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

Xi congratulates Derung ethnic group for fully getting rid of poverty

Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated the Derung ethnic group for achieving complete victory over poverty and encouraged them to improve their lives.

In a letter to Xi, the Derung people informed him that they were lifted out of poverty in 2018, and that villagers are enjoying a better life.

The Derung are one of China's 28 smallest ethnic groups, living mainly in the Derung River Valley in the northwestern part of Yunnan Province. (People's Daily app)

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Cuba enacts new constitution in three decades

Cuba's parliament passed a new constitution on Wednesday which says keeping socialism is irrevocable.

The new constitution, passed by 589 Members of Parliament attending the Second Extraordinary Session of the parliament, also recognizes property rights and free enterprise, including those of foreign investors.

Half a million entrepreneurs and their employees in Cuba's growing private sector have been calling for such a law since 2010. (Xinhua)

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China abides by EU standards, rules in infrastructure cooperation: premier

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said China will insist on open tendering when carrying out infrastructure cooperation with European Union member states and will abide by EU standards and rules.

He said an important consensus reached in the just-concluded 21st China-EU leaders' meeting is that investment should be open to both sides and non-discriminatory, which the China-EU cooperation should comply with.

In his meeting with Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic,  Li said China is willing to strengthen the alignment of the Belt and Road Initiative with Croatia's Three Seas Initiative, and continuously deepen bilateral practical cooperation in all areas. (Xinhua)

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Former senior NPC committee official Wang Sanyun sentenced to 12 years for bribery

Wang Sanyun, former vice chairman of the Education, Science, Culture and Public Health Committee of the 12th National People's Congress, was sentenced to 12 years and fined four million yuan for bribery, the Intermediate People's Court of Zhengzhou in Henan Province announced Thursday.

An investigation showed that Wang took bribes of over 66.9 million yuan from 1993 to 2017.

Wang also served as deputy secretary of the Communist Party of China provincial committee of Southwest China's Guizhou Province, governor of East China's Anhui Province, and secretary of the CPC provincial committee of Northwest China's Gansu Province. (People's Daily app)

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Trick or treat? EU, UK agree to delay Brexit until Halloween

European Union leaders and Britain have agreed to a Brexit extension that will allow the UK to delay its EU departure date until Halloween.

Leaders of the 27 remaining EU member states met for more than six hours before agreeing after midnight to postpone Brexit until October 31.

Just two days before Britain was due to leave the EU, its leaders spent a long dinner meeting wrangling over whether to save Britain from a precipitous and potentially calamitous Brexit, or to give the foot-dragging departing nation a shove over the edge. (AP)

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Freight train derailment kills four people in central China

Four people died when a freight train derailed in Gongyi, Central China’s Henan Province, China Central Television reported Thursday.

Two people are still missing, the report said.

The freight train of the Aluminum Corporation of China was carrying minerals when it derailed at a railway section used by the company Wednesday night.

A team formed by provincial and city-level governments, the corporation and Zhengzhou Railway Bureau is continuing rescue work. (People's Daily app)

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Chinese center Han Xu selected by New York Liberty in WNBA draft 2019

And Chinese center Han Xu was selected by New York Liberty in the 2019 WNBA draft.

Han was the 14th pick overall.

She became the second female Chinese basketball player to join the WNBA.

The first was Zheng Haixia, who was picked by the Los Angeles Sparks in the second round in the inaugural draft in 1997. (Xinhua)

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

(Produced by David Nye and Jenny Huang)