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The Trump administration has formally informed Congress that it intends to move forward with a roughly $700 million sale of jet engines to Turkey, according to Reuters, which cited two sources familiar with the matter.

The proposed arms deal has already drawn criticism from certain members of Congress, largely due to Turkey’s ongoing possession of Russian defense systems it acquired back in 2019.

Should the sale receive final approval, it would serve as a meaningful show of goodwill toward Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, whom President Trump regards as one of his key international allies. The timing is notable, coming just ahead of next month’s NATO summit.

In its official notification to Congress, dated June 24 and delivered late Wednesday, the State Department stated, “The US government is prepared to license the export of these items having taken into account political, military, economic, human rights, and arms control considerations.”

Under the law, Congress has a 15-day window to introduce a joint resolution of disapproval if it wishes to halt the transaction. However, any such measure would need to clear both chambers and could ultimately be vetoed by President Trump.

Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance indicated that the administration is also examining whether Turkey satisfies US legal requirements before pursuing further defense agreements — including the possibility of bringing Turkey back into the F-35 fighter jet program, from which it was previously removed.

Speaking from the Oval Office, President Trump suggested that Erdoğan had been on the verge of entering the conflict involving Iran. “He was a prime candidate to go into the war with Iran — maybe on the Iran side, because he’s not a big fan of Israel,” Trump claimed, despite Turkey showing no signs of preparing to join the US-Israel military campaign against Iran. Turkey itself came under Iranian fire at one point during the conflict.

“I asked him to stay out. He stayed out,” Trump told reporters.

Trump went on to praise the Turkish leader, saying, “Erdogan is a great leader, a very strong person … Everything I’ve ever asked from him, he’s done. I’m going to probably do something that’s going to make him very happy.”

The relationship between Turkey and Israel has been strained since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. In July 2024, Erdoğan floated the idea of potential military action against Israel to stop the fighting in Gaza. Earlier this month, Turkey’s interior minister publicly called for the “liberation” of Jerusalem.

Four Israeli Defense Forces soldiers were injured in southern Lebanon on Thursday when a member of an armed group hurled a grenade at them in the town of Beit Yahoun. One combat officer suffered moderate injuries, while a second combat officer and two other soldiers were lightly wounded. All four were evacuated for medical care, and their families were informed, according to the IDF Spokesperson.

The attacker was killed following the grenade assault. The incident unfolded against the backdrop of ongoing US-brokered diplomatic talks between Israel and Lebanon in Washington, which concluded their third day Thursday without producing an agreement.

An Israeli embassy spokesperson told The Times of Israel that both delegations agreed to return to the negotiating table for a fourth day, with talks scheduled to resume Friday at the US State Department. The central sticking point is a proposed partial Israeli pullback from parts of its buffer zone in southern Lebanon — areas US officials had hoped to designate as so-called ‘pilot zones,’ where Lebanese army forces would replace Israeli troops.

An Israeli source told The Times of Israel that any withdrawal would be limited to locations where Hezbollah infrastructure has already been dismantled, and would not affect Israel’s broader six-mile-deep security zone in the region.

Earlier Thursday, both Israeli and Lebanese officials pushed back against a US claim that Israel had already started pulling back from certain positions in southern Lebanon. A US official had reportedly described any such movement as a goodwill gesture toward the Lebanese government during the negotiations.

Adding to the diplomatic tension, both sides have voiced frustration over the US decision to fold the Hezbollah conflict into a memorandum of understanding signed last week with Iran, rather than handling Lebanon as its own separate diplomatic issue.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio addressed the negotiations Thursday, saying Israel and Lebanon are nearing a ‘commitment of intent,’ though he declined to offer additional specifics about the state of the talks.

MOSCOW — Sergei Ivanov, a one-time Russian defense minister who was widely regarded as President Vladimir Putin’s most probable successor, has passed away at the age of 73.

The Kremlin confirmed his death occurred on Friday, though officials did not disclose a cause or share any further information. Putin offered his condolences to Ivanov’s family following the announcement.

Back in 2001, Putin — who shares a KGB background with Ivanov — appointed him to lead Russia’s defense ministry. Ivanov held that post through 2007, during which time he oversaw the second war in Chechnya, a conflict that ultimately defeated the region’s push for independence.

As Putin prepared to vacate the presidency in 2008 due to term limits and transition into the role of prime minister, Ivanov was broadly considered the frontrunner to take over the top office. Instead, Putin tapped another long-trusted associate, Dmitry Medvedev, to hold the presidency until Putin could reclaim it in 2012. Political analysts at the time suggested Putin may have passed over Ivanov because he viewed him as too ambitious and worried he might not willingly give up the presidency.

Ivanov continued to serve in Putin’s inner circle, holding the position of deputy prime minister from 2007 to 2011, followed by a stint as Kremlin chief of staff from 2011 to 2016.

In 2016, he was appointed as a presidential envoy focused on environmental protection and transportation — a largely ceremonial role with little political influence that was widely interpreted as a comfortable exit from active politics. He stepped away from that position earlier this year.

Like several other senior Russian officials, Ivanov had been placed under sanctions by both the United States and the European Union in response to Russia’s military actions in Ukraine.

Beijing’s tallest skyscraper showed clear signs of damage Friday, with images and videos circulating on social media appearing to show aircraft debris near the massive high-rise.

The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported that a small airplane struck the CITIC Tower — also called China Zun — located in Beijing’s Central Business District.

Photographs that surfaced online showed what looked like a hole or shattered glass on one side of the structure. While the images appeared consistent with the building’s location, their authenticity could not be independently verified, and they were swiftly removed from the internet.

The CITIC Tower rises 528 meters — roughly 1,732 feet — making it the tallest building in the Chinese capital.

A heavy law enforcement presence was visible outside the skyscraper, along with fire trucks and ambulances responding to the scene.

As of Friday, the exact cause of the incident remained unknown, and no official statement had been issued by authorities.

Residents across Dubai were briefly alarmed Friday when the United Arab Emirates government sent out an incoming missile alert — only to follow up moments later telling the public to “disregard the previous warning,” suggesting the alert was sent out by mistake.

The text message, which was pushed to mobile phones throughout the city, marked the first such alert since the United States and Iran reached an interim ceasefire agreement the previous week. It was also the first alert of its kind to go out during the ongoing Iran war. What triggered the warning remained unclear.

The incident highlighted the fragile state of affairs across the Middle East, coming on the heels of an attack on a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz and Israeli military strikes in Lebanon in recent days.

Iran is believed to be behind a drone strike targeting a tanker off the coast of Oman on Thursday. The attack reflected Tehran’s growing assertiveness over control of the strait, even as the interim ceasefire deal with the U.S. remains in place.

The alert had been sent by the UAE’s Interior Ministry on Friday afternoon. Shortly after it was retracted, UAE officials announced that the country’s Foreign Minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, had spoken by phone with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. According to the UAE, Sheikh Abdullah stressed that the UAE “emphasized the importance of full commitment” to the interim agreement between Iran and the United States.

“Serious diplomacy and responsible dialogue are the optimal path for addressing all regional and international crises,” the statement read.

Negotiations between Washington and Tehran are still ongoing as both sides work to finalize the terms of the interim peace deal. Key issues under discussion include ensuring safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz and determining the future of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium. The two countries have a 60-day window under the interim agreement to settle those details.

The Democratic Republic of Congo has taken its long-standing dispute with Rwanda to the world’s highest court, filing a formal case at the International Court of Justice over Rwanda’s alleged role in the ongoing conflict in eastern Congo, the Congolese government announced Friday.

In an official statement, Congo accused Rwanda of violating multiple international conventions, including those covering genocide, racial discrimination, and torture.

According to Congo, the alleged crimes committed against civilians over the past three decades include massacres, extrajudicial killings, torture, sexual violence, forced displacement, and discrimination.

Congo further alleges that Rwanda deployed its own forces and provided backing or direction to armed groups carrying out unlawful military operations on Congolese soil — actions Congo says stem from the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, when remnants of forces connected to that genocide fled across the border into eastern Congo.

Through the ICJ filing, Congo is seeking a court order requiring Rwanda to stop the alleged violations, as well as financial reparations for Congo and those affected by the conflict.

Rwanda did not immediately respond to the filing. The Rwandan government has repeatedly denied any involvement in supporting rebel groups operating inside Congo.

United Nations experts and several Western governments have concluded that Rwanda has provided support to M23, a significant armed group active in eastern Congo — a finding that aligns with Congo’s position.

This is not the first time Congo has pursued legal action against Rwanda at the ICJ. An earlier case was withdrawn by Congolese authorities in 2001. A second attempt was thrown out by the court in 2006, when judges determined they lacked jurisdiction because Rwanda had either not signed the relevant treaties, entered reservations, or failed to meet other required conditions cited in Congo’s complaint.

