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.
Sanna Marin's 'partygate:' A very Finnish scandal
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.