Fresh Start: Podcast News (8/21/2018 Tue.)
People's Daily app
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Welcome to Fresh Start.

This is People’s Daily app. 

Here are today’s picks from our editors.

Xi meets Malaysian PM Mahathir

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Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in Beijing on Monday.

"China firmly upholds China-Malaysia friendship and believes that China-Malaysia relations will have much to do in the new era," Xi said.

Malaysia is the first country in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to establish diplomatic relations with China and also one of the first countries to positively respond to the Belt and Road Initiative, Xi noted.

"The two sides should make efforts in jointly building the Belt and Road and make it the main line to promote pragmatic cooperation between China and Malaysia in the new era," Xi said and hailed Mahathir's Asian values.

Mahathir responded that his visit shows clearly that Malaysia's friendly policy toward China will not change and China's rapid development is not a threat to Malaysia.

“China's Belt and Road Initiative will promote regional exchanges and cooperation, which will benefit all countries in the region," he noted. (Xinhua)

President Xi to chair FOCAC Beijing summit in early September 

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Chinese President Xi Jinping is to chair the 2018 Beijing summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), which is scheduled for Sept. 3-4 in Beijing.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang made the announcement Monday, noting that Xi would also hold relevant activities on the sidelines of the summit.

The summit will be themed "China and Africa: toward an even stronger community with a shared future through win-win cooperation."

Leaders of FOCAC members are invited to attend the summit, and representatives of related regional organizations in Africa and international organizations will also participate in relevant activities. (Xinhua)

Afghan president announces 3-month conditional ceasefire with Taliban 

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Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Sunday announced a conditional three-month ceasefire with the Taliban starting on Monday.

Ghani asked for the ceasefire to start on Monday, which is the day of Arafa, and end on the day of the birth of the prophet.

The Afghan leader also called on Taliban leadership to welcome the wishes of Afghans for a long lasting and real peace.

However, the Taliban group, which has repeatedly rejected an offer for peace talks with the Afghan government, has yet to react to the president’s ceasefire offer. (Xinhua – People’s Daily app)

South Koreans gather to reunite with long-lost relatives from North Korea

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Min Byung-hyun, an 85-year-old South Korean grandfather, showed up in a wheelchair at a hotel in the country's northeast coastal city of Sokcho Sunday to reunite with his younger sister from North Korea, whom he has never met since the Korean War broke out in 1950.

Min is among the 89 South Koreans who will cross the heavily armed border into Mount Kumgang in southeast North Korea for the first reunions of war-separated families in nearly three years. The latest was held in October 2015.

The second session of three-day reunions, involving 83 North Korean families who applied for gatherings with South Korean relatives, will begin from Thursday at the same venue. The two Koreas agreed in June to hold the reunions. (Xinhua)

Police crack China's biggest cryptocurrency hack

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Police in northwest China have arrested three men on suspicion of masterminding a 600 million yuan ($87 million) cryptocurrency hack attack, according to China Media Group.

In a case dating back to March, police in Xi'an, northwestern Shaanxi Province, arrested the trio last Wednesday after an investigation that spanned the country and saw the criminals use complex hacking technology to cover their tracks.

The criminals used a series of proxy servers based in several countries overseas to cover their tracks and split the stolen funds layer-by-layer. (CGTN)

China's gymnasts dominate men's individual all-around at Jakarta Asiad

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Chinese gymnasts dominated the men's individual all-around finals on Monday at the Asian Games here, bringing home a gold and a bronze medal.

Lin Chaopan took the gold medal with 86.750 points, followed by Japan's Shogo Nonomura with 85.950 points. Another Chinese gold medal hopeful Xiao Ruoteng finished third place in his Asian Games debut with 85.550 points.

On team event, eight teams were qualified into the finals. China was ranked the first, followed by Japan and then South Korea. The other five teams are Chinese Taipei, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Iran.

The women's event will start on Tuesday. (Xinhua)

Japanese basketball players ousted from Asian Games for using prostitutes

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Four Japanese basketball players have been punished and sent back home for purchasing sex from prostitutes while participating in the 18th Asian Games, the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) said on Monday.

The four players, Yuya Nagayoshi, Takuya Hashimoto, Takuma Sato, and Keita Imamura, reportedly brought several prostitutes back to their hotel rooms and engaged in “inappropriate acts.”

The JOC investigated after receiving a report from outsiders, and the four players admitted to the misconduct. (Xinhua)

Thanks for listening and be sure to catch us tomorrow.

And now for the Question of the Day:

What are the four Major Plateaus in China?

(Answer: Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Inner Mongolia Plateau, Loess Plateau, Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau.)

Today’s quote is from Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci.

“The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding.” 

(Produced by Nancy Yan Xu, Ryan Yaoran Yu, Terry Guanlin Li, Lance Crayon and Raymond Mendoza)