The ICJ serves as the United Nations’ principal court for resolving disputes between countries and addressing alleged violations of international treaties.

A deadly building collapse in Lagos claimed the lives of at least nine people and left many others hurt on Thursday, according to the state’s commissioner for information, who confirmed the toll on Friday.

The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency — commonly referred to as LASEMA — took charge of the rescue effort, coordinating multiple agencies and bringing in heavy machinery to dig through the debris in search of survivors.

Emergency workers managed to pull people from the rubble and provide medical care at the scene before sending the injured to nearby hospitals for further treatment. In total, 27 people were rescued with injuries ranging in severity.

At the time the structure gave way, both residents and office workers were inside the building.

Lagos Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu responded to the disaster by directing officials to conduct structural inspections on surrounding buildings and called on property owners to follow established safety regulations.

The collapse has once again brought attention to a troubling pattern in Lagos, where building failures occur with troubling regularity, frequently blamed on substandard construction practices and a lack of consistent enforcement of building codes.

KHARTOUM, Sudan — The conflict that has torn through Sudan for three years has left its mark not only on the landscape, but on the bodies and minds of those who survived it. Thousands have been killed. Millions more have been forced from their homes.

Associated Press reporters spent over a week in and around the capital city of Khartoum following the army’s recapture of the city last year. Fighting continues in other parts of the country as the military battles the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. A member of the military media was present during the AP’s visit, including during interviews, though the AP maintained full editorial control over its reporting.

These are some of the people they met, and the stories those survivors shared.

Omer al-Toum once held onto a dream of representing Sudan on the national soccer field. That dream was shattered in October when an unexploded weapon detonated inside his home while he was attempting to use it to drive a nail. The blast took part of his right leg and left arm, and his remaining leg was severely damaged.

Despite everything, the 33-year-old remains calm and warm-spirited, finding joy in his 8-month-old daughter and working to maintain a positive outlook.

“When I knew that my leg had been amputated, my family expected more of a reaction from me but I didn’t show them how affected I was,” he said.

Today, al-Toum cannot bathe or leave his bed without assistance, and some doorways in his home are too narrow for his wheelchair. He hopes to obtain prosthetic limbs, but getting quality ones requires traveling outside the country.

He has found a new sense of purpose coaching young soccer players, encouraging them to stay in school so they always have other paths available to them.

“As long as you are still breathing, you are still capable of doing many things. And when God takes something away from you, he will surely compensate you with other things,” he said.

Noon Madani had not wanted to leave home that August day nearly three years ago, but her older sister urged her to go. Paramilitary forces had taken control of their neighborhood outside Khartoum, yet an overdue bill needed to be handled.

On the way back, a missile struck, killing her 18-year-old sister and crushing the legs of 16-year-old Madani.

Speaking quietly from her wheelchair, her legs still in casts, she described lying motionless next to her sister, looking at missile fragments embedded in her sibling’s head.

“You can’t imagine when someone suddenly tells you that your daughters were hit by an artillery shell. You enter a phase of breakdown,” said their father, Omer Bakar.

Madani spent six months in a hospital undergoing surgeries, fighting infections, and sometimes waiting for medical care as doctors fled the area. Physicians now believe she will eventually be able to walk again. Her younger brothers push her wheelchair to school each day, where she studies science and hopes one day to become a doctor.

“We are trying to forget the war,” her father said, “the nightmare we finally woke up from.”

Fatma Ageb, 38, recalls the morning of February 2025 when her home was hit by shelling. Her husband had been sleeping. Her older daughters had just been talking about what to get their baby sister as a birthday gift. That is the last thing she remembers from that day.

The attack killed her husband and their two older daughters, aged 10 and 12. Shrapnel tore through Ageb’s body, and their 8-year-old daughter was seriously hurt as well.

“If it wasn’t for Zeinab I wouldn’t want to live. She’s always calling for her sisters and father,” Ageb said, wiping tears from her face.

The young girl’s face was scarred in the attack, and she lost her right eye, now replaced with a glass one. At the hospital, Zeinab sat beside her mother wearing a necklace featuring a character from the movie “Frozen,” shyly holding up a drawing she had made while wincing as a doctor tended to her injuries.

Friends and family have pooled together money to help cover the cost of the girl’s surgeries, but more procedures are needed and her mother has no idea how she will pay for them. While Ageb tries to stay strong for her daughter, Zeinab’s scars serve as a constant reminder of all they have lost.

Tariq Abuzeid had devoted years to helping people in need — running soup kitchens from his home, raising funds, and delivering medicine to the sick. When the war reached Khartoum, the construction worker continued his efforts to assist others.

In December 2023, while returning from distributing food during heavy shelling, he lost his right leg.

Now 52 and surrounded by family, he tries to stay composed, but breaks down when he reflects on how drastically his life has changed.

“I used to serve people. … Now I feel like I am a burden,” he said.

The attack caused severe blood loss, which he says has weakened his immune system. He takes dozens of medications daily but remains in constant pain. Finding a quality prosthetic leg and a wheelchair has proven difficult in Khartoum.

Even so, his volunteer efforts have not stopped. Large metal bowls were stacked in his yard as he prepared to serve others their next meal.

By July, the hunger inside the besieged town of Dilling in South Kordofan had become unbearable. A 50-year-old woman fled with her two daughters, only to be abducted by members of the paramilitary RSF.

With their hands bound and faces covered, they said they were transported for hours to a makeshift camp in the desert, where more than a dozen other women were also being held. The woman said she was gang-raped there until she bled and was beaten repeatedly over the course of months.

The AP does not identify individuals who have been sexually assaulted. The United Nations has described sexual violence as one of the defining features of the Sudan conflict.

Each night, she said she would tense up at the sound of fighters’ footsteps approaching the room where the women were held. The men would select a woman and take her away.

When they came for her daughters — aged 25 and 20 — she pleaded for them to take her instead.

One night while the fighters were away, she and her daughters slipped out and fled into the desert. Frightened and physically depleted, they walked for days before reaching another town where they found help.

The RSF did not respond to a request for comment.

The woman and her daughters are now staying at a center for women in Khartoum. In tears, she said a doctor told her that the injuries she sustained from the sexual assaults were so severe that her uterus may need to be removed.

CASABLANCA, Morocco — A Moroccan court has sentenced 29 people to prison, among them prominent politicians, business leaders, and sports figures, in a wide-ranging international drug trafficking and corruption case that sent shockwaves through the country.

Late Thursday, the court also ordered the defendants to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in fines, wrapping up a trial that stretched over more than two years.

The case traces back to an imprisoned drug kingpin who had been nicknamed “Sahara’s Pablo Escobar” — a nod to the infamous Colombian trafficker. While behind bars, the man alleged that some of his business partners, including high-ranking Moroccan politicians, had been involved in drug trafficking and had taken control of his assets. All of those accused have denied any wrongdoing.

The allegations triggered a wave of arrests and a lengthy legal process involving 30 defendants, 18 witnesses, and two civil parties. The scandal reignited long-standing concerns about corruption within Moroccan political circles. It also moved King Mohammed VI — Morocco’s highest authority, a figure officially above politics who rarely makes public statements — to call for the creation of a legally binding code of ethics to, in his words, “moralize” life in parliament.

Abdennebi Bioui, a construction tycoon, former lawmaker with the co-governing Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), and head of a Regional Council, received the harshest sentence: 12 years in prison and a fine of $15,989.

Said Naciri, a former PAM lawmaker who also previously served as president of Wydad AC — one of Morocco’s most recognized soccer clubs — was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Belkacem Mir, another former PAM lawmaker and former president of a soccer club, also received a 10-year sentence.

Other defendants were handed sentences of up to nine years and fines reaching as high as $26,649. One defendant was acquitted. Charges in the case included drug and gold trafficking, corruption, forgery, and violations of financial exchange regulations. Defense attorneys have the option to appeal.

The court ordered the seizure of assets belonging to several defendants — including Bioui, Naciri, and Mir — capped at $1 million. It also directed that hundreds of millions of dollars in financial penalties be paid to customs authorities, with the three men bearing the bulk of that responsibility jointly.

Local media reported that prosecutors had pushed for convictions across the board and called for asset seizures.

As the judge read through the sentences, the courtroom erupted. Defendants shouted from their box, with some crying out, “I am innocent. I haven’t done anything.” The tension quickly spread through the packed courtroom No. 8, turning into scenes of panic and grief. Family members screamed, some collapsed to the floor, and others broke down in tears as police officers worked to push through the crowd and restore order.

