Riyadh: Death for anti-corruption activist and pro-freedom political prisoner

Today's headlines: students arrested for attempted assault on Japanese embassy in Seoul released, further investigation under consideration; Attempts at rapprochement, and border agreement, between Xi and Modi at BRICS summit; Vietnamese youth traffickedin Laos under pretext of jobs; 22-year-old ex-soldier tours Taiwan island for a month warning of imminent risk of war with China; The flight of Russians over war in Ukraine reaches record numbers, more than a million in one year.

SAUDI ARABIA
Riyadh has sentenced Mohammed al-Ghamdi, brother of a prominent scholar and critical voice of the government, to death for posts on social media against corruption, inflation, and reporting abuses during interrogations. The tweets used as evidence for capital punishment were posted by an anonymous account with nine followers and also called for the release of political prisoners.

SOUTH KOREA-JAPAN
Police today released 16 university students arrested in recent days during protests against the release of Fukushima waters into the ocean for trying to storm the Japanese embassy in Seoul. Officers detained them for violating the law on assemblies and demonstrations; a decision will be made in the coming hours on whether to transfer the file to prosecutors for further investigation. 

CHINA - INDIA
Indian Premier Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping have shown a common political will to resolve border problems between the two countries and that have driven bilateral ties between Delhi and Beijing to lows. In a meeting at the Brics summit in South Africa, both instructed officials to redouble efforts for a speedy withdrawal of troops to Ladakh/Tibet.

VIETNAM - LAOS
Young Vietnamese have ended up in trafficking networks in neighboring Laos. The family members denounced him, who tell of job offers that would have pushed the boys to leave. In reality, they were taken across the border into Laos by smugglers in cars, with final destinations in Myanmar or China. Of these, at least five are from Phu Quoc, Kien Gian province.

TAIWAN
A 22-year-old former soldier, dressed in camouflage and "armed" with a plastic rifle, has been walking around Taiwan for over a month, warning his compatriots to "prepare for war" with China. “We know the situation will not be good if the threats continue. I want the people - Tsai Tsung-lin told Reuters, after a 900 km journey - to prepare for war".

RUSSIA
The flight of Russians from the country due to the war in Ukraine has reached record figures for a hundred years now, and can only be compared with the mass exodus of the 1920s, after the Bolshevik revolution and the civil war.  The Economist reported on the latest figures citing Russian sources that speak of over one million emigrants in just one year.

KYRGYZSTAN - UZBEKISTAN
The Kyrgyz Security Services (GKNB) arrested the 52-year-old poet, publicist and activist Olžobaj Šakir after an almost eight-hour interrogation, on charges of "organizing mass unrest" and "attempting to seize power violently". His fault is that he animated the protest demonstrations for the transfer of Issyk-Kul pensioners to the Uzbeks.

• Asia
• Today