This is People’s Daily Tonight, your news source from China.
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Chinese and Indian companies sign over 120 MoUs
Companies from China and India signed more than 120 Memorandums of Understanding on Thursday to export sugar, plastics chemicals, pharmaceuticals and fertilizers.
Over 60 Chinese entrepreneurs from 34 sectors will carry out trade promotion activities in India, with orders worth $ 100 million.
More than 1,000 Chinese companies increased their investments in India, with a total investment of $ 8 billion, and created 200,000 local jobs. (CGTN)
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China urges UN members to fulfill financial obligations
China expressed concern over the worst cash crisis the United Nations (UN) faces in nearly a decade.
The UN is troubled by a severe financial crisis because member states had paid only 70 percent of the 2019 budget, with the US owing about $ 1.55 billion.
The UN had been forced to introduce temporary measures, such as trimming the scale of meetings, cutting expenses and delaying staff salaries, according to Secretary General Antonio Guterres. (People’s Daily app)
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Turkish operation displaces 70,000 civilians in N Syria: monitor
The Turkish military campaign against Kurdish forces in northern Syria has displaced 70,000 civilians.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the military campaign also led to 11 villages falling into the hands of Turkish forces and allied Syrian rebels.
Reports said Turkish shelling targeted infrastructure in Hasakah province in northeastern Syria as well as the northern province of Raqqa. (Xinhua)
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MOC extends anti-dumping probes in machine tools
The Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Friday it has decided to extend anti-dumping investigations into vertical machining centers from Japan and China's Taiwan for six months.
Launched in October 2018, the probes would normally last a year and could be extended under special circumstances, according to a previous notice from the MOC.
Citing the complexity of the case, the MOC's latest announcement said it would continue the probes until April 16, 2020. (Xinhua)
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Provinces, cities take aim at illegal sand mining along Yangtze River
Police in 10 Chinese provinces and cities along the Yangtze River have cracked down on 90 groups involved in illegal sand mining during the past nine months.
Due to the profitability of the critical building material, sand mining has become a key money maker for organized crime.
The Ministry of Public Security launched a one-year crackdown on illegal sand mining, and deployed public security forces in the cities of Shanghai and Chongqing, as well as Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan provinces. (China Daily)
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Two explosions hit Iranian oil tanker in Red Sea
Two separate explosions hit an Iranian oil tanker in the Red Sea 60 miles off Saudi Arabia's Jeddah port city on Friday morning, official IRNA news agency reported.
The explosions, possibly caused by the "missile strikes," caused serious damage to the vessel and oil is spilling to the sea, the report said.
The oil tanker belongs to National Iranian Tanker Company. (Xinhua)
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NASA launches satellite to explore where air meets space
And NASA launched a satellite Thursday night to explore the mysterious, dynamic region where air meets space.
The satellite, the Ionospheric Connection Explorer, rocketed into orbit following a two-year delay.
It was dropped from a plane flying over the Atlantic off the Florida coast.
The ionosphere is the charged part of the upper atmosphere extending several hundred miles up.
It's in constant flux as space weather bombards it from above and Earth weather from below, sometimes disrupting radio communications. (AP)
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And that’s People’s Daily Tonight. Thanks for joining us.
(Produced by David Nye and Zhan Huilan)