Court documents show that Hadj Ahmed Ben Brahim, a jailed Malian drug lord, accused his partners of participating in an international gold trafficking network and of seizing his personal assets — including a luxury villa, high-end apartments, and dozens of vehicles.

The Paris-based magazine Jeune Afrique has reported that Ben Brahim worked alongside Moroccan politicians to transport cannabis resin to Libya, Egypt, and Mauritania.

Morocco ranks among the world’s largest producers and exporters of hashish. While the country has legalized cannabis cultivation for medical and industrial uses, illegal drug trafficking remains deeply rooted. Its geographic closeness to Europe has made it a key route for moving narcotics across the Mediterranean.

The court also ordered Bioui, Naciri, and Mir to jointly pay Ben Brahim $106,599.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — While the United States and Iran were exchanging military strikes on June 11, a plane carrying Qatari diplomats sat grounded on a runway in Tehran, unable to leave.

Those mediators had been working through the night in urgent talks aimed at preventing the conflict from escalating into an all-out war, according to a diplomat who was briefed on the negotiations.

That moment on the tarmac captured the chaotic nature of the diplomatic effort — led by Pakistan and Qatar — that ultimately produced last week’s agreement to end a war that had thrown the Middle East into turmoil and taken a toll on the global economy.

It was just one of several flashpoints during which social media threats or actual military action nearly derailed the process. Efforts to implement the deal now face similar obstacles, including continued fighting in Lebanon and threats involving the Strait of Hormuz.

This behind-the-scenes account of the diplomacy that led to the interim agreement is drawn from AP interviews with three Pakistani officials, two regional officials, and the diplomat. All spoke anonymously given the sensitivity of the closed-door discussions.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, when asked for comment, pointed to previous public statements and confirmed the country will continue its mediating role. The White House declined to respond. Representatives for Qatar and Iran did not reply to requests for comment.

On the same day the Qatari plane was stuck on the runway, U.S. President Donald Trump again threatened military action, warning that the U.S. would strike Iran

Ukraine has brought 160 of its military personnel home after securing their release from Russian captivity, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced on Friday.

Zelenskiy shared the news through a post on the Telegram messaging app, noting that every one of the returned servicemen had been held prisoner since 2022.

LA GUAIRA, Venezuela — Ordinary citizens worked side by side to claw through collapsed buildings in search of missing family members across northern Venezuela Friday, following two devastating earthquakes that have now claimed at least 589 lives and left thousands more hurt.

Acting President Delcy Rodríguez announced the updated death toll early Friday morning, speaking alongside government and military officials as she greeted international rescue teams arriving from around the globe.

“We are going to rescue the people who are trapped,” she said. “We are working tirelessly on this task.”

Rodríguez said the state of La Guaira has suffered the worst damage from the 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes that struck Wednesday evening. She noted the area has been placed under military control as crews continue searching for survivors and distributing food and water to those in need.

The death toll is expected to rise further, with thousands of people still reported missing and rescue efforts ongoing around the clock.

The International Organization for Migration estimates that as many as 6.76 million people across Venezuela may be affected by the quakes, including roughly 2 million in the capital city of Caracas alone. Loyce Pace, the International Red Cross’ regional director for the Americas, noted that “people are still terrified to reenter what were their homes.”

Survivors were pulled from wreckage covered in dust and blood — among them children. Venezuelan state television broadcast dramatic footage of rescues, including one woman who had been pinned beneath a concrete slab with only her bare foot visible before crews managed to pull her out alive. However, government-organized search teams were largely absent outside of Caracas in the early hours following the disaster.

Many residents woke Thursday morning to a shocking scene — buildings reduced to bare frames, furniture dangling from broken windows, and helicopters circling overhead. Entire structures had been flattened and roads split open.

Families posted flyers with photographs of missing loved ones, while others passed around handwritten lists of names. Venezuelans living abroad struggled to reach relatives as phone service across the country was disrupted.

In downtown Caracas, hundreds of people spent the night gathered in parks, parking lots, and other open areas rather than risk returning to damaged buildings.

Dayana Delgado, a mother of three, demanded to know where the heavy machinery that government officials had promised was located, saying it was ordinary residents doing the digging through collapsed structures.

“I want to know where my child is, if he’s trapped or in a shelter,” she said, referring to her missing 8-year-old son.

One mother broke down and collapsed in grief as the bodies of her 3- and 10-year-old children were wrapped in blankets and carried away. Others cried out the names of those they were searching for. Some stood in complete silence, too shocked to react.

Venezuelan authorities said they were redirecting rescue teams from other parts of the country to La Guaira — a region no stranger to tragedy. A devastating mudslide in 1999 killed thousands there and remains one of the country’s worst natural disasters on record.

In La Guaira, resident Cristian Carreño stood staring at his scorched apartment building, which was leaning dangerously to one side.

“I lost everything,” he said. “There are people still inside, I imagine, that couldn’t get out. It’s incredibly devastating.”

Retired schoolteacher Juan Alberto Mendaño made his way through the wreckage in La Guaira, stepping past a body, when he spotted a woman who was trapped and waving her hand for help.

“May God rescue her as quickly as possible,” Mendaño said. “When we heard the scream, there was nothing we could do.”

Among the stories of hope emerging from the destruction, a young man was carried out on a stretcher in the San Bernardino neighborhood of Caracas to applause from bystanders, while his tearful mother cried out, “Leandro, I love you.”

Venezuelan public television also showed video of a young girl, covered in dust and wrapped in a dark sweatshirt, emerging from the rubble with the help of rescuers. Caracas metropolitan rescue team head José Luis Núñez said she was found inside a 10-story building in La Guaira that had collapsed and been crushed “like a pancake.”

“We want to highlight this girl’s strength, determination and will to live,” Núñez said.

The disaster presents a major challenge for Acting President Rodríguez, the former vice president who took office in January following the capture and removal of then-President Nicolás Maduro by the United States. Venezuela has been mired in economic turmoil for more than a decade, and many citizens do not recognize the legitimacy of the political movement Rodríguez leads.

Rodríguez declared a state of emergency in a national address late Wednesday and announced the creation of a $200 million reconstruction fund to help rebuild damaged hospitals and homes. On Thursday, she urged businesses to make heavy construction equipment available to support rescue operations.

“We hope to rescue as many living people as possible,” Rodríguez said.

While Venezuela lies near several fault lines, its location along the boundary of the South American and Caribbean tectonic plates makes major earthquakes relatively rare compared to other parts of Latin America.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported that both earthquakes were centered near Moron on the Caribbean coast, approximately 170 kilometers — or 105 miles — west of Caracas.

The combination of two back-to-back quakes and the shallow depth of the seismic activity intensified the destruction, according to Marcos Ferreira, a geophysicist and researcher at the Geological Survey of Brazil.

“It is as if I am screaming and then someone starts screaming, too. That amplifies the vibration and adds to the potential hazard,” Ferreira explained.

Shortly after United Nations officials in Venezuela urged the government to lift restrictions on social media so that survivors could access potentially life-saving information, Venezuelans found they were able to log onto X. The platform had been blocked since August 2024 under the Maduro government in an effort to limit the spread of information among those who disputed his claimed victory in the July presidential election.

Around 1,000 emergency responders organized into 25 search-and-rescue teams from countries around the world are being deployed to Venezuela, according to Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who spoke directly with Rodríguez after the quakes struck, confirmed that the United States was moving quickly to send assistance.

“We have a whole-of-government response. It’ll be big; it’ll be fast; and it’ll be effective,” Rubio said, while acknowledging that the closure of Venezuela’s main airport near Caracas was creating logistical hurdles.

Venezuelan public television broadcast footage Friday showing the arrival of rescue workers with dogs and specialized equipment — including cameras and ground-penetrating radar — from Spain. Teams from Germany, Chile, and Switzerland also landed in the country. Turkey announced two flights would depart Istanbul on Friday carrying rescuers and search dogs. China said it would also provide assistance, and leaders from Qatar, Brazil, Portugal, and Canada pledged to send help as well.

Rescue teams from El Salvador and the Dominican Republic touched down in Venezuela on Thursday, along with rescuers and material aid from Mexico.

“No country is prepared to provide the response that’s needed. That’s what neighboring countries are there for,” said Dominican air force Maj. Carlos Olivares.

Venezuela’s most powerful earthquake in more than 100 years is presenting interim president Delcy Rodriguez with the toughest test of her young leadership — but political analysts say it could also give her a chance to assert control over a divided government and help put a battered nation back on its feet.

Two earthquakes, measuring magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5, struck Venezuela on Wednesday evening. The full scale of destruction may not be known for weeks, but data models from the U.S. government indicate the death toll could eventually climb above 10,000.

