Waching daily Oct 4 2018

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Chinese officials have ordered "X-Men" actor Fan Bingbing to pay $130 million in

taxes and fines.

The move ends the mystery over her disappearance from public view three months ago.

Fan Bingbing is one of China's most famous actors.

In 2016, Forbes listed her as one of the highest paid female actors in the world.

China's state news agency Xinhua reported that Fan would not be investigated for the

crime of tax evasion as long as she pays the taxes, fines and late fees of almost 900 million

yuan, about $130 million.

The Xinhua report said Fan avoided taxes by making a $20-million secret performance contract

for the Chinese film "Unbreakable Spirit."

It is a common custom in Chinese show business for actors to make one private contract with

high pay and another public contract showing much lower pay.

The report said the investigation serves as a warning to all show business performers

in China.

Fan apologized on the social media site Weibo.com: "I am unworthy of the trust of the society

and let down the fans who love me."

She wrote that she accepts the tax officials' decision and will "overcome all difficulties

and raise funds to pay back taxes and fines."

The post is her first update on Weibo.com since June 2.

Fan has starred in several movies and TV series in China.

She is best known internationally for her performances in the "X-Men" and "Iron

Man" films.

Before her disappearance, she was to appear with Penelope Cruz in the Hollywood film "355."

She also has a part in the upcoming movie "Air Strike" with Bruce Willis.

I'm Ashley Thompson.

There have been many books written and movies made describing the ability of people to communicate

through thoughts.

While this idea has not been demonstrated in reality, physicists and neuroscientists

have reported some progress in recent years.

Now, scientists say they successfully connected the brains of three people who were able to

send thoughts to each other.

A group of researchers reported their new findings in a scientific paper posted on the

internet.

The scientists – from the University of Washington and Carnegie Mellon University

– say they believe their experiment is the very first of its kind.

The team used electronic tools to complete the test of brain-to-brain communication.

It was not the first time this same group of researchers connected different human brains,

MIT Technology Review reports.

In 2015, they used similar equipment to link up the brains of two people.

Part of that experiment involved the two test subjects playing a simple word game, the publication

said.

The group calls its new project BrainNet.

It described the system as the first "direct brain-to-brain interface" designed to help

people cooperate in problem solving.

In the experiment, the scientists said only brain-to-brain communication was used as the

three individuals played a video game together.

The game was a simplified version of the video game Tetris, which became hugely popular in

the 1980s.

In the game, players try to match colored blocks falling onto a puzzle.

Two kinds of electronic devices were worn by people taking part in the experiment.

Electroencephalograms, or EEGs were used to record electrical brain activity of subjects.

The other, called transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, is a process that magnetically stimulates

a part of the brain.

This was used to send information to others involved in the experiment.

During the game, two players were chosen as "senders" and a third as a "receiver."

The senders had brain signals "decoded" using real-time EEG information.

The decoding process recorded each sender's decisions about suggested moves in the game.

The sending and receiving of information was carried out by the subjects looking at different

forms of light.

The decisions were then transmitted through the internet to the brain of the receiver,

who could not see the video game.

The receiver then uses the information from the senders to decide on what game moves to

make.

An additional part of the game provided a second chance for senders to examine the receiver's

decision and send feedback to the receiver's brain.

The researchers said experiments were carried out with five different groups, each with

three human subjects.

They reported all the groups were able to use BrainNet to perform the game moves with

a success rate of 81 percent.

The scientists added noise to one sender's signal to test whether that would affect the

receiver's responses.

They reported that the receivers learned to recognize the most reliable senders by using

only the information transmitted to their brains.

The researchers wrote that the results "raise the possibility of future brain-to-brain interfaces

that enable cooperative problem solving by humans using a 'social network' of connected

brains."

I'm Bryan Lynn.

When actor Bradley Cooper saw singer Lady Gaga perform at the home of businessman Sean

Parker, it was not just one of the important moments toward making the movie "A Star Is

Born."

It was, Cooper says, the moment.

"She demolished the room," he remembers.

"I knew that was plutonium."

The next day, Cooper went to Gaga's home in Malibu.

He arrived hungry.

Gaga fed him spaghetti.

The two East Coast, Italian- American performers shared an immediate, natural connection.

Within minutes, they were singing by Gaga's piano and "A Star Is Born" was, well, born.

Gaga said of that day, "And when I heard him sing!

My God!

I stopped playing the piano and I was like, 'Bradley you can sing!'"

The latest "A Star Is Born" film is the fourth version of the story.

Its release comes more than 80 years after the first.

The new movie has been in development at Warner Brothers for about 20 years.

The film brings many firsts for both Gaga and Cooper.

Gaga debuts as a film actor and Cooper, as a director.

Cooper also acts in the film.

Actor Sam Elliott is another cast member.

He described Cooper as a "tireless" director.

"He never quit on it, from beginning to end."

Cooper stars as Jackson Maine, a country-rock 'n' roll star who drinks too much alcohol.

He sees Ally, played by Lady Gaga, singing in a bar and is excited by her skill.

Ally, however, has given up on her dream of musical success.

She has been told she does not have the right "look."

She and Jackson soon fall in love, even as Jackson's drinking problem worsens.

Together, they create something honest and beautiful through music.

It rockets Ally to stardom.

Gaga said the movie brings back memories.

"When I'm watching it back, I see myself as a much younger girl, more like when I was

15 writing songs at the piano," she said.

"What Jackson is trying to teach her is something that I still want to give more of in my music

now and in the future."

Cooper's "A Star Is Born" has been met with great public excitement.

The movie'strailer has been watched more than 10 million times.

Its showings at the famous film festivals in Venice and Toronto received major critical

praise.

The film's message -- that success can come to those who are true to their art -- seems

to have a powerful effect on viewers.

