Marek Lewandowski and his wife Wiesllawa Lewandowski centre) are building on a strong heritage and using their great drive and energy to lead the company into the future ­ based on Smart™ future-focused technology from Royal Pas Reform Jan Wasikowski started his business in 1967 and ZWD Czarne quickly became known as ‘Jan Wasikowski’s Hatchery’ He adopted Pas Reform incubation systems more than 30 years ago in a bid to increase production inline with growing opportunities in their domestic market the hatchery took the decision to transfer its operations to single-stage with the addition of several smaller extensions In addition to investment in new setters and hatchers the company also embraced hatchery automation systems ZWD Czarne installed the intelligent SmartCount™ counting and dosing system and Pas Reform’s climate control equipment the setting capacity had increased to 56 million day-old chicks per year ZWD Czarne’s partially integrated operations also include parent-stock farms to produce Ross and Cobb day-old broiler chicks for sale into the domestic poultry meat production market our hatchery is fully programmable – to optimize production across a variety of breed and age-related incubation programs," Marek Lewandowski explains Wasikowski’s Hatchery has received service and support from Royal Pas Reform’s agent in Poland Jarmax – which provides rapid supply of spare parts from its locally held stock Royal Pas Reform’s Sales Director Niels Stam says: “We are very proud to have worked with Jan Wasikowksi and we look forward to continuing that strong relationship in the future.” Photo caption: Wiesllawa and Marek Lewandowski are pictured centre with their son Mateusz outside the ZWD Czarne head office Niels Stam and Hans Mateman of Royal Pas Reform are to the left and Jaroslaw Piankowski of Jarmax is on the right Global Ag Media provides a knowledge sharing platform offering premium news analysis and information resources for the global agriculture industry Sign up to our regular newsletter and access news from across the Global AG Media network When on 15 June 2016 Polonia Warsaw sealed their promotion to the II Liga the third tier of the domestic football pyramid following a 2-1 aggregate defeat of Górnik Wałbrzych in the play-off final the club inaugurated a new chapter in a romantic history marked by regeneration and struggle Founded in the autumn of 1911 as a union of several school teams by the army captain Polonia stands as one of the oldest formally institutionalised sports clubs in the territory of the modern Polish state and its tumultuous history has mirrored that of its city’s people ever since Polonia has been characterised by a deep association with a specifically Polish national identity; the fact that Poland has only been sovereign for a relative fraction of the club’s history meant that they were early adopted as an attractive anti-establishment symbol “As a representation or a symbol of Poland it was extremely important,” the Polish football journalist and historian “One has to remember that Poland was partitioned for 123 years so [in the early 20th century] Polish clubs of any sort The use of the Latin word for Poland as the club’s name is the most striking illustration of the idealism of its founders Not only does the invocation of the oldest and most influential language in the western tradition confer a romanticised agelessness on the Polish nation (a trope popularised by the romantic nationalist poetry of Adam Mickiewicz and Maurycy Mochnack and others) it also set the club in public opposition to the three major imperial powers that had occupied the country in the run-up to World War I: Russia none of these administrations looked kindly upon any cultural movement that sought to highlight the perceived illegitimacy of their rule the decision was taken that Polonia’s kit would also be used to symbolise the club’s commitment to the ideal of a sovereign Polish state The players’ black and white striped shirts black shorts and black socks were exchanged for a combination of black shirts Just as red and white combine to form the bicolour of the Polish flag the black shirts were adopted as symbolic representation of the club’s state of mourning for its occupied and partitioned motherland Even in the intensely politicised footballing landscape of Poland the extent to which Polonia Warsaw was established as an embodiment of romantic nationalist ideology is unusual Yet it is perhaps unsurprising given that the club’s foundation was intimately bound up in the cultural resistance movement spearheaded by the city’s intelligentsia before World War I was a published poet and writer as well as a soldier; he conceived of Polonia as a vehicle by which the Warsaw youth could be introduced to patriotic ideologies in a sporting environment part owners of the esteemed international publishing house gave significant financial backing to the club at the time of its foundation The influential military and political family was one of three Polonia players selected to represent Poland in the country’s first ever international friendly fixture against Hungary in 1921 The influential Warsaw intellectual and Polish Army General was another major benefactor to the club during the interwar period In 1928 he helped fund the construction of Stadion Polonii Warszawa the Black Shirts’ (Czarne Koszule) first purpose-built stadium on Konwiktorska Street where the first-team plays to this day Polonia’s status as a symbol of Polishness meant that the club drew support from a strikingly diverse cross-section of the city’s population The Stadion Polonii has traditionally been famed for attracting artists Polonia was one of the first sports clubs in Poland to accept ethnic minorities argues that the pluralism characteristic of the club’s membership-base reflects the manner in which Polonia always embodied an idealism far grander than sport alone Engel told Jonathan Wilson in Behind the Iron Curtain: Football in Eastern Europe “You could meet scientists or artists or painters there There was a very good atmosphere within the club because when you don’t have a lot of money founded in March 1916 as the football club of the Polish Legions in Volhynia on the Eastern Front is presently the wealthiest and most supported sports club in Poland Between 1955 and 2016 their teams have won eleven Polish league titles and eighteen Polish cups Prior to the German invasion of Gdansk on 1 September 1939 it was Polonia who most powerfully captured the Warsaw public’s imagination the Black Shirts thumped Legia 8-0 on the occasion of the clubs’ first competitive meeting en route to finishing as runners-up to KS Cracovia in the inaugural season of the Polish national football championship This early success was achieved two years after the foundation of the Polish Football Association (Polski Związek Piłki Nożnej or PZPN) at the end of World War I Polonia competed in every season of the Polish championships up to and after the institution of a formal national league structure they were richly represented on the newly formed national side throughout the 1930s Erwin Nyc and Henryk Jaznicki were among the most notable Black Shirts to have represented Poland at international level in the years before World War II despite the late establishment of a national side finished fourth at the 1936 Berlin Olympics and reached the last-16 of the FIFA World Cup in France two years later The outbreak of World War II inevitably disrupted all aspects of civil life in Poland The formalisation of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in August 1939 saw the country divided between the two occupiers Eastern Poland was annexed by the Soviet Republics of Ukraine and Belarus while the western part was integrated into the Greater German Reich; the region of Wilno (now Vilnius) was incorporated into Lithuania The Soviet authorities in the occupied East permitted a select group of clubs to continue to compete in organised competition under new it is testament to the speed with which football clubs became influential units of socio-political organisation and protest in Poland that the Western territory was the only land in Europe where the Nazi occupiers imposed a total ban on regional sports clubs Social institutions such as football clubs posed an obvious threat to the Nazi aim of cleansing Poland of any trace of national memory; how could a body steeped in Polish national lore such as Polonia be permitted to exist under a regime determined to expunge its founding ideology just as the national ideal that the club was founded to honour was never extinguished during the war the club’s members quickly expressed opposition to Nazi rule in the most straightforward way that they knew how: by playing football By the spring of 1940 the first matches of the nascent Warsaw underground football league were being organised by former Legia Warsaw and KS Cracovia forward Most matches were played in Mokotów public park (Pole Mokotowskie) near the city centre For the purpose of filling the competition alongside rivals Warszawianka Warszawa Polonia was subdivided into three separate teams: Pochodnia it is a reflection of the club members’ determination to defy all Nazi edicts designed to limit expression of Polish identity that a tournament of 13 city teams was held in Polonia’s