What is already apparent: a massive effort will be needed to rescue survivors, care for the injured, and rebuild homes and damaged infrastructure across the country.

That effort, analysts say, could shape Rodriguez’s entire political trajectory.

She has positioned herself as a force for change in Venezuela, despite having served as vice president under her predecessor, socialist Nicolas Maduro, who was removed from power by Washington in January. She has cultivated a close relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Tony Frangie Mawad, a political scientist based in Caracas, noted the irony of the moment. “The narrative of a new Venezuela is based on reconstruction,” he said. “It ends up being somewhat ironic that the country now has to face, with great difficulty, a very literal reconstruction of its infrastructure.”

Frangie warned that the recovery will face enormous obstacles given Venezuela’s prolonged economic crisis and its weakened public institutions — and that failure remains a real possibility.

But he also outlined a path to political gain. “However, if the government manages a recovery strategy well — especially with the international aid that is arriving — and handles the narrative effectively, it could use this moment to build a sense of national unity, a kind of ‘rally around the flag’ in the face of a natural disaster,” he said.

Rodriguez appears to be pursuing that very approach. In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, she declared, “In unity, we will overcome this situation.”

HISTORY SHOWS EARTHQUAKES CAN RESHAPE POLITICS

Significant U.S. involvement could prove decisive. In 1999, the late leader Hugo Chavez turned away American assistance after deadly landslides killed at least 10,000 people — an early indicator of the anti-U.S. stance that eventually deepened Venezuela’s international isolation. Rodriguez is taking a different approach.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio pledged on Thursday that the American response would be substantial. “It’ll be big. It’ll be fast, and it’ll be effective,” he said.

Analysts suggest that Trump administration aid could expand the U.S. footprint in Venezuela while also increasing the new government’s dependence on Washington.

Ricardo Rios, who leads the Caracas-based consultancy Poder & Estrategia, put it plainly: “It’s a situation that is going to be very well exploited to increase the presence of the United States and its control over Venezuela. And also, for Rodriguez to lean on the United States as her primary ally.”

Earthquakes have altered the course of Latin American politics before. In 1972, a devastating quake leveled much of Managua, killing between 5,000 and 10,000 people. The corrupt handling of the aftermath contributed to the downfall of President Anastasio Somoza, who was ultimately overthrown by the Sandinista revolution in 1979.

In 1985, a catastrophic earthquake struck Mexico City, killing at least 5,000 people and leaving roughly 100,000 homeless. The government’s bungled rescue response is widely seen as a turning point that eventually ended seven decades of one-party rule by the PRI.

In Venezuela’s case, Rodriguez stands to bear the political consequences of any missteps in the recovery effort.

Paul Angelo, a Latin America expert with the Washington-based consultancy McLarty Associates, was in Caracas when the quake struck. He described the scale of the challenge ahead.

“Venezuela’s capacity to handle emergency response has been hollowed out over 10 to 15 years of economic turmoil and displacement of 8 million people beyond Venezuelan borders,” he said. “Without major international assistance, and without a consolidated plan and lots of money infused into a country that is purportedly $240 billion in debt, this will be a long road to recovery.”

PAPHOS, Cyprus — European Union officials announced Friday a pair of groundbreaking strategies designed to help the bloc’s island and coastal communities thrive — the first time the EU has taken such a comprehensive approach to addressing the unique challenges these regions face.

More than 17 million people reside on over 4,000 islands throughout the EU, including three member nations that are islands themselves — Ireland, Malta, and Cyprus. An additional 95 million people live along the coastlines of 22 EU member countries.

Speaking at a conference focused on strengthening island and coastal communities, European Parliament Vice President Younous Omarjee declared, “Islands have been overlooked in the past, but now that comes to an end.”

Raffaele Fitto, the European Commission’s executive vice president for cohesion and reforms, said the new strategies replace scattered, one-off approaches with a unified framework for tackling the distinctive hardships these communities endure.

Because islands are far from mainland markets and depend heavily on air and sea travel, residents and businesses there face significantly higher costs for transportation, housing, and public services compared to those on the mainland.

“This is what we call the cost of insularity — a cost that millions of EU citizens and businesses pay every day, simply because of where they live and work,” Fitto said.

The island-focused strategy rests on four main pillars: upgrading transportation links and digital infrastructure, addressing climate change impacts and energy needs, tackling shrinking populations and housing shortages, and strengthening security and emergency preparedness.

“From the Baltic to the Mediterranean, islands are on the front line of geopolitical challenges,” Fitto added.

At this stage, no specific projects have been identified for funding. Member nations will submit proposals once the EU’s next budget is released. Fitto indicated that desalination plants and housing construction would be among the top priorities considered.

Fisheries and Oceans Commissioner Costas Kadis noted that EU coastal communities contribute approximately 265 billion euros — roughly $302 billion — to the bloc’s economy each year. However, he said those same communities are under growing pressure from climate change, declining populations, a lack of affordable housing, and limited access to essential services.

The coastal strategy seeks to reduce these communities’ dependence on a single income source by broadening economic activity and generating new employment opportunities. Among the proposals Kadis highlighted is a blue carbon credit program that would provide funding for carbon-absorbing coastal wetlands, marshes, and mangroves.

Additional proposals include the OceanEye initiative, which would position the EU as a global leader in ocean monitoring and research, as well as efforts to promote dual-use technologies and vessels capable of serving both fishing and tourism industries.

The strategy also calls for making coastal areas more resistant to climate change and severe weather events through investments carried out in partnership with the European Investment Bank.

BUCHAREST — Three centre-right parties that made up Romania’s outgoing ruling coalition have put forward European Parliament member Siegfried Muresan as their pick for prime minister, though whether they can secure the votes needed to confirm him remains an open question.

The political turmoil began when the leftist Social Democrats — Romania’s largest political party — walked away from the coalition and joined hands with far-right opposition lawmakers to bring down Liberal Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan in early May.

The prolonged standoff raises the possibility of a snap election in Romania, where the hard-right Alliance for Uniting Romanians is currently ahead in opinion polls by double digits. That party opposes a European Union rearmament initiative and has been critical of providing aid to Ukraine.

The Social Democrats have nominated their own leader, Sorin Grindeanu, for the prime minister post and have made clear they will not support any government that does not include them. On the other side, the Liberals — who form the centre-right bloc alongside the Save Romania Union and the ethnic Hungarian UDMR party — have ruled out entering another coalition with the leftists.

Leaders from all four parties in the outgoing coalition were set to sit down with centrist President Nicusor Dan on Friday evening to discuss a possible path forward for a minority government.

The Alliance for Uniting Romanians, which holds the second-largest share of seats in parliament, recently voted against legislation that would have authorized the shooting down of Russian drones crossing into Romanian airspace near the Ukrainian border. The party has also been a consistent critic of the European Union.

Earlier this week, a Liberal politician designated by President Dan as prime minister — without prior consultation with the Liberal Party — was unable to win a parliamentary confidence vote.

Under Romanian law, the president has one remaining nomination he can make. If two prime ministerial candidates fail to win parliamentary approval within 60 days of a government collapse, the president is permitted to dissolve parliament and call an early election.

The political gridlock is also putting pressure on Romania’s broader economic goals, including efforts to reduce what is currently the largest budget deficit among EU member states, secure access to EU funding, and improve its sovereign credit rating, which sits at the lowest level of investment grade.

Romania’s next regularly scheduled parliamentary election is not due until 2028.

Tensions are running high in South Africa as an anti-immigrant movement has given undocumented foreigners until Tuesday to leave the country, with large-scale rallies expected that many worry could turn violent.

Thousands of African migrants have either begun making their way home or are sheltering together in makeshift camps out of fear of being attacked. The group organizing the demonstrations, called March and March, insists its actions are peaceful.

Here’s a closer look at what’s driving the protests, how widely shared these views are among South Africans, and whether the claims being made actually hold up to scrutiny.

What Are the Protesters Angry About?

Groups opposed to immigration argue that South Africa has been overwhelmed by undocumented foreigners who are stealing jobs, draining public resources, and driving up crime. On June 24, Musa Hlongwa, president of the anti-migrant civil group United South Africa, addressed reporters directly on the issue.

“South Africans are tired of standing in long queues in hospitals … competing for spaces in public schools with illegal immigrants … competing for jobs with foreign nationals … tired of Nigerians who are selling drugs to youth of this country,” Hlongwa said.

How Many South Africans Feel This Way?

Three separate surveys conducted last year all pointed to a growing wave of anti-immigrant feeling in the country. A Human Sciences Research Council poll found that hostility toward immigrants has reached record levels — only one in six adults said they would welcome all foreigners, while 42% said they would welcome none at all, a jump from one-third who held that view in 2021.

