People's Daily Tonight: Podcast News (1/29/2018 Mon.)

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

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Russian resort fire kills 2 Chinese

Tragedy strikes a Russian resort island.

Fire at a tourist facility on Olkhon Island kills two Chinese.

Five others were hurt.

Rescuers say 34 people were at the facility when the fire broke out, including 24 from China.

The cause of the fire remains unknown.

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Rare 'super blood blue moon' visible on Jan 31

As the saying goes, it comes once in a blue moon.

A rare "super blood blue moon" that hasn’t occurred in 36 years will appear on Wednesday in parts of North America, Asia, the Middle East, Russia and Australia.

It combines an extra big super moon, a blue moon and a total lunar eclipse.

The moon will glide into the Earth's shadow, and will gradually turn the white disk of light to orange or red.

It will last an hour and 16 minutes. (AFP)

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Gunmen storm military university in Kabul

Another deadly attack in Kabul.

This time, gunmen sieged a military college.

Witnesses say they heard explosions and a gunbattle.

On Saturday, over a hundred people were killed in a massive car bomb attack in central Kabul. 

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Russia suspended from Paralympics, some athletes excepted: IPC

And Russia’s Olympic woes continue.

The International Paralympics Committee has banned it from competing in the Pyeongchang Winter Games.

But individual athletes may compete under a neutral flag.

The committee says it recognizes the progress Russia has made in improving its anti-doping activities. (AFP)

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Trainspotting: Drug epidemic thwarts Paris metro

An out of control drug problem on Paris subways continues to fuel anger and concern. 
Paris metro employees have gone on strike

They cite safety issues over the growing number of crack addicts riding the metro.

They say some stations have become so dangerous that trains would drive through and skip stops.
Police have arrested hundreds of drug dealers and users there in the past two years.

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Taiwan oil refinery explosion triggers protests

An oil refinery explosion rocks Taiwan.

The explosion happened Monday morning in Taoyuan city.

Reports say firemen have contained the blaze.

The refinery is located in a residential area of hundreds of thousands.

Local residents are demanding the refinery be transferred. (Xinhua)

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Alibaba to invest $1.7 billion in India

And Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is in talks to invest $100 million in Indian logistics company XpressBees.

That would bring the company investments in India to 1.7 billion dollars.

XpressBees is an online logistics retailer, and focuses mainly on baby and maternity products.

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

(Produced by David Nye, Chen Zilin and Wang Yi )