360LiveNews Day Recap News: Venezuela quake toll climbs as Middle East tensions and Europe heat intensify

Venezuela has declared a state of emergency after twin earthquakes collapsed buildings in Caracas and other cities, with the death toll rising to at least 164 as rescue teams searched through rubble and international help began to arrive. France said it would send 85 search and rescue specialists, while other European governments also moved to assist.  🔗  🔗

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In the Middle East, violence continued in southern Lebanon despite Washington talks, after Israeli strikes killed three people and wounded one other in an attack on a car. At the same time, Israel said it would keep troops in southern Lebanon until Hezbollah is disarmed, while Iran warned Israel after the dispute over troop withdrawal deepened.  🔗  🔗  🔗

Tensions around the Strait of Hormuz also remained high. Iran's Revolutionary Guard warned commercial vessels to use only Tehran approved routes and said ships crossing without authorisation would be dealt with, even as traffic through the waterway continued to recover after a US Iran memorandum of understanding. Oil prices fell further on the improved flow, while Marco Rubio warned in Bahrain that any tolls could spread like contagion to other waterways.  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗

US politics around the Iran war stayed fraught, with the White House seeking $87.6bn in extra funding tied largely to the conflict while the Senate blocked a war powers curb. Donald Trump also drew backlash from Republicans and clashed with NATO and EU allies over support for the war, as NATO chief Mark Rutte pointed to a logistics role for the alliance.  🔗  🔗

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Ukraine said its forces struck air defence systems and military airfields in Russian occupied Crimea, including sites linked to Russian logistics, as pressure on Moscow's military infrastructure grew. Separately, officials warned Russia may be taking conflict into space amid satellite jamming, close approaches to European spacecraft and other disruption concerns.  🔗  🔗

Elsewhere in Europe, a severe heatwave gripped large parts of the continent, with Paris reaching a June record of 40.9C and southern England hitting 36.6C. In diplomacy, Emmanuel Macron hosted Giorgia Meloni in Antibes for their first bilateral summit, while the Ukraine Recovery Conference opened in Gdansk without Volodymyr Zelensky, who skipped the event amid a diplomatic rift with Poland.  🔗  🔗  🔗

In Africa, Zimbabwe's Senate approved a constitutional amendment that would keep Emmerson Mnangagwa in office until 2030, despite backlash. In Kenya, protesters returned to Nairobi on the second anniversary of the Gen Z uprising, calling for reform and carrying national flags.  🔗  🔗

Further afield, South Korea said it had taken custody of a North Korean soldier who crossed the demilitarised zone in a rare border incident, while a US backed push to unify Libya's executive authorities gained traction after a prominent Tripoli figure endorsed the plan. In the legal and media sphere, three ICC judges sued the Trump administration over sanctions in Manhattan federal court, Russia was accused of using Cellebrite tools to access Andrei Pivovarov's phone after a contract cancellation, and a new documentary revisited decades of sabotage and brinkmanship over Iran's nuclear programme.  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗

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