stadium on Konwiktorska Street in September 1940 just weeks before the ground was seized by the occupying forces Polonia went on to compete in another clandestine city league organised by the future Poland manager winning the competition in both 1942 and 1943 Polonia’s resistance to the Nazi occupation became more direct and deadly; indeed many club members perished in the Warsaw Uprising Timed to coincide with the Soviet Union’s advance towards the eastern suburbs of the city and the retreat of German forces the Uprising was the largest single military operation carried out by any European resistance movement during World War II the Red Army’s failure to advance beyond the city limits enabled the Nazi occupiers to ruthlessly defeat the rebellion killing an estimated 200,000 civilians and combatants and razing 85 percent of the city’s urban infrastructure to the ground in death camps and on the frontline many Black Shirts lost their lives; the fact that twelve resistance soldiers died at Stadion Polonii during a clandestine operation carried out against Nazi forces on Konwiktorska Street on 21 August 1944 is a powerful illustration of the club’s active role in the resistance Polonia’s founding ideology was never given braver or more selfless expression than during those sixty-three days of fighting in the autumn of 1944 Despite pledging to guarantee Polish sovereignty and facilitate free elections the Stalinist regime immediately went about transforming Poland into a Soviet puppet state political dissenters were purged and many of the surviving leaders of the Uprising were coerced into signing confessions of collaboration with Axis powers Polonia was not immune from this attempt to extinguish opposition to Soviet rule that the club’s prominent role in the Warsaw Uprising marked it out as “dangerously independent” and the Black Shirts were systematically oppressed by the Communist authorities all Polish football clubs were assigned a state body as a benefactor a system of government-controlled sponsorship that was common across the Soviet Union But where Legia Warsaw benefitted from the valuable sponsorship of the Soviet Army Górnik Zabrze and Ruch Chorzów profited from the support of the lucrative policing Polonia was made to depend on the support of the chronically under-resourced state railway This situation was exacerbated owing to the fact that the PKP was also responsible for patronising Lech Poznań; indeed the Soviet authority’s deep-seated suspicion of Polonia meant that most of the railway’s meagre resources were directed westwards were seen as “representative of Sanacja”; the interwar political values promoted by a cadre of influential  military officers in the aftermath of Józef Piłsudski’s May 1926 Coup d’État the club was formally renamed Kolejarz (‘Railroad worker’) further evidence of the manner in which the Communist regime followed the Nazi occupiers in their attempts to sever any symbolic or cultural connections to pre-war Warsaw The Black Shirts were further disadvantaged as a consequence of the Red Army’s decision to exempt Legia players from compulsory military service This provision gave Legia a significant advantage over all Ekstraklasa clubs in terms of player recruitment; however Polonia was hit worst by the conscription waiver as all the best young footballers in Warsaw had been given a strong incentive to turn their back on the Black Shirts in favour of the greater security and payment on offer at the Stadion Wojska Polskiego (Polish Army Stadium) Underfunded and purged of their best players the Soviet regime succeeded in rendering Polonia uncompetitive throughout most of the second half of the 20th century The club was relegated from the Ekstraklasa in 1952 (despite beating Legia at their own ground in the Polish Cup final that same season) and they would not return to the top-flight until after the fall of the Iron Curtain four decades later in 1989 Polonia won the first post-war Polish championship in 1946 despite having no stadium and only a handful of members who had survived the Uprising That triumph might be regarded as a symbolic foreshadowing of the city’s post-war reconstruction from the brink of extinction at the end of one of the bloodiest conflicts in human history did the city itself and its few surviving inhabitants During the period when professional football developed into a mass spectator attraction the reorganisation of Polish football under state communism prevented the Black Shirts from maintaining their position as the capital city’s preeminent sports club This development goes a long way towards explaining Legia’s contemporary dominance The army club won the first eight of its record 18 Polish Cup titles between 1955 and 1989 having never claimed any silverware before the institution of a communist government Legia’s rise to the top of the Ekstraklasa was clearly a direct consequence of the advantages afforded to the club under communist rule and their subsequent success meant that the vast majority of young Warsaw football fans flocked to Łazienkowska Street during the years of post-war reconstruction As the childhood Polonia fan and former goalkeeper winning clubs with high-status players are always going to attract spectator interest regardless of the origins of their success “When you have got a club with better players you get more supporters coming to the club,” Fogler said That is why Legia is popular in the whole of Poland Polonia’s support is focused almost only in Warsaw.” This circumstance provided Legia with a crucial socio-economic advantage over their city rivals at the time Poland entered into the free market in the 1990s and copper-fastened Polonia’s status as the city’s second club To this day the Stadion Polonii is decked in anti-communist banners for every home game; predictably the fact that Legia benefitted from communist rule at their neighbour’s expense served to add a new layer of animosity to an already bitter rivalry The formation of Solidarność at the Gdańsk Shipyard under the leadership of Lech Wałęsa on 17 September 1980 marks a seminal moment in the emergence of the modern Polish state Solidarność was the first non-governmental trade union to be established in a Warsaw Pact country Its achievement in mobilising Polish workers against the communist regime is widely regarded as having played a crucial role in precipitating the collapse of the Soviet Union across Eastern Europe anti-bureaucratic social movement which employed methods of civil resistance in order to advance the cause of workers’ rights At its height the union boasted more than 9.4 million members Moscow imposed martial law in an attempt to destroy the movement the Polish government had no choice but to negotiate with Wałęsa These talks paved the way for the first semi-free parliamentary elections in the history of modern Poland and Wałęsa became the country’s first popularly elected president This led in turn to the systematic disestablishment of the administrative structures which had underpinned communist rule; the free parliamentary election of 1991 may be seen as the beginning of Poland’s transformation into a modern the military formation of the Soviet Army stationed in Poland from the end of Second World War This eventuality ended formally more than four decades of occupation this withdrawal occurred just months after Polonia had won their first promotion to Ekstraklasa in forty-one years Polonia spent most of the period 1952-1993 alternating between the second and third divisions and although the club under communism was far outperformed by Legia the Black Shirts’ historical significance and loyal fan-base meant that they remained an attractive investment opportunity at the time capitalism came to Poland in the early 1990s Polonia were promoted into the top-tier in 1993 benefitting from the far-sighted chairmanship of the current Honorary President as well as financial backing from the esteemed photographer while the Black Shirts’ first Ekstraklasa campaign in more than four decades ended in relegation the club returned to the top flight in 1996 and underwent a transformative takeover led by Janusz Romanowski Romanowski became a major shareholder at Legia in 1992 when the club hit dire financial straits as consequence of the collapse of communism and its attendant military investment His money went a long way towards helping the club to win consecutive league and cup doubles in 1994 and 1995 Significantly Legia reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League the following season Romanowski had grown frustrated with the army’s continuing involvement in Legia’s boardroom and he withdrew his investment (at a considerable loss) in order take up residence at the home of Legia’s oldest rivals on Konwiktorska Street a number of players contracted to Legia on a third-party basis were obliged to join Romanowski in moving to Polonia and Polonia finished as Ekstraklasa runners-up in 1998 and won their first league and cup double two years later Engel was afforded the autonomy and financial resources required to shape a hungry talented group of young players in his own image The then-47-year-old coach made two crucial signings in the Nigerian forward duo Emmanuel Olisadebe and Emmanuel Ekwueme Olisadebe scored 12 goals helping Polonia to win their first league title in 54 years