Today’s news round up in Poland

Start your day with a summary of today’s top stories from Poland’s leading news sites.

TVN24.pl – The private news network reported on the vandalism in Latvia of a monument to Polish and Latvian soldiers who died fighting Bolshevik forces in 1920. The monument, in the town of Daugavpils, Latvia's second largest city, had offensive comments written on it. A member of the Union of Poles in Latvia said that it may have just been drunken vandals who caused the damage, although he added that the vandalism may have been act of revenge for the removal of Red Army monuments in Poland.

Rp.pl – The German ambassador to Poland told the newspaper Rzeczpospolita that the prospect of deploying German Patriot air-defence missiles in Ukraine is "not realistic". Thomas Bagger said the Polish government knows the difference between a Nato and non-Nato-state, and that it is very difficult to deploy weapons that are part of the alliance's defence systems outside Nato. But he said the offer of Patriots to Poland "shows the importance the government attaches to relations with Poland."

TVPInfo.pl – Public broadcaster TVPInfo reported that Civic Platform, Poland's largest opposition party, had written an appeal to other opposition parties to form a single list for next year's general election. The appeal says that the opposition is united by "shared principles and values" and respect for the constitution, the rule of law and civil and personal rights. But the broadcaster also said that the smaller parties are sceptical about cooperating with Civic Platform (PO), and that Donald Tusk, the PO leader, is getting frustrated with the lack of movement on forming a single list.

Wyborcza.pl – The newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza investigated the plight of Latin Americans working in the Polish meat industry. The workers were lured to Poland with promises of a good wage of USD 1,500 a month. But when they got to Poland they found that there wages were around PLN 1,300 (EUR 276) a month after their employees docked their salaries for spurious housing, food and clothing expenses. They also have to work punishing shifts, sleeping only five hours a night at times. Some of the workers also report being racially abused.