The Eastern European Migrants Advice Committee said on March 14, 2008, that it has recently seen a change of the flow of people between Poland and Britain. It is estimated about 6,000 people came from Poland to Derby in England, but now it is thought around 500 returned due to low wages and poor living conditions. A community worker said there were new work opportunities in Poland, especially because of new construction work, including that taking place ahead of Poland and Ukraine hosting the 2012 European Football [Soccer] Championships.

The Polish government said on March 4, 2008, it would return citizenship to Jews forced out by the Communist regime in an anti-Semitic purge 40 years ago. Between 15,000-20,000 Jews lost their jobs and were expelled in 1968. The victims, many of whom emigrated to Israel or the United States, were stripped of their Polish citizenship and their properties were expropriated. Their Polish passports were confiscated and replaced with a "travel document" that did not allow them to return.

Record company EMI is bringing out Britain's first official compilation album of Polish pop and rock hits. Among the 76 groups included on the album, called "The Best Polish Songs ... Ever!," are rapper Sidney Polak, dubbed the Polish MC Hammer; Polish X-Factor winner Justyna Steczkowska; and the classical-electronic group Goya, whose hits include an Enya-like cover of Nirvana’s "Smells Like Teen Spirit." EMI hopes to appeal not only to the UK’s booming Polish population, but also to British music fans.

Lech Walesa, Poland former President, was discharged from a Houston hospital on March 5, 2008, four days after surgeons implanted a pacemaker. The device, which may help Walesa avoid a heart transplant, was implanted during a two-hour procedure at Methodist DeBakey Heart and Vascular Center. Walesa, 64, went to Houston for tests and had a stent implanted into a clogged coronary artery. He previously had a heart attack and suffers from sleep apnea and diabetes.

Rogue pharmacists in Poland’s Mazowieckie voivodship have been able to defraud the National Health Fund (NFZ) of as much as $2,200 on a single fake prescription written for a phantom patient by accomplice physicians, according to a report made on March 7, 2008. The scam was made possible by the lack of any tools on the part of the government to control whether a pharmacy actually bought a given drug from a wholesaler it claims it did. Marek Twardowski, Deputy Health Minister, said only full computerization of pharmacies and the scrapping of paper-based prescription will enable effective detection of such scams.

Monika Krawczyk, Director of the Foundation for Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland, said that vandals painted a swastika and other graffiti at the grave of a prominent 18th-century Hasidic rabbi in southeastern Poland. The white prayer house that encloses the grave of Rabbi Elimelech in the town of Lezajsk was desecrated on the night of March 4, 2008. Krawczyk said, "We are shaken by this. There have never been any such incidents in the town, which is used to the constant presence of Jews." Every year, thousands of Hasidic Jews travel to Lezajsk from around the world to pray at the grave.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated in early March that the United States has asked for six months to prepare an offer for modernizing Poland’s army in return for permission to locate a missile defense base in the country. The remarks were published by the Super Express tabloid.

The 12th Easter Festival of Ludwig van Beethoven opened in Warsaw on March 9, 2008, with Beethoven’s "Missa Solemnis in C minor opus 23" performed by the Choir of the National Philharmonics and Sinfonietta Cracovia under Kazimierz Kord. The festival also presented works of great masters who lived or were born in Vienna and hosted many outstanding world artists. Several performances were also presented in Gdansk, Krakow, Bialystok and Lodz through March 22.

International Women’s Day, March 8, a celebration left over from the time of the communist regime, was marked in Poland. As in previous years, the day was marked by a pro-abortion march organized in Warsaw by post-communist groups and radical leftist feminists. At the same time, the National Health Fund organized a campaign encouraging women to undergo free mammography and cytology. Polish women undergo these kinds of tests four times less often than women in Scandinavia, so leaflets with information were handed out to women all over the country.

One of the world’s most famous musicals, "Phantom of the Opera," premiered in Warsaw on March 15, 2008. The head of the theater, Wojciech Kepczynski, who also directs the musical, said it was his greatest wish to present "Phantom" in the capital. Tickets for the musical have been sold out until May.

An F-16 made an emergency landing at the Warsaw Fryderyk Chopin airport on March 11, 2008, near the noon hour. According to eyewitnesses, the fighter jet landed about a half mile from the beginning of the runway. One of the three F16s was on its way to the Krzesiny airbase near Poznan in western Poland. The Polish Air Force purchased 48 aircraft from Lockheed Martin as part of a multi- billion dollar offset deal signed in 2002.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski called a meeting with the heads of parliamentary caucuses Civic Platform, People’s Party and Left-Democrats, to discuss the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon. Kaczynski appealed to the parties to reach an agreement in respect of the treaty, while the Polish Parliament began its second reading of the government bill on the ratification of the EU reform treaty. Earlier, the chamber approved a motion to accelerate legislative procedures on the Treaty, despite protests from fellow opposition Law and Justice that the treaty is too important to be hurried.

The Catholic weekly Niedziela [Sunday] the most widely-read Catholic journal in Poland, published the text in mid-March of a proposed moratorium on abortion being promoted by Italian journalist Giuliano Ferrara, with an appeal to all Polish citizens to support the initiative. The journal asked that the moratorium be supported in the workplaces, schools, universities, parishes, and within the various Church movements. It also sent the text of the moratorium to government representatives, Polish political figures, and persons of culture in society, as well as within the Church.

