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

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China becomes largest recipient of FDI in H1 

China became the largest recipient of foreign direct investment in the first half of 2018.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said China attracted 70 billion US dollars.

UNCTAD said FDIs dropped 40 percent from the same period last year, but the 470 million-dollar decline is happening mainly in wealthy, industrialized nations, especially in North America and Western Europe.

However, it said developing economies saw FDI only declined by 4 percent, to 310 billion compared to 2017.

UNCTAD said FDIs are important because they give countries access to external capital, technology, market access and tax contributions.  (People’s Daily app & Xinhua)

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China publishes plan for Hainan free trade zone

China rolled out a plan for building its island province of Hainan into a pilot free trade zone.

The island will be granted more autonomy to reform, according to the plan issued by the State Council.

Hainan should also be positioned as a display of the country's ecological civilization, an international tourism and consumption center.

Efforts should be made to accelerate the establishment of new institutions of the open economy, make new ground in pursuing opening up on all fronts, and build Hainan into a key gateway to the Pacific and Indian Oceans. (Xinhua)

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Trump suggests 'rogue killers' murdered Saudi journalist

US President Donald Trump suggested that "rogue killers" could be responsible for the mysterious disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

It’s an explanation which offers Saudi Arabia a possible path out of a global diplomatic firestorm.

The Saudis continued to deny they killed the writer, but there were indications the story could soon change.

Turkish crime scene investigators finally entered the Saudi consulate to comb the building where Khashoggi was last seen alive two weeks ago.

Trump spoke after a 20-minute phone call with Saudi King Salman.

Reports say that the Saudis were preparing to concede that Khashoggi, a U.S.-based Saudi contributor to The Washington Post, had been killed in an interrogation gone wrong. (AP)

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US budget deficit hits highest level in 6 years

The US federal budget deficit has surged to $779 billion in fiscal 2018, its highest level in six years.

The Treasury Department said debt will likely worsen in the coming years with the Trump administration expecting the deficit to top $1 trillion in 2019.

The deficit worsened because tax revenues are not keeping pace with government spending.

Revenues generally tumbled after December when Trump signed into law $1.5 trillion of tax cuts over the next decade.

The tax cuts have caused economic growth to accelerate this year with Federal Reserve officials anticipating gains of 3.1 percent. But the Trump administration initially promised that the tax cuts would pay for themselves through stronger growth — and there is no sign so far of that happening. (AP)

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China, Netherlands vow to safeguard global trade order

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said China and the Netherlands should jointly support the rule-based international political and economic order, abide by the widely accepted norms including the UN Charter and the World Trade Organization rules and safeguard multilateralism and free trade.

Li said the rapid development of Sino-Dutch relations, especially the exchange of visits between the two heads of state, has opened up broad prospects for bilateral relations. 

Li stressed that China is willing to deepen cooperation with the Netherlands in various fields, saying the two sides should strengthen investment and financing cooperation to create favorable conditions for cooperation between enterprises of the two countries, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. (CGTN)

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UK PM says still believes Brexit deal is 'achievable'

British Prime Minister Theresa May said she still believes a Brexit deal is "achievable."

She was speaking the day after her Brexit minister visited Brussels but failed to make a breakthrough. May remained upbeat but repeated she would not agree to anything that could split the United Kingdom.

The sticking point is how to keep open the land border between Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland after Britain leaves the bloc's single market and customs union.

There is now growing concern that Britain could crash out of the bloc without any deal in March. (AFP)

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Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, dead at 65, family says

And Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has died.

He was 65.

His company Vulcan said he died in Seattle from complications of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Bill Gates and Allen became billionaires when Microsoft was thrust onto the throne of technology.

With his sister Jody Allen in 1986, Paul Allen founded Vulcan, the investment firm that oversees his business and philanthropic efforts.

He founded the Allen Institute for Brain Science and the aerospace firm Stratolaunch, which has built a colossal airplane designed to launch satellites into orbit.

He has also backed research into nuclear-fusion power. (AP)

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

(Produced by Chen Lidan, David Nye and Zhao Dantong)