In Venezuela, the confirmed death toll from twin earthquakes has risen to 589 and is expected to rise, as international rescue teams, including from Mexico, Brazil, Cuba and the United States, have joined the round-the-clock search for survivors trapped in the rubble. Thousands of people remain missing. Hospitals are rapidly reaching a breaking point, with Venezuela’s Health Ministry reporting an estimated 4,300 injured people. Many residents of the capital Caracas, La Guaira and surrounding areas have nowhere else to go after their homes were flattened by the back-to-back earthquakes. The president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, said 250 buildings had been damaged or destroyed, with La Guaira the most heavily impacted.

Jorge Rodríguez: “This is the time to save lives. This is the time to rescue people. This is the time to assist those who are at this moment trapped beneath the rubble of all of the buildings, apartment blocks, shopping centers, bridges and roads that were damaged and directly struck the people.”

Jorge Rodríguez is the brother of the acting President Delcy Rodríguez. After headlines, we’ll go to Caracas for the latest.

The International Maritime Organization has paused its evacuation of thousands of stranded sailors and hundreds of cargo ships from the Persian Gulf, after an unknown projectile hit a Singapore-flagged vessel in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday. U.S. officials said Iran had fired on the ship; Iranian officials have not claimed responsibility, but the attack came just hours after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned ships must first coordinate passage through the strait with Iran’s Navy.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Treasury Department has granted Iran a 60-day sanctions exemption, allowing it to sell crude oil and petrochemicals in U.S. dollars for the first time in over four decades. The move will unlock billions of dollars in revenue for Iran’s oil industry.

Lebanon’s National News Agency reports Israeli airstrikes killed two people and wounded a third in southern Lebanon, while Israeli soldiers bulldozed and burned homes in the town of Markaba. The continued attacks came despite the U.S.-Iran ceasefire deal, which requires Israeli forces to end their occupation of southern Lebanon, and as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said their forces would maintain an indefinite presence in southern Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, Lebanese and Israeli diplomats agreed to extend negotiations in Washington, D.C., for a fourth day; Hezbollah is not a party to the talks.

The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the Trump administration’s policy of denying people at the U.S.-Mexico border a chance to seek asylum — a right enshrined in both federal and international law. The 6-3 decision reverses lower court rulings ordering a halt to the practice of “metering,” or limiting the number of asylum seekers who can present themselves at a U.S. port of entry each day. In a scathing dissent read from the bench, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said, “The consequences of today’s decision are predictable. More people will die. … More people will turn back and be subjected to violence because of something they cannot or should not have to change about themselves, such as their race, religion, nationality, or political opinion.”

In another 6-3 ruling, the court’s conservative majority agreed to allow the Trump administration to end temporary protected status, TPS, for an estimated 350,000 Haitian and 6,000 Syrian immigrants. The ruling paves the way for mass deportations of asylum seekers to two of the world’s most dangerous nations.

Also on Thursday, the Supreme Court struck down a Hawaii law requiring people to get permission to carry guns onto private property. And justices ruled 7 to 2 to restrict thousands of lawsuits claiming Bayer, the parent company of Monsanto, had a duty to warn consumers about potential cancer risks from its popular weed killer Roundup. We’ll have more on the Supreme Court’s rulings later in the broadcast.

The Trump administration is reportedly planning to deport more than 500 unaccompanied immigrant children, bypassing longstanding legal protections for migrant children who are in the U.S. without their parents. The children have been in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement for at least six months and don’t have family relatives or guardians who could sponsor them in the country. ORR, which is overseen by Health and Human Services, has aided the Trump administration in identifying children who could become targets for deportation.

Democratic Senator Ron Wyden condemned the move in a letter to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., writing, “This is a severe institutional failure that places hundreds of vulnerable children in immediate jeopardy, effectively erasing them from the protection of U.S. oversight and thrusting them back into danger. To weaponize the very agency charged with their protection is an unacceptable escalation of executive overreach that undermines our nation’s commitment to due process.”

