Official: no survivors in Kaczynski plane crash The governor of a Russian region where a plane carrying Poland's president has crashed says there are no survivors. Smolensk governor Sergei Anufriev made the statement to state news channel Rossiya-24 about an hour after the Saturday crash. The Tu-154 plane crashed near the Smolensk airport, about 400 kilometers (275 miles) west of Moscow. Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife were aboard the plane, according to the Polish foreign ministry. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check ...

Rock bands, including REM and Pearl Jam, want to know whether their music was played at the military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In a hard-hitting, wide-ranging speech Wednesday for a conservative gathering, Cheney targeted the administration's decision-making process on how to proceed in Afghanistan, saying Obama has failed to give troops on the ground a clear mission or defined goals and appeared "afraid to make a decision." "The White House must stop dithering while America's armed forces are ...

What do Copernicus and a Britney Spears look-a-like have in common? Despite centuries separating the two, both have inspired greatness in Poland.

On a sand swept stretch of Afghanistan, a high-ranking Polish general put his country's mission there into perspective. He explained to a NATO delegation that Polish troops remind Afghan locals of two things about the mission: They are not Soviets and they know how difficult it is to live under foreign occupation. It is hard to ignore the incomparable price Poland paid during World War II. It was attacked by Germany, invaded by the Soviets, and became home to the ...

At least 20 world leaders gathered Tuesday in Poland to commemorate the start of World War II 70 years ago -- a conflict in which 6 million Poles died. Germany's pre-dawn invasion began when the battleship Schleswig-Holstein fired on the Westerplatte military base in Gdansk harbor on September 1, 1939. The attack set off a chain of events that eventually embroiled all of the world's major powers in the war. The conflict lasted until September 2, 1945 when Germany's ally ...

Sprint king Usain Bolt overcame a slow start to beat fellow-Jamaican Asafa Powell in the 100 meters at the Golden League meeting in Zurich, while Olympic pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva banished her Berlin World Championships blues by setting a new world record of 5.06 metres. Bolt, who set new world records in both the 100m and 200m in the German capital, was trailing Powell with 25 meters to go before switching on the afterburners to ensure victory in a ...

New 800 meters world champion Caster Semenya received a rousing welcome after touching down in Johannesburg with her South African team-mates on Tuesday. The 18-year-old, who made global headlines last week after doubts were raised over her gender at the World Championships, was accompanied by the country's two other medallists from Berlin -- men's 800m champion Mbulaeni Mulaudzi and long-jump silver medallist Khotso Mokoena. Thousands of supporters crammed the OR Tambo International Airport -- waving placards, singing, dancing ...

Maria Sharapova took a step closer to her first tournament victory since January 2008 as she moved into the semifinals of the L.A. Women's Tennis Championships on Friday night. The former world No. 1, who has slumped to 61st in the rankings after nine months out with shoulder problems, beat Poland's Urszula Radwanska 6-4 7-5 to set up a last-four clash with last year's losing finalist Flavia Pennetta. The Russian, whose last of 19 titles on the WTA Tour was ...

From the mid-1980s, Hungarian-born investor and philanthropist George Soros pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into foundations in Eastern Europe dedicated to promoting the idea of the "open society" and challenging the region's Soviet-backed regimes. Here, writing exclusively for CNN.com, he describes how the work of his foundations ultimately contributed to the collapse of communism. I set up my first foundation in Hungary in 1984. The idea behind it was simple. The state dogma, promoted by the ruling communists, was ...

Usain Bolt gave further evidence if any was needed of his superlative form ahead of the world championships with an outstanding victory over 100 meters in the London Grand Prix on Friday night. The Jamaican superstar ran a blistering 9.91 seconds into a strong 1.7 meter headwind to leave a world class field, including arch-Jamaica rival Asafa Powell trailing. Compatriot Yohan Blake finished second in 10.11 seconds with Antigua's Daniel Bailey third. Powell faded to sixth in 10.26 seconds. But ...