Accessibility links

Breaking News

VOA English Newscast 1500 UTC February 19, 2016


This picture released online by the Sabratha Municipal Council on Feb. 19, 2016, shows the site where U.S. warplanes struck an Islamic State training camp in Sabratha, Libya near the Tunisian border. (Sabratha Municipal Council via AP)
This picture released online by the Sabratha Municipal Council on Feb. 19, 2016, shows the site where U.S. warplanes struck an Islamic State training camp in Sabratha, Libya near the Tunisian border. (Sabratha Municipal Council via AP)
please wait

No media source currently available

0:00 0:02:02 0:00
Direct link


From Washington, this is VOA News.

I’m Steve Karesh reporting.

U.S. warplanes have carried out airstrikes on an Islamic State training camp in western Libya near the country's border with Tunisia, this according to U.S. officials.

Local officials have said at least 40 people were killed.

The New York Times quotes a Western official as saying the target was a "senior Tunisian operative" linked to two major terrorist attacks last year.

In Uganda, early results from Thursday show incumbent President Yoweri Museveni, who has held power for the past three decades, in the lead in the country’s presidential and parliamentary elections, though voting still continues in some districts.

Kizza Besigye, Uganda's main opposition leader, was arrested for the second time in two days along with several top members of his party after heavily armed police surrounded his party's headquarters building and fired tear gas at a crowd.

An unnamed party official says that the violence started as the opposition party was preparing to announce its own accounting of the election results:

“We have a problem with results, which we wanted to release by today and tell the world this is what is coming out and what is being… At the end of it all, police want that information that we want to release, preliminary results, so they have to come and seal off the place before we can release the results, and that is how this stuff has come about...”

Besigye was briefly arrested late Thursday after visiting a house in Kampala, where he suspected ballot-stuffing was taking place.

Police said the house was a security facility and accused Besigye of trespassing on government property.

In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the U.S. condemns the detention.

This is VOA News.

______________________________________________________________

Words in The News

warplanes – n. military airplanes

according – adv. as stated by or in

quote – v. to repeat word by word

senior – adj. leading; major

incumbent – adj. involving someone who holds an office or position

decade – n. a period of 10 years

though – adv. however

district – n. an area established by a government; land set aside for a special purpose

tear gas – n. a gas used by the police or military to separate large crowds of people

accounting – n. the keeping of records

preliminary – adj. partial or early

seal off – v. to close off

stuff – n. things, materials or supplies

ballot-stuffing – n. when someone votes more than once in an election

facility – n. center

trespassing – v. entering the property or land of someone else without getting their permission

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section.

XS
SM
MD
LG