【听 · 焦点】万豪将港澳台及西藏列为“国家”引众怒

Billions of deals inked as China, France agreed to further advance partnership 

Billions of dollars worth of agreements have been inked during a meeting between the leaders of China and France on Tuesday.

The 20 deals signed at their meeting included the construction of a 10-billion-euro nuclear spent fuel reprocessing plant in China.

Another agreement is to allow European plane maker Airbus to increase production of its A320 jet in Tianjin to six aircraft per month.

Meanwhile, China also agreed to lift a 16-year-old embargo on French beef within six months.

Both sides also agreed to further advance their comprehensive strategic partnership. 

Li Keqiang says he expects stronger Lancang-Mekong cooperation 

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang says he looks forward to building stronger ties among Lancang-Mekong countries, as well as more progress in China-Cambodia relations.

Li Keqiang has made the comments in a signed article published in Cambodia, ahead of a scheduled two-day visit to the country beginning Wednesday.

As part of the visit, he will attend a Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Leaders's meeting, which will focus on future action plans in water conservancy, education, culture, youth and other areas.

The Lancang-Mekong grouping involves the six countries which are on the river, including Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. 

Wang Yi to visit Africa 

It's been announced Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will pay official visits to Rwanda, Angola, Gabon and Sao Tome and Principe from Friday.

This follows a tradition over the past 20-plus years that a Chinese top diplomat would chose Africa as the first destination to visit in the new year.

The visit will focus on the Sino-African mutual trust, cooperation in the new era, and preparation for the FOCAC summit. 

Former Chinese military chief of staff under graft investigation

A senior Chinese military officer has been put under investigation on bribery charges.

Fang Fenghui is a member of China's Central Military Commission (CMC) and former chief of staff of the CMC Joint Staff Department.

He has been transferred to the military prosecution authority, upon approval of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.

Fang directed the military parade marking China's 60th founding anniversary in 2009.

Fang was promoted to chief of staff of the CMC Joint Staff Department three years later.

His last public appearance was a meeting with a Thai military commander in August last year. 

China refutes report on naval base in Pakistan 

China has dismissed reports alleging it plans to build a military base in Pakistan.

（这里有一句留给大家来填空，记得听完留言写下你的答案哦！）

On Tuesday, China's foreign ministry termed the reports as "unnecessary" speculations.

It stressed the current cooperation between China and Pakistan mainly focuses on their Economic Corridor.

The ministry also urged outsiders not to make too much legend out of this kind of economic cooperation. 

No large-scale oil spill found after east China coast vessel collision 

Chinese authorities have said there is no large-scale oil spill found around the scene of a collision in the East China Sea.

An oil tanker caught fire after it collided with a bulk freighter on Saturday.

It was carrying over 130-thousand tones of condensate oil when the accident took place.

Results from an official test show this kind of oil can evaporate quickly in the water.

It will leave residue of less than 1 percent just five hours after being leaked into the sea.

But experts still warn the toxic and volatile material could trigger explosions when exposed to air.

Meanwhile, no progress has been reported in the search and rescue of the missing oil tanker crew members.

So far, rescuers had found one body that was believed to be one of the 32 missing Iranians and Bangladeshis. 

Marriott apologizes for listing Tibet as a country in survey

Chinese internet users are calling for a boycott of the global hotel chain Marriott International.

This, after the company released a list of countries that included several Chinese regions - Tibet, Macao, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

The company's membership depar 51 29392 51 15232 0 0 2523 0 0:00:11 0:00:06 0:00:05 3555tment has apologized via its Weibo account.

But as the Global Times reports, no change has been made to the status of the Chinese regions on that list. 

North Korea to attend Winter Olympics 

The North Korean government has announced it will send a delegation to participate in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics next month in South Korea.

Meanwhile, the North has also re-opened a military hotline with the South along their western border.

The moves come as the two countries have carried out their first high-level talks in around two years.

The meeting begun earlier on Tuesday morning, at the truce village of Panmunjom, near the two countries' border on the South Korean side.

The inter-Korean talks have resumed after North Korean leader Kim Jung Un said in his New Year's speech that he planned to send a delegation to the PyeongChang Games. 

World Bank upgrades global economic growth for 2018 to 3.1 percent 

The World Bank on Tuesday raised its forecast for global economic growth in 2018 to 3.1 percent, saying that a broad-based recovery was underway across the world.

The forecast was 0.2 percentage point higher than its projections in June last year.

The Washington-based lender has also said 2018 is on track to be the first year since the financial crisis that the global economy will be operating at or near full capacity. 

（以上文稿仅供参考）

上期回顾：中东部雨雪天气已致21人死亡

上期答案： Zhu says the space lab will burn up in Earth's atmosphere and the remaining debris will fall into a designated sea area without jeopardizing anything or anyone on the ground.

跟随英语环球，天天进步就从这每日一题开始吧！