International news brief: Taiwan spots 21 Chinese Warplanes; Finnish PM Marin takes drug test and more

Washington, Aug 20: Taiwan has tracked 21 warplanes and five naval ships from China around the country with eight jets that crossed the Taiwan Strait median line.
Taiwan's Ministry of National Defence said it had tracked 17 aircraft and five ships from China's military around the country by 5 pm on Friday, reported Taiwan News.

Of the 17 People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) warplanes, eight crossed the median line over the Taiwan Strait, the military said. The planes were four Xi'an JH-7 fighter-bombers, two Sukhoi Su-30 fighters, and two Shenyang J-11 jets.

IMF fees on war-torn countries closer to elimination

The International Monetary Fund is facing pressure to reevaluate how it imposes fees on loans it disperses to needy countries like war-torn Ukraine - which is one of the fund's biggest borrowers. The move comes as more countries will need to turn to the IMF, as food prices and inflation internationally continues to rise.

Surcharges are added fees on loans imposed on countries that are heavily indebted to the IMF.

China jails Canadian tycoon for 13 years for finance crimes

A Chinese-born Canadian tycoon who disappeared from Hong Kong in 2017 was sentenced Friday to 13 years in prison for a multibillion-dollar string of financial offenses and his company was fined USD 8.1 billion, a court announced.

Xiao Jianhua was convicted of misusing billions of dollars of deposits from banks and insurers controlled by his Tomorrow Group and offering bribes to officials, the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court said on its social media account.

After party video goes viral, Finnish PM Marin takes drug test

A day after the opposition demanded a drug test of Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin over a viral party video, she took the same and said that she had never used illegal drugs.

Marin, 36 also said her ability to perform her official duties remained unimpaired on the Saturday night in question and she would get to work if she had to. The Finnish PM has been facing criticism after a video of her partying with well-known Finnish influencers and artists went viral on the social media.

In the video Marin can be singing and dancing with friends.
Finland's Prime Minister @MarinSanna is in the headlines after a video of her partying was leaked today. She has previously been criticized for attending too many music festivals & spending too much on partying instead of ruling. The critics say it's not fitting for a PM read a tweet while sharing the video.