Fresh Start: Podcast News (3/30/2019 Sat.)
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Welcome to Fresh Start.

This is People's Daily app.

Here are today's picks from our editors. 

Boao Forum for Asia annual conference concludes with consensus reached

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The Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) annual conference concluded Friday in southern China's island province of Hainan, with consensus on regional and global cooperation reached.

"The firm support for multilateralism and globalization is the most important outcome and the most encouraging message from this year's forum," said Li Baodong, BFA Secretary General at the closing press conference.

A cooperation document was signed between the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations (UN) and BFA. (Xinhua) 

China, US conclude 8th round of trade talks, new progress achieved

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Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer finished the 8th round of high-level trade negotiations in Beijing on Friday.

The two parties discussed the context of the possible deal and have made progress during the consultation.

On the invitation from the US, Liu He will leave for Washington DC next week to attend the 9th round of high-level economic and trade consultations. (People's Daily app) 

UK lawmakers reject Brexit deal for third time

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British MPs on Friday rejected Prime Minister Theresa May's EU divorce deal for a third time, opening the way for a long delay to Brexit -- or a chaotic "no deal" withdrawal in two weeks.

The pound sank as lawmakers defied May's plea to end the deadlock that has plunged Britain into a deep political crisis, defeating her withdrawal agreement by 344 votes to 286.

The EU has set a deadline for April 12 for a decision. (AFP) 

China approves two foreign securities JVs

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China's top securities regulator said Friday that it had approved JP Morgan and Nomura to set up respective securities joint ventures in the country.

The move was part of the country's efforts to expand opening-up of its securities sector, said the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC).

To boost financial opening-up, China unveiled 11 measures last year, including allowing foreign firms to have 51-percent ownership of their brokerage ventures, up from the previous 49 percent. (Xinhua) 

Researchers replicate China's lightest ancient silk clothing

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Chinese researchers have managed to replicate a 49-gram item of silk clothing dating back more than 2,000 years, according to the museum that has it in collection.

Unearthed in a tomb in Western Han Dynasty (202 BC- 8 AD) in central China's Hunan Province, two ancient garments weighing less than 50 grams each are considered the world's lightest silk clothing.

A joint team from Hunan Provincial Museum and Nanjing Yunjin Institute managed to create a 49-gram duplicate with all the color details after working on it for two years.

To create the duplicate, the team found a special variety of silkworm that can spin light silk, and designed weaving machines similar to ancient ones. (Xinhua) 

Chinese telescope collects more than 11 mln spectra

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China has released 11.25 million spectra of celestial objects acquired by the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) to astronomers worldwide, according to the National Astronomical Observatories of China (NAOC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Friday.

As the world's largest spectral survey telescope, LAMOST marks the world's first spectral survey project to obtain more than 10 million spectra.

Among the released spectra, there are 9.37 million high-quality spectra, which is twice the total number of other astronomic surveys internationally.

Spectra are key for astronomers to read celestial bodies' chemical compositions, densities, atmospheres and magnetism. (Xinhua) 

Spacewalking astronauts replace more station batteries

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NASA's Christina Koch and Nick Hague attached the circuitry for new and stronger batteries outside the International Space Station on Friday in a major upgrade of the solar power grid.

The space station’s outdated nickel-hydrogen batteries are being replaced with lithium-ion batteries. These batteries store power collected by the solar wings and keep the outpost running when it’s on the night side of Earth. (AP) 

Thanks for listening and be sure to catch us tomorrow.

And now for the Question of the Day:

How old is the world's oldest dictionary?

(Answer: Cuneiform tablets with bilingual Sumerian-Akkadian word-lists have been dated to 2300 BC.)

Today's quote is from French critic Alphonse Karr (1808-1890).

"Happiness is composed of misfortunes avoided."

(Produced by Nancy Yan Xu, Ryan Yaoran Yu, Brian Lowe, Elaine Yue Lin, and Da Hang. Music by Eugene Loner.)