每日新闻播报（December 25）

>US government shuts down
美国政府停摆局面持续
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，由于美国总统特朗普提出的美墨边境墙建设拨款要求令对峙深化，美国联邦政府部分机构停摆的状况预计将持续至圣诞节后。由于特朗普坚持寻求一笔50亿美元的修墙费，他与国会中的民主党人的谈判远未取得突破，甚至在27日参议院复会前，在协商继续期间达成使政府保持运转的临时措施也看似遥不可及。政府停摆影响了许多政府机构以及80万名联邦职员的日常工作。约42万必要岗位的雇员预计将无薪工作，另有38万雇员将被停职，这意味着他们将无薪休假。

>Japan considers leaving IWC
日本或退出捕鲸委员会
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称，日本将退出国际捕鲸委员会，以重启商业捕鲸。报道称，日本计划在明年退出国际捕鲸委员会，这一决定将在年底前公布。日本共同社援引未具名政府消息人士的话称，日本将放弃在南大洋开展的颇具争议且费用高昂的捕鲸，而将允许捕鲸船在日本沿海水域和专属经济区作业。但日本渔业部门的一位官员否认了这一报道，坚称尚未决定是否退出国际捕鲸委员会。国际捕鲸委员会从1986年开始禁止商业捕鲸。

>No charges against Liu
美检方放弃起诉刘强东
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."
对于中国电商巨头京东的亿万富豪创始人及首席执行官刘强东涉嫌在美性侵一案，检方决定不予起诉。明尼苏达检方21日宣布，调查发现的涉案证据不足，决定不予起诉。京东22日表示，欢迎检方的这一决定。刘强东也在其国内社交媒体账号上发表声明称："这个结果证明我没有触犯任何法律。但事发当天我的行为给我的家庭、特别是我的妻子造成了巨大的伤害，为此我感到十分的自责和后悔，希望她可以接受我最诚恳的道歉。"

>Travel rush ticket on sale
2019年春运火车票开抢
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年春运火车票23日开售，乘客可通过电话、网站以及智能手机应用等多种方式购票。2019年春运将从1月21日起至3月1日止。春运被称为"世界上最大规模的人类迁徙"，据估计，40天春运期间将有4.1亿旅客通过铁路出行。为改善旅客购票体验，火车票官方订票网站12306.cn及12306应用将在春运期间增加一项新功能。新功能将自动将被取消的火车票分配给在车票售罄时预付票款的其他购票者。这将为旅客省去反复刷新网站等待出现被取消的车票的麻烦。

Find more audio news on the China Daily app.