The US House of Representatives has passed President Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid bill. In a late-night vote, all but two Democrats who have a small majority in the House supported the legislation. Every Republican voted against, arguing that the bill is too expensive and includes measures unrelated to the pandemic. The House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the results. On this vote, the yeas are 219. The nays are 212. The bill is passed without objection. A motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. The bill must now go to the Senate where it faces an even tougher challenge. Our correspondent Lebo Diseko is in Washington. It's not a surprise that this bill has passed in the House. Democrats hold a majority there, and it was just a simple majority that was needed to get it through. The real battle will come in the Senate. Now Democrats are using a special process called budget reconciliation and it means that there too, in the Senate, it will just need a simple majority to pass. But there is no guarantee that the bill in its current form will get that. The real bone of contention has been this issue of the $15 minimum wage. And already, there are two Democratic senators that they've said they will not vote for the bill, if it contains that.
美国众议院通过了拜登总统1.9万亿美元的冠状病毒援助法案。在深夜投票中，在众议院占微弱多数的民主党议员只有两人没有支持该法案。所有共和党人都投了反对票，他们认为该法案金额过高，而且包含了与疫情无关的措施。众议院议长南希•佩洛西宣布了投票结果。在这次投票中，赞成票是219票，反对票是212票。该法案无异议获得通过。一项重新考虑的动议已提交。该法案现在必须送交参议院，在那里它将面临更严峻的挑战。请听本台记者莱宝•迪赛克在华盛顿的报道。这个法案在众议院通过并不奇怪。民主党人在那里占多数，通过该法案所需要的只是简单多数票。真正的战斗将在参议院展开。现在民主党人正在使用一种被称为预算和解的特殊程序，这也意味着，在参议院，该法案也只需要简单多数票就可以通过。但现在不能保证该法案可以以目前的形式通过。争论的真正焦点是15美元最低工资这个问题。已经有两位民主党参议员表示，如果该法案包含上述内容，他们将不会投票支持该法案。
US regulators are expected to authorize the Johnson and Johnson COVID vaccine for emergency use when they meet later today. The White House said the first shipments of the single dose jab could arrive as early as Monday.
美国监管机构预计将在今天晚些时候召开会议批准强生新冠疫苗用于紧急使用。白宫表示，第一批单剂疫苗最早将于周一抵达美国。
A leading UN human rights investigator has severely criticized Washington's decision not to impose sanctions on the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in connection with the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Agnes Callamard likened it to someone being found guilty in court then walking free. Ms. Callamard was speaking after the Biden administration published a report that concluded the Prince Mohammed approved a plan to capture or kill the journalist. The report is analytical sound, but it does not provide the details. It does not provide material or evidence. So, it makes me feel that the classified information has really not been declassified. And then the second issue is the fact that so far, the White House has suggested that they will not sanction Mohammed ben Salman and that to me will be extremely grave, because it will be almost worse than having and not published the report. The Prince has always denied having anything to do with Mr. Khashoggi's murder in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.
联合国一名主要人权调查员严厉批评了华盛顿当局不对沙特王储穆罕默德•本•萨勒曼实施制裁的决定，萨勒曼与记者贾马尔•哈苏吉被杀一案有关。安格妮斯•卡拉马打了个比方，这就像一个人在法庭上被判有罪，然后就被无罪释放了。在卡拉马发表讲话之前，拜登政府发表了一份报告，得出结论称穆罕默德王子批准了一项抓捕或杀死这名记者的计划。这份报告分析得很好，但没有提供细节，也没有提供材料或证据。所以，这让我觉得这份机密信息其实没有被解密。第二个问题是，到目前为止，白宫表示他们不会制裁穆罕默德•本•萨勒曼，这对我来说是很沉重的，因为这个结果比不公布这份报告更糟糕。沙特王子一直否认与2018年哈苏吉在伊斯坦布尔的沙特领事馆被谋杀有关系。
文章来源：BBC
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