This is People’s Daily Tonight, your news source from China.
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China's industrial profits rise 2.6 pct in July
The profits of China's major industrial firms rose 2.6 percent year on year in July.
The country’s National Bureau of Statistics said it’s a drastic rebound from the 3.1-percent decline in June.
Profits of state-owned industrial firms dropped 8.1 percent to 1.08 billion yuan, while those of private ones gained 7 percent to 884.91 billion yuan.
It said profits at 29 of the 41 industrial sectors surveyed rose compared with a year earlier. (Xinhua)
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Carrie Lam promises maximum efforts to build dialogue platform
Chief Executive of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Carrie Lam promised on Tuesday that the government will make maximum efforts to build a dialogue platform with the public.
Lam was speaking in public for the first time since demonstrations escalated on Sunday. Lam said the government is still preparing a dialogue platform and will update the public with the latest progress.
The Hong Kong SAR government is willing to seek dialogue with protesters and hear their feedback, she added. (CGTN)
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US ends special status for immigrants with medical ailments
US federal immigration authorities are no longer granting special status to foreign nationals seeking to remain in the country for medical treatment or other special circumstances.
US Citizenship and Immigration Services said the only exception is for military members and their families.
Doctors, immigration lawyers and advocates in Boston on Monday criticized the decision as a “death sentence” for families seeking life-saving treatment for children.
The agency estimates it receives about 1,000 non-military deferral requests annually. (AP)
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Brazil slams G7 aid offer as Amazon fires rage
Brazil on Monday rejected aid from G7 countries to fight wildfires in the Amazon, with a top official telling French President Emmanuel Macron to take care of "his home and his colonies."
Nearly 80,000 forest fires have broken out in Brazil since the beginning of the year -- just over half of them in the massive Amazon basin that regulates part of Earth's carbon cycle and climate.
G7 countries made the $20 million aid offer to fight the blazes at the Biarritz summit hosted by Macron, who insisted they should be discussed as a top priority.
"We appreciate (the offer), but maybe those resources are more relevant to reforest Europe," Onyx Lorenzoni, chief of staff to Brazilian President, told the G1 news website. (AFP)
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Barbados braces as Tropical Storm Dorian nears Caribbean
Much of the eastern Caribbean island of Barbados shut down on Monday as Tropical Storm Dorian approached the region and gathered strength.
The storm threatened to turn into a small hurricane that forecasters said could affect the northern Windward islands and Puerto Rico.
The US National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane watch for St. Lucia, and a tropical storm warning for Barbados, Martinique, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. (AP)
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Widodo unveils site of new capital in East Kalimantan
Indonesian President Joko Widodo said two regencies in East Kalimantan are to be the site of the country's new capital city.
Widodo said that the relocation of the new capital city is intended to help ensure the equal spread of development across the country and to take some of the burden off Jakarta.
According to the Jakarta Post, the entire capital relocation process is expected to cost 466 trillion rupiah ($32.7 billion). (People’s Daily app)
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Xinjiang helps neighbors with telemedicine
And the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region will harness remote technology to deliver medical services to more foreign patients.
That’s according to a senior official with the region's health commission.
The commission said neighboring countries have welcomed virtual health consultations offered by medical workers in Xinjiang, and the region will strive to improve telemedicine services to benefit a larger population of foreign patients.
The commission said close to 21,200 foreign patients have received diagnoses and treatment at five large hospitals in Xinjiang since the region stepped up healthcare cooperation among Belt and Road countries in 2015. (China Daily)
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And that’s People’s Daily Tonight. Thanks for joining us.
(Produced by David Nye and Zhan Huilan)