VOA常速英语:拜登夫妇接种新冠疫苗

The Justice Department for the United States has also unsealed charges against a Libyan bomb maker in the 1988 explosion of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, (s..., sc...) Scotland. The attack killed 259 people in the air and an additional 11 on the ground. The charges were announced on the 32nd anniversary of the bombing. Attorney General Barr had announced an earlier set of charges against two Libyan intelligence officials in his capacity as acting attorney general nearly 30 years ago, vowing that the investigation would continue. The case against the alleged bomb maker, Abu Agela Masud Kheir Al-Marimi, is for now more theoretical than practical since Masud is not in U.S. custody and it is unclear if he ever will be in U.S. custody or if the evidence will be sufficient for conviction. But it nonetheless represents one or (one of the) more consequential counterterrorism announcements from the Trump administration Justice Department.

U.S. President-elect Biden received a COVID-19 vaccination on live television Monday to convince Americans that the inoculation is safe. The president-elect received the Pfizer and BioNTech shot at a hospital in the U.S. city of Newark, Delaware. He said afterward, "I'm (d...) doing this to demonstrate that people should be prepared when it's available to take the vaccine. There's nothing to worry about." His wife, Jill Biden, was given a dose of the vaccine hours earlier at the same hospital, which is near the couple's Delaware home. Other U.S. leaders received their vaccines last week, including Vice President Mike Pence, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Pakistan cautioned rival India against any military aggression on Monday, Pakistan adding military action could spiral into a mutually destructive "final battle" between the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbors. The warning came from Pakistani Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed a day after his government formally alleged in a letter to the United Nations that New Delhi was planning to stage a cross-border attack. The interior minister (im...) implicitly warned of a possible nuclear exchange with India in the event of a war. The Indian government has not commented on Pakistan's charges.

Rwanda and Russia have sent troops and supplies to the Central African Republic. Officials and (security) a security source say this is to help counter a surge in violence by rebel groups ahead of Sunday's election.

Via remote, I'm Liz Parker, VOA news.