Portugal offers asylum to Gitmo detainees

Saw this earlier and lost it. It could be a really good start to getting rid of Gitmo forever and an important offer of goodwill for President Obama.

Portugal has offered to grant asylum to Guantánamo prisoners in a move that could help the incoming Obama administration accelerate closure of the controversial detention camp.

Luis Amado, the Portuguese foreign minister, on Thursday said Portugal stood ready to take some of the Guantánamo detainees, and urged other members of the European Union to follow suit.

”The time has come for the European Union to step forward,” Mr Amado wrote to his European counterparts in a letter to coincide with the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

”We should send a clear signal of our willingness to help the US government… through the resettlement of detainees. As far as the Portuguese government is concerned, we will be available to participate.”