Missing Chinese actress Fan Bingbing fined for tax evasion and a 3D-printed prosthetic bill for a hornbill in Singapore.
Theresa May’s breaks a leg at the Conservative Party gathering
British Prime Minister Theresa May pulled off an uber cool on-stage presence when she decided to showcase some dance moves at her party’s annual gathering, reported CNN.
Accompanied by ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” music, the prime minister may have even managed to shrug off some of the awkward moments from the same event last year, the report added.
May, who is known as not much of a dancer, lightened up the mood by mimicking some of her own dance moves from a recent visit to Africa.
Referring to the previous year’s speech that holds bad memories because of her cough, a prankster, and the signage falling from the stage behind her, the prime minister joked, “You’ll have to excuse me if I cough during this speech. I’ve been up all night super-gluing the backdrop.”
The event largely remained a jolly affair with one liners on Brexit and questions about an upcoming BBC drama with a character closely related to May flying across the auditorium.
May’s speech comes at a time when there is strong dissent against her Brexit plan known as the ‘Chequers’ deal. The latest protest, hours before her speech, came from a Member of Parliament who signed a letter of no-confidence in her leadership.
Britain is scheduled to formally break away from the European Union in March 2019.
Trump says Saudi King and his country wouldn’t survive without US
In yet another controversial statement, US President Donald Trump retorted Tuesday that Saudi Arabia and its King would not last even “two weeks” in power without the support of the American military, reported CNN.
Speaking at a campaign rally in Southaven, Mississippi, the president even appeared to call on Saudi Arabia to pay more for its own defense.
“We protect Saudi Arabia. Would you say they’re rich? And I love the King… King Salman but I said, ‘King, we’re protecting you. You might not be there for two weeks without us. You have to pay for your military’,” said Trump.
Earlier too, the president called on other allies, including NATO nations, Japan and South Korea, to bear more of the costs of defense.
Trump’s comments come at a time when the two nations have significantly mended their relations after it went sour when the US signed the Iran nuclear deal under the Barack Obama administration in 2015. A year into his tenure, Trump withdrew from the deal and has supported Saudi Arabia on several fronts, CNN added.
Saudi Arabia hasn’t responded to Trump’s comments yet.
Missing Chinese actress Fan Bingbing fined for tax evasion
The Chinese actress Fan Bingbing, who mysteriously disappeared in June, has been fined almost $130 million for tax evasion, reported CNN.
Fan and companies related have been ordered to pay $42 million in late taxes and fees, in addition to a fine of $86 million, after she misreported her remuneration for certain film projects.
Given that she was a first time offender, the Chinese government said it won’t be filing criminal charges against Fan if she pays the money by an undisclosed deadline, reported Chinese state news agency Xinhua.
Fan apologised profusely to the public and government on social media.
“As a public figure, I should have abided by laws and regulations, and been a role model in the industry and society,” she said.
“I shouldn’t have lost self-restraint or become lax in managing (my companies), which led to the violation of laws, in the name of economic interests,” added Fan.
Donald Trump helped his parents evade taxes, finds New York Times investigation
US President Donald Trump made as much as $413 billion from his father’s real estate empire, much of it through tax dodges in the 1990s, revealed an investigation by The New York Times.
The report said Trump helped his parents evade taxes, including “instances of outright fraud” that allowed him to build up a fortune from them.
Records show that Trump and his siblings built a sham corporation to cover up millions of dollars in gifts from their parents. Further, he helped his father take improper tax deductions worth millions.
Investigation by the Times is based on interviews and more than 100,000 pages of documents describing the inner workings of Trump’s empire. It draws on tens of thousands of pages of confidential records, bank statements, financial audits, accounting ledgers, cash disbursement reports, invoices and cancelled checks.
Issuing a statement on behalf of the Trump family, Robert Trump, brother of Donald Trump, said all appropriate gift and estate tax returns were filed, and the required taxes were paid.
“Our family has no other comment on these matters that happened some 20 years ago, and would appreciate your respecting the privacy of our deceased parents, may God rest their souls,” the report quoted Robert Trump as saying.
Iraq finally names a new prime minister
After months of waiting, Iraq is finally getting a new prime minister, reported CNN.
Adil Abd al-Mahdi, a 76-year-old economist and a veteran Shiite politician, was named prime minister-designate shortly after Kurdish politician Barham Salih was elected as the new president.
The appointments mark an end to months of uncertainty and political disruption following a disputed election earlier this year.
As PM, al-Mahdi now has several issues to tackle, ranging from a faltering economy, fewer jobs, poor infrastructure and corruption. He has previously served as vice president, finance minister and oil minister under outgoing Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
The new prime minister has to form a Cabinet and present it to the Parliament for approval within 30 days, added CNN.
This year’s Nobel in Chemistry shows the reducing gap between biology and chemistry
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry is being shared by three persons this year for using evolutionary biology to design molecules that have a range of practical uses, reported The New York Times.
The uses of the molecules include new drugs, more efficient and less toxic reactions in manufacturing chemicals and plant-derived fuels that could replace oil, gas and coal.
While Frances H. Arnold, professor of chemical engineering at the California Institute of Technology, bagged half of the prize and the $1 million prize money, the other half went to George P. Smith, an emeritus professor of biological sciences at the University of Missouri and Gregory P. Winter, a biochemist at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England.
“The prize highlights the narrowing of the gap between biology and some fields of chemistry as chemists turn to nature for inspiration,” the report added.
A hornbill gets a 3D-printed prosthetic bill in Singapore
A hornbill in Singapore just got a 3D-printed prosthetic bill after being operated for cancer, reported BBC.
Jary, the 22-year-old male Great Pied Hornbill under captivity at Singapore’s Jurong Bird Park, underwent a surgery to remove cancerous tissue in his casque, which had been destroyed by the disease.
The bird underwent a diagnosis and survived the critical operation after which a new prosthetic casque was attached to his beak.
According to the zoo officials’ statements, Jary’s new casque has turned yellow after he coloured it using pigment from his tail.
Jary, who was discharged from hospital in September, will retain the prosthesis until he grows a new casque.