People's Daily Tonight: Podcast News (7/10/2019 Wed.)
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This is People’s Daily Tonight, your news source from China.

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Chinese, US chief trade negotiators hold telephone conversation

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Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin spoke on the phone on Tuesday.

They discussed economic and trade issues in line with the agreements reached between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G20 Osaka Summit in June.

Liu is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, and the chief of the Chinese side of the China-US comprehensive economic dialogue. (People's Daily app)

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S.Korean president meets with business leaders to tackle Japan's export curbs

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South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday met with business leaders to discuss how to tackle Japan's restriction on its exports of some technology-related materials to South Korea.

Present at the meeting were the heads and chief executives of the country's top 30 conglomerates with an asset of 10 trillion won (8.5 billion U.S. dollars) or more, according to the presidential Blue House.

The hurriedly arranged meeting came after Japan slapped stricter controls on its exports to South Korea on Thursday of three materials vital to the South Korean tech industry. (Xinhua)

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Trump defends Acosta but will look into Epstein plea deal

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US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he would be looking "very closely" at Labor Secretary Alex Acosta's handling of a sex trafficking case involving now-jailed billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein.

But he also seemed to stand by his Cabinet official, praising Acosta's performance on the job and saying he felt "very badly" for him.

His comments come as Democratic presidential contenders and party leaders demanded that Acosta resign or be fired over his role in a secret 2008 plea deal that let Epstein avoid federal prosecution, after allegations he molested teenage girls. (AP)

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Floods wreak havoc in Hunan province

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Floods have affected 1.23 million individuals, causing 16 people to die or go missing, and direct losses have reached 1.69 billion yuan ($245.5 million) by 5 pm on Tuesday in Central China's Hunan province, local authorities said.

Rescuers have relocated 69,579 residents, and more than 6,900 rooms have been ruined.

Days of heavy rainfall have swollen rivers in many parts of Hunan. On Tuesday morning, a river broke through levees in Hengdong county, inundating three villages. (China Daily)

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UN calls for ceasefire in southern Libya

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The United Nations on Tuesday called for an immediate ceasefire in southern Libya following tribal fighting. 

Southern Libya has been controlled by the east-based army, led by General Khalifa Haftar, since February.

Libya has been suffering escalated violence and insecurity ever since the fall of the late leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. (Xinhua)

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US natural gas production, export to increase in coming years: EIA

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The natural gas production and export in the United States will continue to grow in the coming years, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a report published Tuesday.

In its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook, EIA forecasted that U.S. dry natural gas production will average 91.3 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2019, up 8.0 Bcf/d from 2018. EIA expected flat production in 2020, with annual growth forecast at about 1.6 percent.

EIA estimated U.S. natural gas inventories to reach 3.8 billion cubic feet at the end of October 2019, 17 percent higher than October 2018 levels and 2 percent higher than the 2014-2018 average. (Xinhua)

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China's producer prices up 0.3 pct in H1

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And China's producer price index rose 0.3 percent year on year in the first half of 2019.

In June, the index was flat with the same period last year.

On a monthly basis, producer prices dropped 0.3 percent in June, compared with the 0.2-percent growth in May.

Factory prices of production materials dropped 0.3 percent year on year in June, compared with the 0.6-percent growth in May. (Xinhua)

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

(Produced by David Nye and Cheng Weidan)