>US government shuts down
美國政府停擺局面持續(xù)
The US federal government was expected to remain partially shut down past Christmas as the standoff deepened on Saturday over US President Donald Trump's demand for funds to build a border wall with Mexico. With Trump's insistence on $5 billion for the wall and negotiations with Democrats in Congress far from a breakthrough, even a temporary measure to keep the government running while talks continued seemed out of reach until the Senate returned for a full session on Thursday. The disruption affected many government operations and the routines of 800,000 federal employees. Roughly 420,000 workers were deemed essential and were expected to work unpaid. An additional 380,000 were to be furloughed, meaning they will stay home without pay.
22日，由于美國總統(tǒng)特朗普提出的美墨邊境墻建設撥款要求令對峙深化，美國聯(lián)邦政府部分機構停擺的狀況預計將持續(xù)至圣誕節(jié)后。由于特朗普堅持尋求一筆50億美元的修墻費，他與國會中的民主黨人的談判遠未取得突破，甚至在27日參議院復會前，在協(xié)商繼續(xù)期間達成使政府保持運轉的臨時措施也看似遙不可及。政府停擺影響了許多政府機構以及80萬名聯(lián)邦職員的日常工作。約42萬必要崗位的雇員預計將無薪工作，另有38萬雇員將被停職，這意味著他們將無薪休假。

>Japan considers leaving IWC
日本或退出捕鯨委員會
Japan will withdraw from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in a bid to resume commercial whaling, Kyodo News reported, citing government sources. Japan's withdrawal from the IWC is planned for 2019 and will be announced by the end of the year, according to the report. Kyodo quoted unnamed government sources as saying Japan would abandon its controversial, and expensive, expeditions to the Southern Ocean and instead permit whaling fleets to operate in its coastal waters and exclusive economic zone. A fisheries agency official denied the report, however, insisting no decision had been taken on whether to withdraw from the IWC, which banned commercial whaling in 1986.
共同社援引日本政府方面的消息稱，日本將退出國際捕鯨委員會，以重啟商業(yè)捕鯨。報道稱，日本計劃在明年退出國際捕鯨委員會，這一決定將在年底前公布。日本共同社援引未具名政府消息人士的話稱，日本將放棄在南大洋開展的頗具爭議且費用高昂的捕鯨，而將允許捕鯨船在日本沿海水域和專屬經濟區(qū)作業(yè)。但日本漁業(yè)部門的一位官員否認了這一報道，堅稱尚未決定是否退出國際捕鯨委員會。國際捕鯨委員會從1986年開始禁止商業(yè)捕鯨。

>No charges against Liu
美檢方放棄起訴劉強東
No charges will be brought against Liu Qiangdong, billionaire founder and CEO of Chinese e-commerce giant JD, for an alleged sexual assault in the US. Minnesota prosecutors announced on Friday that their investigation turned up insufficient evidence to follow through. JD said on Saturday it was pleased to see this decision. Liu also issued a statement on his Chinese social media account saying "this proves I broke no law, however, my interactions with the woman have hurt my family greatly, especially my wife. I feel deep regret and remorse and hope she can accept my sincere apology."
對于中國電商巨頭京東的億萬富豪創(chuàng)始人及首席執(zhí)行官劉強東涉嫌在美性侵一案，檢方決定不予起訴。明尼蘇達檢方21日宣布，調查發(fā)現的涉案證據不足，決定不予起訴。京東22日表示，歡迎檢方的這一決定。劉強東也在其國內社交媒體賬號上發(fā)表聲明稱："這個結果證明我沒有觸犯任何法律。但事發(fā)當天我的行為給我的家庭、特別是我的妻子造成了巨大的傷害，為此我感到十分的自責和后悔，希望她可以接受我最誠懇的道歉。"

>Travel rush ticket on sale
2019年春運火車票開搶
The sales of train tickets for the 2019 Spring Festival travel rush, or chunyun in Chinese, started Sunday and passengers can buy the tickets through various means, including telephone, website and smartphone app. The 2019 Spring Festival travel rush will last from Jan 21 to Mar 1. It is estimated that 410 million passengers will be traveling by trains during the 40-day chunyun, which is called "the world's largest human migration". To improve passengers' ticket purchasing experience, a new function will be added to the official train ticket booking website, 12306.cn, and the 12306 app during the travel rush. The new function will automatically allocate canceled train tickets to other buyers who have paid in advance when tickets are sold out. It will save passengers the trouble of refreshing the website repeatedly to wait for canceled tickets.
2019年春運火車票23日開售，乘客可通過電話、網站以及智能手機應用等多種方式購票。2019年春運將從1月21日起至3月1日止。春運被稱為"世界上最大規(guī)模的人類遷徙"，據估計，40天春運期間將有4.1億旅客通過鐵路出行。為改善旅客購票體驗，火車票官方訂票網站12306.cn及12306應用將在春運期間增加一項新功能。新功能將自動將被取消的火車票分配給在車票售罄時預付票款的其他購票者。這將為旅客省去反復刷新網站等待出現被取消的車票的麻煩。

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