Vietnam's leader dead - dominated the country's politics
Nguyen Phu Trong - General Secretary of the Vietnamese Communist Party - has died, according to state media, the AP news agency reports. He lived to be 80 years old.
"Party Central Committee General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong passed away at 1:38 p.m. on July 19, 2024 [..] due to old age and serious illness," Nhan Dan newspaper wrote.
Nguyen Phu Trong began to dominate the country's politics when he was elected party chief in 2011. He was born in Hanoi in 1944 and joined the Communist Party when he was 22.
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The China-Taiwan relationship
Taiwan's foreign minister: "Must defend itself"
Taiwan's Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said on Friday that the island must rely on itself for defense, Reuters reports.
China - which views self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory - has increased its military pressure on the Asian island.
Lin Chia-lung was also asked about Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's comments that Taiwan would have to pay the United States for military aid. Lin said then that Taiwan buys weapons from the United States and that the island continues to increase its defense spending
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The climate threat The climate actions
Prison for Extinction rebellion's founder
Roger Hallam, one of the founders of the climate movement Extinction rebellion, is sentenced to five years in prison in Great Britain. This is reported by several media.
Hallam has been charged with planning, together with other activists from the Just stop oil network, an action where they blocked a British highway for four days in November 2022. According to Sky News, the punishment is the most severe ever handed down for a peaceful protest in the UK.
The prosecutor states that the action cost society the equivalent of SEK 10 million.
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Arrested reporters in Russia
Analysis: Lightning fast verdict a good sign for the reporter
The trial against the American reporter Evan Gershkovich went lightning fast. At first glance, it may seem like a bad sign, but it is the opposite, writes Shaun Walker in an analysis in The Guardian.
He notes that Russia's trials are politicized, and that a conviction was therefore given. Normally, the legal process drags on for a long time, but this time the whole process was completed in a month.
"It suggests that a prisoner exchange may be in the works," writes Walker. "Russia wants to finish the legal process before moving on to an exchange."
The BBC's Russia expert Steve Rosenberg agrees. He notes that Russia only sees Gershkovich "as currency, as a bargaining chip":
"Moscow knows that the United States is ready to carry out prisoner exchanges to free its own citizens," writes Rosenberg, who has been outside the courtroom in Yekaterinburg during the trial.
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