An Afrobarometer survey revealed that seven out of ten South Africans view immigrants’ economic impact as harmful, and a striking 85% believe authorities should reduce or completely halt the number of refugees entering the country. Meanwhile, an Ipsos poll found that nearly three-quarters of respondents said they did not trust African immigrants “at all.”

Do the Claims Hold Up?

Claim 1: South Africa Is Being Overrun With Illegal Immigrants

According to a 2023 national statistics office survey, there were 3.1 million migrants living in South Africa — roughly 4.1% of the total population, actually down from 5.6% a decade earlier. By international comparison, that figure is relatively low: the United Kingdom’s migrant share stands at 17%, Canada’s at 22%, and Australia’s at 30%, based on 2024 United Nations data.

While some campaigners argue the official numbers undercount undocumented arrivals, StatsSA uses census methods specifically designed to capture those individuals as well.

“The impression is that there are … hordes of people coming into the country, but the data points to the contrary,” said Anthony Kaziboni, a senior researcher at the University of Johannesburg’s Centre for Social Development in Africa.

Claim 2: Foreigners Are Behind South Africa’s High Crime Rate

Police in South Africa do not publish data on the nationalities of convicted criminals. However, justice department prison figures from 2017 showed that 11,842 foreign nationals were held in South African prisons — about 6% of the total prison population. Of those, 1,380 were incarcerated specifically for illegal entry into the country.

“All evidence suggests immigrants are disproportionately law abiding. Most of their crimes are immigration violations,” said Loren B. Landau, Professor of Migration and Development at the University of Oxford.

Claim 3: African Migrants Are Taking Jobs From Locals

A 2018 World Bank report found the opposite to be true — for every migrant who finds employment, approximately two jobs are created for South African workers through the resulting business activity. That’s because migrants earn wages and then spend most of that money locally on goods and services.

“If you own a restaurant in South Africa … (you) have more customers available to you,” said Lauren Gilbert, director of political science data at GeoQuant. “If migrants are living with dubious kitchen facilities (for example) because migrant housing is often bad … they’re more likely to eat street food.”

Claim 4: Undocumented Migrants Are Draining Public Services

Kaziboni noted that undocumented migrants are very unlikely to use public hospitals or schools — both of which require registration — out of fear of being identified and reported. Economists point to chronic underinvestment and widespread corruption as the real culprits behind the country’s struggling health and education systems.

“To squarely blame immigrants for a failed healthcare crisis is unjust and it’s unfounded. There is no evidence that supports that,” Kaziboni said. “We should blame poor governance, maladministration and corruption,” he added, pointing out that 1.5 trillion rand ($91.27 billion) was lost to corruption during former president Jacob Zuma’s time in office, with an additional 1 billion rand spent just to investigate it.

So Why the Deep-Rooted Hostility?

Historically, the apartheid government relied on migrant labor from across Africa to suppress wages in gold mines and weaken labor unions — a legacy that has left a lasting mark on the national consciousness. Today, one in three South Africans is unemployed, one of the highest rates anywhere in the world. Poor public service delivery contributed to the ruling African National Congress losing its parliamentary majority in 2024 elections, and inequality remains among the worst globally by some measures.

Those conditions create fertile ground for frustration that often gets redirected toward migrants. Politicians have also been known to fan those flames, particularly around election season — and local elections are expected by November of this year.

“Immigrants are by no means the reason why services and the economy have faltered, but people remember what confirms their biases,” Landau said. “What they don’t see is the foreigners investing, trading or providing skills the economy needs.”

DURBAN, South Africa — Long lines of Malawian migrants gathered at a temporary processing camp in the South African city of Durban this week, while hundreds of Zimbabweans spent nights sleeping on the sidewalk outside their country’s consulate in Cape Town — all hoping to escape before planned anti-immigrant protests erupt into violence.

Ebrahim Moosa, 37, stood in a winding queue alongside his wife, some carrying babies on their backs, waiting to board a bus bound for Malawi. “We are scared because you never know what people are planning to do to you. It’s not right to wait and see what will happen,” he said.

South Africa has experienced a surge of xenophobic protests and sometimes deadly attacks in recent weeks, forcing many foreign nationals to flee their homes or be driven out by mobs. Anti-immigrant groups have set June 30 as a deadline for all undocumented migrants to leave the country, and several cities are preparing for potential unrest. The government has urged citizens not to take immigration enforcement into their own hands.

“We are appealing to all those who will be marching to respect the police,” said Phumelele Makoba, the acting police commissioner for KwaZulu-Natal province, considered one of the likely flashpoints for violence.

Law enforcement officials have pledged a major deployment across the country to keep the peace. President Cyril Ramaphosa stated Thursday: “Our security forces are ready.”

The primary organization behind the protests, March and March, has publicly stated it is not calling for violence — but has also said it will not be held responsible for any harm that occurs on June 30.

Neighboring countries including Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique have been working to bring their citizens home by bus, but have struggled to meet the overwhelming demand.

Mozambican national Antonio Njive, who had been doing odd jobs in South Africa since 2019, fled on June 1 after his home was burned down during a wave of violence that killed five of his fellow Mozambicans. Speaking by phone from Chibuto, Mozambique, he said: “I left home without clothes. Everything was burned.” Njive, along with his wife and 6-year-old daughter, were among hundreds of Mozambican citizens repatriated by bus.

Outside the Zimbabwean consulate in Cape Town, Amina Chiwoko, 30, described the desperate scene. “We are sleeping outside waiting for buses. Everyone just wants to go home,” she said.

For some, however, going home is not an option. Leanne Sefu, 25, is an asylum seeker from the Democratic Republic of Congo who arrived in South Africa at just three years old. “The entire world knows that there’s a war in Congo, so me going back, it feels like going back to death,” she said.

After being attacked at the nail salon where she worked in Durban and forced out of her home, Sefu is now camped outside the Home Affairs office. Sitting on a mattress on the pavement alongside dozens of others, she expressed hope that the government would step in. “What I’m hoping is that maybe the government can help us find a shelter. From yesterday we’ve been hearing people are being attacked and they’re coming here,” she said. “There’s no safety here.”

Xenophobic violence is a long-standing problem in South Africa, where some citizens blame immigrants — largely from other African nations — for crime, unemployment, and overcrowded public services. President Ramaphosa has cautioned against making foreigners scapegoats, attributing the country’s deep social and economic inequalities primarily to the legacy of apartheid. Despite years of sluggish economic growth, South Africa still holds the largest economy on the continent and continues to attract workers from neighboring countries.

Iran doubled down Friday on its claim to control maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, while also issuing a warning to Gulf nations not to take sides with the United States — all of this coming just one day after a ship was struck near Oman, casting doubt on a shaky preliminary peace agreement.

Tehran was firing back at what it described as an “interventionist, irresponsible and provocative” joint statement issued by the U.S. and six Gulf nations, which rejected Iran’s position that it could collect tolls from vessels passing through the strait.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi took to X to make his country’s position clear: “Safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz cannot be guaranteed under ambiguous arrangements, parallel routes or decision-making that does not take Iran’s role as a coastal state into account.”

Oil prices slipped lower on Friday, even as conflicting interpretations of last week’s interim agreement between Iran and the U.S. circulated, and shipping traffic through the strait — a critical corridor through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically flows — continued to slow.

Meanwhile, Saudi Aramco restarted crude oil loading operations Friday at the Ras Tanura terminal in the Gulf, the largest oil port on the planet, following a suspension that had lasted nearly four months, according to shipping data.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was concluding a visit to Gulf nations aimed at easing regional concerns about the interim agreement, told reporters Thursday that any Iranian move to threaten or block ships in the strait would mean “we’re going to have a problem.”

In their joint statement, Rubio and the Gulf Cooperation Council called for “free, unconditional, and unrestricted navigation” through the Strait of Hormuz, rejecting any tolls or “attempts to assert control.” They also stated that a lasting peace agreement must address Iran’s ballistic missile program, drone capabilities, and backing of proxy forces in the region.

Iran’s foreign ministry responded Friday by pointing to the U.S. military presence in the Gulf as the root cause of regional instability and division, and argued that the strait should be governed jointly by Tehran and Oman under the terms of the interim deal.

“We warn against the continuation of hostile and interventionist policies in the region,” the ministry said in a statement.

Iran gained effective control over the waterway after U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28 sparked the war, sending shockwaves through global energy markets and the broader economy.

Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine announced Friday that its Singapore-flagged vessel, the Ever Lovely, had been struck by an “unknown object” near Oman on Thursday while traveling a route recommended by the British navy agency UKMTO. No one aboard was injured, and the ship eventually continued on its way out of the strait.

