But is he Polish?

The mermaid of Warsaw is a well known icon. Perhaps her mate was pulled from a lake or river in another part of Poland. Some newspapers in the U.K.  published a story and provided video of men in hazmat suits lifting a humanoid body with what looks like a fish tail onto a stretcher.


The video last for two minutes and it appears that the creature has a long beard.

     

Nothing has been heard of the incident since.

No location or date has been provided by news sources and it is unclear how the video was obtained. But, after the footage was posted online, a number of people claimed it was proof of Mermen existing, while others said it was either a hoax of the filming of a movie.

There are a lot of refuges forcing their way into Europe lately... I'm just sayin'.

EU future

U.K.'s Prime Minister David Cameron wants to renegotiate Britain's EU membership and now has found support from Poland's new president who said he was "eye-to-eye" with Cameron on the "fundamental issues" about Europe's future.

President Duda

Andrzej Duda told The Daily Telegraph, after a meeting with Cameron, that it was "possible" for Britain and Poland to reach agreement on the question of benefit rights for EU migrants in the UK.

But, Duda urged Cameron to acknowledge the contribution made by Polish workers to British prosperity, stressing that they paid more in taxes than they received in benefits.

Downing Street hopes to enlist  Duda, who took office last month, as an ally for EU reform. Duda's party, PiS (Law and Justice), sits with the Tories (Conservatives) in the European Parliament.

During his first official visit to London,  Duda said he shared Britain's view on matters of sovereignty. 

"If you ask the Polish people, I believe that a vast majority of them would say they are pleased with EU membership, but also a majority consider very highly the sovereignty and independence of Poland - they are very attached to Polish tradition. So the issue of sovereignty is a very basic one for us."

However, Mr Duda remains at odds with Mr Cameron over the rights of EU citizens to claim benefits in Britain. About 690,000 Poles live in Britain, making them the largest single group of EU nationals in this country. Cameron wants to ensure that EU arrivals work for a minimum of four years before being entitled to in-work benefits such as tax credits. 

Since the onset of the Muslim migration crisis, Poland and most of its neighbors have opposed the European Commission's plan for countries in the Schengen area to accept quotas of refugees. "It should be up to the sovereign decision of a member state," Duda said.

He pointed to the scheme's central flaw, namely that migrants would not be free to choose their country of settlement. "The will of the refugees themselves seems not to be taken into account," said Duda. "Can you do things to those people which are contrary to their own will? We hear a lot about human dignity - what is the relation between this and human dignity?"

Marijuana coming of age

Toledo voters recently approved a measure to have penalties for possession of marijuana reduced to the state required minimum, effectively decriminalizing having small amounts of the herb. Also, in November Ohioans will vote on a statewide ballot initiative that would legalize recreational as well as medical use of cannabis. 

Weed: What is it good for?

In Poland where marijuana is still illegal, there is one medicine containing active marijuana substances used in the treatment of multiple sclerosis. The drug, Sativex, can be prescribed by a doctor but is not reimbursed by the Polish National Health Service (NFZ).

The Government now allows such medicines to be specially imported into Poland. These drugs can be used if they can be proved to help save the life or health of the patient, and the legitimacy of such requirements is confirmed by a professional consultant. 

Three bills are currently being discussed in the Sejm (lower house of parliament) in relation to the use of therapeutic marijuana. Two of them deal with treatments involving hemp oil. A third, proposed by deputy Speaker Wanda Nowicka,  would stop making it a crime to cultivate and harvest marijuana for healing and personal use – in accordance with a documented physician's prescription, in quantities not exceeding the demand for a maximum of 90 days’ use.

Recently, the Children’s Memorial Health Institute in Warsaw banned a doctor who ran experimental cannabis-based treatment of epilepsy in children from pursuing his work. In the State of Colorado several children have had positive results from such therapy.