A 4.6-magnitude aftershock centered at a depth of 10 km (6 miles) hit north of the Venezuelan capital Caracas early on Monday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey

International News via Reuters:

Residents of Caracas woke up on Monday to an aftershock that rocked their houses, while rescue teams continued their fourth day of round-the-clock work in the areas affected by last week’s powerful earthquakes in Venezuela.

A 4.6-magnitude aftershock centered at a depth of 10 km (6 miles) hit north of the Venezuelan capital Caracas early on Monday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. 

No damage was immediately reported from the aftershock, the president of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodriguez, said on social media.

Rescue efforts have been focusing particularly on La Guaira, the hardest-hit state of a country long mired in a deep political and economic crisis.

Wednesday’s twin earthquakes have left close to 1,500 people confirmed dead and hundreds of collapsed buildings.  

The international community has rallied to help Venezuela in the wake of the disaster. The country has received support from 24 countries, which have sent over 500 metric tons of supplies, more than 2,700 rescue and support personnel and about 86 canine teams, according to Venezuelan authorities.

SEARCH FOR SURVIVORS CONTINUES

National and international rescue teams continued their efforts throughout the night, while the families of the missing remain hopeful that survivors will be found.

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele shared the rescue of 21-year-old Aaron Levi in a collapsed building in the disaster-stricken state of La Guaira.

“This rescue was made possible thanks to the coordinated efforts of rescue teams from Venezuela, Mexico, and El Salvador,” he said on X.

Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, also echoed Levi’s story, explaining that he was pulled out after 106 hours trapped under the rubble through a rescue operation that lasted 43 hours.

Reporting by Vivian Sequera and Aida Pelaez-Fernandez; Editing by Kevin Liffey, Louise Heavens and Mark Porter

Police said three people were detained, including the suspected shooter, and that all the fatalities were adults

International News via Reuters:

Six people were killed in a shooting at a shelter for mothers and children in northern Germany.

Police said three people were detained, including the suspected shooter, and that all the fatalities were adults. Footage released by the Bild newspaper showed police surrounding and detaining two people from a car that was driving down a road with a flat tyre.

Police called the incident a homicide with multiple victims in the town of Stade near the port city of Hamburg. They did not give a motive. The Spiegel news outlet, citing information it obtained, said it was likely a personal rather than political or extremist matter.

Police had warned people to stay away from the area where the incident took place, but later said there was no danger to the general public.

German media reports initially said four women and one man had been killed. Police later said a sixth adult had died in hospital of wounds.

Footage posted by Bild showed a car with a flat right tyre slowing to a halt in a tree-lined road. Police with guns then ran towards the car and detained two people who were made to lie flat on the ground.

Police cordoned off the area near the facility in a cobbled street with red brick homes, and forensic experts in white suits and plainclothes police were at the scene.

Mass shootings are rare in Germany, especially when compared to the United States. In 2023, a gunman in Hamburg shot dead six people before killing himself at a Jehovah’s Witness worship hall. In 2016, an 18-year-old German-Iranian man who was obsessed with mass killings killed at least nine people in Munich.

Reporting by Jonas Walzberg and Gabriele Sajonz, Friederike Heine and Matthias Williams; additional reporting by Tom Sims; editing by Thomas Seythal, Gareth Jones, Peter Graff

Although the government has not condoned the deadline and condemns the violence, it has been criticized by other African states and civil society groups for failing to stamp it out

International News via Reuters:

With anti-migrant sentiment escalating in South Africa, Malawian John Allen threw some clothes in a bag, said goodbye to his South African girlfriend and their one-year-old son, and left to catch a bus out of the country.

He has now been waiting in a makeshift camp in the city of Durban for four days with thousands of other people hoping to depart before June 30, an unofficial deadline set by anti-immigrant groups for all undocumented foreigners to leave.

Although the government has not condoned the deadline and condemns the violence, it has been criticized by other African states and civil society groups for failing to stamp it out.

“The reason I would like to stay is I feel bad for my child. He’s too young. When I’m gone who’s going to support him?” said Allen, 30.

The child’s mother, who is South African, only earns about 500 rand ($30) a week as a cleaner, but Allen had been earning four times that doing contract work for a manufacturing company, although he was undocumented.

As anti-immigrant protests surged in recent weeks some of the foreigners in his neighbourhood were beaten up, he said, and now almost everyone has left.

“There’s two options: I can lose my life or I can leave,” he told Reuters, standing with other men amid piles of luggage, waiting for a bus.

MANY MIGRANTS STILL FRANTICALLY TRYING TO GET OUT

At least hundreds of people still remained at the giant empty lot in Durban on Monday, where Malawians flocked for safety ahead of protests due on Tuesday to mark the deadline.

Although they say they target only illegal immigrants, the vigilantes often don’t discriminate, and many migrants whose status is entirely legal have been attacked or had their property trashed.

Women and babies huddled together, sitting on cardboard or blankets, while aid groups handed out food and clothing. Some people have been here for a week waiting their turn, with buses departing one after another.

The Department of Home Affairs has set up a tent where it is processing people for deportation, although authorities are currently focused on moving them out of Durban to a border post in Musina ahead of the protests, which many fear will turn violent, as past ones have.

No one here wanted to risk staying in South Africa, beyond the deadline. Several said they were afraid they might be killed.

Amadou Awali looked dejected as he held up his phone to show a photo of a toddler. He is leaving two young sons behind, and their mother doesn’t have the means to support them, he said.

“I’m worried for the children,” said Awali, who has been in South Africa doing plumbing and construction work since 2019.

He plans to wait a few months, and then come back.

($1 = 16.4349 rand)

Reporting by Nellie Peyton; Editing by Alexandra Hudson

The Commission said preliminary findings suggest the rules, which give priority to state-owned Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS), could distort competition, particularly in international passenger services

International News via Reuters:

The European Commission on Monday said it warned the Netherlands that its rules for allocating slots on its main rail network may breach EU antitrust laws and called on the country to improve competition for international rail passenger services.

The Commission said preliminary findings suggest the rules, which give priority to state-owned Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS), could distort competition, particularly in international passenger services.

The EU sent a formal notice to the Dutch authorities, saying the measures may reinforce NS’s dominant position. The Netherlands has two months to respond.

Reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout, Editing by Inti Landauro