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

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Xi extends greetings to women on Int'l Women's Day

Chinese President Xi Jinping extended greetings and best wishes to female lawmakers, political advisors and staff workers at the ongoing "two sessions," and also to women of all ethnic groups and from all walks of life, on Friday, the International Women's Day.

Xi expressed his greetings when joining deliberation with deputies from central China's Henan Province at the second session of the 13th National People's Congress, China's national legislature. (Xinhua)

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Under pressure, Canada's Trudeau denies impropriety, offers no apology

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday denied interfering in Canada's judicial system as he sought to defuse a crisis threatening his political future, and offered no apology, asserting only that lessons had been learned.

Trudeau called a news conference to address allegations that improper pressure was put on former Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to help construction firm SNC-Lavalin Group Inc avoid a criminal trial.

"There was no breakdown of our systems, of our rule of law, of the integrity of our institutions," Trudeau, the Liberal Party leader, told reporters. "There was never any inappropriate pressure." (CGTN)

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China backs company, individual not be ‘silent lambs’: FM

China supports relevant company and individual in seeking legal redress to protect their interests and refusing to be "silent lambs", Chinese state councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Friday.

He made the remarks when answering a question regarding the case of Huawei, during a press conference on the sidelines of the country's annual legislative session. (Xinhua)

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Tesla gets $520 mln funding for first Chinese plant

Electric carmaker Tesla has won more than $520 million in loans from Chinese banks to build its first overseas car plant near Shanghai, the first foreign automaker to wholly own a factory in China.

The funding, announced on Thursday, is an important boost for the California-based firm, which has been in negotiations with Beijing for years over building the plant in the world's biggest electric car market.

The US giant will make its Model 3 sedans at the factory -- initially targeting 3,000 cars a week before ramping up annual production to 500,000 -- which it plans to have operational by the end of the year. (AFP)

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Timing explained: China's draft foreign investment law

Chinese lawmakers will deliberate and vote on a new foreign investment law at this year's annual National People's Congress (NPC) sessions. Experts believe the move reflects an evolution at the regulatory level to foster a win-win business environment.

The starting point for the draft law is to ensure fair competition, build up a sound business environment and improve transparency. Once adopted, foreign-funded companies will see streamlined procedures, said Chen Fengying, a research fellow at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations. (People’s Daily app)

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China's overnight Shibor interbank rate declines Friday

China's National Copyright Administration (NCA) has released the second key protection list of copyrighted films for 2019, requiring online service operators to provide better protection.

The new list has five films, including American Oscar-winning film Green Book and Walt Disney Pictures' superhero film Captain Marvel.

To protect these key productions from copyright infringement, the NCA required related online content providers not to broadcast them during their screening in movie theaters and ordered online storage servers to ban any user from uploading them.

Search engines, e-commerce platforms and app stores were asked to adopt stricter measures to deal with violation reports from relevant right holders. (Xinhua)

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Trump's ex-campaign chairman Manafort sentenced to 47 months in jail

Paul Manafort, US President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, was sentenced to 47 months in federal prison for tax and bank fraud on Thursday, much shorter than expected.

Prosecutors had recommended a sentence between 19.5 to 24 years behind bars.

The charges against him stemmed from Mueller's ongoing investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election and possible ties with Trump's campaign.

Russia had repeatedly denied the allegation while Trump called the probe a "witch-hunt." (Xinhua)

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

(Produced by Huang Jingjing and Wang Xiangyu)