This is People's Daily Tonight, your news source from China.

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Xi calls for equipment manufacturing industry advancement

Chinese President Xi Jinping said the equipment manufacturing industry should take the trend and further advance itself, especially at a time when China has been pushing forward high-quality development amid the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative. 

He made the remarks in his visit to a state-owned rolling stock company in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

He said that as one of the key parts of this tangible economy, the equipment manufacturing industry needs to continue its efforts in innovation to keep the control in its own hands.

Xi also visited China First Heavy Industries. 

The company makes heavy equipment for nuclear power and petrochemical plants. (CGTN)

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China's industrial profits up 16.2 pct in first eight months

Profits of China's major industrial firms grew 16.2 percent in the first eight months of this year, down from a rise of 17.1 percent for the January-July period, official data showed.

Although industrial profits rose at a slower pace, an official from the National Bureau of Statistics said supply-side structural reform has led to falling operating costs and leverage ratios, while industrial companies' profitability continued to improve.

Overseas-funded industrial firms recorded faster profit growth compared with the January-July period, while profit growth at state-owned enterprises declined. (Xinhua)

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Fed raises rates for 3rd time this year with 1 more expected

The US Federal Reserve signaled its confidence in the US economy by raising a key interest rate for a third time this year.

It also sees another rate hike before year’s end and predicts that it will continue to tighten credit into 2020 to manage growth and inflation.

The Fed lifted its short-term rate by a modest quarter-point to a range of 2 percent to 2.25 percent. 

It was its eighth hike since late 2015. 

The central bank also stuck with a previous forecast for three more rate hikes in 2019.

The Fed’s actions and its updated economic forecasts had been widely anticipated. (AP)

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Trump would 'prefer' to keep top official in Russia probe

US President Donald Trump said he would "prefer" to keep his deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the Russia collusion probe.

However, Trump said that a meeting scheduled for Thursday at the White House between him and Rosenstein might be put off, because of the focus on a separate political drama over his Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh.

Doubts over how long Rosenstein can keep the job have been swirling since US media reports that he once suggested secretly recording Trump to collect evidence for removing him under a constitutional amendment for presidents unfit to remain in office. 

Trump indicated Wednesday that Rosenstein had gone a long way in persuading him. Rosenstein has dismissed the media reports as inaccurate. (AFP)

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Chinese FM refutes US allegations of meddling elections

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China has always adhered to the principle of non-interference, and expects other countries to do the same.

He was responding to US allegations that China is "attempting to interfere" in the US midterm elections.

US President Donald Trump had accused China of undermining his prospects in upcoming elections at the UN Security Council Meeting on Wednesday.

Wang said non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries is a tradition of China's foreign policy, which has won wide praise from the international community. (CGTN)

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Feds investigate allegations of discrimination at Yale

The Trump administration is opening an investigation into Yale University’s admissions practices following accusations that it discriminates against Asian-American applicants.

The probe comes less than a month after the US Justice Department sided with an Asian American group that’s suing Harvard University over similar accusations.

The investigation responds to a 2016 complaint from the New Jersey-based Asian American Coalition for Education. 

The coalition’s complaint notes that the percentage of Asian Americans at Yale and other Ivy League schools has declined even as they make up a growing share of the US population. It says the decline has been fueled by negative stereotypes and that schools apply tougher admissions standards for Asian Americans. (AP)

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IMF bumps up Argentina bailout package to $57 billion

And the International Monetary Fund has agreed to boost its crisis loan package aimed at restoring confidence in Argentina's struggling economy by 14 percent to $57.1 billion.

IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said the aim of the program was to help Argentina "tackle the challenges it faces" and support the "most vulnerable people in society."

Argentina originally secured a $50 billion loan in June, when an initial $15 billion tranche was handed over.

However, last month, President Mauricio Macri revealed he had asked for an accelerated disbursement of the remaining $35 billion tranche, with another three billion US dollars not due until November and the remainder over the next three years. (AFP)

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

(Produced by David Nye and Chen Lidan)