Welcome to Fresh Start.

This is People’s Daily app. 

Here are today’s picks from our editors.

Xi vows to expand opening-up in a meet with Merkel

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Beijing.

Xi said that China will match its words with deeds to expand opening up.

The Chinese market is large enough and will grow larger as China develops.

China's greater opening up is gradually extending from the manufacturing sector to financial and service sectors, which will bring more opportunities to Germany and the rest of the world, Xi said.

Merkel is paying an official visit to China from Friday to Saturday at the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. (Xinhua)

China cuts financial institutions' reserve ratios to boost lending

China's central bank announced Friday it will cut the cash that lenders must hold as reserves, releasing about 900 billion yuan of long-term liquidity to bolster the economy.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) announced a cut to the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) for financial institutions by 50 basis points from Sept. 16 to support the real economy and reduce the real cost of social financing.

About 800 billion yuan will be released from the broad-based RRR cut. (Xinhua)

HKSAR gov't dismisses Fitch downgrade of Hong Kong's credit rating

The government of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) on Friday refuted Fitch's downgrade of Hong Kong's credit rating and stressed the "one country, two systems" principle is the foundation of Hong Kong's sustained prosperity.

The HKSAR government disagreed and was disappointed with Fitch's decision to downgrade, said Paul Chan, financial secretary of the HKSAR government.

The credit-rating agency downgraded Hong Kong's sovereign rating from AA+ to AA and the outlook from stable to negative. (Xinhua)

UK House of Lords passes bill to prevent no-deal Brexit

The British House of Lords on Friday approved a bill designed to block a possible no-deal Brexit, paving the way for it to become law.

The European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 6) Bill passed un-amended. It now requires royal assent before it becomes legislation.

The bill was passed on Wednesday in its final reading in the House of Commons by 327 votes to 299. It means the British government has to extend the Brexit deadline beyond Oct. 31, if a deal has not been agreed with the EU by then. (Xinhua)

Abe, Putin exchange views on signing of post-WWII peace treaty

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to accelerate the process of signing a peace treaty between the two countries.

"Let us each bear responsibility towards history. Let us conclude a peace treaty and unleash in one fell swoop the unlimited potential that the people of our two countries hold," Abe said at the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum held in the far eastern city of Vladivostok.

Putin said both he and Abe would move forward towards concluding the peace treaty on the basis of the 1956 declaration, no matter how difficult it would be.

Russia and Japan have not signed a post-World War II peace treaty due to their rival claims to four Pacific islands, called the Southern Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan. (Xinhua)

Sudan's PM announces formation of transitional cabinet

Sudan's Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok on Thursday announced the formation of the transitional cabinet, the first since the ouster of former President Omar al-Bashir.

Hamdok made the announcement during a press conference in Khartoum, citing a constitutional decree issued by the chairman of the Sovereign Council.

The decree appointed 18 ministers, but delayed the naming of the ministers of two ministries, including the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, and the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries. (Xinhua)

French rooster triumphs in battle over right to crow

The owner of famed French rooster Maurice emerged victorious on Thursday from a legal battle with her neighbors over his early-morning crowing, with a court upholding the bird's right to sing in the day.

The case brought by the neighbors of Maurice's owner Corinne Fesseau has made headlines around the world, seen as symptomatic of the tensions in the countryside between rural folk and holiday homeowners.

"Maurice won and the plaintiffs must pay his owner 1,000 euros in damages," Fesseau's lawyer Julien Papineau said. (AFP)

Thanks for listening and be sure to catch us tomorrow.

And now for the Question of the Day:

How far is the moon away from Earth? 

(Answer: Around 376 600 km.)

Today's quote is from Chinese-American actor Bruce Lee (1940-1973).      

"A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer."

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