People's Daily Tonight: Podcast News (12/17/2018 Mon.)
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This is People's Daily Tonight, your news source from China.

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Sudan's president becomes first Arab leader to visit Syria since 2011

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Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir arrived in Damascus on Sunday.

It's the first such visit by an Arab leader since the civil war broke out nearly eight years ago. 

Syria's official news agency called the trip "a work visit" and reported that the two leaders held talks in the presidential palace about developments in the region and in Syria.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was quoted as saying that his country would remain committed to Arabism, and noted that some Arab countries' dependence on the West will not bring any benefits to their people. (CGTN)

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China's central bank resumes open market operation after 36-day suspension

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China's central bank resumed open market operation that added cash to the financial system Monday, ending a suspension for a record of 36 straight trading days.

The People's Bank of China conducted 160 billion yuan of a seven-day reverse repo, a liquidity-injecting process by which the central bank purchases securities from commercial banks through bidding, with an agreement to sell them back in the future.

The move aimed to offset the impact of factors such as tax payments, government bond issuance and financial institutions' payment of reserve requirement ratios, and keep liquidity at a reasonable and sufficient level.

The interest rate for the operation was unchanged at 2.55 percent. (Xinhua)

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Quzhou wins 2018 LivCom Awards

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The prefecture-level Zhejiang city of Quzhou won the Gold Medal Award and the Whole City Award for Enhancement of the Landscapes and Public Spaces at the finals of the 2018 International Awards for Livable Communities in Cairo.

Quzhou was the only city that received two awards at the competition.

Dubbed the "Green Oscars," the LivCom Awards is a competition for cities around the world to measure with one another on environmental management and the creation of livable communities. 

By winning the top honors, Quzhou was recognized as an "International Garden City." 

The green city prides itself with its rich natural resources and 71.5 percent forest coverage.

In recent years, Quzhou’s stable economic growth has been underpinned by ecological development.

In 2017, the city's GDP increased by 7.3 percent over the previous year. (China.org.cn)

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China's 360 Finance makes Nasdaq debut

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360 Finance, a Chinese fintech company, rang the Nasdaq MarketSite opening bell on Friday in celebration of its initial public offering (IPO).

The company, trading under the ticker symbol of "QFIN," announced its IPO of 3,100,000 American Depositary Shares (ADSs), at a price to the public of 16.5 US dollars per ADS for a total offering of approximately 51.2 million dollars.

The underwriters have been granted an option, exercisable within 30 days from the date of the final prospectus, to purchase up to 465,000 additional ADSs at the initial public offering price less the underwriting discount.

360 Finance started trading at 16.81 dollars per share on Friday, declining 1.84 percent to close at 16.5 dollars apiece. (Xinhua)

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Syria, Iran discuss formation of Syrian constitutional committee

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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met with a visiting Iranian official over the formation of the Syrian constitutional committee.

Hossein Jaberi Ansari, the Iranian Foreign Minister's special assistant for political affairs, informed Assad of the preparations for a meeting by Russia, Iran and Turkey in Geneva in the next few days, following the agreement on the final structure of the constitutional committee.

Ansari highlighted Iran's keenness to coordinate with the Syrian government, which "showed great flexibility" in reaching the agreement to form the committee.

For his part, Assad hailed Iran’s efforts in forming the constitutional committee despite the "big obstacles placed by countries that support terrorists." (Xinhua)

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Digital economy 30 percent of China's GDP in 2017

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China's digital economy hit 27.2 trillion yuan in 2017, accounting for 32.9 percent of the country's GDP, according to a symposium held on Dec. 15.

China's digital economy ranks second in the world, contributing 55 percent to the country's economic growth, said He Wei, deputy director of the Policy and Economics Research Institute of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology 

He disclosed that China's State Council has released over 60 related policies since 2015 to accelerate the development of the digital economy.

As breakthroughs are being constantly made in the new generation of information technologies, such as the internet, big data, artificial intelligence and block chain, the digital economy is gaining strong momentum in pushing for high quality development and the digitalization of enterprises. (People's Daily app)

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Hong Kong man arrested after money tossed on streets

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And a 24-year-old man was arrested by Hong Kong police on suspicion of acting in a disorderly manner. 

This, after banknotes were tossed from the top of a building.

Reports said Wong Ching-kit live-streamed his stunt on Facebook on December 15, saying that he will assist the poor by tossing money from the sky. 

A video shows Wong driving his Lamborghini to a predominantly working-class area. 

He steps out of his sports car and makes an announcement indicating his plan of “robbing the rich to help the poor” before the camera pans to the rooftop of a building from where banknotes are thrown. (CGTN)

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

(Produced by David Nye and Wang Xiangyu)