and went on to represent Poland 25 times under residency rulings scoring 11 goals and playing in the 2002 World Cup Finals in Japan and South Korea The 2000 Ekstraklasa victory marked the high-point of Polonia’s remarkable resurgence from the depths of the 1950s when they toiled in the third division stripped of institutional identity and systematically oppressed by a regime that would have been content to see the club vanish the very fact that the Black Shirts were still playing at the turn of the millennium is a testament to the remarkable resilience that has characterised the club’s fan and membership base since it was founded in 1911 Shortly before the league title was secured in 2000 Engel departed to take control of the Polish national side and despite the fact that Polonia succeeded in retaining the Polish Cup the following season the tenuous financial foundations of Romanowski’s leveraged takeover was already beginning to impact the club’s balance sheet Within months of winning the league title many leading players were sold as Romanowski attempted to compensate for declining television revenues by generating transfer income Title-winning midfielder and current Polonia boss Polonia was run with the sole aim of increasing its owner’s wealth: “It was only after we won the championship that things began to go wrong,” Gołaszewski said “Romanowski only thought about how he could sell Polonia selling Gražvydas Mikulėnas and Annor Aziz Oli moved to Panathinaikos for a $3.3 million transfer fee Polonia saw only a fraction of this money.” Polonia was on the brink of administration Gate receipts and television revenue were declining at a rate commensurate with the club’s on field performances – the Black Shirts finished eighth in the Ekstraklasa in 2002-03 27 points behind champions Wisła Kraków – and Romanowski was steadfast in his refusal to contribute any more personal wealth to what he had long determined was a loss-making investment the lifetime Polonia fan and car parts company owner intervened to save the club from liquidation founder and editor the Polonia fanzine Polonia Ole used his own money to buy out Romanowski with the sole aim of keeping Polonia in the Ekstraklasa long enough to attract an investor of greater means If the Black Shirts were to have any chance rivalling Legia in the long-term at the top-end of the Ekstraklasa they needed an investor who possessed both the resources and the will to clear the debt that Romanowski leveraged on to club in 1996 While there is no doubt that Raniecki wanted to see Polonia succeed he simply lacked the finance required to do anything more than fund the club’s day to day running while attempting to find a trustworthy buyer In late 2004 it was reported that a Gibraltar-based company called Global Soccer Agency Ltd were prepared to invest up to €150 million in Polonia; however the deal fell through owing to the fact that Raniecki refused to commit the club to buying the land around its Konwiktorska Street stadium from the city council in a series of €1.2 million instalments Polonia’s performances inevitably suffered as a consequence of this lack of investment; indeed they barely avoided relegation from the top-flight in 2004 and 2005 Polonia’s luck ran out in the spring of 2006: Raniecki died unexpectedly of a heart attack in early March and Jan Raniecki’s death plunged Polonia into an administrative crisis had no interest in continuing to fund a loss-making investment and lacked the sense of institutional loyalty that made Jan spurn the approaches of predatory buyers the owner’s death negatively impacted dressing room morale recalls that Polonia’s playing-staff frequently had to endure months without payment during the later stages of Romanowski’s ownership and their hope that stability would return under Raniecki evaporated with his passing “When we got this information [that Raniecki died] “We expected that everything would start getting better you know?; that we would get paid on time and the club will start performing better but then he died…that situation was crazy for us sole ownership of Polona Warsaw passed to property developer having failed to gain promotion back to Ekstraklasa in 2007 and 2008 Polonia was merged with Dyskobolia Grodzisk Wielkopolski (third in the Ekstraklasa in 2008) and assumed its place in the top division The merger yielded initial success for the Black Shirts who qualified for the Europa League preliminaries courtesy of a third-place finish in 2009; however Wojciechowski’s intensely short-term approach bred chronic instability From Andrzej Wisniewski (April 2006–Aug 2006) to Czesław Michniewicz (March 2012–May 2012) Wojciechowski oversaw the hiring and firing of 15 managers from the moment of purchasing the club in April 2006 to selling it to Ireneusz Król in July 2012 The fact that Wojciechowski then followed Romanowski in stripping Polonia of its most valuable assets in the months before Król’s takeover provides a clear illustration that he ran the club with the sole ambition of personal enrichment and Fogler recalls that the economic well-being of the playing staff only declined under his ownership “Wojciechowski put a lot of money into the club,” Fogler said “But we always knew that he had his own business It wasn’t like he invested money because he likes football; he basically had no clue about football…he just had a feeling that he could make a good business out of Polonia.” Players regularly had to endure periods of up to three months without payment under Wojciechowski (not a problem for a guy on 50,000 ‎zł per month but a big one for the youth talent on 2,500 or 3,000 ‎zł) and their frustration was heightened by the manner in which the owner would spontaneously lavish lucrative bonuses on star players after standout performances (the chartering of private jets to watch Barcelona play at the Camp Nou was not unknown following high-profile victories) Just a handful of senior players remained contracted to Polonia at the end of Wojciechowski’s purge; the young coach was charged with the challenging task of rebuilding the team around a core of players from the youth academy While results were initially impressive (Polonia sat third half-way through the 2012-13 season) it soon became clear that Król who purchased the club for a symbolic 1zł sum Polonia began haemorrhaging key players on free transfers and despite finishing the season in sixth place in the league Polonia would begin the 2013-14 campaign six divisions down the Polish football hierarchy in the semi-professional Masovian Liga Okręgowa the lowest level at which the club had competed in its 102 year history Król’s “IDEON” holding company filed for a strategic bankruptcy despite efforts from the association of Polonia supporters to regain control over the club and clear its eight million zł debt the PZPN stripped the Black Shirts of their competitive licence Król successfully filed for the bankruptcy of Polonia Warsaw S.A. for the first time since Nazi troops seized control of the Polish capital in 1939 In their award-winning statistical study of the economics which shape modern football Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski examine the phenomenon of ‘phoenixing’; a process whereby supporters of a club that has gone bankrupt can register a new company under a similar name – MKS Polonia Warszawa say – and acquire the old club’s share in the league infrastructure ‘phoenixing’ enables the new company “to take over almost everything of the old club – except the new company rises like the proverbial phoenix from the ashes of the collapsed institution (at the expense of its creditors) and is free to start afresh from the bottom of the domestic football pyramid This is precisely the strategy that the Grzegorz Popielarz led Polonia Warsaw Supporters Trust employed in order to get the Black Shirts re-licensed into the Polish league system after having been destroyed by Król the PZPN administratively promoted Polonia into the fifth-division (IV Liga) citing the club’s cultural importance as justification for sparing it a season in the quasi-amateur sixth-tier the Black Shirts succeeded in building a 26-man squad in the space of a month in order to be ready for the start of the 2013-14 season The majority of the players recruited were either connected to the MKS academy or had played for Polonia at higher levels in the past the Black Shirts inaugurated a long march back to the top of the Ekstraklasa In this sense the ‘phoenixing’ of Polonia Warsaw functions as a metaphor for the club’s entire 105-year history Just as the spirit of Polonia endured persecution at the hands German and Russian occupiers in the 20th century it survived terminal financial mismanagement in the 1990s and within a few weeks of having been relegated down to the fifth tier regenerated in the form of a fan-owned institution the club continues to pay fitting tribute to the national ideals of its founders The Black Shirts’ young squad won the promotion to III Liga (fourth division) in June 2014 with a game to spare; however their preparations for the following season suffered a severe blow on 8 August when Dziewicki resigned his position as manager following a dispute with Olczak regarding transfer funds Dziewicki had been central to the promotion campaign and his exit so close to the start of the