What happened
The government has pledged tougher action against foreign interference after MI5 issued an alert to MPs that operatives linked to China’s Ministry of State Security were using LinkedIn to approach people in political and policy circles. Two profiles – “Amanda Qiu” and “Shirly Shen” – were cited as fronts for a large-scale outreach aimed at cultivating contacts with access to sensitive information.

Who said what
Security Minister Dan Jarvis (pictured above) said intelligence agencies had warned that China was attempting to “recruit and cultivate individuals”, and described the activity as a “covert and calculated attempt” to influence the UK. A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy dismissed the allegations as “pure fabrication”.

While it is “accepted that all countries spy on each other, the scale of China’s activities has caused increasing concern in recent years”, said the BBC. Relations with China “remain sensitive”, said The Guardian, “despite efforts by Labour to foster a positive trading relationship with Beijing”.

What next?
Jarvis said he would consider expanding the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme and tightening the rules on covert political funding. All candidates for next May’s local elections will receive security briefings, while ministers are weighing up whether China should face additional restrictions.

What happened
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said two Ukrainian nationals known to authorities – working on behalf of Russian intelligence services – were responsible for an explosion on a rail line used to transport aid from Warsaw to the Ukrainian border. Only minor damage was caused by the act of sabotage. Elsewhere on the same line, “rails were subject to tampering and a power line was also reportedly cut”, said Polish news organisation TVP World.

Who said what
Tusk told parliament the incident was “perhaps the most serious situation, in the context of Poland’s security” since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The head of Poland’s armed forces, General Wieslaw Kukula, told Polish Radio it was evidence that the “adversary” had begun “preparing for war”. 

Andrey Kartapolov, head of the Russian parliamentary defence committee, accused Poland of spreading disinformation. “They have no evidence and they never will because it’s a lie,” he said.

What next?
Polish prosecutors have initiated an investigation into “acts of sabotage of a terrorist nature” committed for the benefit of foreign intelligence. Meanwhile, the country’s territorial defence forces have stepped up patrols along railway lines.

Heat trapped in the Southern Ocean could be “burped” up into the atmosphere and cause climate change-like effects even after humans stop greenhouse gas emissions, according to a study published in the journal AGU Advances. This burp “originates from heat that has previously accumulated under global warming in the deep Southern Ocean and emerges to the ocean surface via deep convection”, said the study. As a result, there could be a “renewed pulse of warming from the maritime zone, without any new CO2 entering the atmosphere”, said news site Daily Galaxy. 

The study showed that this release would occur “after several centuries of net negative emissions levels and gradual global cooling”, and could lead to a “decadal- to centennial-scale period of warming”, said science site Eos. This warming would be “comparable to average historical anthropogenic warming rates”. The released heat will not be distributed evenly around the world; the effects will be “greatest and longest-lasting in the Southern Hemisphere, suggesting a greater impact on today’s more vulnerable countries of the global south”, said the study. But “while some CO2 is released, the primary impact is thermal, not chemical”, said Daily Galaxy. 

The burp is attributed to two processes: warmer surface waters are mixing with cooler layers and ventilating heat into the depths, plus the “ocean’s natural heat release pathways” are becoming less active, according to Daily Galaxy. These “combined effects trap heat where it cannot easily escape, setting the stage for a delayed warming rebound”.

The study shows that “burning fossil fuels with reckless abandon for centuries will have lasting impacts long after the green revolution finally takes hold”, said Popular Mechanics. But the “sooner we can achieve this technological dream, the better our chances are for preserving a future”.