Today’s news round-up in Poland

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

Wyborcza.pl - The newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza ran a story on a letter sent by Mark Brzezinski, the US ambassador to Poland, to Elzbieta Witek, the speaker of the lower house of parliament, addressing US concerns over threats to critical infrastructure in Poland. The letter wrote about contracts with companies from "untrustworthy countries" that give them access to critical infrastructure such as fuel storage depots and ports. Although the letter does not go into detail, Wyborcz's story claims it could be referring to recent deals involving Saudi Arabian and Hungarian companies; two countries that have courted close relations with Russia.

TVPInfo.pl Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of the governing Law and Justice party, said that Poland is getting closer to the richest countries in Europe, the state-owned broadcaster TVP Info reported. Citing an interview Kaczynski gave for the newspaper Gazeta Polska, TVP added that the politician had said this has been achieved by low rates of personal and corporate income tax, simplifying the tax systems and importing advanced technology. He also said that all this had encouraged Poles living abroad to return home.

TVN24.pl – The sub-committee set up to investigate the Smolensk air disaster spent PLN 31 million (EUR 6.8 mln), according to Krzysztof Brejza, a senator of the opposition party Civic Platform, the television news channel TVN24 reported. The senator got the figure from the Defence Ministry. The sub-committee, which was tasked with re-investigating the 2010 disaster that claimed the life of then president Lech Kaczynski, the twin brother of Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of the governing Law and Justice party, concluded his aircraft was brought down by an explosion.

Rp.pl – The newspaper Rzeczpospolita reported that the law establishing a commission to investigate alleged Russian influence over Polish public affairs has met with criticism abroad. The paper said that the law, dubbed 'Lex Tusk' after Donald Tusk, the law's alleged target, according to its critics, has come under attack from both the US and the EU. The controversy surrounding the law could diminish Poland's status on the international arena, the paper added, which could cause problems not only for the Polish government, but also Ukraine, which is a close ally of Poland.