Will the leaders of top economies manage to heal the world? What do Poles still remember about the late pope, John Paul II, and the highest score a Polish team has scored in international competition ever.
Press reviewed by Danuta Isler
Most of today’s newspapers devote their front page coverage to the G-20 summit now underway in London. “The crisis summit has started” is the headline from Dziennik daily whose correspondent in the British capital writes that the leaders of the world’s top 20 economies are trying to find a way to get into bankers’ pockets in order to heal the world. “A summit before the summit” is the headline from Gazeta Wyborcza, which reports on yesterday’s meeting of US President Barack Obama with his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev. “The Obama and Medvedev first encounter” is the title from Rzeczpospolita daily which also publishes an interview with Stephen Larrabee, an expert from the RAND Institute, a Washington-based think-tank. “Poland should not be afraid of the rapprochement between these two countries because we are all on the same boat,” says Larrabee referring to reports that Eastern European countries fear a deal being struck between Washington and Moscow behind their backs.
“Recession is hitting the EU job market harder and harder with three million jobs lost last year alone” writes The Wall Street Journal Polska in an article on unexpectedly high increase of unemployment in the bloc last year. According to surveys conducted by Eurostat – the EU’s statistical office – the unemployment rate in the eurozone rose last month to 8.5 percent, one percent above Poland’s rate. That 8.5 percent compares with 7.7 percent in January and 6.8 percent in January 2008. The EU’s highest unemployment rates are in Spain (15.5%) and in the Baltic states. In Holland, just 2.7 percent of its citizens are jobless. According to Poland’s Central Statistical Office (GUS) 10.9 percent are without work in Poland.
The newspapers also devote coverage to the 4th anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II which falls today. “He is alive in our memory” is the headline from Życie Warszawy, Warsaw’s daily newspaper which writes that Poles still remember the exact time of the passing of John Paul II but things get more complicated when they are asked about the year. The daily also publishes the results of an opinion poll in which Varsovians were asked about the 4th anniversary of the Pope’s death, the ways they are going to commemorate it and the Pope’s most famous words said during one of his visits to Poland’s capital. The poll shows that 2 April is just like any other day with only 10 percent of respondents declaring that they will participate in a mass or a commemorative wake today.
One more topic which can be found in today’s papers is the coverage of yesterday’s sensational victory of Poland which hammered the minnows of Group 3, San Marino, 10 - 0 in Kielce. It is the highest score a Polish team has ever scored in an international. Super Express tabloid writes about a record night in Kielce in an article accompanied by pictures of the most spectacular goals of the game.