The Polish parliament has voted overwhelmingly to reject proposals for a total ban on abortion.

Poles wept before their televisions, lowered flags to half-mast and taped black ribbons in their windows after hearing that President Lech Kaczynski and the upper echelons of the establishment lay dead in woods a short drive from the site of the Katyn forest massacre, where 22,000 Polish officers were killed by Soviet secret police in one of Poland’s greatest national traumas.

Polish President Lech Kacynski has reportedly indicated that he will not sign the Lisbon Treaty following Ireland's rejection of the document.

The Polish parliament today rejected a motion calling for the immediate resignation of Prime Minister Marek Belka, who said this week that he would leave office in early May.