league season In the space of nine months the club went through three managers: Piotr Szczechowicz (August 2014-October 2014) Dariusz Dźwigała (November 2014-December 2014) and Marek Końko (January 2015-May 2015) and finished 14th out of 18 teams in the III.Liga former manager Jerzy Engel completed a takeover of the Polonia Warsaw first team which had been annexed by the MKS academy under the terms of the 2013 phoenix deal Engel sought to maintain continuity in the club as first-team coach while returning Black Shirt stalwarts such as Wojciech Szymanek Jacek Kosmalski and Radosław Majdan to Konwiktorska Street as coaching staff It is a reflection of the long-term vision Engel has brought to Polonia that during his first press conference as chairman the 63-year-old spoke of his ambition to acquire sole ownership of the Stadion Polonii from Warsaw City Council in order to cultivate a profit-generating base in the manner of Legia the Black Shirts have secured promotion back into the third division they are achievable and the fact that Polonia is at last being run by owners with a sustainable long-term plan should come as a relief to all of the club’s supporters The Black Shirts face a long climb back to the heights they reached when Engel was in the dugout at the turn of the millennium if there is one virtue the club has demonstrated throughout its history By Sean Donnelly. Follow @SeanDonnelly66 I'm so sorry we didn't get to spend more one-on-one time together David Duke: Well I had just met those heroic brothers in the cause Flip Zimmerman: Heroic Ron Stallworth: Yeah And the chapter is just shaken at the core David Duke: Oh Flip Zimmerman: Poor Connie Jimmy Creek: Connie's going away Flip Zimmerman: We feel bad for Connie Ron Stallworth: [continuing] .. David Duke: My God Ron Stallworth: [to the other officers] Shut the fuck up Ron Stallworth: Those goddamn coloreds they sure know how to spoil a celebration Jimmy Creek: [to Flip] Hey David Duke: [to Ron] Christ Ron Stallworth: Those goddamn coloreds sure know how to spoil a celebration David Duke: Shoot Ron Stallworth: That Nigger detective David Duke: No Ron Stallworth: Are-uh you sure you don't know who he is David Duke: Wind chime Ron Stallworth: [continuing] ... detective is Ron Stallworth, you racist, peckerwood, redneck, inch worm, needle-dick motherfucker! Your Ads Privacy ChoicesIMDb 2022Most people with ovarian cancer don’t receive treatments recommended to give them the best possible survival outcomes and the odds are even lower when patients are Black “While the ability to pay and the number of hospitals and specialists in the area impacts a patient's cancer care, these do not completely explain racial disparities in ovarian cancer treatment,” lead study author Mary Katherine Montes de Oca, MD, of Duke University School of Medicine, said in a statement Treatment guidelines for ovarian cancer typically involve a combination of surgery and chemotherapy and vary based on what’s known as tumor stage or how advanced and aggressive the cancer appears at the time of diagnosis Staging accounts for the size of the tumors and whether they have spread to surrounding organs typically to remove one or both ovaries and fallopian tubes as well as the uterus depending on the tumor staging and whether the patient wishes to have children after treatment patients may also need surgery to remove fatty tissue from the abdomen or to remove pieces of other organs where tumors are detected with most patients requiring at least three to six cycles of treatment patients may receive additional treatment with targeted drugs such as bevacizumab (Avastin) after chemotherapy is complete To see how often patients got all of these recommended treatments, researchers examined data on 5,632 patients diagnosed with ovarian cancer between 2008 and 2015 who survived at least one year after their diagnosis While the majority of patients in the study were white 6 percent were Black and 6 percent were Hispanic Very few patients received complete recommended treatment regimens — just 24 percent of White and Hispanic patients and only 14 percent of Black patients, researchers reported in the Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network When care was more affordable for patients they were 5 percent more likely to get the surgery they needed and 9 percent more likely to start chemotherapy patients were also 6 percent more likely to get surgery many Black women in the study tended to live closer to urban areas where care was available while more white women lived in rural communities without major cancer centers nearby This suggests that Black patients may have access challenges for other reasons such as a lack of transportation to appointments “For many reasons, including the legacy of structural racism, Black patients have poorer access to healthcare,” senior study author Tomi Akinyemiju, PhD, of the Duke University School of Medicine, said in a statement. “This is related to employment patterns, which predict quality insurance coverage and residential patterns, and in turn, the availability and quality of healthcare resources in predominantly Black neighborhoods,” Dr. Akinyemiju said. “As a society, we need to have tough conversations about access to quality care, and collectively come up with solutions so that having a cancer diagnosis does not become a death sentence for the most vulnerable members of our society.” A delaminated tire compromised Elfyn Evans' quest to fight his team-mate for victory Words by Kalle Rovanperä’s lead on Rally Poland has reached almost double digits as Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans suffered a delamination that cost him around 10 seconds Despite building the largest cushion of any driver in the top spot so far Rovanperä is not confident he’ll be able to keep up his pace on Sunday: “I think tomorrow will be the toughest with the notes and everything,” said the reigning world champion “We made one of the stages Thursday after the shakedown so I don’t think it will be so easy tomorrow Evans had looked set to battle Rovanperä for top spot but was 8.9s off the pace on stage 13 as the right-rear tire on his GR Yaris Rally1 delaminated in the final sector and damaged the surrounding bodywork Mikkelsen is still learning how hard he can lean on the aerodynamics of the i20 N Rally1 in fast corners – this is his first gravel event of the season That promoted Mikkelsen back to second place though he ultimately couldn’t quite find the right balance of where to push and couldn’t match the lead Toyota later in the loop Adrien Fourmaux wrapped up a somewhat lonely fourth place unable to keep pace with the lead trio but comfortably ahead of the battle for fifth place He’d gambled on taking a full complement of soft tires rather than the mix of softs and hards utilized by rivals from other teams Thierry Neuville fell agonizingly short of nicking fifth place away from Rally1 debutant Mārtiņš Sesks the pair finishing the day only 0.1s apart Sesks is running a Ford Puma without a hybrid unit and thus faced a slight power disadvantage under acceleration – yet combined with his lack of top-level experience he fended off the current championship leader for a top five slot overnight robbing Neuville of two important points in his bid for a first drivers’ championship title So long as he finishes the rally on Sunday Sesks has already banked eight points on his Rally1 debut by pipping Neuville to fifth place overnight Grégoire Munster was dropped by Neuville earlier on Saturday but succeeded in his own goal of keeping Takamoto Katsuta at bay for seventh even extending his advantage over the third Toyota Sami Pajari continues to preserve a comfortable lead in WRC2 allowing the podium battlers behind to reduce his lead slightly to 26.3s but otherwise remained in control of the main support class After local hero Kajetan Kajetanowicz retired from accident damage at midday service a three-way battle was on for the remaining podium places First to trip over in the podium battle was Josh McErlean who had already lost third place in the morning but then ceded another 11.8s the second pass of Świętajno after a spin Oliver Solberg was on a charge come Saturday afternoon aiming to make up for struggles earlier in the event initially held second place but a determined Oliver Solberg was on a charge winning the last two stages of the day to nick the position away at the end of Saturday’s action Solberg hinted that he’d thrown caution to the win to make his way up the leaderboard: “I tried to push I don’t care anymore,” said Solberg at the finish line the car has not been easy to drive all weekend But I can’t drive like that the whole rally Virves ends Saturday 3.1s adrift of Solberg but his podium place looks relatively safe was briefly fourth after McErlean’s spin but lost the place to his Toksport team-mate on Saturday’s last stage Sign up today and be the first to know about special offers The more we study the Universe, the more it seems likely that each galaxy is orbiting a cosmic colossus - a supermassive black hole There's a lot we don't know about these giant objects - including the glaring question of how they grow so huge - but new research could help us fill in some of the gaps According to a new radio survey of all the galaxies in a region of the sky every