People's Daily Tonight: Podcast News (11/08/2018 Thu.)
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This is People's Daily Tonight, your news source from China.

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Yang Jiechi meets US national security advisor Bolton

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Chinese Political Bureau member Yang Jiechi met US National Security Adviser John Bolton at the White House ahead of a high-level security dialogue. 

They agreed to work together to prepare for a leaders’ meeting at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires.

Yang noted that maintaining the healthy and stable development of China-US relations is in the fundamental interests of the people of the two countries, and also the people of the world.

Yang said that the Taiwan issue is the most important and sensitive core issue of bilateral ties.

He urged Washington to adhere to the one-China policy and the principles of the three joint communiques, and properly deal with related issues. (People's Daily app)

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Tesla's board nominates COO Robyn Denholm as chairman

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Tesla founder Elon Musk, who is facing a lawsuit over the "privatization farce", now has a new title -- former Tesla chairman. 

Bloomberg reported that Tesla's board nominated COO Robyn Denholm as its new chairman, effective immediately.

Robyn Denholm, a former Toyota finance chief, is Tesla's only executive with experience in other big car groups.

In late September, Musk reached a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle securities fraud allegations against him.

Under the terms of the settlement, Musk agreed to step down as Tesla's chairman within 45 days, but will remain as CEO. Within three years, he was ineligible for re-election as chairman. He will also pay a $20 million fine. (People’s Daily App)

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Trump announces Sessions out as DoJ head

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US President Donald Trump fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

In his place, Trump appointed Matthew Whitaker acting head.

The move has potentially ominous implications for special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe.

Whitaker, who was Sessions’ chief of staff, has questioned the inquiry’s scope and spoke publicly before joining the Justice Department about ways an attorney general could theoretically stymie the probe.

Congressional Democrats called on Whitaker to recuse himself from overseeing the investigation in its final but potentially explosive stages.

That duty had belonged to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. (People's Daily app)

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China's imports surge 26.3 pct, exports rise 20.1 pct in Oct.

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China's imports surged 26.3 percent year on year in October, while exports rose 20.1 percent, with the pace of growth both beating expectations, data showed Thursday.

The increases also accelerated from the 17.4 percent growth for imports seen in September and a rise of 17 percent for exports.

Trade surplus stood at 233.63 billion yuan ($33.76 billion) last month, expanding from 213.23 billion yuan in September, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

China's exports in October denominated in dollars rose 21.4 percent year-on-year, exceeding an expected 14.5 percent growth forecast. September exports grew 14.3 percent year-on-year, the data showed.

A source said that the central government had attached importance to stabilizing imports and exports, and related departments and local governments also provided supports.

Other reasons include importers and exporters rushed to make deals before tariffs rise caused by the trade war and the yuan's fall in October.

According to the data, imports and exports to major markets such as the European Union, the US, ASEAN and Japan have all increased, and the growth rate of imports and exports along the Belt and Road initiative countries is higher than the overall.

In the first 10 months, China's exports with the US increased 8.7 percent year-on-year, imports 3.7 percent and the trade surplus 11.5 percent.

China's goal is not to deliberately pursue a trade surplus, but pursue a general trade balance. This can be seen in China's trading data with Japan, EU, and B&R countries, the source added, after 5 years work on BRI cooperation, now the effects have been harvested. (Xinhua-Global Times)

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570,000 short videos involving copyright infringement removed

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Fifteen major Chinese online video-sharing platforms have taken down a combined 570,000 short videos for copyright infringement.

In September, the National Copyright Administration had summoned representatives from companies such as Douyin, Kuaishou, Pear Video and Bilibili over copyright concerns.

The authority asked the platforms to strengthen copyright management of their content to ensure that all copyrighted videos, music, photos and text are published with proper authorization.

Copyright protection has significantly improved in China. 

The platforms have been processing complaints through mechanisms such as 24/7 complaint channels, with some of them even establishing blacklist systems for banned accounts. (Xinhua)

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Mass shooting in California, 13 dead

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Ventura County Sheriff Sgt. Eric says 13 people are dead, including a sheriff’s sergeant and the gunman, after a shooting inside a crowded Southern California bar late Wednesday.

The shooting took place at a Thousand Oaks bar packed with hundreds of people, including college students. 

Ventura County Sheriff’s Department Capt.  told reporters at the scene that deputies responded to reports of shots fired at the bar around 11:20 p.m. When the deputies arrived, they exchanged gunfire with a suspect and one of the deputies was wounded, according to the Capt., who didn't know if the gunman had been hit. Those wounded were sent to the local hospital.

A witness said that at least 30 shots had been fired,” It was chaos, people jumping out of window, people hopping over gates to escape”.

The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force had been dispatched to the scene and the shooting is under investigation. 

Thousand Oaks is a city of about 130,000 people 64 kilometers west of Los Angeles. (People's Daily app)

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Pakistan, Afghanistan hold talks on refugee issue

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And Pakistan and Afghanistan met in Islamabad on Afghan refugees and other Afghan nationals illegally re-siding in Pakistan.

Both countries have set up a joint working group on refugees under the Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Stability.

That’s a joint action plan on key areas of counter-terrorism and the reduction of violence, peace and rec-onciliation, refugees’ repatriation and joint economic development.

The United Nations said Pakistan still hosts about 1.4 million registered Afghan refugees. (Xinhua)

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And that’s People’s Daily Tonight. Thanks for joining us.

(Produced by David Nye and Wang Zi)