Two U.S. officials told Reuters that Iran had fired on the vessel. Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority — a body established by Tehran to oversee ship transit requests through the strait — responded by stating that travel through unauthorized routes would be “the responsibility of the owner, operator, and vessel commander.”

No immediate response came from the U.S. government. Earlier this month, U.S. President Donald Trump had warned that if Iran failed to honor the interim deal — including reopening the strait — the U.S. would likely resume bombing the country.

Beyond the dispute over the strait, other unresolved issues continue to cloud the framework ceasefire agreement, including disagreements over financial incentives for Iran, nuclear inspections, and Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Lebanon. The deal has established a 60-day window for negotiations on these more complex matters, including Iran’s nuclear program.

Back in the United States, the conflict is becoming an increasing political concern for President Trump as November midterm elections approach, with control of Congress at stake.

The International Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency, temporarily halted its ship escort operations through the Strait of Hormuz following the Oman incident. Earlier in the week, the IMO and Oman had unveiled a new southern transit route through the strait to help clear hundreds of vessels stranded by the conflict — a move that drew sharp criticism from Tehran.

South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung announced Friday that three South Korean ships would depart the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend, after the country’s Oceans Ministry reported that eight additional South Korean vessels had already exited the waterway.

Shipping data showed two Very Large Crude Carriers operated by Saudi Arabia’s shipping arm Bahri loading crude at Ras Tanura, with a third vessel waiting nearby. Each of these massive tankers is capable of carrying 2 million barrels of oil. Ras Tanura, located on Saudi Arabia’s eastern coast and west of the Strait of Hormuz, previously exported more than 5 million barrels per day before the conflict began.

MOSCOW — Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is pushing back against U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, demanding that Washington clarify exactly what role it is playing in attempts to bring the war in Ukraine to an end.

In written responses to media questions released Friday, Lavrov intensified a public dispute with Rubio over whether Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump had reached some form of understanding during their meeting in Alaska last year — an encounter Russia has repeatedly referred to as “the spirit of Anchorage.”

Rubio told reporters Thursday that no deal was struck at that summit. “There was a proposal in Alaska, but there was no agreement in Alaska. If there had been an agreement, we would have had an end of the war,” he said.

Lavrov offered what he described as the most thorough account yet of what took place at the Alaska meeting last August. According to Lavrov, Putin went through a list of U.S. proposals that Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff had brought to Moscow just days before the summit, going point by point and checking with Witkoff — who was present alongside Trump and Rubio — that he was accurately recalling each proposal. Lavrov, who was also at the meeting, said Witkoff confirmed each point.

“Therefore, when my colleague M. Rubio says that there were only proposals in Alaska but no agreement, it raises a question regarding what we actually mean by ‘agreement,’” Lavrov said.

He continued: “If one side — in this case, the U.S. — put on the table its proposals for a settlement and a way to approach this crisis, and the other side expressed its consent to those proposals, then claiming there was no agreement seems rather inelegant.”

Lavrov added that the “entire situation” surrounding the U.S. role in the peace process needed to be clarified.

The pointed remarks from Lavrov and other Russian officials this week suggest a shift in how Moscow views Washington’s peace efforts, which have stalled since the U.S. and Israel launched military action against Iran in February.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told Trump and other Western leaders last week that Ukraine was gaining the upper hand in the conflict, pointing to deep strikes inside Russian territory targeting oil refineries and industrial facilities.

Russia disputes that assessment, maintaining it will achieve battlefield victory if diplomatic efforts fail. Russian forces currently hold roughly one-fifth of Ukrainian territory after more than four years of fighting.

The Kremlin said Friday that it continues to value Trump’s mediation efforts and hopes they will resume. However, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, when asked whether Russia views the U.S. as a neutral mediator, said true neutrality is impossible given that the U.S. is still supplying weapons and technical support to Ukraine.

A pair of devastating earthquakes struck Venezuela back-to-back on Wednesday night, bringing down buildings, claiming hundreds of lives, and leaving thousands of people unaccounted for across the northern region of the country. Officials fear the death toll will climb even higher.

In response, governments, nonprofit organizations, and members of the Venezuelan diaspora worldwide have begun mobilizing relief efforts following the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 quakes. Their focus is on locating the missing and delivering medical care and humanitarian assistance to the many thousands who have been injured or displaced.

According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the most urgent needs include search and rescue operations, emergency housing for displaced families, emergency medical attention, and eventually access to clean water and sanitation.

Michael Capponi, president of Global Empowerment Mission (GEM), noted that aid organizations will face significant hurdles, including airport closures and the need for expedited visas for relief workers. “No single organization can meet all the needs alone,” he said. “Collaboration across governments and NGOs is critical to ensuring we cover all ground efficiently and swiftly.”

The nonprofit evaluator Charity Navigator advises donors to protect themselves from fraudulent campaigns by confirming that any organization they support has a track record of working on this type of disaster and in this region, and that it holds 501(c)(3) nonprofit status. Charity Navigator has also released its own curated list of vetted organizations assisting Venezuela.

Below are several organizations currently responding that you can support:

Global Empowerment Mission: This humanitarian relief organization, based in Doral, Florida, is teaming up with its longtime nonprofit partner, the We Love Foundation. GEM began immediately packing food, water, hygiene products, medical supplies, and other emergency essentials for shipment Thursday to Caracas, where it has established a distribution hub. The organization has previously responded to crises in Venezuela, including in 2018 and 2019.

CORE: This humanitarian nonprofit is sending staff and partnering with The Wayuu Taya Foundation, which supports Indigenous Wayuu communities in Venezuela and Colombia and already has people on the ground in Caracas. Together, they plan to distribute cash assistance to affected families along with food, drinking water, hygiene kits, and other essential supplies. CORE was originally established following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

Direct Relief: Based in California, this medical humanitarian organization is funding the deployment of a team from Spanish Bomberos Unidos Sin Fronteras (BUSF) to support search-and-rescue operations. It is also prepared to ship medical supplies to local healthcare partners as the need arises. Direct Relief has responded to multiple earthquake disasters, including the 2023 disaster in Syria and Turkey.

International Red Cross: Although the Venezuelan Red Cross’ own national headquarters suffered damage, its countrywide network of hospitals and clinics remains operational and continues providing care. Rescue teams are supporting evacuation and search efforts and mobilizing pre-positioned relief supplies. Red Cross Societies in Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Argentina — nations home to large Venezuelan communities — have activated services to help people reconnect with loved ones.

Airlink: This global humanitarian organization specializes in coordinating transportation and logistics for nonprofits sending relief and personnel to disaster zones worldwide. It is working to mobilize airlines and logistics companies to deliver search-and-rescue teams, medical responders, and supplies such as medicines, water filters, and food to Venezuela.

World Central Kitchen: The nonprofit founded by Chef José Andrés is mobilizing to provide hot meals to affected families and first responders as quickly as possible. The organization has led multiple relief efforts in Venezuela, most recently in 2024 when families in the state of Sucre were displaced by Hurricane Beryl.

Catholic Relief Services: The international aid arm of the U.S. Catholic Church is working alongside local partner Caritas Venezuela to provide emergency shelter, food, water, and medical care to impacted families.

Global Impact: This philanthropy adviser and intermediary has created a Venezuela Earthquakes Response fund that will channel donations to multiple vetted organizations, including UNICEF USA and Save the Children.

BERLIN — A 51-year-old Saudi doctor has been convicted of murder and handed a life prison sentence for carrying out a deadly vehicle attack on a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg in 2024 that claimed six lives.

The defendant, identified as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, stood trial at the state court in the eastern German city beginning in November. According to German news agency dpa, the court determined that he bears “particularly serious” guilt — a designation that bars him from being considered for release after 15 years, which is the standard provision under German law.

The attack took place on December 20, 2024, and lasted just over one minute. Six people died — five women and one boy — while many others suffered injuries.

Investigators determined that al-Abdulmohsen used a rented BMW X3 to carry out the attack, reaching speeds of up to 48 kilometers per hour, or roughly 30 miles per hour, as he drove through the crowded market. Authorities stated at the time of the indictment that he was not under the influence of alcohol. They believe he acted alone and was motivated by frustration over the outcome of a legal dispute and the failure of various criminal complaints he had filed.

Officials noted that the suspect does not match the typical profile seen in extremist attacks. Al-Abdulmohsen described himself as a former Muslim who was sharply critical of Islam, and his social media activity showed support for far-right views. He had previously drawn attention from authorities due to threatening behavior, but had no known history of physical violence.

The Magdeburg attack was among several incidents involving immigrants that elevated migration as a central issue heading into Germany’s national election in February 2025. Al-Abdulmohsen had come to Germany in 2006 and had been granted permanent residency.