supermassive black hole in a galactic nucleus devours matter although they go about it a little differently we now have these growth processes in view and are slowly but surely starting to understand them." There is a funny gap in the mass range of black holes that mean we're missing an important piece of the puzzle of how supermassive black holes form and grow. Stellar mass black holes - ones that have formed from the collapsed core of a massive star - have only been detected up to 142 times the mass of the Sun and even that one was weightier than usual the product of a collision between two smaller black holes are typically between a few millions to billions of solar masses You'd think that if supermassive black holes grew from stellar mass ones there would be lots of intermediate mass ones out there One way we can try to figure it out is by studying the black holes we have detected to see if their behavior can give us any clues; that is what a team of astronomers led by Jack Radcliffe of the University of Pretoria in South Africa did Their focus was a region of space known as GOODS-North located in the constellation of Ursa Major Radcliffe and his team performed analyses of the region using a range of wavelengths up to X-ray adding radio observations using very long baseline interferometry to the mix they identified active galactic nuclei - those containing an active supermassive black hole - that were bright in different wavelengths When supermassive black holes are actively accreting material - slurping down gas and dust from their surrounding space - the material heats up glowing with bright enough electromagnetic radiation to be seen across vast cosmic distances Depending on how much dust is obscuring the galactic nucleus some wavelengths of this light may be stronger so no single wavelength range can be used to identify all active galactic nuclei in a patch of sky the team made a study of the AGN in GOODS-North The first was that not all active accretion is the same and we've certainly observed different supermassive black holes accreting at different rates The researchers found that some active supermassive black holes devour material at a much faster rate than others they investigated the presence of starburst activity - that is a region and period of intense star formation - coinciding with an active galactic nucleus It's thought that feedback from an active galactic nucleus can quench star formation by blowing away all the material stars are made of, but some studies have shown that the opposite can happen too - that material shocked and compressed by feedback can collapse into baby stars They found that some galaxies have starburst activity ongoing starburst activity can make an active galactic nucleus harder to see suggesting that more investigation will need to be done to better define the role of feedback in quenching they studied the relativistic jets that can shoot from the poles of a supermassive black hole during active accretion It's thought that these jets consist of a small fraction of material that gets funneled along magnetic field lines from the inner region of the accretion disk to the black hole's poles where it is blasted into space in the form of jets of ionized plasma at speeds a significant percentage of the speed of light We're not entirely sure how and why these jets form and the team's research suggests that the accretion rate of material doesn't play a huge role and that whether a black hole is eating fast or slowly matters not can help to better understand the accretion behavior and growth of supermassive black holes it also shows that radio astronomy can play a more significant role in these studies going forward we will have a more powerful toolset for trying to unravel one of the most perplexing black hole mysteries - where the heck do supermassive chonkers even come from The team's research has been published and accepted in two papers in Astronomy & Astrophysics. They can be found here and here and how cybercriminals collaborate in cybercrime forums in buying and selling malicious tools and services This latest report in our cybercrime series will provide a glimpse of the darknet markets where cybercriminals buy and sell data which have likely been stolen directly by compromising victim computer systems or by the result of a large database compromise This blog focuses on explaining what darknet markets are the type of digital data being bought and sold in the darknet markets and their typical costs The objective of this blog is not to provide an exhaustive list of all the products and services being sold in the darknet markets but to shed light on how cybercriminals are utilizing the darknet markets to trade with impunity It is important to understand the impact to the growing number of cybercrime campaigns and how the stolen data is monetized by the cybercriminals due to the demand in specific PII data in the darknet markets security and maritime passes in a darknet market The darknet markets today have increased in numbers as well as the number of users- one of the primary reasons has been the anonymity the darknets provide to the users to perform their illicit and illegal trades as well as the decentralized architecture provided by the Tor network which makes it increasingly difficult for law-enforcements to take actions against darknet markets Darknet markets are websites which are hosted on the deep-web and can be accessed typically using the Tor network The products and services which are bought and sold in the darknet markets can range from stolen credit-cards operating accounts of online payment systems The digest is the base32 encoded value of the first eighty bits of a SHA1 hash of the identity key for a hidden service Once Tor sees an address in this format it tries to connect to the specified hidden service Many darknet market users also use a VPN network to add an additional layer of privacy to hide their source  Figure 1   High-level depiction on how darknet markets are accessed using Tor The payment process in the darknet markets has followed the process which was used by the “Silk Road”, one of the first and best known darknet markets. Purchases in the darknet markets are typically made using virtual currencies like Bitcoin An individual who wants to buy a product in the darknet market needs to credit his/her darknet market account with Bitcoins to make purchases in the darknet market The buyer purchases and moves Bitcoins to the darknet user account used by the buyer and makes the desired purchase the respective cost of the purchase in Bitcoins from the buyer's account are held in the darknet market's escrow until the order has been completed Once the purchase order has been completed the Bitcoins are released to the Seller (Vendor) The figure below shows a flowchart of the payment model being used in darknet markets Figure 2    Payment model of Darknet Markets Darknet markets provide many types of illegal products to be sold This blog will not cover all the product types being available in the darknets but cover some of the most common types of information/ services which are transacted by cybercriminals in the darknet markets Some of the types which we will discuss in this blog are: It is not a surprise to see ‘credit cards’ being sold in the darknet markets as they are further used to commit fraud and are also used by cybercriminals to finance their requirements and make profit There are multiple ways in which credit cards are stolen – some of which are phishing scams ATM skimmers and also by people in the industry who have access to customer credit card information Credit card fraud has been costing the financial industry billions of dollars and due to the high number of credit card frauds the financial industry may find it overwhelming to investigate every fraud incident and may only tend to focus on cases where the cost of the fraud is very high The cybercriminals / fraudsters are well aware of this challenge and try to perform their fraud activities by transacting small number of transactions on each card to avoid being detected by anti-fraud systems The below snap shot was taken from a credit card sales ad at a darknet market where a seller also provides advice on making less amount transactions per card to avoid getting detected Figure 3 Seller advises buyers to make low transactions to avoid detection The typical cost of credit cards being sold in the darknet markets can range from USD $1 to $25 for each card The cost is higher if there is a confirmed high balance or if it is a premium card (platinum Some of the costs can be much higher if they come in a bundle and may also include how-to tutorials on making the most out of the credit cards to conduct fraud Figure 4 below shows some of the most recent credit card sales listings on a darknet market Figure 4 Credit Card listings on a darknet market Financial organizations use credit score reports to assess a client’s credit history which is used to approve loans Credit reports are not only used by financial organizations but many others like governments and many other organizations which require a credit history to process a request The price of the credit score lists depends on the score of the report with the higher score reports going for a higher price Figure 5 and 6 below shows two examples of credit