daily02162026



 Live from NPR in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton. It's the third day of the partial government shutdown after funding for the Department of Homeland Security lapsed [失效]. Democrats in Congress are demanding reforms [改革] to immigration enforcement as part of a funding package, but lawmakers are now on a 10-day break [休假]. TSA officers [（机场）安检员] are required to stay on the job without pay, but experts say mass flight cancellations [航班取消] like those seen during last year's government shutdown are less likely because air traffic controllers are still getting paid. As Marlon Hyde from member station WABE in Atlanta reports, Congress is in recess [休会] until February 23rd. It has only been a few months since the record 43-day shutdown last fall, and now TSA employees must work without a paycheck again. Tom Smith is an economist at Emory University. What we saw in the past was you'll get an increase in number of people who are calling out sick [请病假]. People will have to pick up second jobs in order to, you know, pay their bills [付账单]. Smith says that could lead to delays and major inconveniences [不便] for passengers. The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents 47,000 transportation security officers, has not responded to a request for comment.

California is bracing for [迎来] thunderstorms, strong winds, and heavy mountain snow. The National Weather Service is urging people to take precautions [注意] in the coming days. Winter storm warnings are in place from southwest Oregon to the southern California border. State emergency officials are deploying [部署] rescue resources for flooding and debris flows [泥石流]. 

The nationalist [民族主义者] pro-Kremlin Prime Minister of Hungary [匈牙利], Viktor Orban, is accusing Ukraine of trying to interfere [介入] with Hungarian elections this April. NPR's Joanna Kakissis reports that Orban, who is close to President Trump, made the remarks during a visit with Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the Hungarian capital, Budapest [布达佩斯]. Rubio praised [赞扬] Orban's success and said it's also the Trump administration's success. Because this relationship we have here in Central Europe through you is so essential and vital [重要的] for our national interests in the years to come. The authoritarian [威权的] leader has run Hungary for the last 14 years. He is trailing [落后] in public opinion polls [民调]. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this weekend that Orban is, quote, more interested in growing his belly [肚子] than protecting Europe from Russia. Through an interpreter [翻译官], Orban said Zelensky and Ukraine want to involve themselves in Hungary's election. And we have to prevail [战胜] against them, too. That is our reality. Orban opposes European aid to Ukraine and the country's bid to join the European Union.

Iran's top diplomat [外交官] held talks with the UN nuclear watchdog [核项目监管者] in Geneva [日内瓦] today, a day before a second round of negotiations [谈判] between the US and Iran. President Trump recently ordered a second aircraft carrier [航空母舰] to the Middle East.

Former President Barack Obama is clarifying [澄清] comments he made about alien [外星人] life on a podcast over the weekend. He says he did not see evidence during his presidency that aliens have made contact with humans. During the podcast, Obama said aliens were real, but that they were not being kept in Area 51.

Brazil's president and a local Samba [桑巴] school could be facing legal troubles after a tribute [致敬] to the South American leader in this year's Carnival [嘉年华狂欢节] celebration. Political opponents [反对者] say the Samba school's homage [致意] to the Brazilian leader violates [违反] campaigning rules [竞选规则]. From Rio de Janeiro [里约热内卢], NPR's Kerry Kahn reports. Official campaigning doesn't start until August. But opponents of President Luis Anasio Lula de Silva say the tribute to the leftist [左派的] leader was unfair early campaigning, something illegal for the school to do since it receives public funding. The 80-year-old Lula was in Rio's VIP box [贵宾包厢] Sunday night until nearly dawn [拂晓] watching Carnival. The Niteroi-based [巴西城市尼泰罗伊] Samba school chronicled [记述了] his life from a childhood in poverty [贫困] to three times being elected president. One float [花车] pitted [对比] a figure [形象] of him against a clown [小丑], a reference [暗指] to former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. Polls [民调] show this year's election will be tight [难分伯仲], especially if Lula faces Bolsonaro's son Flavio, who has his father's endorsement [支持]. Kerry Kahn, Rio de Janeiro.

An injured seabird sought help by pecking [用嘴敲] on a German hospital's emergency room [急救室] door. The black cormorant [鸬鹚] had a triple fishing hook [三联鱼钩] stuck in its beak [鸟喙，即嘴巴]. Medical staff removed the hook and treated the wound [处理了伤口]. Then they released the bird in a hospital park.