Fresh Start: Podcast News (11/30/2018 Fri.)

Welcome to Fresh Start.

This is People’s Daily app.

Here are today’s picks from our editors.

Chinese president arrives in Argentina for state visit, G20 summit

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Buenos Aires on Thursday for a state visit to Argentina, where he will also attend the 13th Group of 20 (G20) summit.

Argentina is the second stop of Xi's Europe and Latin America trip after he visited Spain. (Xinhua)

Xi, Putin send congratulatory letters to China-Russia energy business forum

President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin sent congratulatory letters to the China-Russia energy business forum that opened in Beijing Thursday.

Xi said in the letter that the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination has been showing a strong momentum and constant advances in all fields. In recent years, substantial achievements have been scored in bilateral energy cooperation, which has played an active role in facilitating both countries' economic and social development.

Putin said in his letter that the forum had a very rich agenda, with topics covering cooperation in fields including oil and gas, coal, electricity, investment, science and research and environmental protection, which fully reflected the extensive common interests of the energy enterprises of both countries. (Xinhua)

China becomes second largest trading partner of Latin America

China has become the second largest trading partner of Latin America, while Latin America is ranked the second for Chinese overseas investment, following Asia, China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Thursday.

"In recent years, economic and trade cooperation between China, Latin America and Caribbean countries has been expanding extensively, with larger scale and wider scope, achieving great yields in trade, investment and project contracting," MOC spokesperson Gao Feng said at a press conference. "China's trade with Latin America and Caribbean countries went up 20 percent year on year in the first nine months, achieving $228.6 billion."

In 2017, trade volume between the two sides was $257.8 billion, up 18.8 percent year on year, MOC data showed. (Xinhua)

Canada sanctions 17 Saudis linked to Khashoggi murder

Canada on Thursday announced sanctions targeting 17 Saudi nationals linked to the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The 17 individuals will not be able to enter Canada and will have any assets they may have in the country frozen.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said Canada had a responsibility to react, calling Khashoggi's murder "vile" and "premeditated," adding that to date, Saudi Arabia's explanation lacks consistency and credibility.

Freeland said Canada is currently reviewing its sale of light armored vehicles to Saudi Arabia. (Xinhua)

Trump cancels meeting with Putin, citing Ukraine-Russia confrontation

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that considering the unresolved confrontation between Russia and Ukraine, he has decided it would be "best" to cancel his scheduled meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The remarks marked a U-turn in Trump's plans having said it is a "very good time" to meet with Putin in Argentina.

The Ukrainian Navy said Sunday that Russian forces opened fire and seized three Ukrainian ships near the Kerch Strait, adding that six Ukrainian military sailors were wounded, two of them in serious condition, in the attack. (Xinhua)

Michael Cohen pleads guilty to lying to Congress

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former lawyer, has pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about work he did on a Trump real estate deal in Russia.

Cohen made a surprise appearance Thursday in a New York courtroom. He admitted to making false statements in 2017 to the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence about a plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.

In August, Cohen pleaded guilty to other federal charges involving his taxi businesses, bank fraud and his campaign work for Trump. (AP)

New policy promises jobs for foreign students in Hainan

Foreign students with a master's degree or above from Chinese universities will be allowed to find jobs and start businesses in Hainan and work permits will be granted, according to a newly released document by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

As a move to help Hainan deepen its reform and opening-up in the human resources and social security sector, the ministry will support Hainan in implementing an active employment and entrepreneurship policy.

It will also encourage the tropical province to carry out pilot reform of international talent management to allow technical and skilled personnel from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, foreign countries and qualified overseas Chinese to work in Hainan. (China Daily)

Weibo posts huge jump in profit for third quarter

Sina's microblogging platform said profit in the third quarter jumped 63 percent to $165 million, thanks to booming advertising income and new social formats such as live-streaming.

Revenue in the three months ended September was up 44 percent to $460.2 million, with advertising and marketing revenue climbing 48 percent from a year earlier to US$409.3 million.

It estimates net revenue to be between $480 million and $490 million in the fourth quarter, representing around 35 percent to 38 percent annual growth. (Shine.cn)

Thanks for listening and be sure to catch us tomorrow.

And now for the Question of the Day:

What does "Buenos Aires" mean?

(Answer: Good airs or fair winds.)

Today’s quote is from French dramatist Pierre Corneille (1606-1684).

“Happiness seems made to be shared.”

(Produced by Nancy Yan Xu, Ryan Yaoran Yu, Lance Crayon, Brian Lowe and Elaine Yue Lin.)