Putin and Xi will attend the G20 in Bali next November

Today’s news: Thousands of members of the Seoul Unification Church protested against “discrimination” by the Japanese media following the assassination of former Prime Minister Abe. In the Pakistani province of Baluchistan there is a flood emergency, and the death toll amounts to 205; in China the practice of locking up critics in psychiatric clinics continues; since the start of Moscow’s war against kyiv, more than 20,000 Russian Jews immigrated to Israel.

ASIA

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin intend to attend the upcoming G-20 summit, which will take place in Bali in November. So said Indonesian leader Joko Widodo in an interview with Bloomberg. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, this would be the first face-to-face meeting between the Kremlin chief and the Western bloc, led by US President Joe Biden.

VIETNAM

Hanoi introduced a new law, which will enter into force on October 1, and which requires technology companies to store user data and open local offices. Activists maintain that the measure is intended to strengthen control of the web. It will also apply to industry giants such as Google and Meta (Facebook), as well as telecom operators.

SOUTH KOREA – JAPAN

Thousands of members of the unification church gathered in Seoul yesterday to protest “discrimination” by Japanese newspapers since the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Tetsuya Yamagami, the alleged perpetrator of the murder, reportedly hated the church because it had bankrupted his mother. The controversy has also created problems within the Tokyo government.

PAKISTAN

Heavy rains continue to fall Baluchistan, where a flood emergency prevails. With the three victims recorded in the last few hours, the death toll rises to 205. More than 107,000 head of cattle drowned in the floods. The main communication routes -both highways and railways- that connect the province with the rest of the country are interrupted.

CHINA

Chinese police and government officials continue to the practice of locking to dissidents and critical voices in psychiatric clinics. For this, pretexts are used, such as accusations of “mental illness”. According to Safeguard Defenders, these people are silenced by resorting to “arbitrary” and unfounded measures. Facilities used include medical clinics, hospitals, and prisons.

RUSSIA – ISRAEL

The Israeli Jewish Agency “Sokhnut”, whose Russian office was dissolved in July, reported that since the beginning of the invasion in Ukraine more than 20,000 Russian Jews have immigrated to Israel. According to official statistics, 165,000 Jews still live on the territory of the Russian Federation, not counting those who try to prove their Jewish ancestry in order to leave the country.

SAUDI ARABIA – UZBEKISTAN

President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Miromonovich Mirziyoyev paid an official visit to Saudi Arabia at the invitation of King Salman. The purpose of the trip is to analyze a package of investments in various sectors, from the green economy to new technologies and digitization, innovation in general and entrepreneurship. The Saudis are serious about expanding their influence in Central Asia.