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

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China releases tax rate schedule for year-end bonuses

China released a new rate schedule for taxes on individual year-end bonuses, according to a statement from the Ministry of Finance on Thursday.

Before the end of 2021, individual year-end bonuses will not be incorporated into annual income but taxed separately, according to the schedule. The applicable tax rate and quick deduction depends on total amount of year-end bonus divided by 12 months.

"The personal income tax reform will bring middle to lower income groups a large tax reduction," said Li Wanfu, head of the institute of tax science of the State Administration of Taxation.(CGTN)

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Volcano eruption, earthquakes displace 35 families in Vanuatu

Vanuatu has distributed water and food to 35 families of Paamal in southeast Ambrym, after the volcano-triggered earthquakes.

According to the Vanuatu Daily Post on Friday, around 146 residents from the village of Paamal moved to Ulei School.

The eruption of Ambrym volcano damaged buildings and road connections to other villages. The eruption also caused over 4,500 earthquakes, 1,378 of them detectable.

The Ambrym volcano is one of the very active volcanos in Vanuatu with a large caldera of 12 kilometers in diameter and two active craters Marum and Benbow.(Xinhua)

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Chinese preschool teacher sentenced 18 months in prison for child abuse

Liu Ya'nan, a teacher at the RYB Education New World kindergarten in Beijing, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for child abuse on Friday.

She was also given a five-year ban from working a similar job, according to the verdict of a court in Chaoyang District.

Liu was arrested in December 2017 for pricking toddlers with needles to "discipline" them.

The child abuse scandal triggered public outrage and prompted the government to launch an inspection of nursery schools nationwide.(CGTN)

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Euro currency remains a work in progress on 20th birthday

The euro will celebrate its 20th birthday, but the countries that use it are still wrestling over how the currency should work and how to fix flaws exposed by the debt crisis.

The euro was launched on Jan. 1, 1999, when 10 countries fixed their exchange rates to it. Euro notes and coins went into circulation three years later.

The shared currency was seen as a solution to the constant quarrels over exchange rates that had marked European politics after World War II.(AP)

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Death toll rises for police officers on duty

More police officers have died on duty this year in the United States than in 2017, according to data released on Thursday. The most common cause of death was gunfire, and vehicle accidents claimed nearly as many officers' lives.

The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund said in a report that 144 federal, state and local officers have died so far in 2018. That figure represents roughly a 12 percent increase from the 129 who died in 2017.

Craig Floyd, the fund's chief executive officer, called the increase in deaths disappointing after a decline in 2017.(AP)

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Indonesia raises alert, widens danger zone around volcano

Indonesia raised the danger level for an island volcano and widened its no-go zone. The volcano has triggered a tsunami on the weekend, killing at least 430 people in Sumatra and Java.

The country's volcanology agency on Thursday increased the Anak Krakatau volcano's alert status to the second-highest and more than doubled the exclusion zone to a 5-kilometer radius. 

The eruption on Saturday evening caused part of the island in the Sunda Strait to collapse into the sea, apparently generating tsunami waves of more than 2 meters. Most tsunamis are caused by earthquakes.

A navy vessel was expected to pass by the island, which could give scientists more information about the risks of a second collapse.(AP)

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US government shutdown extends into next week

The US government partial shutdown will stretch into next week after legislators failed Thursday to make a breakthrough over President Donald Trump's demand for a US-Mexico border wall.

After convening for just a few minutes following the official Christmas break, a still nearly empty Senate adjourned, deciding to renew budget deliberations only next Wednesday, the last day of the current Republican-controlled Congress.

That would take the government shutdown, already on its sixth day, into 12.(AFP)

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

(Produced by Bai Yuanqi)