Fresh Start: Podcast News (8/20/2018 Mon.)
People's Daily app
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Welcome to Fresh Start.

This is People’s Daily app. 

Here are today’s picks from our editors.

Xi requires strengthening CPC leadership, Party building in military

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President Xi Jinping has called for efforts to comprehensively strengthen the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Party building in the country's armed forces to ensure a solid political guarantee for the building of a strong military.

Xi, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), made the remarks at a CMC meeting on Party building, which was held from Friday to Sunday in Beijing.

Noting that strengthening CPC leadership and Party building within the military is a requisite for advancing the "great new project" of Party building and the building of a strong country with a strong military, Xi said the whole military should comprehensively implement the Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress. (Xinhua)

China releases guideline on winning battle against poverty

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China released a guideline Sunday on winning the battle against poverty within three years to prepare the nation for poverty eradication by 2020.

It is an arduous task to lift another 30 million people out of poverty in three years, said the guideline released by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council.

The guideline reiterates the country's target of lifting all rural poor and impoverished counties out of poverty and eliminating poverty by 2020 to build a moderately prosperous society.

Lower-income populations should be guaranteed food and clothing. Children from poor families should be guaranteed nine-years of compulsory education.

 Basic medical needs and living conditions should also be guaranteed, according to the guideline. (Xinhua)

Romanian trucker is Genoa bridge’s 43rd victim

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A Genoa hospital says a Romanian truck driver who suffered severe cranial and chest injuries in the bridge collapse has died.

The San Martino Hospital said Marian Rosca, 36, died Saturday evening. Doctors had described him as the most severely injured of the survivors of Tuesday’s collapse of the Morandi Bridge, a key artery in Genoa.

His death raises to 43 the number of people who died when the Morandi Bridge collapsed, sending its highway, bridge support tower and dozens of cars and trucks plunging 45 meters (150 feet) into a dry riverbed in the northern Italian port city.

Authorities say several other bridge survivors are still hospitalized.(AP)

8.2-magnitude quake strikes off Ndoi Island, Fiji

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An earthquake measuring 8.2 on the Richter scale jolted 291 km NNE of Ndoi Island, Fiji at 00:19:37 GMT on Sunday, the US Geological Survey said.

At a depth of 559.6 km, the epicenter of the tremor is well below the seabed, but a destructive Pacific-wide tsunami is not expected, said the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

Meanwhile, a shallow earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 rocked Lombok island in central Indonesia Sunday evening, but no tsunami alert was issued, an official of the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said. (Xinhua - People’s Daily app)

Chinese scientists discover gene that can help rice adapt to cold climate

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Chinese scientists have found a gene which plays an important role in helping rice, originating in warm southern China, expand to the relatively cold northern regions.

After analyzing 202 rice samples from various growing regions around the world collected by the Department of Agriculture of the United States, Chinese researchers at the Institute of Genetics and Development Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences identified a gene, bZIP73, associated with cold tolerance.

The researchers believe the gene has facilitated the adaptation of rice to low temperatures.

Rice is one of the most important cereal crops feeding more than half of the world's population. Cold stress is a major factor limiting production and geographic distribution of rice, said Chu Chengcai, a lead scientist in the research.(CGTN)

Sun Peiyuan claims 18th Asian Games' first gold for team China

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Sun Peiyuan won the first gold medal for team China at the 2018 Asian Games in men’s changquan on Sunday in Jakarta. 

This is also the first gold medal to be captured at this year’s Asian Games. 

The 2018 Asian Games are underway from August 18 to September 2 in two Indonesian cities: Jakarta and Palembang. (CGTN)

Thanks for listening and be sure to catch us tomorrow.

And now for the Question of the Day:

What is the longest river in Asia?

(Answer: The Yangtze River is the longest river in the Asia with a length of 6,300 km.)

Today’s quote is from British statesman Winston Churchill.

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. ”

 (Produced by Nancy Yan Xu, Ryan Yaoran Yu, and Lance Crayon)