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

_____

Chinese premier urges innovation cooperation between Chinese, Dutch enterprises

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang called on Dutch enterprises to explore the Chinese market and partner with Chinese enterprises for innovation cooperation.

He said some Dutch enterprises have demonstrated their innovative products and technologies such as high-precision medical equipment, information system for cancer treatment, and manufacturing and repair nanotechnologies for aircraft engines.

He added that China is implementing its innovation-driven development strategy, with a boom of new growth drivers now contributing to some two-thirds of newly created jobs. 

The Netherlands is Li’s second stop of his Eurasian trip. (Xinhua)

_____

Brazil's Temer charged with corruption, money laundering

Brazil’s federal police are recommending in a new case that President Michel Temer be put on trial for corruption, money laundering and criminal association.

The federal police report was filed to Brazil’s top court Tuesday.

The attorney general will have 15 days to decide whether to pursue the case. Congress would also have to vote to allow a trial, which would suspend Temer, whose term ends Dec. 31. Lawmakers have refused to do so on previous corruption charges leveled at Temer.

The police document says Temer is suspected of receiving bribes to favor port administrating companies through a presidential decree.

Temer’s lawyer says he has not yet been given access to the police report. (AP)

_____

US sets new trade talks with EU, Japan, Britain

US officials have announced negotiations for separate trade agreements with Britain, the European Union and Japan.

This, as part of efforts by the Trump administration to rebalance global commerce.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the administration notified Congress of its intent to negotiate the three separate trade agreements.

The move follows the Trump administration's renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, and its push to correct what Trump maintains is an unbalanced trade picture.

Lighthizer cited "chronic US trade imbalances,” and said US exporters have been long "challenged" by tariff and non-tariff barriers in Japan and in Europe. (AFP)

_____

Gaza rocket hits home in Israel, military strikes back

A rocket fired from Gaza struck a residential home in southern Israel early Wednesday and the Israeli military began attacking militant sites in Gaza in response after days of rising tensions.

The Magen David Adom medical service said a woman and her three children, whose home in Beersheba was struck, were being treated for shock after they fled to their shelter upon hearing warning sirens. It said two others were injured during the panic to seek cover.

The military said another rocket from Gaza landed in the sea, just off the coast of one of Israel's larger cities. No injuries were reported.

Following the attacks, schools in Beersheba were closed and Israel's military chief was cutting short his visit to the United States to come back and manage the crisis.

The rocket attack on Beersheba was the first in months and the first that hit an Israeli home since the 2014 summer war between Israel and Gaza's militant Hamas rulers..

Israeli military jets were pounding Hamas targets as a first response. No casualties were reported in Gaza. (AP)

_____

Poverty eliminated in another 85 Chinese counties

China said another 85 counties have been officially taken off the country's list of impoverished areas.

This, as it moves closer to its goal of eradicating poverty by 2020.

The announcement was made by the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, and came on National Poverty Relief Day.

This is the largest number of counties to shake off poverty since China vowed in 2015 to win the battle against poverty.

That brought the total number of counties removed from the poverty list to 153.

A county is removed from the list if less than 2 percent of its population lives below the poverty line of a per capita annual income of 2,300 yuan at 2010 prices. (Xinhua)

_____

Shanghai airport automates check-in with facial recognition

It's now possible to check in automatically at Shanghai's Hongqiao airport using facial recognition technology, part of an ambitious rollout of facial recognition systems in China that has raised privacy concerns as Beijing pushes to become a global leader in the field.

Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport unveiled self-service kiosks for flight and baggage check-in, security clearance and boarding powered by facial recognition technology, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

Similar efforts are underway at airports in Beijing and Nanyang city, in central China's Henan province.

Many airports in China already use facial recognition to help speed security checks, but Shanghai's system, which debuted Monday, is being billed as the first to be fully automated.

Spring Airlines said Tuesday that passengers had embraced automated check-in, with 87 percent of 5,017 people who took Spring flights on Monday using the self-service kiosks, which can cut down check-in times to less than a minute and a half. (AP)

_____

At least 7 killed, almost 80 injured in Morocco train derailment

And at least seven people died and nearly 80 were injured after a shuttle train linking the Moroccan capital to a town farther north on the Atlantic coast derailed.

Emergency workers rushed people to hospitals in Rabat, Sale and Kenitra, while rescue teams searched for more victims with the help of cadaver dogs. 

Military personnel guarded the site as railway workers and authorities started to investigate why the train jumped its tracks.

The Moroccan king, Mohammed VI, offered to pay the costs of victims’ funerals out of his own pocket. (AP)

_____

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

(Produced by David Nye and Zhan Huilan)