In Syracuse, New York, two Homeland Security officers entered a voting site during Tuesday’s primary elections to request that a poll worker delete her Instagram account — over her call for the ICE agent who shot Renee Good in Minneapolis to face charges. Paigelynne Gonyea says the trouble began during her shift as an elections inspector at Syracuse’s Central Library, when she received this voicemail from a man identifying himself as Dave Brody, special agent with Homeland Security.

Dave Brody: “We were just calling you in reference to a post that we believe you made on Instagram where you doxxed an ICE agent back in January. We just wanted to talk to you about it. You’re not in any type of trouble.”

Gonyea believes the agent was referring to her January 8 Instagram post naming Jonathan Ross as the ICE agent who fatally shot Renee Good. It featured a still photo from a publicly available video of Ross taken moments after the shooting, and cited a Minneapolis Star Tribune report identifying him. The post concluded with the caption, “I think today is a great day for Jonathan to be indicted!”

Gonyea returned the missed call and agreed to meet agents inside the polling site, rather than face them outside alone. Two officers then arrived and handed her a form letter, warning, ”YOU MAY BE IN VIOLATION OF FEDERAL LAW” and that “it is unlawful to threaten to assault, kidnap, and/or murder a federal official.” Gonyea has since refused to delete her Instagram post or shut down her account, and has set up a GoFundMe page to pay for potential legal expenses.

Paigelynne Gonyea: “The experience is intimidating, and I believe it’s important that election workers are able to do their jobs without feeling pressured or afraid. It’s also important for the protection of freedom of speech and civil liberties. And I want to note that the lack of professionalism with the form that was given to me was very concerning. If it hadn’t been confirmed that they were ICE agents, I would have believed it was a scam.”

A federal judge in Massachusetts has blocked President Trump’s executive order directing the Department of Homeland Security to create so-called confirmed citizen lists of eligible voters. The ruling by District Judge Indira Talwani also halts Trump’s directive to the U.S. Postal Service to deliver ballots only to voters on federally approved lists. Thursday’s ruling was the latest in a series of setbacks to Trump’s voter suppression efforts ahead of November’s midterm elections. It came one day after U.S. Postmaster General David Steiner was grilled by Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security Committee. Here, he was questioned by Michigan Senator Gary Peters.

Sen. Gary Peters: “So, yes or no: If a state refuses to turn their absentee voter list over to the federal government, will the Postal Service still mail their ballots under this proposal rule?”

Postmaster General David Steiner: “Under our proposed regulation, no. We would tell the state that we need the manifest in order to — you know, look, what we’re asking for” —

Sen. Gary Peters: “I mean, that — that’s the answer: You’d tell them no. So, the proposed rule basically coerces states to conform to these new requirements and hand over their absentee voter rolls or face the consequences of not being able to vote by mail.”

Vice President JD Vance on Thursday praised disgraced former President Richard Nixon, downplaying the Watergate break-in and cover-up as a minor event. Vance was speaking at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California, while promoting his new book, “Communion.”

Vice President JD Vance: “I think that his historical legacy is enjoying a bit of a renaissance, but I think deservedly so. As I joked with Robert backstage, if Watergate happened tomorrow, it would be like a 12-hour news story. Like, the idea that it would have taken down a presidency is crazy.”

New York City’s Rent Guidelines Board has voted to freeze rents for the next two years for nearly 1 million rent-stabilized apartments. The historic decision fulfills one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s key campaign promises, just six months into his term.

The 7-1 vote Thursday took place at El Museo del Barrio, a museum in the neighborhood of East Harlem, where hundreds of tenants packed an auditorium, breaking into chants of joy, and many taking to the streets to celebrate after the vote. This is Chantella Mitchell, chair of the New York City Rent Guidelines Board.

Chantella Mitchell: “I believe a 0% adjustment for one- and two-year leases is fair and responsible approach this year. It’s one that reflects the depth of affordability challenges facing tenants, while recognizing the real pressures that owners continue to face.”