This is People’s Daily Tonight, your news source from China.
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Russia, Turkey adopt memorandum on northern Syria situation after Putin-Erdogan talks
Russia and Turkey have adopted a joint memorandum on the situation in Syria after talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Sochi.
Moscow and Ankara have agreed to deploy Russian and Syrian forces Turkish forces are operating in Syria starting Wednesday.
Putin said achieving "lasting and long-term stabilization in Syria as a whole" is possible only based on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country. (Xinhua)
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More Chinese cities offer visa-free transit policies
China’s immigration agency announced expansion of visa-free transit policies, incorporating more ports and cities to allow foreign nationals to transit without visas.
From December 1, airports in Chongqing and Xi’an, important inland ports in China, and coastal city Ningbo will implement 144-hour visa-free transit policies for eligible foreign travelers, said China's National Immigration Administration on Wednesday.
There will be 27 ports in 20 Chinese cities applying 144-hour transit visa exemption, benefiting travelers from over 50 countries after the new regulations take effect.
China started the visa-free transit scheme in 2013 and has been expanding the duration and places for foreign travelers. As of September 2019, nearly half a million foreign visitors entered China without visas through the exemption polices. (People's Daily app)
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Third-generation hybrid rice achieves high yields in China
The third-generation hybrid rice developed by “father of hybrid rice” Yuan Longping and his team underwent its first public yield monitoring from Monday to Tuesday and achieved high output.
Experts agreed that the rice has a stout stem, fertilizer tolerance, lodging resistance, large spike and more grains.
A China National Rice Research Institute official said some previous high-yielding hybrid rice varieties in China took 160 to even 180 days from sowing to harvesting, which was shortened to 125 days for the new variety. (Xinhua)
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Canada's Trudeau wins reelection but faces a divided nation
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau begins his second term facing an increasingly divided Parliament and country, with his rock-star appeal from four years ago diminished by scandal and unmet expectations.
Trudeau was reelected in a stronger-than-expected showing in Monday's national elections. But while his Liberal Party took the most seats in Parliament, it lost its majority and will have to rely on an opposition party to get anything passed.
The prime minister struck a conciliatory note in an early morning address that forced the TV networks to break away from covering his Conservative rival, Andrew Scheer, who had just begun speaking to his own supporters.
"To those who did not vote for us, know that we will work every single day for you, we will govern for everyone," Trudeau said. (AP)
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SoftBank Group confirms multibillion dollar bailout deal for WeWork
The SoftBank Group confirmed it would pump billions more dollars into struggling start-up WeWork.
It’s a deal that increases its stake in the office-sharing firm to around 80 percent.
The Japanese group will commit to $5 billion in new financing, and will launch a tender offer of up to $3 billion for existing shareholders.
The deal will also see co-founder Adam Neumann exit the board, with Marcelo Claure of SoftBank taking over as executive chairman of the board.
The plan provides much-needed funds for the troubled company, which sources have said must raise at least $3 billion to cover its financing needs through the end of the year. (AFP)
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39 bodies found inside lorry in Essex as police launch murder investigation
A murder investigation has been launched after 39 bodies were found in a lorry container in Essex, UK.
Officers were called by the ambulance service on early Wednesday after the discovery at the Waterglade Industrial Park in Eastern Avenue, Grays.
Police have arrested the 25-year-old male driver from Northern Ireland on suspicion of murder.
Early indications suggest 38 were adults and one aged in their teens, according to Essex Police.
It's believed the lorry is from Bulgaria and entered the UK at Holyhead on Saturday. (Chinadaily)
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UNESCO-Equatorial Guinea Int'l Prize for Research in Life Sciences unveiled
And the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization or UNESCO announced that three scientists from China, the US and Ireland shared 2019 UNESCO-Equatorial Guinea International Prize for Research in the Life Sciences.
Chinese professor Tu Youyou, American doctor Cato Laurencin and Professor Kevin McGuigan from Ireland won the fifth edition of the award following their "outstanding scientific research projects in the life sciences that have led to an improvement in the quality of human life.”
Tu received the 2015 Nobel Prize for Medicine, and was recognized for her research in parasitic diseases. (Xinhua)
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And that’s People’s Daily Tonight. Thanks for joining us.
(Produced by David Nye and Bai Yuanqi)