Powerful earthquakes rock Venezuela, killing at least 32 people. Death toll is expected to rise

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A pair of powerful earthquakes rocked Venezuela, tearing down buildings, closing the country’s main airport and sending panicked residents of the capital pouring into the streets. At least 32 have died, the acting president said Thursday, warning that the toll was expected to rise.

Footage on state TV showed three children, covered in dust but alive, pulled from the rubble in La Guaira state, which Acting President Delcy Rodríguez described as a “disaster zone” and the area hardest hit by Wednesday evening’s 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes.

The quakes, among the strongest to strike Venezuela in more than a century, could be felt throughout the region, with buildings evacuated in places as far away as Brazil’s Amazon, about 1,700 kilometers (1,050 miles) from Venezuela’s capital, Caracas.

While Venezuela sits near multiple fault lines, its position straddling the South American and Caribbean plates makes strong earthquakes much less common than in other parts of Latin America.

Rodríguez declared a state of emergency in an address to the nation late Wednesday, saying the quakes caused damage in several states. She asked health care professionals to report to hospitals to assist the injured.

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An oil tanker navigates the Strait of Hormuz despite threats from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A Liberian oil tanker made its way out of the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday despite threats to shipping from Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, using a new route close to Oman’s shore that has been promoted by a U.N. maritime agency.

The transit of the Stoic Warrior and the threats come as tensions rise between Iran and the United States over the terms of their interim accord aimed at permanently ending the Iran war.

From getting ships through the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf to the future of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, the two nations are increasingly debating the terms of the deal signed last week.

Through the signing of the memorandum of understanding, the U.S. and Iran agreed to a 60-day period to iron out these and other details. Until that happens — during private talks — leaders from both countries will also continue to negotiate in public, raising the risks of derailing the shaky ceasefire in the region.

On a trip to the Middle East, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke Thursday with Gulf Arab officials in Bahrain, the island kingdom in the Persian Gulf home to the Navy’s 5th Fleet, trying to assuage their concerns.

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Senate Republicans reject war powers resolution after Trump berates them at Capitol meeting

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans who were berated by President Donald Trump over opposition to his war in Iran held a late-night vote Wednesday to try to appease him, rejecting a war powers resolution a day after a similar measure passed.

Trump harangued GOP senators face to face earlier in the day for allowing a vote to block his war in Iran on Tuesday, further escalating a feud that has diverted GOP efforts to focus on election-year affordability issues and brought much of the chamber’s business to a halt. He exchanged particularly harsh words with Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, one of four Republicans who had voted with Democrats on the measure.

Hours later, though, Cassidy was invited to receive a personal briefing on the war at the White House from Vice President JD Vance and envoy Steve Witkoff. Cassidy then returned to the Capitol to vote against a separate but nearly identical war powers resolution.

“I want to thank Vice President Vance and Special Envoy Witkoff for the thorough briefing this afternoon on Iran. I appreciate the quick invitation to the White House to address many of my concerns,” said Cassidy, who lost reelection last month after Trump endorsed his opponent, in a post on X.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican who has repeatedly voted with Democrats to halt the war, voted present this time “to give the President more space and leverage to negotiate a lasting peace,” he said on X. The measure failed 47-50-1 just before midnight on Wednesday, and the Senate then left town for a two-week recess.

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Mamdani’s success in New York tests Democratic Party’s willingness to change

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani stepped into the national spotlight this week as an ascendant political force within the Democratic Party.

Democratic leaders aren’t so sure that’s a good thing.

As progressives cheered across the nation, some of the most powerful Democrats in the country, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, downplayed the impact of Mamdani’s victories on Tuesday, when the 34-year-old democratic socialist mayor’s slate of congressional candidates defeated three establishment favorites — including two incumbents — in primary contests. He had even more victories in state legislative races, where he successfully backed five other candidates.

It was a stunning sweep for Mamdani, just six months into his first term, that will expand his influence in Washington and Albany. The mayor said Wednesday that he hopes to export his policies and politics to other states, while demanding major changes across the Democratic Party.

“Working people are struggling across the country,” Mamdani said. He added that he hopes to help “write a new chapter in our party’s history, where working people are back at the heart of that struggle. And I I believe that will be key in not just the midterms coming up in November, but also in the years to come.”

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US Congress welcomes Taiwan’s parliamentary leader to Washington, affirms support for the island

WASHINGTON (AP) — Members of the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday pledged firm support for the self-governed island of Taiwan as they welcomed Han Kuo-yu, president of Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan, to Washington, at a time the Trump administration is reviewing a $14 billion arms sales package to Taiwan, months after it got preliminary congressional approval.

More than 30 House representatives, both Democratic and Republican, streamed into the reception at the Longworth House Office Building to show their support, including Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, D.-California; Rep. Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican and former chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee; and Ted Lieu, a California Democrat who serves as the vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus.

“I love Taiwan,” declared McCaul, as he welcomed Han. “It’s very important to me to say that the United States supports you, Mr. Speaker.”

“The support for Taiwan is bipartisan and bicameral — both houses, both parties,” Pelosi said. “It’s about peace. It’s also about commerce in terms of keeping the ships able to travel here.”

