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 reported on a new bill aimed to protect Christians that may be debated in the Sejm, the lower house of parliament, on Friday. The bill, prepared by a Eurosceptic and strongly conservative junior ruling coalition partner, Sovereign Poland, has raised concerns among opposition parties that it may be used to curb freedom of speech and intimidate Church critics. The draft legislation envisages prison sentences of up to three years for slandering church or ridiculing its doctrines in "means of mass communication."

Rp.pl – Donald Tusk is seen as the clear leader of the Polish opposition, the newspaper Rzeczpospolita wrote, quoting an IBRiS survey in which 61 percent of respondents pointed to Tusk, including supporters of other parties than his Civic Platform (PO). The distance to the next contender, his PO colleague and Warsaw mayor, Rafal Trzaskowski, is huge, as the PO deputy chairman was seen as the opposition leader by just 18 percent.

TVN24.pl – In an interview with the private news channel TVN24, Artur Sobon, a deputy finance minister, admitted that Poland had taken out a multi-billion-dollar loan in South Korea to make large purchases of defence equipment in the Asian country. Sobon did not specify the amount, but said that "they are of course billions of dollars."

TVPInfo.pl – The state-owned news broadcaster reported on police and border guard having busted an international crime group that organised illegal transports of migrants from Belarus and Lithuania to Poland. The migrants, mainly from Asia and Africa, had to pay up to EUR 10,000 for being taken to Poland. The group has managed to smuggle 38 people, a spokesman for the Siedlce District Prosecutors said.