SEOUL, South Korea — A South Korean court sentenced the wife of ousted former President Yoon Suk Yeol to seven years behind bars on Friday, finding her guilty of accepting high-end luxury items from business figures and others who were seeking political and business favors in return.

The Seoul Central District Court issued the ruling, which comes on the heels of a separate appeals court decision that sentenced Kim Keon Hee to four years in prison on charges related to accepting gifts from the Unification Church and profiting from a stock price manipulation scheme.

Judge Jo Soon-pyo delivered a pointed rebuke of Kim’s conduct in announcing the verdict. “Given the nature of the position, a president’s spouse must exercise the highest degree of self-restraint and vigilance,” the judge said. “Nevertheless, defendant Kim Keon Hee neglected that social responsibility and repeatedly accepted valuables by exploiting her influence as a means of brokering favors.”

As part of the ruling, the court ordered the seizure of luxury items Kim had received, among them a Van Cleef & Arpels diamond necklace, a Tiffany brooch, a Dior handbag, a storage case for a gold turtle figurine, and a painting by well-known Korean artist Lee Ufan.

Kim, dressed in a gray suit and wearing a white face mask, sat quietly with her head lowered as the verdict was read. While she has acknowledged receiving the gifts, she has maintained they were not connected to any exchange of favors. Her legal team did not immediately indicate whether they plan to appeal Friday’s decision. She has been facing trial in several cases since her arrest last August.

Her husband, former President Yoon, was removed from office in April 2025 following his impeachment, which stemmed from his brief declaration of martial law in December 2024. That move came after a clash with the liberal opposition, which held a majority in the legislature and had repeatedly blocked his policy agenda. Yoon was arrested in July 2025 and is currently standing trial in multiple cases. He has appealed a life sentence for rebellion as well as a separate 30-year prison term connected to charges that he ordered drone flights over North Korea’s capital in an effort to stoke tensions and provide justification for imposing martial law.

Liberal President Lee Jae Myung, who won a special presidential election to succeed Yoon, has authorized numerous investigations into the former president’s martial law declaration and other allegations involving his administration and his wife.

A special prosecutor brought bribery charges against Kim in December. Among the allegations was that in 2022 she received the Van Cleef & Arpels necklace and additional jewelry totaling 138 million won — roughly $90,000 — from Seohee Construction Chairman Lee Bong-kwan, in return for helping secure a government position for his son-in-law. The court found Kim guilty on that count and also sentenced Lee Bong-kwan to one year in prison, suspended for two years.

Kim was additionally convicted of accepting a luxury watch from businessman Seo Seong-bin, who was seeking government backing for his robotic dog business; a Dior handbag and other gifts from Pastor Choi Jae-yong, who hoped to participate in a civilian diplomatic delegation and other government-funded programs; a gold turtle and a traditional painting from former National Education Commission chief Lee Bae-yong, who had lobbied for her appointment; and a painting by Lee Ufan valued at 140 million won (approximately $90,900) from former senior prosecutor Kim Sang-min, who was seeking the conservative party’s nomination ahead of the 2024 legislative elections.

The court handed Seo and Lee Bae-yong suspended prison sentences, while Choi was fined 8 million won, equivalent to about $5,200.

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysian customs authorities announced Friday that they had stopped an attempt to smuggle advanced artificial intelligence chips worth 52.9 million ringgit — approximately $12.93 million — through the nation’s primary international airport earlier this month.

The seizure comes after Malaysia put export controls in place last year on high-performance chips of U.S. origin. That move came after pressure from the United States, which has been working to prevent advanced chips critical to AI development from reaching China.

On June 5, inspectors at Kuala Lumpur International Airport discovered 72 server units packed with advanced AI chips that had been flown into the airport’s free trade zone. The airport’s customs director, Zulkifli Muhammad, shared the details with reporters.

According to Zulkifli, early investigation results indicated the servers were destined to be re-exported to another country in Asia — a transaction that would have required a permit under Malaysia’s Strategic Trade Act.

The shipment had been falsely labeled as “computer components” in an apparent effort to avoid scrutiny, Zulkifli explained. Malaysia was listed as a transit point as a way to work around export restrictions before the goods reached their final destination. He declined to provide additional specifics, noting that an investigation is still underway.

The servers have been confiscated, and a Malaysian company that was involved in arranging the shipment has been asked to cooperate with investigators, Zulkifli added.

This is not the first time Malaysia has been linked to potential chip smuggling activity. Last year, the country investigated reports that a Chinese company operating within Malaysia was using servers equipped with Nvidia chips for AI-related work, though no evidence of illegal semiconductor trading was found.

In a related development from last August, the United States charged two Chinese nationals with illegally shipping tens of millions of dollars’ worth of AI chips from their El Monte-based company to China, allegedly using shipping and freight forwarding companies in Malaysia and Singapore as intermediaries.

In an unrelated case at the same airport, Zulkifli said customs officers on June 10 also seized six boxes containing 4,760 cartridges of vape liquid valued at 1.19 million ringgit (approximately $290,953). The cartridges were hidden inside the casings of central processing units.

Testing revealed the vape liquid had been laced with methamphetamine. The shipment was reportedly bound for export to a neighboring country, though Zulkifli did not identify which one.

($1 = 4.0900 ringgit)

PARIS — France’s national statistics agency, Insee, has confirmed that a cyberattack resulted in a breach of personal data from its internal directory, impacting approximately 12,800 current and former employees, as well as members of civil service corps connected to the organization.

According to officials, the information exposed during the breach was limited to names and professional contact details. Insee stated that no sensitive data — including passwords, personal contact information, banking details, social security numbers, or health records — was accessed during the attack.

Paris police on Friday gave organizers of the city’s Pride March an ultimatum: voluntarily cancel Saturday’s event because of an extreme heatwave, or face an outright ban.

The warning came as the exceptional heat has pushed emergency services and hospitals in the French capital to their limits. The Pride March typically brings tens of thousands of participants into the streets of Paris each year.

Authorities extended the same cancellation request to two other large gatherings expected to draw similar crowds — a music festival known as Solidays and an athletics competition scheduled at Stade Charlety.

BEIJING — Chinese President Xi Jinping announced Friday that his country is ready to forge a security partnership with Cambodia, making the declaration during a face-to-face meeting in Beijing with Hun Sen, who serves as president of Cambodia’s Senate.

According to China’s state-run news agency Xinhua, Xi described the current international and regional climate as going through “complex and profound changes,” and said the two nations should join forces to bring greater stability to peace and development across the region.

Several key points emerged from the meeting:

Xi stated that China has consistently treated Cambodia as a top priority in its relationships with neighboring countries, and that Beijing stands firmly behind Cambodia’s right to protect its own sovereignty and national security.

The Chinese president urged both sides to elevate their foundation of strategic trust “to a new height.”

Xi also commended Cambodia for its efforts to combat telecommunications and online fraud, pledging that China would partner with Cambodia to wipe out what he referred to as the “tumour” of such criminal activity.

Hun Sen’s trip to China, which Beijing had previously characterized as an official “goodwill” visit, is scheduled to last from June 25 through June 27.

The two countries held their first-ever meeting under a “2+2” Strategic Dialogue Mechanism back in April, bringing together foreign and defense ministers from both nations to address political and security matters.

A court in Magdeburg, Germany, handed down a life sentence on Friday to a Saudi doctor convicted of killing six people and injuring hundreds of others after he drove a rented BMW into a crowd at a historic Christmas market in the eastern German city in late 2024.

The attack, which occurred just days before Christmas, rattled the entire nation and inflamed an already heated national debate over immigration — coming just months before a general election that took place in February 2025.

The convicted man, identified under German privacy laws only as Taleb A., was a psychiatrist originally from Saudi Arabia. Officials described him as someone with a documented history of anti-Islamic rhetoric and far-right sympathies.

Prosecutors charged him with the murder of six individuals and the attempted murder of hundreds more. According to the prosecution, the attack was carefully planned over several weeks and lasted one minute and four seconds. Among those killed were five women between the ages of 45 and 75, as well as a nine-year-old boy.

Investigators believe the attacker acted alone, driven by deep frustration over the outcome of a civil legal dispute and his repeated failures in pursuing various criminal complaints, prosecutors said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry announced Friday that its air defense systems intercepted 660 Ukrainian drones during a large-scale overnight attack targeting 12 Russian regions, the Russian-controlled Crimean peninsula, and the waters of the Black Sea and the Azov Sea.

The strike is believed to be among the largest drone attacks Ukraine has launched against Russian territory and illegally annexed Crimea since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than four years ago.