Han, who is leading an eight-person parliamentary delegation, arrived in the nation’s capital on Tuesday night after a stop in Phoenix, Arizona, where the chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is building new fabs and producing advanced chips crucial to powering the A.I. boom. TSMC is the poster child of Taiwan’s importance to the U.S. economy.

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NATO’s Trump whisperer meets the president in an effort to appease him before next month’s summit

WASHINGTON (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte laid on the flattery with President Donald Trump on Wednesday, pressing the case for a military alliance that the volatile U.S. leader has sharply criticized as the Pentagon reviews the size of the U.S. military footprint in Europe.

Trump has repeatedly slammed NATO, arguing the U.S. carries more than its fair share of military spending. But his grievances have been louder since the Iran war, as he fumed over the fact that some member countries ignored his call to help him restart oil trade through the shuttered Strait of Hormuz.

“They weren’t too nice to us in our recent little military skirmish,” Trump said of NATO allies as he introduced Rutte during their Oval Office meeting.

Subsequently pressed on what key U.S. allies could do to get back on his good side, Trump responded, “Just be loyal.”

“We don’t need their money — we don’t need anything,” the president added. “We have the most powerful military in the world by far. But I just want loyalty.”

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Rebound in tech shares pushes world markets higher, while oil prices fall

BANGKOK (AP) — World shares were mostly higher Thursday, led by tech-driven gains in Japan and South Korea as major computer chipmakers’ stocks surged following upbeat earnings reports from U.S. giants like Qualcomm and Micron Technology.

Oil prices slipped closer to where they were before the war with Iran began.

Qualcomm’s share price surged nearly 7% in afterhours trading after the company announced it had raised its forecast for revenue this year to $40 billion from $22 billion. It also announced a new computer chip for data centers called Dragonfly C1000 CPU that Meta plans to use.

Micron Technology’s shares jumped 18.5% in afterhours trading after it upgraded its forecast and exceeded analysts’ estimates.

The future for the S&P 500 gained 0.8%, while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged 0.1% higher.

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In France’s historic heat wave, Paris’ dreamy rooftops become a heat-trapping nightmare

PARIS (AP) — Before the heat struck, Amelie Kenney could boast that she almost had it all: a tiny but cheap top-floor apartment in Paris, with an enviable view from its minuscule balcony of the French capital’s iconic gray roofs and even, when she leans out far enough, up to the Sacré-Cœur basilica atop Montmartre.

But with a historic heat wave making attic apartments like hers potentially hazardous for health, the 23-year-old recent graduate isn’t feeling quite so fortunate.

“It’s been the worst week that we’ve had in this apartment,” she said this week as the capital and other parts of Europe roasted. “It’s just baking in the whole afternoon and it’s impossible to just get a respite.”

Many of Paris’ buildings that look so picturesque from the outside are proving to be hostile, even dangerous for health, during the unrelenting record heat that is turning both the long summer days and short sweaty nights into battles.

That’s particularly true for those living directly under the roofs of Paris — who often cannot afford larger, lower-floor apartments less impacted by direct sun.

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Americans are inundated with suspected scams. New polling shows why few victims report them

WASHINGTON (AP) — Most Americans are inundated with scam attempts on a daily basis — and about 3 in 10 have personally lost money or personal information to scams, according to a new AP-NORC survey.

The poll, conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research in February, highlights the obstacle course that U.S. adults navigate daily as they screen calls, ignore messages or try to puzzle out if that urgent request from their cellphone provider is legitimate.

A separate survey conducted by Gallup and the Stop Scams Alliance that was provided exclusively to the AP found that last year alone, about 1 in 10 U.S. adults said they or someone else from their household was deceived by a scammer into losing money or providing access to a financial account, with nearly half saying they lost more than $500.

That leaves many Americans feeling like they’re constantly at risk of falling for a scam, often without a sense of recourse. In both surveys, few victims said they reported the scam to the federal government or local law enforcement. Many victims didn’t report the scam, Gallup found, because they didn’t think it would make a difference in getting money back.

“You’ve got to be pretty sophisticated these days,” said Adam Pratter, 42. He has run into problems on dating apps — and once ended up sending money to a person who claimed they were overseas because of a military deployment and needed money to buy food. He realized it was a scam when the requests didn’t stop.

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Shiite Muslims mark holy day of Ashoura after months of war in Iran and Lebanon

BEIRUT (AP) — Shiite Muslims around the world on Thursday marked Ashoura, a holy day symbolizing sacrifice and martyrdom that holds special significance for many this year after months of war in Iran and Lebanon.

Ashoura commemorates the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, at the Battle of Karbala in 680 A.D. Imam Hussein was killed with his family and companions after refusing to pledge allegiance to the Umayyad caliphate.

The event cemented the schism between Sunni and Shiite Islam and remains a powerful symbol of resistance against oppression and injustice.

This year, Ashoura comes after months of war in Iran and Lebanon, homes to two of the world’s largest Shiite populations. Iran and the U.S. this week launched talks aimed at finalizing a fragile ceasefire agreement.

On the first day of the war, on Feb. 28, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in an Israeli airstrike. The 86-year-old Khamenei was not just Iran’s top political leader. He also had a final say on all religious matters and was revered by millions of Shiites worldwide. Ashoura comes just days before his funeral procession.