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.

Poland’s business-friendly and pro-EU Civic Platform ousted prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s conservatives in parliamentary elections, early results said today, in the strongest showing for any single party since the eastern European country overthrew Communism in 1989.

Poland and Romania have denied allegations that the CIA ran secret jails in the two countries to interrogate key terror suspects.

THE US ambassador opened Security Council discussions on the next UN secretary-general calling the choice of a replacement for Kofi Annan probably the most important decision the world body will make this year.

THE US ambassador opened Security Council discussions on the next UN secretary-general calling the choice of a replacement for Kofi Annan probably the most important decision the world body will make this year.

Lech Kaczynski was sworn in as Poland’s new president today, completing the rise to power of conservative leaders who pledged to fight corruption, boost the economy and distance the country from its communist past.

POLAND served as the CIA’s main centre to detain terrorist suspects in Europe at clandestine prisons, according to remarks by a Human Rights Watch investigator made public Friday.

A Human Rights Watch investigator said Poland was the CIA’s main centre to detain terrorist suspects in Europe at clandestine prisons, a Polish newspaper reported today.

Allegations that the CIA set up secret jails in eastern Europe and elsewhere to interrogate al Qaida suspects today triggered a flurry of denials from governments in the former Soviet bloc and prompted European Union officials, the continent’s top human rights organisation and the international Red Cross to investigate.

Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, a former school principal turned economic adviser, is set to become Poland’s new prime minister as he embarks on talks to form a new government that will try to reduce taxes and increase prosperity for the country’s 38 million residents.

Poland heads into general elections this weekend with two centre-right parties set to hand a stinging defeat to the governing ex-communists and touch off a struggle over economic policy in the EU’s biggest new member.

CRH, Ireland’s largest company, has been embroiled in a €827,000 million bribery allegation in Poland.

Germany’s leader is making his third trip to France in a month. The prime minister of Spain is flying back in. Italians are being urged to bombard the French with a common message: “Vote Yes”.

Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski said today that Western European governments have a duty to support democratic reforms in countries on Europe’s eastern fringe.

Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski said he refused the resignation of Prime Minister Marek Belka today, a decision expected to keep the unpopular governing party in office until elections later this year.

JERUSALEM’S new Holocaust museum is a place of deep shame for all Germans, because the nation will remain forever linked to the Nazi genocide of six million Jews, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said yesterday.

AS candles flickered in the snowy, winter gloom, world leaders and Auschwitz survivors yesterday remembered victims of the Holocaust on the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp.

World leaders and death camp survivors mourned victims of the Holocaust on the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp, gathering today at the spot where Nazi doctors once sent new arrivals to the gas chambers.

UKRAINE’S president Leonid Kuchma called round table talks in Kiev last night and said he would go along with a presidential run-off on December 26 as set out by the Supreme Court.

The campaign for a third round of voting in Ukraine’s bitterly fought presidential contest officially opened today, with activists signing up to monitor the election and a top ally of opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko speaking confidently of victory.

Supporters of opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko kept up their siege of government buildings today after pro-government lawmakers blocked election law changes designed to ensure fair balloting in a re-run of the country’s presidential runoff.

Ukraine’s outgoing President Leonid Kuchma today accused the opposition of reneging on compromise agreements and called for quick foreign mediation of his nation’s post-election political crisis.

Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko suffered a setback in the Ukraine’s parliament today when his foes blocked electoral amendments intended to avert fraud in a new presidential runoff later this month.

Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko promised his shivering supporters their round-the clock vigil in the Ukrainian capital would bring victory soon.

Ukraine’s opposition brought down the government today, and opposition leader, Viktor Yuschenko, signed a compromise deal that obliges his supporters to immediately lift their siege of government buildings.

International mediators were renewing efforts today to defuse Ukraine’s political crisis, with the opposition and government locked in a tense stand-off awaiting a Supreme Court decision on the disputed results of the presidential election.

European mediators are renewing efforts today to broker a solution to Ukraine’s disputed presidential election as the government and the opposition remained locked in a tense stand-off.

Ukraine’s crisis deepened tonight when the opposition abruptly broke off compromise talks over the tainted presidential election after pro-government MPs blocked a no-confidence motion seeking to topple the prime minister.

Ukraine’s two rivals for power failed in nearly three hours of talks to resolve the political stalemate over who will lead the bitterly-divided nation.

THE rivals for the Ukrainian presidency sat down and talked last night with European and Russian envoys and the man they both hope to succeed.

The rivals at war over the Ukrainian presidency sat down and talked tonight with the man they both hope to succeed and European and Russian envoys.

Out-going Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma has agreed to meet presidential election rivals Viktor Yushchenko and Viktor Yanukovych today in the presence of European envoys, a EU official said.

Thousands of Ukrainian opposition supporters encircled government buildings in Kiev today, refusing to let anyone through as they intensified their protests against the outcome of disputed presidential elections.

Wedged between troubled Ukraine and the West, Poland has plunged into the disputed Ukrainian presidential election in an attempt to mediate – a sign of anxiety over the prospect of instability and rising Russian influence so close to home.

As Ukraine’s political opposition savoured a court victory blocking official publication of results in a disputed presidential election, three European envoys were headed to the ex-Soviet republic today on a quest to nudge the two candidates’ camps into talks.

As US President George Bush's re-election was confirmed, France, Germany and other European countries he alienated during his first four years promised today to work with the new administration.

Insurgents slaughtered 11 Iraqi soldiers, beheading one, then shooting the others execution-style, and declared on an Islamic militant website that Iraqi fighters would avenge “the blood” of women and children killed in US strikes on the guerrilla stronghold of Fallujah.

POLISH MPs narrowly voted against reintroducing the death penalty yesterday after a series of killings that outraged the nation.

POLAND said it aims to withdraw all of its 2500 troops from Iraq during the course of next year, a major disappointment for Washington which sees Warsaw as one of its staunchest allies in Iraq.

THE Polish president spelt out his compromise proposals for the new EU Constitution in Warsaw yesterday, bringing Taoiseach Bertie Ahern an important step closer to finalising the constitution in June.

PRIESTS and presidents, pilgrims and politicians arrived in Rome from around the world yesterday to fete an ailing Pope John Paul as he prepares to mark the 25th anniversary of his historic pontificate today.

George W Bush toured former Nazi death camps today and urged the world never to forget the Holocaust victims.

Europe Correspondent

ALTERNATIVE plans are being worked on by legal experts to allow EU enlargement go ahead, even if the Irish vote No in the Nice Referendum, the Polish President admitted last night.