For months, Ukraine has been deploying long-range drones to strike targets well behind the front lines — including oil production sites and energy infrastructure — deep inside Russia. Western officials and analysts say the campaign has constricted Russian fuel supplies and disrupted military logistics, slowing Russian battlefield operations and putting increased pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The massive drone barrage was launched just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted on X that he had ordered what he called “a 40-day influence operation” — widely interpreted as a significant escalation of strikes — with the goal of “compelling (Russia) to end the war,” following more than a year of U.S.-led peace efforts that produced no meaningful results.

In the Tula region, located just south of Moscow, Tula Gov. Dmitry Milyaev reported in an online post that a private residence was damaged and a woman was injured in the attack. He also noted that a power line was knocked out along with an unidentified industrial facility in the city of Novomoskovsk.

Russian independent news outlet Astra reported that a chemical plant and a hydroelectric facility in Novomoskovsk were hit and caught fire, though The Associated Press was unable to independently confirm those claims and no official acknowledgment was issued.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported that 47 Ukrainian drones were intercepted as they approached the Russian capital. He did not report any injuries or structural damage in the city.

Meanwhile, in northeastern Ukraine, two people lost their lives and seven others were wounded in Russian attacks on the Kharkiv region over the previous 24-hour period, according to regional head Oleh Syniehubov. Russian forces struck the city of Kharkiv and 16 surrounding communities using guided aerial bombs and multiple types of drones, he said.

Ukraine’s air force reported that its defense forces overnight intercepted 174 out of 189 Russian drones. However, four of the seven Iskander-M ballistic missiles fired by Russia managed to break through Ukrainian air defenses and hit various locations.

A father gently holding his daughter’s hand as she wore a fairy costume. A 24-year-old man dressed in a pilot’s uniform, gazing confidently at the camera. A family wrapped in each other’s arms on a soccer field.

These are just some of the photos being shared online by relatives — both inside Venezuela and living abroad — who are desperately trying to locate family members who have gone silent following two devastating earthquakes that struck the country Wednesday night.

Health Minister Carlos Alvarado announced late Thursday that the death toll had climbed to approximately 235, with more than 4,300 people reported injured. The number of victims is expected to continue rising after the two quakes, measuring 7.2 and 7.5 in magnitude, caused widespread destruction — making them among the most powerful earthquakes to hit Venezuela in over a century.

Because communication networks have been severely disrupted, many Venezuelans are relying on social media platforms and online registries to gather information that the government has not provided. Independent registries tracking the missing have documented as many as 40,000 people — a number that dwarfs the official government count.

While some survivors rushed to dig through the wreckage of collapsed buildings, others turned to digital tools, creating flyers on WhatsApp, Facebook, and X listing the names and faces of their missing relatives.

One of those people is Vanesa Marcano, 31, who posted photos from Madrid of her uncle and aunt, who reside in La Guaira state, north of the capital Caracas — an area that suffered some of the worst damage and loss of life. Marcano shared the images hoping the couple was simply unreachable because of downed communication lines. Her uncle’s daughter and his 7-year-old grandson, who were visiting from the United States, are also among the missing.

MELBOURNE, Australia — Australia’s government is working to beef up a law that prohibits children younger than 16 from using social media, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced to Parliament.

Observers noted on Friday that the government’s push came in response to growing evidence that the ban — which took effect on December 10 of last year — has not been working. Australia was the first nation in the world to pass such legislation, though several other countries have since moved in the same direction.

Speaking to Parliament on Thursday, Albanese said his government was actively looking at ways to make the ban more effective.

“We’re working on that as a priority because this is something that other generations didn’t have to deal with, which is why it’s complex,” Albanese said.

On Friday, Albanese told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that the government is asking whether the current laws are as strong as they can be, and whether eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant — Australia’s top online safety official — has all the tools she needs to do her job.

The announcement follows Britain’s declaration last week of plans to prohibit children under 16 from accessing a range of social media platforms, citing concerns about harmful content and too much screen time. Canada, Brazil, and Indonesia have also introduced legislation or announced age-based limits on children’s social media use. France, Spain, Denmark, Thailand, and South Korea are among the nations studying or developing their own approaches.

Back in April, Inman Grant said she was weighing potential court action against Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube, claiming those platforms were not doing enough to keep young Australian children off their services.

Those platforms, along with X, Kick, Reddit, Threads, and Twitch, could face fines of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars — roughly $34 million U.S. — if they fail to take reasonable steps to remove accounts belonging to underage users.

Lisa Given, an information sciences expert at Melbourne’s RMIT University, said the government’s proposed changes are a direct response to evidence that the current law is falling short. She pointed to data released by eSafety in March showing that seven out of ten underage children still had active accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok after the ban went into effect in December.

Given also cited a study published Wednesday in the British Medical Journal, which found that 85% of a group of Australian 12-to-17-year-olds were still using the restricted platforms.

“I do think it’s failing,” Given said. “Many kids in the media have reported that they also think that this is really a failed exercise.”

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Inman Grant said in an interview from early June: “I don’t have potent powers.” She was also quoted as saying, “What I would say is a regulator is only as good as the tools and the resources that they’re given.”

The Associated Press reached out to Inman Grant’s office on Friday to verify the accuracy of those reported comments, but did not receive an immediate response.

Given said Inman Grant faces a difficult challenge in enforcing a law that the platforms themselves are pushing back against.

“Either the eSafety Commissioner needs more powers or we’ve got to have some other approach to enforcement,” Given said.

Given also expects the courts will ultimately need to weigh in on what counts as the “reasonable steps” platforms are legally required to take to keep children off their services.

Albanese said his government will also move forward with what he called digital duty of care legislation, which would hold social media platforms responsible for foreseeable harms caused by their content and algorithms — part of a broader effort to enforce the social media ban.

ROME — Italy has confirmed it will participate in the U.S.-led Pax Silica initiative focused on artificial intelligence supply chains, even as tensions linger between Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and U.S. President Donald Trump, according to an Italian foreign ministry official.

Ambassador Armando Varricchio, speaking to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera on Friday, said that Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding “at the first available opportunity.”

“This provides a political basis that demonstrates the willingness to resume from where we had temporarily left off,” Varricchio said.

Pax Silica is a U.S. State Department program that brings allied nations together to protect and strengthen supply chains tied to artificial intelligence. The initiative spans a wide range of sectors, including energy, critical minerals, advanced manufacturing, and AI development. The European Commission formally joined the effort on Thursday, while the Netherlands signed on earlier in the week.

Varricchio, who serves as Italy’s special envoy for innovation, attended a Washington summit on the initiative Thursday in an observer capacity. He also put his name to a joint declaration on AI opportunities alongside representatives from countries including Britain, Germany, Japan, India, and South Korea.

Italy had originally been scheduled to officially join Pax Silica on Monday in Miami. However, Foreign Minister Tajani canceled that trip after Meloni and Trump had a very public disagreement, stemming from the U.S. president’s complaints that Italy had not sufficiently supported the war against Iran.

TOKYO — The head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog agency declared Friday that the recently signed interim agreement between the United States and Iran requires international inspectors to be granted access to Iranian nuclear sites.

The U.S. and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding last week, setting the stage for 60 days of negotiations aimed at resolving more complicated sticking points, including questions surrounding Iran’s nuclear program. However, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, stated Wednesday that there were no current plans to allow inspectors into those facilities.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi pushed back on that position during a press conference in Japan on Friday, making clear that inspections are required under the agreement.

“There is an agreement and to comply with that agreement, the IAEA will have to have access and inspect,” Grossi said. “We hope to be there soon.”

Grossi confirmed that IAEA inspectors have already conducted an initial meeting with Iranian officials to work through technical details. He said the first priority of any site visit would be verifying that IAEA seals on previously inspected nuclear material are still intact and confirming that no material has gone missing.

“Intentions are not enough. We have to have a very strong verification system in place,” he added.

Iran has not disclosed to the IAEA how much of its enriched uranium survived recent U.S. and Israeli military strikes, nor has it revealed where that material is currently located.

Before the conflict began, the IAEA estimated Iran held approximately 440.9 kilograms of uranium enriched to up to 60 percent purity. If enriched to a higher level, that quantity would be sufficient to produce roughly 10 nuclear weapons, according to IAEA benchmarks.

Belgian police announced Friday that they have pinpointed the suspects believed to be responsible for a March attack on a synagogue in the city of Liege — an incident that authorities have classified as an antisemitic act.

Despite the announcement, officials declined to release any information about the suspects, and a spokesperson for the agency refused to elaborate further.

The attack occurred in the early morning hours of March 9, when an explosion rocked the synagogue at approximately 4 a.m. The blast shattered windows at the synagogue and also blew out windows in a building directly across the street. Fortunately, no one was injured.