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

______

Chinese President Xi receives honorary doctorate from St. Petersburg University

Chinese President Xi Jinping has received an honorary doctorate from Saint Petersburg State University.

St. Petersburg State University is the oldest university in Russia. It was founded by Peter the Great in 1724.

The university features seven Nobel Prize winners among its faculty and boasts of Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Lenin among its alumni. (CGTN)

______

Millions of Chinese students sit national college entrance exam

China's annual college entrance exam began Friday as an estimated 10 million students sat the critical exam needed to pursue their higher education.

The exam will last two days generally across China but, due to different arrangements in some provincial regions it may run until Sunday, the Ministry of Education said.

The number of students applying to take the exam this year is the highest since 2010, according to an annual report published by www.eol.cn, an education information service provider.  (Xinhua)

______

Openings expected next week in Chinese scholar slaying trial

A judge at the trial of a former University of Illinois student charged with killing a visiting Chinese scholar says lawyers should be ready to deliver opening statements by the middle of next week.

Thursday is the fourth day of jury selection at Brendt Christensen's trial in Peoria.

Champaign's News-Gazette cites US District Judge James Shadid as saying the final selection of 12 jurors and six alternates could happen Monday.

Christensen pleaded not guilty to charges he tricked or forced 26-year-old Yingying Zhang into his car off campus in 2017, then tortured and killed her (AP)

_____

UK's Brexit Party narrowly defeated in key electoral test

Britain's upstart Brexit Party has failed in its first attempt to win a seat in Britain's Parliament, narrowly losing to the left-of-center Labour Party in a special election.

Labour candidate Lisa Forbes won the Peterborough constituency in eastern England by 683 votes over the Brexit Party's Mike Greene.

The result, announced Friday, is a blow to the momentum of the months-old Brexit Party led by former UKIP leader Nigel Farage.

The party wants Britain to leave the European Union, with or without a divorce deal. That message has resonated with Brexit-backing voters angry at the country's political deadlock. The party won almost a third of U.K. votes in last month's European Parliament election. (AP)

_____

FIFA vice president Ahmad questioned by French authorities

French authorities detained and questioned FIFA vice president Ahmad on Thursday in the latest criminal investigation to hit officials in positions of power within the governing body of world soccer.

Ahmad was in Paris for the FIFA Congress and start of the Women's World Cup when he was picked up in the morning at a luxury hotel for what FIFA President Gianni Infantino described as “interrogations."

FIFA stressed that Ahmad was being questioned "in relation to allegations related to his mandate" as president of the African Football Confederation, rather than duties associated with the governing body.

Ahmad has been accused by a former CAF secretary general of bribing heads of soccer associations and misusing hundreds of thousands of dollars. (AP)

_____

Meng's extradition 'violates Canadian law'; Huawei accuses Canada of procedure abuse

A Huawei spokesperson confirmed Friday morning that Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou will challenge her extradition to the US on fraud charges in January 2020, and reiterated that since the allegations against her do not constitute a crime in Canada, she "should be released immediately."

Huawei said the comments were made after the Canadian court discussed the technical issues involved in Meng's extradition case on Thursday.

According to Canadian law, the allegations against Meng do not constitute a crime. The extradition request violates a core principle of Canadian extradition law, Benjamin Howes, vice President of Media Affairs at Huawei, said in a statement on Friday.

Meng was arrested on December 1 while traveling from Hong Kong to Mexico via Canada. She posted a $7.5 million bail 10 days later. (Global Times)

_____

Chinese scientists design heat insulator inspired by polar bear hair

And Chinese scientists got inspiration from the hair of polar bears and developed a light-weight, stretchy heat insulation material, which can be applied in the architecture and aerospace sectors in the future.

The study shows that the insulator has a similar structure with polar bear hair, which is hollow inside.

Scientists produced a spaghetti-like aerogel block with millions of hollowed-out carbon tubes, each equivalent to a single strand of hair. (Xinhua)

_____

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

(Produced by David Nye and Zhan Huilan)