It is something that rings true for many in the cast, too, including Anthony Ramos.

He plays Ally's best friend.

The 26-year-old actor grew up poor in Bushwick, Brooklyn, and got his big break on Broadway

in "Hamilton."

"I've had teachers tell me, 'You have to be this or you have to be that to be successful.

You have to change the way you speak.

You have to grow your hair out.'

I've had people tell me all kinds of things to give me the formula for success," says

Ramos.

"But what I realize, which you find by the end of this movie, all you gotta do is love

yourself and believe in yourself, and continue to be your truest self."

Gaga has won many fans for her message of self-acceptance.

She says she identifies with both her character and with the more troubled Jackson.

The pop star has been open about her mental health struggles and her rape, which happened

when she was 19 years old.

"Jackson's plight in the film and his substance abuse, it really stays with me.

The mental health aspect, the substance abuse aspect, the trauma aspect.

I told Bradley right after we watched it in Venice that I had to take 30 minutes to myself

in a back room somewhere," says Gaga.

"If I act again, the experience has to be as deep as this one or it wouldn't be fulfilling

to me."

Cooper also says "A Star is Born" has changed him.

"I find myself thinking of lines Jackson says often, just in terms of taking on a new project:

What am I trying to say and how am I going to say it?"

Cooper said.

Ramos' success recently led his own older brother to quit his job and "go for it," like

Ally does in the film.

After "A Star Is Born" opens in theaters Friday, more stars are ready to be born.

I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.

Afghan health officials say militants are interfering in their effort to protect children

in western Afghanistan against polio virus.

Abdul Jabar Shayeq is head of the health department in Farah province.

He told VOA that the Taliban is blocking efforts to provide polio vaccine in some unsafe areas.

He said the group wants the power to decide who vaccinates the children.

Shayeq told VOA, "Armed Taliban do not accept our standards, and push for their conditions,

in an effort to control the vaccination process.

They do not allow the vaccination campaign to be implemented independently."

He added that the Taliban is not directly opposing the vaccination campaign.

He said its members are making it difficult for vaccinators to do their job correctly

and to follow international standards.

Afghanistan has the largest number of registered polio cases in the world.

Activists in Farah province want opposing sides to not politicize the vaccination campaign.

One activist, Nasim Minawal, told VOA the campaign is important and does not belong

to the government or any other group.

He added that "this is an important preventive program for children.

Children who are suffering from polio [because of lack of vaccination] have no treatment

whatsoever."

Minawal called on the Taliban not to interfere with the process and to let health workers

do their jobs.

Some tribal leaders are calling on local leaders in rural areas to use their influence to help

with the vaccinations.

Hameedullah Khan is a tribal leader in Farah.

He believes efforts to block the vaccinations are non-Islamic.

He told VOA that he wants community leaders to support vaccination efforts.

"I call on religious scholars, tribal leaders and community members not to politicize polio

vaccination," Khan said.

He added that they should be concerned for "the well-being of their children" and

make sure they "receive the vaccination in a timely manner."

Records from the Afghan ministry of public health show a decrease in the total number

of polio cases from 2017.

Fourteen polio cases were reported in Afghanistan last year.

This year, there have been 10 cases.

I'm Jonathan Evans.

Two Americans and one Briton have won the 2018 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for developing

new processes used to create drugs, chemicals and biofuels.

Frances Arnold of the California Institute of Technology will receive half the prize,

worth about $1 million.

The other half will be shared by George Smith of the University of Missouri and Gregory

Winter of the MRC Molecular Biology Laboratory in Cambridge, England.

The Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences said Arnold used the processes of natural selection

to create enzymes.

Enzymes are complex proteins that make many chemical reactions possible.

The academy described the process as being similar to biological evolution.

It said the Nobel winners applied "the power of evolution and used the same principles

– genetic change and selection – to develop proteins that solve mankind's chemical problems."

Arnold first tested her method of what has been called "directed evolution" in 1993.

Others now commonly use it to create new enzymes.

These enzymes can be used in chemical processes that produce medicines.

They also can be used to help create chemicals that are safe for the environment and to make

biofuels.

The other half of this year's Nobel Prize for Chemistry will be shared by George Smith

and Gregory Winter.

Smith developed a method to make new biological proteins in 1985.

Smith's method is known as "phage display."

In this process, viruses that can infect bacteria, known as bacteriophages, are used to produce

new proteins that are not believed to exist in nature.

Winter used Smith's phage display method to create new kinds of antibodies.

Antibodies are proteins that help fight infection in the body.

Winter's aim was to use "phage display" to make new medicines.

The first medicine based on Smith's and Winter's methods, adalimumab, also known

as Humira, was approved by drug officials in 2002.

It is a popular way to treat rheumatoid arthritis, some skin diseases and inflammatory bowel

diseases.

The drug is also costly, creating billions of dollars in sales around the world.

The academy says, in recent years, the phage display method has created antibodies able

to do a wide number of health-related tasks.

Newly created antibodies can make some poisonous substances safe, fight autoimmune diseases

and even cure some forms of cancer.

After learning that he had won the Nobel Prize, Smith spoke to the Associated Press.

The 77-year-old chemist said his discoveries could not have been made without the earlier

work of many others.

"Very few research breakthroughs are novel.

Virtually all of them build on what went on before," he said.

Arnold, who is 62 years old, joins four other women who have won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry.

She spoke to Reuters after hearing that she had won the Nobel Prize.

"Some people breed cats and dogs," she said, "I breed molecules."

The Nobel Prize for Chemistry is one of the five prizes first given in 1901.

They were the wish of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, who established the organization

that provides money for the prizes.

The awards honor discoveries that have provided "the greatest benefit to mankind."

I'm Mario Ritter.