report listings which are being sold on a darknet market A credit score of 750+ costs USD $50 in one of the listing and another listing shows a score between 720 and 820 would range between USD $ 49.50 to $100 Figure 5 Example credit report listing on a darknet market Figure 6 Example credit report listing at a darknet market Given Personal Identifiable Information (PII) data are used in many such services these type of information are in demand in the darknet markets as they can be used to conduct multiple types of fraud Figure 7 Listings showing passport and ID scans of India and UK being sold on a darknet market Another type of listing which is quite regular in the darknet markets include but are not limited to templates of passports tax statements and invoice receipts of different vendors Figure 8 is an example of a sample of an Australian passport template which has the same passport ID details but has different photos of individuals The seller of the below template also shares that any details in the passport including the photograph can be changed and it would still look legitimate The seller provides full editable versions of the template in .psd format which is an Adobe Photoshop document format The seller also provides download links to cracked versions of Adobe Photoshop so the buyers can use the .psd files without needing to buy a licensed copy of the software Each .psd template sold can cost between USD $20 to $100 many listings have these templates being sold in bundles as well- For example a list of 9 templates for Canadian documents consisting of passport scans invoice documents and utility bills is selling on a discounted price of USD $387 where the original price would have exceeded $500 if bought separately Figure 8 Scanned templates of Australian passports being listed at a darknet market Credentials of many online services which include banking social media networks and many more are being listen in the darknet markets Figure 9 shows some of the listings of compromised accounts being sold at a darknet market Figure 9 Compromised credentials being sold at a darknet market There are many types of malicious tools and services being sold in the darknet markets, some of which we have already shared in part 2 of our cybercrime underground series Figure 10 below shows a listing on a darknet market for a Ransomware and BTC stealer setup service where a seller provides the tools and also configures it for the buyer Figure 10 Ransomware service being listed on a darknet market This really shows the vast impact nations and organizations are facing due to the identity and PII information being stolen Large percentage of internet and online service users are often unaware of the threats in the digital world and tend to not follow common online safety measures to secure their personal information or their systems which eventually result in their personal data being stolen and traded in darknet markets where the information are further used to commit fraud It is imperative to have an understanding on how these criminals operate and the type of information being traded to better secure ourselves Movies in theaters Movies at Home Florence Pugh Movies and Shows (Thunderbolts) What to Watch: In Theaters and On Streaming Weekend Box Office: Thunderbolts* Secures $76 Million Debut New Movies and Shows streaming in May: What to Watch on Netflix BlacKkKlansman uses history to offer bitingly trenchant commentary on current events -- and brings out some of Spike Lee's hardest-hitting work in decades along the way HistoryNet As much of Poland celebrated its Independence Day last Friday a clash between nationalists and anti-fascist activists brought a dramatic halt to the festivities According to The Associated Press opposition politicians in Poland are criticizing police conduct — accusing police of favoritism — after several anti-fascist protesters were detained but no nationalists during a march and counterprotest in Warsaw Promotion of totalitarian ideologies is illegal in Poland. But participants of the nationalist march, an annual far-right parade, were seen carrying a banner with the “Black Sun,” a symbol of Nazi SS guards during the Second World War „Czarne słońce” Himmlera (SS). Na ulicach Warszawy, którą na śmierć zatłukł jego podwładny – SS Obergruppenfuhrer Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski. Rzeźnik Warszawy.Widzą to setki ludzi, nikt nie reaguje. Nikogo to nie razi.Świat staje na głowie.#SwastykaToNieSymbolSzczęścia pic.twitter.com/jH7MSbjXQS a member of the political opposition in Poland thousands of Poles died at the hands of German Nazis from the SS I don’t know why the police didn’t respond to such criminal symbolism in Warsaw demonstrators with democratic views were forcibly removed,” Brejza told The Associated Press an anti-Semitic gathering amid Independence Day events added to the pall and one man talked about burning Jews while the crowd chanted The American Jewish Committee strongly condemned the rally Poland’s Independence Day clash is the latest in a string of struggles that stretch back well into the 20th century There has been an ongoing — and somewhat successful — revisionist effort to rewrite Poland’s actions during World War II Authorities accused Gross of insulting the Polish people for his observation that Poles killed more Jews than Germans during the Second World War Two years later, Poland’s senate would pass a controversial bill that outlawed blaming Poland for any crimes committed during the Holocaust “We have to send a clear signal to the world that we won’t allow for Poland to continue being insulted,” Patryk Jaki, a Catholic-nationalist deputy justice minister, told reporters in parliament In a follow-up statement to the Polish legislation, Yad Vashem the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Israel agreed that there was “no doubt” that the term “Polish death camps” was a historical misrepresentation but cautioned that “restrictions on statements by scholars and others regarding the Polish people’s direct or indirect complicity with the crimes committed on their land during the Holocaust are a serious distortion Yad Vashem will continue to support research aimed at exposing the complex truth regarding the attitude of the Polish population towards the Jews during the Holocaust.” “3.3 million Jews lived in Poland — more than any other country in Europe Their percentage among the general population — about 10% — was also the highest in Europe,” according to Yad Vashem approximately 380,000 Polish Jews were still alive I’m the News & Social Editor at HistoryNet and a World War II researcher with an unparalleled affinity for Sir Winston Churchill I have a Master's degree in military history from King's College London and my cornucopia of interests include: World War II Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earhart’s disappearance how Wild Bill Donovan shaped the American intelligence community If you needed some motivation during the war years “History is a guide to navigation in perilous times History is who we are and why we are the way we are.” HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the world’s largest publisher of history magazines photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians sign me up! Please view the main text area of the page by skipping the main menu. The page may not be displayed properly if the JavaScript is deactivated on your browser Japanese version Copyright THE MAINICHI NEWSPAPERS. All rights reserved. Hector: Filmed you.. Kenny: Through my computer camera Hector: What Kenny: Yeah Hector: Like sex Kenny: No Hector: Jerking off. Jerking off to porn or something? Well, everyone does that. The fucking pope probably does that. (29.06.2024) The three fastest crews of the ORLEN 80th Rally Poland are separated by just 2.7 seconds after 12 special stages Having won three out of four stages in first loop Kalle Rovanpera and Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid) climbed up to first overall setting a new record of 2,5-kilometre-long track Saturday’s itinerary for the ORLEN 80th Rally Poland features seven special stages of total length of 124.1 km and just before midday service they raced at Mikołajki Arena (2,5 km) the times posted at track near the Gołębiewski Hotel changed the situation at the top of the leaderboard It was a thrilling battle between Rovanpera Just two seconds separated them before the start of Saturday’s stages and the two-time world champion was the first to attack winning the Świętajno and Gołdap stages to lead the rally Mikkelsen responded with fastest time on the Czarne special stage The Mikolajki Arena was again a stunning drive by Rovanpera who have set a new track record of 1:40.8 s Rovanpera and Halttunen are 0.4 seconds ahead of second-placed Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid) Adrien Fourmaux and Alexandre Coria (Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid) are the fourth crew in current standings (+15.9 seconds) World Rally Championship leaders Thierry Neuville and Martjin Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid) who lost a lot of time opening the first leg’s stages are fighting to score as many points as possible after Saturday’s special stages They moved up to sixth place after the first loop and are 15.8 s behind