Andrzej Wajda is taking takes his film "Katyn" to Moscow. Poland’s leading director has said the movie is not directed against the Russian people, but against a criminal system, whose victims included not only Poles but also the citizens of the former Soviet Union. Speaking at a meeting with students in Krakow on March 13, 2008, he emphasized, "It was my intention to show the Bolshevik, communist, Stalinist system. I’m now taking the film to our friends. How are our enemies going to treat us? I’ll tell you when I return." The screenings of "Katyn" were scheduled in Moscow for VIPs, artists and members of the opposition, sympathizers of the Memorial non-governmental organization.

Top directors and designers attended celebrations of 60 years of Polish animated film in Wroclaw during March, southwestern Poland. Among the special guests of the event were Zbigniew Rybczynski, whose "Tango" won the Oscar 25 years ago, and Hugh Welchman from Britain’s BreakThru Films, who, together with the director Suzie Templeton, collected the Oscar for Best Animated Short this year for "Peter and the Wolf" made jointly with the Polish SeMaFor Studio in Lodz. A wide range of events focusing on the promotion of animated film will culminate in an international festival in Krakow in November.

Poland’s governing Civic Platform (PO) is highly popular at this time, according to a poll by PBS DGA published in Gazeta Wyborcza [Election Gazette]. About 60% of respondents said they would back PO in the next general election, while 23% would vote for the opposition Law and Justice Party (PiS). Left and Democracy (LiD) is third with 8%, followed by the People’s Party (PSL) with 3%.

Modernization work has begun on Glogowska Street in Poznan. The road is of strategic importance for Poland’s preparations for Euro 2012, because it links the A2 motorway with Lawica airport and the city’s stadium on Bulgarska Street. The renovation work covers the section between the A2 motorway and the Junikowski Stream. The undertaking will cost more than $69 million.

Poland’s Internet population usage rate reached 42% in the third quarter of 2007, according to a report from the Polish publication "The Internet Standard." In a country with a population of 38 million, research places the Internet population at 12.8 million Internet users ages 15 years or older. Another research provider, estimated almost 14.1 million Internet users in May 2007. The Interactive Advertising Bureau in Poland estimated the Internet advertising market in 2006 to be worth $95 million, expected to reach 115 $182 million in 2007.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told a news conference on March 18, 2008, that the permanent presence of Russian soldiers in Poland was out of the question, although talks on Russia monitoring a U.S. anti-missile shield were feasible to "give Moscow a sense of security." He was commenting on a Gazeta Wyborcza [Election Gazette] report that suggested the United States had made a proposal whereby Russian soldiers would be allowed to inspect anti-missile shield bases in Poland and the Czech Republic.

The Polish government said on March 19, 2008, it planned to send 400 more troops and eight helicopters to strengthen NATO forces in Afghanistan. Poland has so far contributed about 1,200 troops to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force fighting the Taliban. Canada, which has 2,500 troops in Afghanistan's volatile south, had made it a condition of extending its mission that NATO contribute an additional 1,000 troops.

Almost two in five Polish women use dietary supplements that improve the appearance of their skin, hair or nails, compared to only 7% of men who do so, according to a poll by TNS OBOP. Moreover, the survey shows men use these so-called nutricosmetics more sporadically than women, with the majority of male users declaring they used nutricosmetics up to several times in a year. Conversely, 38% of women users use them at least once a day, 19% at least once a week and 30% occasionally.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is scheduled to visit Poland in April 23, 2008, to forge strategic ties between Paris and the European Union’s largest newcomer. France’s Defense Minister, Herve Morin, said that Poland, which broke away from the crumbling communist bloc in 1989, joined NATO in 1999 and the EU in 2004, would play a "major role" in developing European security policy.

Polish forces stationed in Afghanistan will take over the command of Ghazni province. The region is reported to be much safer than Paktika, where Polish soldiers have been stationing so far. Defense Minister Bogdan Klich explained on March 22, 2008, that when such a zone was created, the mission objectives, including peace enforcement, would be easier to meet.

Activists of human rights organizations and other Polish citizens staged several demonstrations of solidarity with Tibet around the country on March 21, 2008. At least 200 people demonstrated in front of the presidential palace in Warsaw. They lit candles and carried banners saying "Free Tibet." Another 130 people gathered in Gdansk to protest against human rights abuses in Tibet. They were mostly members of the Young Democrats organization, which had already sent a letter of concern to the Chinese Embassy in Warsaw.

Piotr Nurowski, Chairman of the Polish Olympic Committee, warned on March 20, 2008, that Polish athletes may face disqualification if they make political demonstrations at the Olympic Games in Beijing. He said any action of this kind at an Olympic venue would be a violation of the Olympic Charter and would bring about strict sanctions. However, he said, there would be no restrictions on athletes acting outside the Games.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on March 21, 2008, that Poland will not block a return to negotiations on a new EU-Russia agreement. He stated contentious issues in Warsaw’s relations with Moscow have been heading towards a favorable solution with the dropping of the Russian embargo on meat imports from Poland and a declaration to withdraw a similar ban on agricultural products.

Digital copies bearing the names of some 3.5 million people displaced after World War II have been handed over to Holocaust memorial groups and museums in the United States, Israel and Poland. The International Tracing Service (ITS) of the International Committee of the Red Cross says it has handed over more of the documents to the Yad Vashem Memorial in Jerusalem, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington and the Warsaw-based National Institute of Remembrance. In a statement on March 25, 2008, ITS says the copies of the index cards feature the names of people who had been freed from Nazi concentration and labor camps, as well as prisoners of war.

A total of 50 people were killed and 472 injured in 345 traffic accidents during Easter in Poland. Unfavorable weather and road conditions coupled with large traffic flows at rush hours were to blame for the high number of fatalities. Police had intensified their vigilance over speeding and drunken driving from Good Friday, which helped prevent more accidents to some degree, the police stated.