英语新闻（常速听力)20190225

VOA NEWS

February 25, 2019

VOA news. I'm Christopher Cruise reporting. 

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the United States is looking for ways to get humanitarian assistance into Venezuela after troops loyal to President Nicholás Maduro repelled aid trucks in clashes at the borders with Brazil and Colombia on Saturday. 

Mr. Pompeo in an interview Sunday on CNN did not suggest how the U.S. might carry out the aid mission in the face of armed opposition. 

He said, however, that the United States would consider imposing more sanctions against the Venezuelan government to increase pressure on Maduro to quit in favor of the country's interim president, Juan Guaidó, the president of the National Assembly and the leader of the opposition. 

President Trump says he is optimistic about his summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un over U.S. efforts to end the threat of Pyongyang's nuclear weapons arsenal. 

In a Twitter message on Sunday, Mr. Trump wrote "We both expect a continuation of the progress made at the first Summit in Singapore. Denuclearization?" he asked. 

Trump said he is leaving for Hanoi early Monday. Kim has already headed to Vietnam in an armored train. 

Thousands of people gathered in central Moscow on Sunday to mark the fourth anniversary of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov's murder. 

Although the events were approved by officials Moscow, police limited access to the northern edge of a bridge just outside the Kremlin, where for years a makeshift memorial comprised of plaques, photos, flowers and candles has marked the spot of the 55-year-old's assassination by gunshot. 

This is VOA news. 

Nigerians waited for election results Sunday as vote counting continued from the nation's hotly-contested presidential election. 

Voting continued in a few remote areas, and Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission said it will reschedule elections in some parts of three states where voting was disrupted Saturday. It was not immediately clear which districts were affected. 

VOA English to Africa reporters in Abuja report that the commission is expected to start announcing election results on Monday. 

Voters in Senegal went to the polls on Sunday to vote in a presidential election. 

President Macky Sall said at a recent rally that victory in the first round is indisputable. But rights groups have been critical of Sall after well-known political rivals were barred from running in Sunday's election. 

Election results are expected by Friday. 

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir swore in a new premier on Sunday as hundreds of demonstrators called on the veteran leader to resign after he imposed a state of emergency across the country. 

Bashir imposed the year-long emergency on Friday after a deadly crackdown failed to suppress weeks of protests against his now three-decade-long rule. 

In a new report released Sunday by the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, the United Nations says the armed conflict in Afghanistan last year killed more than 3,800 civilians, including almost 1,000 children. It's the highest number of civilian deaths recorded in the past ten years. 

The intensified violence injured nearly 7,200 civilians and the overall civilian casualties rose by five percent in 2018. 

Officials in northeastern India say the death toll for people who drank tainted bootleg liquor has climbed to at least 140. 

Another 200 people who drank the moonshine have been hospitalized, some of them in critical condition. 

Pope Francis has compared the sexual abuse of children to human sacrifice. 

On Sunday, he said, "I am reminded of the cruel religious practice, once widespread in certain cultures, of sacrificing human beings - frequently children." 

You can find more on these and other late breaking and developing stories, from around the world, around the clock, at voanews.com and on the VOA news mobile app. I'm Christopher Cruise, VOA news.