World Briefs

CHINA Tax authorities have ordered “X-Men” star Fan Bingbing and companies she represents to pay taxes and penalties totaling USD130 million, ending speculation over the fate of one of the country’s highest-profile entertainers three months after she disappeared from public view. More on p11

MALAYSIA’s anti-graft agency said yesterday that the wife of former Prime Minister Najib Razak has been arrested and will face money laundering charges in a graft scandal involving the 1MDB state investment fund.

INDONESIA Officials say more than 1,400 people were killed in the twin tragedies that hit Palu and the surrounding district of Donggala on Sulawesi island. The death toll is expected to rise. Search and rescue personnel are overwhelmed by a multitude of hard-hit areas, including a neighborhood that was swallowed by the earth when the ground liquified during the quake. More on p13

THAILAND Authorities  said they have decided to indefinitely extend the closure of a beautiful bay made famous by the Leonardo DiCaprio movie “The Beach” until it recovers from years of environment damage caused by too many tourists.

INDIA plans to send seven Rohingya Muslims back to Myanmar, in the first deportation of members of the Myanmar minority group since the Home Ministry ordered state authorities last year to identify and deport them and other illegal immigrants.

RUSSIA With a contemptuous grin, President Vladimir Putin yesterday called a former double agent who was sickened by a military grade nerve agent in Britain a traitor and “scumbag” — but dismissed the idea that Russia would target him in a poison attack.

SYRIA With back-to-back trade fairs held in Damascus this month, the country is hoping to jumpstart reconstruction of its devastated cities by inviting international investors to take part in lucrative opportunities.

SWEDEN Three researchers who “harnessed the power of evolution” to produce enzymes and antibodies that have led to a best-selling drug and biofuels won the Nobel Prize in chemistry yesterday. One expert called their discoveries “revolutionary.”

SPACE A German-French observation device safely landed on an asteroid yesterday after a Japanese spacecraft released it as part of a research effort that could find clues about the origin of the solar system, Japanese space officials said.