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

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Holding of renminbi by world's central banks rises

Central banks across the world increased their holdings of renminbi by 32 percent in the second quarter.

This, despite the currency's depreciation against the dollar.

The latest figures were released by the International Monetary Fund.

Analysts said the steady increase points to a strong use of the renminbi abroad, and could rise even further in the coming years. 

As of June, the total renminbi reserves of 149 monetary authorities who report foreign exchange holdings to the IMF's Currency Composition of Official Foreign Exchange Reserves database has risen for four consecutive quarters. (China Daily)

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China's Palace Museum starts expansion project

The Palace Museum, one of the world's most visited tourist attractions, launched an expansion program on Wednesday in Beijing's Haidian District.

The expansion is the core part of a major cultural renovation program with an objective to enhance Palace Museum's capacity in exhibiting and conserving cultural heritage.

The on-site geological surveying and archaeological prospecting also kicked off at the expansion site, literally known as the "north section project of the Palace Museum."

The north section project will cover an area of 62 hectares, where exhibition halls, cultural heritage conservation workshops, warehouses and other facilities taking up 102,000 square meters, will be built.

The Palace Museum will build a new underground warehouse to protect relics in a controlled environment with custom humidity and temperature settings.

The new storage area is expected to be finished in 2020. (CGTN)

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One dead as monstrous Hurricane Michael tears into Florida

Hurricane Michael claimed its first life after roaring ashore in Florida on Wednesday.

The storm flooded homes and streets and toppled trees and power lines in the Gulf of Mexico beachfront area where it made landfall as a raging Category 4 storm.

Florida officials said Michael packed winds of 250 kilometers per hour, and was the most powerful storm to hit the state's northern Panhandle area in more than a century.

Michael has since weakened to a Category 1 storm. (AFP)

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Quake kills three people in Indonesia's Java

A 6.3-magnitude earthquake rocked East Java province in western parts of Indonesia earlier Thursday, leaving three people dead and scores of houses damaged, officials said.

The quake did not have potential for tsunami and centered at 61 km northeast of Situbondo and with a depth of 10 km under seabed, an official said.

The jolts hit the worst at Gayam sub-district of Sumenep district. According to a spokesman of the national disaster management agency, assessment on further downside risks of the natural disaster is underway.

Indonesia is prone to quakes as it sits on a quake-affected zone called "the Pacific Ring of Fire." (Xinhua)

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Tokyo stocks drop nearly 2% at open after Wall St tumble

Tokyo stocks dropped nearly two percent at the opening Thursday following a plunge in New York.

This, as US traders fretted about surging interest rates and the safe-haven yen climbed against the dollar.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 1.94 percent or 457.03 points in early trade, while the broader Topix index was down 1.90 percent or 33.49 points.

Both indices later extended losses, sinking by more than three percent during morning trade. 

US shares plunged as worries about surging US interest rates and the impact of trade disputes prompted a broad-based selloff that slashed more than three percent from major indices. (AFP)

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Chinese company fixes design of hyperloop traveling at 1,000 km/h

The design of China's hyperloop transportation system that can travel at a speed of 1,000 kilometers per hour has been fixed by the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp (CASIC), one of the nation's major space contractors.

The carriage body is 29 meters long and three meters wide, using light and heat preventing material to reduce its weight.

The hyperloop will be a maglev line on which a pod will travel on partly elevated tubes or tunnels at superfast speed reaching 1,000 km per hour.

The research team is expected to tackle the key technology by 2020, a staff at the CASIC said. (China Plus)

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Jack Ma hails prospect of technology in Asia

And the founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, Jack Ma, hailed the prospect of technology and internet in Asia. 

He said China and companies like Alibaba will take up the responsibility and opportunities to share its technology with the neighbors. 

He said despite being a latecomer to the internet and information technology, governments and entrepreneurs in Asia are showing greater interest in the area. (Xinhua)

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

(Produced by David Nye, Cheng Weidan and Wang Xiangyu)