Prosecutors in Poland have charged two men suspected of spying for China, public broadcaster TVP Info has reported. The pair are a former officer for Poland’s Internal Security Agency and a Chinese national who is suspected of being an officer with his country’s intelligence service.

The Polish suspect, named only as “Piotr D.”, has been accused of passing on confidential and secret information in exchange for cash, gifts and attractive trips. The Chinese man, identified as “Weijing W.,” was a director at the Polish subsidiary of Chinese telecommunications multinational Huawei when detained at the start of last year by Poland’s Internal Security Agency. The pair could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Poland’s prime minister has told EU leaders at a video summit on Thursday that his country opposes the use of “non-objective criteria” to decide how much cash member states receive from Brussels.

Warsaw has warned that it could veto the bloc’s 2021-2027 budget if the impasse is not resolved. Polish deputies on Thursday passed a resolution supporting the government’s stance on negotiating the EU’s next budget. The resolution voiced opposition to any mechanism that contains „unclear, imprecise” rules that could be „interpreted in a biased way”. Most Poles are against the idea of linking access to EU funds to respect for the rule of law, a survey has found. The EU budget must be approved unanimously by the bloc’s 27 member states.

More than 20 people have been detained during a demonstration in Warsaw against tightening Poland’s abortion laws, police said on Thursday. Warsaw police said that the protest on Wednesday evening was illegal under rules designed to curb the COVID-19 epidemic that forbid public gatherings of more than five people.

Police used pepper spray against some demonstrators. Thousands of women, liberals and anti-government demonstrators have been taking to the streets around the country in defiance of a ban on mass gatherings since the country’s Constitutional Tribunal ruled that eugenic abortion is unconstitutional.

And finally, the driver of a Volkswagen Passat got their car stuck on the beach at Gdańsk Brzeżno yesterday.

Police who attended the scene after reports from local walkers said the driver will receive a court summons which could attract a fine of up to 5,000 PLN which is roughly 1,000 GBP or 1,300 USD. The driver may also be hit with an extra penalty of 500 PLN for driving along a access road which would have been necessary in order to get on to the beach. The driver’s motives for the impromptu and short-lived journey are not known.

Weather

Friday will be sunny day with a moderate breeze and it will start to cloud over in the afternoon. Temperatures will reach 7 degrees centigrade (45 degrees Fahrenheit) during the day, dropping to a chilly 0 degrees overnight. Saturday will feel cold with sunny intervals in a fresh breeze and temperatures reaching 6 degrees centigrade during the day, and 4 degrees overnight.

Martin Caren/ako