the fifth-placed duo Martin Sesks/Renars Francis (Ford Puma Rally1) Ott Tanak and Martin Jarveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid) decided not to compete during second loop the Estonians lost the chance to fight for Saturday’s points they have chosen to focus on pushing for super Sunday points Sami Pajari and Enni Malkonen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) earned a healthy margin in the WRC2 category They are 32.6 seconds ahead of Robert Vivres and Aleks Lesk (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) The Polish duo Kajetan Kajetanowicz/Maciej Szczepaniak (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) dropped out of contention for victory in WRC2 they severely damaged their suspension and reached the finish of this test losing more than 23 minutes the fastest crew from Poland is Miko Marczyk and Szymon Gospodarczyk (Skoda Fabia Rally2) Jakub Matulka and Daniel Dymurski are Leaders of the WRC3 category (Ford Fiesta Rally3) the crews will tackle the Świętajno (18.5 km) and Czarne (22.4 km) stages for the second time ORLEN 80th Rally Poland – overall standings after SS 12: Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid) 1:31:18,3 s2 More pictures (26/03/2024) Over 300 kilometers on nineteen special stages are waiting for the competitors during the ORLEN 80th Rally Poland As many as 70 fan zones will be located along the spectacular gravel tests of the seventh round of the FIA World Rally Championship which is marked this year by its record-breaking eightieth edition The rally will be based in the picturesque town Mikołajki for the nineteenth time in a row The inauguration of rally festival will start on Thursday morning when the crews will appear on the Lubiewo shakedown test the ceremonial start will take place on the charming main square in Mikołajki (Freedom Square) with the King of Vendace fountain in the background which is very popular with the fans is to be held just before the ceremony The fight against time will begin during the first super-special stage on the Mikołajki Arena track where the crews will appear four times during the entire rally when the track will be the final part of the Wolf Power Stage Right next to it the finish line of the rally and the place of the ceremonial finale is to be held The names of special stages such as Stańczyki Olecko or Gołdap are well known to rally fans but in most cases their route has been modified even by several dozen percent There are 70 fan zones with parking lots and sanitary facilities along the stages most of them with catering kiosks and screens broadcasting live action Access to the entire rally route is ticketed and passes and parking stickers are already on sale Mikołajki Arena track with stands for 5,000 spectators and new standing zones the Finish Area and the Service Park will be the heart of the event from Thursday to Sunday Meet the Crew Q&A sessions with the top drivers will take place after the end of SS-12 a co-drive on Mikołajki Arena track are also in the schedule The evening finale of Friday and Saturday’s highlights is the Rally Party for fans The time program of the rally is as follows: 27 June 2024Shakedown Lubiewo 10:00Ceremonial start – Mikołajki Main Square 17:00SSS 1 Mikołajki Arena 1 19:05Friday 28 June 2024SS 2 Stańczyki 1 08:45SS 3 Wieliczki 1 10:20SS 4 Olecko 1 11:10SS 5 Stańczyki 2 14:05SS 6 Wieliczki 2 15:40SS 7 Olecko 2 16:30SSS 8 Mikołajki Arena 2 19:00Service Mikołajki 19:30Rally Party Mikołajki Arena 20:00 © Wszelkie prawa zastrzeżone, 2007-2025 Altair Agencja Lotnicza Sp. z o. o. ZamknijTa strona korzysta z plików cookie w celu realizacji usług zgodnie z Polityką prywatności.Korzystając ze strony wyrażasz zgodę na używanie cookie zgodnie z aktualnymi ustawieniami przeglądarki On top of it there is a group of soldiers in tankman uniforms They are leaning over the open hatch and listening to the instructor explaining the purpose of particular elements of the equipment followed by many other machines that together create a neat row reaching up to the end of the yard There are people next to each of the tanks but they do know Abrams like the back of their hand One glance is enough for them to know if the training is going well they can always count on a translator or ask the Polish instructors to translate what they have just said I am at a military training area in Biedrusko housing a technical equipment park of the Land Forces Training Center (CSWL) in Poznań I last visited this place in the summer of 2022 when the Abrams Academy was still in its initial phase the first group of Polish technicians was learning to operate the new tanks the Polish army already has trained technicians and crews and soon it will also have its own instructors Candidates for instructors are currently undergoing the certification process “I have been serving with tanks for nine years now I am a driver-instructor at CSWL in Poznań,” explains Pvt 1st Class Specialist Filip Kołodziej When it was certain that the Polish army would receive new tanks he was told he had two options: he could either train to operate Abrams tanks or Korean K-2s Another path to the Abrams Academy was that of SWO Dawid Wroński I have long dealt with the tactics of motorized and mechanized subunits I focused my attention on IFVs and Rosomaks and when there was an opportunity to work with completely new equipment is a logistics and equipment operation instructor teaching courses for technicians operating the T-72 and the PT-91 as well as the WZT-2 and WZT-3 technical support vehicles or the BLG-67 mobile bridges mounted on the T-55 chassis so I know quite a lot of equipment,” he admits as the tanks he has got to know so well will slowly be removed from service and replaced by Abrams each of the mentioned soldiers completed basic training In the case of Filip Kołodziej and Dawid Wroński it was OPNET (Operator New Equipment Training) which must be completed by all Abrams crews the soldiers learn the construction of the tank and at the end perform shooting at the training ground and the driver must learn how to shoot from it each of the crew members can be replaced by another one completed FMNET (Field Maintenance New Equipment Training) in the USA where he went with the first group of Polish soldiers who were to prepare for receiving Abrams by the Polish Armed Forces the soldiers are going to return to their own units and then start to put the knowledge gained in Biedrusko into practice during tactical exercises Another role is played by the specialists of CSWL They have become the so-called shadow instructors the impressive name has its more prosaic counterpart The Poles have simply become assistants to the American specialists which is to make them full-fledged Abram tank instructors This part of training consists of several phases “Soldiers assigned to the role of assistant initially observe how the US instructor performs the assigned tasks Then they have to demonstrate their knowledge of the vehicle and convey the instructions during classes in a lecture room in front of a large group,” explains Jeffrey Brundage “We're concerned not only with testing the candidates’ knowledge but also determining whether they can speak in front of a large audience The assistants teach the classes themselves while the Americans observe and evaluate them “We are currently going through this very stage Each of us has a folder with a detailed list of sections to pass we will become independent instructors and train Polish Abrams users in the future,” explains Filip Kołodziej The certification has already been running for more than three months so there is more or less another three months ahead of the participants all that remains is to adapt the gained knowledge to the operation of the tank versions that the Polish army will procure The trainees in Biedrusko are so far learning on Abrams M1A2 and SEPv2 there is a possibility of doing further courses during which we will expand our competencies even more,” admits Bogusław Tchórzewski The various systems can be controlled almost intuitively The tank has been packed with electronics and complex systems A simple repair can be done relatively quickly and above all knowledge,” emphasizes Tchórzewski The certification process itself is also quite challenging Shadow instructors must not only know English well This is essential for studying instructions and communicating with specialists from overseas American instructors do not offer any preferential treatment “We have based our evaluation method on the standards we have developed over the years which we resort to when certifying our own government and contract instructors,” explains Brundage It should be kept in mind that these positions are generally filled by retired soldiers who have been dealing with Abrams tanks for decades Polish soldiers praise this training system and if you include an assistant – one crew Soldiers have plenty of time to ask questions and check how the various systems work,” stresses Wroński They also invariably praise the tanks themselves “Abrams can hardly even be compared with tanks designed back in the USSR It is enough to consider the comfort level Sometimes soldiers joke that the Soviets first built the tank and then realized they needed to fit a crew in it I don’t even have to mention the combat and technological