Newshour

At least 180 people are now confirmed to have died in northern Venezuela after two powerful back-to-back earthquakes. Thousands are still unaccounted for.
We hear from two people whose homes have been destroyed.
Also in the programme; the owners of Hong Kong's last independent bookshop are arrested; and how scientists have managed to read ancient papyrus scrolls burned to a cinder when Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD.
Photo: People on motorbikes drive past damaged buildings following the twin earthquakes that struck Venezuela Credit: RONALD PENA R/EPA/Shutterstock

A huge rescue and recovery operation is underway across northern Venezuela after two back-to-back earthquakes struck overnight. At least 164 people have died, but experts say the number could well rise to thousands as the extent of the damage becomes clear.

Also in the programme: The French government's response to the heatwave; and how Canadian football fans are trying to be cheerful about moving to the US.

(Photo: A firefighter looks for his sister and nephew in the earthquake rubble of a building in La Guaira, Venezuela. Credit: Reuters/Gaby Oraa)

The UK today broke its June temperature record as a heatwave continues to engulf Europe. In Finistere in north-west France, 68, 000 people are without power, after the heat knocked out generating equipment
We hear how the heat is affecting people across Europe - and how it compares with the most recent major heatwave in August 2003.
Also on the programme: US officials say America has supplied doses of an experimental antibody to help fight the growing outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo; and why astronomers are excited about new images of the Milky Way.
(Photo: A young man jumps from a bridge to cool off in the Canal Saint-Martin, in Paris, France, 20 June 2026. Credit: Yoan Valat/EPA/Shutterstock)

Ukraine has been intensifying attacks across Crimea as it attempts to cut off the peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014. The authorities have been forced to suspend fuel sales to the public.
Also on the programme: hundreds of schools in the UK are closed as temperatures in Western Europe hit new highs; and why sperm whales use different dialects depending on where they swim in the Mediterranean Sea.
(Photo: A satellite image shows burning oil storage tanks and smoke rising from the Crimea Bridge amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict Credit: Vantor/Reuters)

A searing heatwave in western Europe is continuing to break records, with France registering its hottest-ever average daily temperature. Forty people have drowned in heatwave-related deaths there since Thursday, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has said.
Also on the programme: Afghanistan’s Taliban government says a delegation has met European Union officials in Brussels, to discuss migration; and the Reflecting Pool in Washington DC is set to be drained as US President Donald Trump again blamed vandals for bright green algae and peeling paint that has appeared just weeks after a multi-million-dollar renovation.
(Photo: France's sports minister Marina Ferrari warned that too many people were heading for reservoirs and rivers without taking the risks into account. Credit: Getty)