This is People’s Daily Tonight, your news source from China.

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Kim Jong-un visits China before meeting Trump, Moon

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea leader Kim Jong-un arrived on Monday in China for a visit on the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

It is Kim's first visit to China in 2019.

Last year, the DPRK leader visited China three times before and after summits with US President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

In separate letters to Trump and Moon, Kim expressed the DPRK's willingness to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and enhance inter-Korean relations. (CGTN)

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20 students injured after attack at Beijing primary school

 

Schoolchildren and their parents from a primary school in Beijing were left in shock after a group of the children were attacked by a male suspect on Tuesday morning.

The male suspect attacked them at one of the campuses of the No 1 Affiliated Elementary School of Xuanwu Normal School in Xicheng district at 11:17 am.

Twenty school children were injured and three of them received severe injuries. All injured children have been sent to hospitals for treatment and their conditions are currently not life threatening, the Xicheng government said in a statement released on Tuesday afternoon.

A mother said the teachers told the parents that all of the injured children were immediately sent to two hospitals. Also, the suspect is believed to be a school worker and not a teacher, she added. (China Daily)

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Pompeo pledges no IS return on Middle East tour

 

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo vowed that the Islamic State group would not be allowed to regroup.

This, as he headed to the Middle East following President Donald Trump's surprise decision to pull US troops from Syria.

Pompeo told reporters he would show that "the United States is still committed to all the missions that we've signed up for with them over the past two years."

The trip comes weeks after Trump announced that the US would quickly pull its 2,000 soldiers out of Syria. (AFP)

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Amazon becomes world's most valuable public company

 

E-commerce giant Amazon has become the largest company by market value at stock market close on Monday, surpassing Microsoft, previously the biggest public corporation.

Amazon's market value stood at $796.78 billion at market close, after its stock price rose by 3.44 percent to close at $1,629.51 apiece for the day.

Apple, also a contender for the most valuable company, went down to $701.99 billion in market value. Its stock price hit a 52-week low last week after the company issued lower guidance for the fiscal 2019 first quarter. (CGTN)

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China's forex reserves rise for second month in row

China's foreign exchange reserves rose for the second consecutive month in December to $3.07 trillion.

However, the amount was lower than the $3.14 trillion recorded at the end of 2017.

In December, reserves increased by $11 billion, after a rise of $8.6 billion in November.

Other economic indicators will be released later this week, including inflation and financial data, such as money supply and credit growth. (China Daily)

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China's information consumption reaches 5 trln yuan in 2018

 

The country's information consumption in 2018 stood at around 5 trillion yuan, jumping 13 percent year-on-year, according to the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT).

To bolster information consumption, China called for more efforts to support innovations in the fields of wearable devices, consumer drones, robots providing smart services and virtual reality.

An official guideline released in August 2018 said China aims to boost the consumption of information products and services to 6 trillion yuan in 2020 and ensure an annual growth rate of at least 11 percent. (Xinhua)

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Ghosn makes first public appearance since shock arrest

And former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn appeared in public Tuesday for the first time since his arrest in November rocked the business world.

This, as he offers his side of the story in a high-profile court hearing. 

The 64-year-old auto industry titan attended a hearing at the Tokyo District Court where the judge was to explain the reasons for Ghosn's continued detention on suspicion of financial misconduct. (AFP)

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And that’s People’s Daily Tonight.  Thanks for joining us.

(Produced by David Nye and Wang Xiangyu)