Warsaw  - If a Polish cardinal had his way, the Virgin Mary would be patron of the European Parliament, the daily Metro reported on Friday.

Cardinal Jozef Glemp first raised the idea in August, but now the proposal is also slated to be presented to the Commission of Episcopates of the European Union, the daily says.

The Virgin Mary last year became the patron of the Polish parliament, in a move that got wide support from both left- and right-wing politicians.

Warsaw - Activists from a human rights organization have urged Poland to ban cluster munitions, the daily Polska reported on Thursday.

A petition has been sent to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, asking him to subscribe to the Oslo Process and ban the controversial weapon, said Adam Bodnar of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights.

Responding to Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski, who the daily quoted as saying cluster bombs are "not so oppressive," Bodnar said "these are irresponsible words in the light of the international process" to ban the munitions.

Moscow - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will visit Poland to discuss a controversial US anti-missile defence system, the Interfax news agency reported Wednesday.

Russia's top diplomat also was likely in talks with Polish leadership to lay out the Kremlin's position on the South Ossetia war, according to the report.

Warsaw - Polish public opinion is split on the outcome of Monday's EU emergency summit on Russia, according to a poll published on Wednesday in the daily Rzeczpospolita.

Thirty-eight per cent thought the EU's reaction to the Russia- Georgia war, which threatened to suspend a cooperation agreement but did not lay down sanctions against Russia, was "sufficient" after the summit in Brussels on Monday, while 37 per cent said it was "too soft." Fifteen percent thought the EU had been "too tough" on Russia.

Poland had led several former Eastern Bloc countries in calling for a tough EU stance on Russia, wary of their eastern neighbour's growing assertiveness.

Warsaw (Poland), September 3 : The remains of a 30-year-old woman, which date back to 6,500 years, have been found at an archeological excavation in Pinczow, in the Swietokrzyska region, in southern Poland. 

According to the director of the dig, Przemyslaw Duleba, from the Institute of Archeology at the University of Warsaw, this is the oldest discovery every to be found in this region. 

“The skeleton of the young woman is perfectly preserved and laid on her left side in an embryonic position,” he said.

Duleba said that this skeleton provides evidence as to the funereal rites of the people that lived on this land in that era. 

Warsaw  - Polish President Lech Kaczynski met with his Portuguese counterpart on Tuesday to discuss Georgia, Ukraine and the European Union's Lisbon Treaty.

Kaczynski said he was optimistic, along with Anibal Cavaco Silva, about the Lisbon Treaty's future, but stressed that Ireland must solve "its problem" on its own. Kaczynski added that his signature wasn't hindering the treaty's ratification, but it's the Irish no vote in a June referendum that's a hindrance.

Kaczynski also reaffirmed he was happy with the conclusions reached at Monday's EU summit on Georgia.

"I think either Nicolas Sarkozy's success in Moscow awaits us," Kaczynski said, "or the necessity to act further."