Polish president

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama expressed his deepest condolences to Poland on Saturday following the plane crash that killed that nation's president and some of the country's highest military and civilian leaders.

SMOLENSK, Russia - The crash of an aging Russian airliner ravaged the top levels of Poland's military, political and church elite Saturday, killing the Polish president and dozens of other dignitaries as they traveled to a ceremony commemorating a slaughter that has divided the two nations for seven decades.

WARSAW, Poland - Polish President Lech Kaczynski, who died Saturday in a plane crash in Russia, was a one-time anti-communist activist who teamed up with his twin brother to take his country in a nationalist, conservative direction.

A look at what world leaders are saying about the plane crash in which Polish President Lech Kaczynski perished Saturday: "Our thoughts and prayers are with the Kaczynski family, the loved ones of those killed in this tragic plane crash, and the Polish nation." - President Barack Obama "On this difficult day the people of Russia stand with the Polish people." - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev "I knew that his whole life had been dedicated to the fight for the freedom of Poland and the freedom of Europe.

Some of those who died in the crash of Poland's presidential plane, according to the Law and Justice Party, founded by President Lech Kaczynshi.