Fresh Start: Podcast News (4/13/2018 Fri.)

Welcome to Fresh Start.

This is People’s Daily app.

Here are today’s picks from our editors.

China’s largest maritime military parade showcases aircraft carrier battle group

China's Central Military Commission held the country's largest ever maritime military parade in the South China Sea on Thursday, which for the first time featured the country's aircraft carrier strike group and the most advanced weaponry of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA). 

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission reviewed the warships and addressed the PLA sailors, PLA Daily reported. 

Xi said the need to build a strong navy "has never been more urgent than today," and he called for efforts to build a first-class navy in the world, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Forty-eight warships, 76 aircraft and more than 10,000 sailors and soldiers took part in the parade which was hailed as "the biggest maritime military parade since the foundation of the People's Republic of China in 1949 and a heroic display of the PLA Navy in the new era," the PLA Daily reported on Thursday.

It was the first maritime military parade held in the South China Sea and to be open to the public. China's aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, joined the parade for the first time.(Global Times)

Trial of former municipal Party chief shows CPC’s unremitting efforts in fighting corruption

Sun Zhengcai, former Party chief of China's Chongqing Municipality, stood trial on Thursday at the First Intermediate People's Court of Tianjin Municipality for bribery.

According to People’s Daily, as a senior Party official, Sun not only severely violated Party discipline, but also degraded himself by perverting justice and unscrupulously taking bribes. Sun's case amply demonstrated that the CPC Central Committee has made a correct judgment that grave challenges remain in combating corruption and daunting tasks remain in comprehensively strengthening Party discipline. (People’s Daily app)

China urges restraint on Syria issue

China has urged the involved parties to remain calm and restrained on the Syria issue, and ease tensions as soon as possible.

China has been keeping in touch with the US, Russia and other UN Security Council members, as well as other countries and regions on the latest developments in Syria, Chinese spokesperson Geng Shuang said on Thursday.

Communication lines between American and Russian forces in Syria are “active”, the Kremlin said, according to AFP on Thursday.

Before this, Russian officials said that their military will deploy troops in the Syrian town of Duma and will shoot down missiles fired by the US and its missile launchers. In response, the US said that its military stands ready to offer military options depending on orders from US President Donald Trump. (People’s Daily app)

Chinese art troupe to visit North Korea to promote ties

At the invitation of the International Department of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, the Chinese art troupe will leave for North Korea on Friday to attend the April Spring Friendship Art Festival.

The troupe will be led by Song Tao, head of the International Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

The April Spring Friendship Art Festival, founded in 1982, is a major international cultural exchange event hosted by North Korea. Chinese art troupes have been invited many times and have played an important part in promoting cultural exchanges and in fostering understanding and relations between the two countries. (Xinhua)

South Korea delays transporting construction materials to THAAD site

South Korea's defense authorities decided Thursday to wait until this weekend to bring construction materials and equipment to the site of the US-led Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in Seongju, Gyeongsang Province after locals staged a protest.

The Ministry of National Defense reached a deal with protesters to continue talks through the weekend. The government then pulled the police out of the area.

Last year, the US installed six THAAD launchers at the site, along with a powerful X-band radar station and a fire control and communications unit, in a bid to counter North Korea's missiles and nuclear threats. (People’s Daily app)

Chemical weapons agency confirms British findings on Salisbury

Testing by four laboratories affiliated with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons sided with British findings on Thursday concerning the nerve agent used in last month’s attack on a former Russian spy in England.

Using blood samples from poisoned ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, the tests confirmed the nerve agent used was Novichok, which was developed by the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 80s. (People’s Daily app)

China issues new criteria to measure English competency

China’s Ministry of Education and State Language Commission issued a statement on Thursday that it will be changing its scale that measures English competency by June 1.

An official from the National Education Examinations Authority said the new scale aims to establish a foreign language criteria and exam system with Chinese characteristics.

In the future, it will be more convenient to compare the linguistic tests in China with those abroad, said Liu Jianda, vice president of the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. (People’s Daily app)

Lung cancer among female non-smokers on the rise in China

The latest report from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention shows that more than 3.8 million people were diagnosed with cancer in 2017, over 10,000 each day, and that lung cancer rates in female non-smokers have risen in recent years.

Liang Chaoyang, professor and deputy director of the thoracic surgery department at China-Japan Friendship Hospital, said second-hand smoke, air pollution and cooking smoke are the main causes for the rise of female lung cancer patients.

Long stays in heavy cooking smoke environments can lead to irritation of the nose, eyes and throat, which may cause chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and could lead to heart disease and lung cancer. (People’s Daily app)

Thanks for listening and be sure to catch us tomorrow.

Today’s quote is from American inventor Thomas Edison:

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”

(Produced by Nancy Yan Xu, Ryan Yaoran Yu, Ziyi Zeng, Raymond Mendoza, and Terry Guanlin Li.)