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This is People's Daily app.

Here are today's picks from our editors. 

Xi stresses timely completion of military development goals

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday stressed fulfilling the set targets and tasks of national defense and military development as scheduled.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks when attending a plenary meeting of the delegation of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and armed police force at the second session of the 13th National People's Congress, China's national legislature.

The entire armed forces must clearly understand the importance and urgency of implementing the 13th Five-Year Plan for military development, firm up their resolve, intensify the sense of mission, forge ahead with a pioneering spirit, and go all out to carry out the plan so as to ensure that the set targets and tasks are fulfilled as scheduled, he said. (Xinhua) 

China's patent applications increase six-fold over past decade: EPO

Patent applications from China grew by 8.8 percent in 2018 to 9,401 cases, the largest number received so far, according to the European Patent Office (EPO) Annual Report for 2018 published on Tuesday.

European patent applications filed by Chinese companies saw a more than six-fold increase between 2008 and 2018, making China among the five most active countries in terms of patent applications with the EPO.

The top four technology fields with the most patent applications from China were digital communication, computer technology, electrical machinery, apparatus, and energy as well as telecommunications, according to the report. (Xinhua) 

More than 10 countries ban Boeing 737 Max after crashes

More countries including Italy, Turkey, Germany and France have joined the ban on flying Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft after two crashes within five months, showing a global trend on the US manufacturer's most popular plane.

There are more than 10 countries that have issued similar bans as of Wednesday.

Earlier, the UK, Australia and Singapore followed China, Indonesia, Mongolia and Ethiopia to ground the Boeing 737 Max aircraft.

The US Federal Aviation Administration still support the continued operational safety of the fleet, issuing a global notice of "continued airworthiness" to the 737 Max 8 jet, a day after the aircraft's second crash, according to a file posted on the website of the FAA. (Global Times) 

Actresses Huffman, Loughlin charged in bribery scheme

Hollywood actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin were charged along with at least 40 other people Tuesday in a scheme in which wealthy parents bribed college coaches and insiders at testing centers to help get their children into some of the most elite schools in the country, prosecutors said.

“These parents are a catalog of wealth and privilege,” US Attorney Andrew Lelling said in announcing the $25 million federal bribery case.

Prosecutors said parents paid an admissions consultant from 2011 through last month to bribe coaches and administrators to label their children as recruited athletes, to alter test scores and have others take online classes to boost their children's chances of getting into schools.

The racketeering conspiracy charges were brought against coaches at schools including Wake Forest, Stanford, Georgetown, the University of Southern California and University of California, Los Angeles. (AP) 

Explosive packages claimed by 'IRA'

A group calling itself the Northern Ireland dissident group the "The Irish Republican Army" has claimed responsibility for four small parcel bombs mailed to London and Glasgow, British police said on Tuesday.

The claim was received on Monday by Belfast-based newspaper The Irish News.

On March 5, suspicious packages were found at an office block next to London's Heathrow Airport, the post room at London Waterloo train station, and at offices near London City Airport.

The following day, a further suspicious package was received at Glasgow University.

Nobody was injured and police have made no arrests. (AFP) 

China conducts marine patrols to welcome returning whales

The tourism authority of Weizhou Island, China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Monday launched patrols together with coast guards to target illegal hunting and killing of whales.

A pod of more than 20 Bryde's whales have been frequently spotted near the island since last year, indicating an improving marine ecosystem under China's stricter pollution control.

It is the first time that such a whale herd has been found frequenting an offshore area of the Chinese mainland since 1980. (Xinhua) 

Thanks for listening and be sure to catch us tomorrow.

And now for the Question of the Day:

What are the Moai?

(Answer: Giant-headed statues on Easter Island.)

Today's quote is from British poet Lord Byron (1788-1824).

"Truth is always strange, stranger than fiction."

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