VOA NEWS

February 23, 2019

This is VOA news. I'm David Byrd in Washington.



At least two people were killed and several others injured in clashes between Venezuelan military and a group of civilians at the Brazilian border.

News reports from Venezuela say two people died when National Guard officers attempted to disperse citizens blocking a road on the border with Brazil.

President Nicholás Maduro has closed the country's border with Brazil in a dispute over the delivery of humanitarian aid.

Also Friday, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó showed up at a massive concert dubbed Venezuela Aid Live organized by British billionaire Richard Branson and attended by tens of thousands of people in the Colombian border town of Cúcuta.

Guaidó appeared in violation of a travel ban handed down by Venezuela's Supreme Court, which is staffed with supporters of embattled President Maduro.



House Democrats have introduced a resolution to block President Donald Trump's national emergency declaration to fund his wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

AP Washington correspondent Sagar Meghani reports.

Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro introduced a resolution to block the declaration which the president made to bypass Congress and build his border wall.

"What the president is attempting is an unconstitutional power grab."

And House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says Democrats won't let him get away with it.

"The president is being frivolous to the constitution."

She says the House will vote next week on the resolution. It's certain to pass and make it through the GOP-led Senate as well, which could result in the president's first veto while testing Republican support for his move.

Sagar Meghani, Washington.

Meanwhile at the White House, President Donald Trump said that if the resolution does pass both houses of Congress, he would definitely veto it.



For more on these stories, log on to our website voanews.com. This is VOA news.



U.S. President Donald Trump says his decision to leave 400 U.S. troops in Syria does not constitute a reversal of his plan to withdraw U.S. troops from that country.

Speaking at the White House, the president said his decision does not contradict previous announcements that all U.S. troops would be withdrawn.

"We can leave a small force, along with others in the force, whether it's NATO troops or whoever it might be, so that it doesn't start up again. And I'm OK. It's a very small, tiny fraction of the people we have."

Trump's decision would split U.S. troops between a safe zone along the northeastern border with Turkey and the U.S. military base at Tanf near the border with Iraq and Jordan.

In December, the president made a surprise announcement that all U.S. forces would be pulling out of Syria by the end of April. In doing so, he confounded many of America's European allies and angered some of his own allies in Washington.



Music star R. Kelly has been indicted in Chicago on sex abuse charges.

AP correspondent Warren Levinson has details.

Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx announced the charges, 10 in all, of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of four girls younger than 17.

The earliest cases date back to 1998 when Kelly would have been 31, the latest to 2010.

She identified the alleged victims only by their initials. "The third victim, initials L.C., was involved in an incident which occurred February 18, 2003."

Each count carries a sentence of up to seven years.

The Grammy-winning singer and composer who denies ever having had sexual contact with underage girls faces a bond hearing Saturday.

I'm Warren Levinson.



At the second day of a summit on sexual abuse, leading cardinals said the Catholic Church must repair the "systematic failure" that enabled sexual abuse to take root around the world and bishops should police each other's behavior.

Reuters Gracie Jerome reports.

The Church must fix the systemic failures that enabled members of the clergy to sexually abuse children on a global scale. That's the message of leading cardinals who say bishops should start policing each other's behavior.

They made their comments on the second day of an historic summit at the Vatican where nearly 200 senior Church officials are gathered to finally find a way forward from a scandal that shattered its reputation.

Pope Francis ordered the summit to ensure church leaders from all over the world understood the depth of the problem and how they could prevent it.

Gracie Jerome of Reuters.



And New England Patriots football team owner Robert Kraft has been charged with misdemeanor solicitation of prostitution after being videotaped paying for a sex act at an illicit massage parlor in Florida.

Kraft has denied wrongdoing.

The charge comes amid a widespread crackdown on sex trafficking from Palm Beach to Orlando.



For more on these stories, visit our website. I'm David Byrd, VOA news