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

International

oi-Madhuri Adnal

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.