Fresh Start: Podcast News (7/26/2019 Fri.)
People's Daily app
1564092762000

787650124614346411.jpg

8



Welcome to Fresh Start.

This is People’s Daily app.

Here are today’s picks from our editors. 

China reports world's largest network of charging facilities for electric vehicles

ev.jpg

China has built the world's largest network of charging facilities for electric vehicles, as 1 million charging piles had been completed by the end of June, an official said Thursday.

The country has been promoting clean and low-carbon energy, and the proportion of non-fossil energy in electricity generation continues to rise, said Li Fulong, head of the development and planning office of the National Energy Administration, at a press conference.

Non-fossil energy accounted for 27.3 percent of electricity generation, up 2.1 percentage points from the same period last year, he said. (Xinhua) 

PetroChina drills Asia's deepest ground oil well

8588.jpeg

The Tarim oilfield branch of PetroChina, China's largest oil and gas producer, said Thursday it had completed drilling the deepest oil well on land in Asia.

The Luntan One, with a current depth of 8,882 meters, smashed the previous record of 8,588 meters set by Sinopec in February, according to company officials with PetroChina Tarim Oilfield.

The company also said the well demonstrates that its ultra-deep well drilling technology has reached world-leading levels. (Xinhua)

Romanian diplomat to head UN nuclear watchdog

UN.jpg

Romanian diplomat Cornel Feruta has been chosen to head the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog, according to a statement published Thursday.

Feruta, who previously served as IAEA’s head coordinator, was responsible for coordinating the agency’s internal and external activities.

He is known as a staunch supporter of the Iran Nuclear Deal, reached by Iran and five other countries including China, France, Germany, Russia, the UK, and the US in 2015. (Xinhua) 

Ukraine detains Russian tanker from Kerch Strait incident

Ukraine seizes Russian.jpg

The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) said Thursday it had detained a Russian tanker in the Ukrainian port of Izmail for its alleged involvement in last November's Kerch Strait incident.

The SBU said the vessel, formerly known as Neyma, entered the port of Izmail in the Odessa region under the name of Nika Spirit, and was detained after it was identified.

In November, 24 Ukrainian sailors and their three vessels were seized by the Russian Navy for allegedly violating the Russian border. The incident marked a major escalation in tension between the two countries. (Xinhua) 

NASA begins fueling Mars 2020 rover power system

NASA.jpg

NASA has begun fueling the Mars 2020 rover's Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG), which will power the rover and keep it warm as it explores the Red Planet, according to a statement from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) on Wednesday.

Essentially a nuclear battery, an MMRTG can provide about 110 watts of electrical power to a spacecraft and its instruments at the beginning of a mission, said the JPL.

Mars 2020 rover is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in Florida next year and is expected to land at Jezero Crater in February 2021. (Xinhua) 

Frenchman in flyboard crossing bid falls in Channel

FLY.jpg

A French inventor on Thursday failed to fly across the English Channel from France to Britain on a jet-powered "flyboard,” and had to be rescued after he fell into the sea, his team said.

Franky Zapata, a former jet-ski champion, took off from Sangatte in northern France and later fell into the Channel during a tricky mid-sea re-fuelling break, a member of his team said.

Unharmed and undeterred, the 40-year-old said he plans to try again, and perhaps within days. (AP-AFP)

World's first museum on Mongol history opens in North China

mongol.png

The world's only museum dedicated to Mongol history opened in Ordos, North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China News Service reported Wednesday.

With a total area of 6,220 square meters, the museum consists of six exhibition halls, displaying 2,676 cultural relics, artworks, and books.

The museum keeps 211 pieces of important cultural relics such as the gold coins of Genghis Khan, the founder and first Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, a series of oil paintings and 13 works from "The Secret History of the Mongols" by more than 30 Chinese and Mongolian artists. (CGTN)

Thanks for listening and be sure to catch us tomorrow.

And now for the Question of the Day:

What name is given to someone who studies the stars?

(Answer: Astronomer.)

Today’s quote is from Roman poet Juvenal (60 - 130).

"No one ever became extremely wicked suddenly."

(Produced by Nancy Yan Xu, Ryan Yaoran Yu, Lance Crayon, and Elaine Yue Lin. Music by Eugene Loner.)