superiority of the Abrams,” says Kołodziej “The tank has been designed so that even if the turret is hit the crew has a chance of survival,” adds Tchórzewski the energy of the explosion is directed upward “It is different in the case of old post-Soviet tanks where an accurate shot can break the turret It is enough to look at photos and videos from the war in Ukraine You can find plenty of such examples in them,” he stresses A sizable group of trained soldiers has already left the Abrams Academy it is known that only at the end of 2022 there were 150 of them and they will soon be joined by more than a dozen Polish instructors who are taking small steps towards coming out of the shadow The Americans stress that the whole process is a challenge for them as well we are working with multiple versions of Abrams plus support vehicles cooperation with the Polish military is going great,” assures Jeffrey Brundage (26.06.2024) Thursday sees the start of competition in the seventh round of this year’s World Rally Championship The world’s best rally crews will compete on 19 fast The winners of the 80th edition of the legendary rally will be known on Sunday afternoon Rally Poland – the second oldest rally in the world – has returned to the calendar of the most important series in the discipline after a seven-year break the competition was part of the World Rally Championship in the 1973 Rally1 cars – the highest category of rally cars in the world which has replaced WRC cars – will be seen on the stages around Mikolajki Rally1 are purpose-built rally cars with a hybrid powertrain that enables zero-emission driving in open traffic and allows the rally car’s power to be temporarily boosted up to 530 hp Nine crews with Rally1 cars showed up in Mikolajki where the rally base and service park are located Hyundai Motorsport has prepared three i20 N Rally1 Hybrids The first will be driven by Belgians Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe (#11) Neuville triumphed in Rally Poland in 2017 The Korean brand is also represented by Ott Tanak and Martin Jarveoja of Estonia (#8) The third Hyundai will be driven by another winner of the Polish WRC round Andreas Mikkelsen (co-driver: Torstein Eriksen) The Norwegian (#9) was fastest in Poland in 2016 the Toyota team has no Rally Poland winners in this year’s lineup Sebastien Ogier had to withdraw from the fight for a third victory in this event The eight-time world champion and his co-driver Vincent Landais had a minor accident during the recce after which the driver was taken to hospital for examination and observation resulting in resignation from competing in the ORLEN 80th Rally Poland The French duo will be replaced by two-time world champions Kalle Rovanpera and Jonne Halttunen (#69) They will debut on the Masurian gravel roads The GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid Toyotas will also be represented by Brits Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin (#33) and Japanese-Irish duo Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (#18) The M-Sport team has brought a Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid for the Adrien Formaux/Alexandre Coria (#16) and Gregoire Munster/Luis Louka (#13) while Martins Sesks/Renars Francis (#22) will drive a unique example of the rally Puma without the extra power from the hybrid system this will be their debut in a Rally1 class car Polish national colours at the ORLEN 80th Rally of Poland will be represented by ten crews including competitors who have already collected the trophy for victory in Mikołajki The 26th starting number was given to Kajetan Kajetanowicz a car that can be entered in the WRC2 and WRC2 Challenger categories An identical rally car was selected by Miko Marczyk and Szymon Gospodarczyk (#38) as well as Michał Solowow and Maciej Baran (#35) a duo that has stood on the podium of this rally three times There is a large representation of Polish crews in the RC3 class designed for competitors in rally cars of the Rally3 category Ford Fiesta Rally3) and Hubert Kowalczyk with Jarosław Hryniuk (#56 Renault Clio Rally3) will compete in this class A total of ten crews will drive Rally3 rally cars The entry list for the ORLEN 80th Rally of Poland features 42 crews from 23 countries including even countries as distant from Poland as Bolivia 303 competitive kilometres and 70 fan zones Competition in the ORLEN 80th Rally Poland starts on Thursday but a very spectacular stage – the parallel race on the Mikolajki Arena circuit (2.5 km) In addition to the duels between the best crews fans will be excited to see if the section record – 1:43.9s set in 2015 by Sebastien Ogier – will be broken The schedule for Friday features three stages east of Mikolajki Wieliczki (12.9 km) and Olecko (13.2 km) – will be covered twice The day will end with another visit to the Mikolajki Arena the crews will head north-east again to tackle the stages of Świętajno (18.5 km) Gołdap (19.9 km) and Czarne (22.4 km) twice Before the service in Mikolajki after first loop one more battle at the Mikołajki Arena is planned In the final day of the ORLEN 80th Rally Poland the competition will move to the west and north of the event base where two stages will be located – Gmina Mrągowo (20.8 km) and Mikolajki (10.73 km) with the finish at the Mikolajki Arena circuit next to the service park nearby the Gołębiewski Hotel The winners of the rally will be known at approximately 14:30 on Sunday Belgians Neuville and Wydaeghe defend the lead in WRC driver and co-driver categories 18 points back are Tanak and Jarveoja (104 points) and Evans and Martin (104 points) The top five is complemented by Ogier and Landais (92 points) and Formaux and Coria (74 points) the crews can score up to 35 points – 18 points for a first place after Saturday’s leg 7 points for first place in Sunday’s leg and 5 points for the best time on the Wolf Power Stage – the final stage of the rally as well as second-placed Solans and San Juan Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) and Gryazin/Aleksandrov (40 points Citroen C3 Rally2) have a chance to take the lead Kajetanowicz and Szczepaniak are seventh in the WRC2 Challenger classification ahead of the Polish WRC round The Poles have completed in two rallies this year and have scored 37 points They are 19 points behind the class leaders 10:00 Lubiewo/Shakedown16:20 Autograph session17:00 Ceremonial Start Main Square18:05 Meet the Crews19:05 Super SS-1 Mikołajki Arena 08:45 SS-2 Stańczyki 110:20 SS-3 Wieliczki 111:10 SS-4 Olecko 114:05 SS-5 Stańczyki 215:40 SS-6 Wieliczki 216:30 SS-7 Olecko 219:00 Super SS-8 Mikołajki Arena 219:30 Service Park Mikołajki20:00 Meet the Crews20:00 Rally Party Rally Fan Park Mikołajki Arena 08:30 SS-9 Świętajno 109:45 SS-10 Gołdap 110:35 SS-11 Czarne 113:25 Super SS-12 Mikołajki Arena 314:00 Service Park Mikołajki16:00 SS-13 Świętajno 217:15 SS-14 Gołdap 218:05 SS-15 Czarne 219:00 Rally Party Rally Fan Park Mikołajki Arena20:55 Service Park Mikołajki21:15 Meet the Crews 09:00 SS-16 Gmina Mrągowo 110:05 SS-17 Mikołajki 110:30 Regrouping Rally Fan Park Mikołajki Arena12:20 SS-18 Gmina Mrągowo 214:15 SS-19 Mikołajki 2 (Wolf Power Stage)15:15 Rally finish Olisadebe played for local Nigerian club Onitsha-based Jasper United before moving to Poland in 1997 to play for Polonia Warsaw traditionally the poor relations to the city’s premier team He was a key player for the so-called Czarne koszule (Black Shirts) in their memorable 1999-2000 season scoring 12 goals in 24 games to help the side to their first Polish Championship in 54 years.  Olisadebe became a popular figure in Poland as the immigrant who acquired citizenship and became the first black player on the Polish national team where he scored an impressive 11 goals in 25 games by some way Poland’s record ever goalscorer telling Pulse Sports that he watched the Nigerian in 2000 in the game that won Polonia Warsaw the coveted Championship The game was a 3-0 win for Polonia Warsaw at the home of bitter rivals Legia Warsaw and it was Olisadebe who opened the scoring somehow managing to wriggle through two Legia defenders before deftly flicking the ball over the onrushing goalkeeper Lewandowski recalled his vivid memories of the day: “I remember exactly the game that they won the Polish championship in 2000...I was at the game because my own club was on the street behind the stadium,” the Bayern Munich striker said.  “I wanted to see [the players] before the game during the warm-up - how they move That for me was interesting,” Lewandowski recalled.  Lewandowski went on to cite Olisadebe as an early influence “I remember him in the national team because he scored some very important goals for the national team Olisadebe not only scored eight goals in the 2002 World Cup qualifiers to help Poland qualify for their first World Cup in 16 years but scored with an emphatic thumping finish against the United States in the finals before Poland’s first round exit “He was the guy who showed everyone that he can score so many goals 12 years old and that was the guy I admired at that time.”  Olisadebe scored 11 goals for Poland in 25 games; Lewandowski has since overtaken the Nigerian-born striker and is the highest-scoring Polish footballer in history with 72 goals in 126 international games.  he prefers the quality of life in his homeland.