Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka said yesterday that post-war nation-building efforts in Iraq have “failed totally", but expressed hope that the country’s different religious groups can work together to build an independent nation.

BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair may have lost a lot of friends during the ill-tempered negotiations on the EU budget this weekend, but he got his way.

SOLEMN commemoration services and street parties drew huge crowds yesterday as Europe celebrated the 60th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s defeat and the end of the continent’s most devastating war.

Solemn commemoration services and street parties drew huge crowds today as Europe celebrated the 60th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s defeat and the end of the continent’s most devastating war.

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.

Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka was to submit his resignation today to fulfil a promise to head a caretaker government for only one year, an offer that President Aleksander Kwasniewski was expected to reject.

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.

Europe’s big three, Tony Blair, French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder have all sent letters to the Polish government recommending it buy airliners from Airbus rather than US rival Boeing.

BERTIE AHERN last night challenged Gerry Adams to respond to issues put to him by the Irish and British governments.

A Polish woman who was abducted last month from her apartment in Baghdad has been freed and has returned to Poland, Prime Minister Marek Belka said today.

Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi today delivered an impassioned personal plea to Europe’s leaders for more support to stabilise his country.

BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair last night congratulated George Bush on his election victory and said he intended to maintain his strong relationship with the president in his second term.

Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka said the country’s public debt will not exceed 55% of gross domestic product this year or in 2005, while Economy Minister Jerzy Hausner forecast it would remain at 2003 levels.

GERMAN Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder yesterday honoured Poles who fought Nazi occupiers in the doomed Warsaw Uprising 60 years ago, acknowledging the “immeasurable suffering” Germans inflicted on their neighbours.

Veterans of the Warsaw Uprising laid wreaths and sang patriotic songs today as commemorations peaked with a visit by German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, a high-profile mission to atone for the Nazis’ brutal crushing of the revolt that began exactly 60 years ago.

A UNITED STATES air strike targeting a purported fighting position used by foreign militants in Fallujah demolished a house and killed 14 people, hospital and local officials said yesterday.