People's Daily Tonight: Podcast News (6/5/2019 Wed.)
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This is People's Daily Tonight, your news source from China. 

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UN likely to run out of cash in August: Guterres

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United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday called on the international community to support the organization, and address its deteriorating financial situation.

He cited the increase in arrears from member states in the regular and peacekeeping budgets.

For the regular budget, he has proposed measures that would strengthen liquidity-bridging mechanisms and manage expenditure levels in a manner that would support program delivery. (Xinhua)

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Cuba to test-run new Chinese-made passenger railcars

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Twelve newly-acquired Chinese-made passenger railcars in Cuba will take part in a test run along the island's rail system on June 6-9, the Union of Cuban Railways said Tuesday.

The trains are set to open to the public later this month, the union said in a statement.

The Cuban government has been pushing for a revamp of its aging network, which has been operating with second-hand cars for decades.

In May, Cuba took delivery of a first batch of 56 Chinese-made passenger railcars out of a total of 240 that will arrive in Havana within three years.

The air-conditioned railcars feature digital televisions, upholstered reclining seats, gleaming toilets and a restaurant car. (Xinhua)

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China's market regulator fines Changan Ford 163 million yuan for monopoly

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China’s market regulator has slapped a 23-million-dollar fine on Changan Ford for violating anti-monopoly rules.

It said the company damaged fair competition in the market and hurt consumers’ legitimate rights.

China is stepping up its anti-monopoly enforcement, protection of fair competition in the market and promotion of high-quality development.

The company is a joint venture between Chongqing Changan Automobile Company and the Ford Motor Company. (People's Daily app)

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China tops world in number of global geoparks

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China has 39 global geological parks, accounting for 26.5 percent of the world's total.

A total of 213 national geological parks and 343 provincial-level ones have also been established around the country, according to the National Forestry and Grassland Administration.

Since China launched a campaign to set up geological parks in 2000, more than 600 have sprung up nationwide, making China rank top in the number of geological parks in the world.

Two geological parks in East China's Anhui and Shandong provinces were newly listed into the Global Geoparks Network by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in April. (Xinhua)

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EU legal expert says online defamation enforceable worldwide

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A top European Union legal adviser said social media networks like Facebook could be ordered to take down anywhere in the world any text, photo or other media ruled to be defamatory by a court.

But the US social network said the opinion risks letting countries undermine freedom of expression beyond their borders.

The case involves a Facebook user who shared an online article on their personal page about an Austrian Greens politician.

An Austrian court ruled that the comments were intended to insult and defame the politician and Facebook removed access to them in Austria. (AP)

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Scientist warns of Everest dangers from pollution, melting

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Mount Qomolangma, known as Mount Everest in the West, and its surrounding peaks are increasingly polluted and warmer, a US scientist who spent weeks in the Everest region said Tuesday.

The nearby glaciers are melting at an alarming rate that is likely to make it more dangerous for future climbers, said Professor John All of Western Washington University after returning from the mountains.

All and his team spent weeks testing snow on Everest and its surrounding peaks, as well as plants on the foothills. They found there was lot of pollution buried deep in the snow, and that the snow was surprisingly dark.

"The warming temperature is melting the glaciers and the snow around Mount Everest very quickly, so what happens is even when there is a storm it melts in a couple of hours," he said. "The glaciers are retreating dramatically because of global warming." (AP)

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China launches first rocket into space from platform at sea

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And China carried out the country's first seaborne space launch on Wednesday, from a platform in its territorial waters in the Yellow Sea.

A Long March 11 solid-propellant carrier rocket blasted off from a mobile launch platform in the Yellow Sea off the eastern province of Shandong.

It then sent seven satellites into orbit about 600 kilometers above the Earth.

The mission indicates China has found an alternative to its ground-based launch centers. (China Daily)

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

(Produced by David Nye and Jenny Huang)