CENTRE-RIGHT leader Donald Tusk last night became the first Polish prime minister since the fall of communism in 1989 to win a second consecutive term following his Civic Platform’s election victory.

TRAVELLING on a fleet of planes, trains and cars, more than 50,000 Poles are expected to flock to the Vatican for the beatification of “their” saint-to-be, Polish-born Pope John Paul II.

The death of Poland’s president and many elite figures in Saturday’s plane crash in Russia rekindled memories of the wartime Katyn massacre.

About 3,000 people marched peacefully through Warsaw today in the Polish capital’s annual gay rights march, an event that has been marked in previous years by official bans and violence.