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Man guilty of attempting to murder three children in attack that triggered Dublin riot

A man has been found guilty of attempting to murder three children during a stabbing attack in Dublin in 2023, a crime that horrified Ireland and triggered a riot in the capital. A jury at the central criminal court on Wednesday also found Riad Bouchaker, 52, guilty of assault causing serious harm to a childcare worker, Leanne Flynn, and of assaulting two other children and a teenager. Bouchaker used a 30cm (12in) kitchen knife to attack Flynn and the children on 23 November 2023 when they emerged from a creche in Parnell Square in the city centre. That night rioters chanted anti-immigrant slogans, looted shops and torched buses, a tram and police vehicles in the worst unrest in decades. Bouchaker is an Algerian national and Irish citizen who had lived in Ireland for two decades. The court heard that on the morning of the attack he learned he had been refused a social welfare payment. He collected a backpack and the knife from his hostel and waited outside the childcare centre at Parnell Square. When the children lined up by a railing he attacked. He stabbed a girl, then aged five, in the heart. She now has a brain injury and is non-verbal, uses a wheelchair and is fed through a tube in her stomach. A five-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl required hospital treatment for less severe injuries. Bouchaker stabbed Flynn while she tried to protect the children, leaving her with two collapsed lungs and injuries to her diaphragm, stomach and spleen. He also assaulted two other children and a teenager who intervened and wrestled the knife away. Other bystanders intervened, incapacitating Bouchaker and leaving him unconscious and with a head injury that required hospital treatment. A defence psychiatrist argued that he was not fit to stand trial but a prosecution expert disagreed. Judge Tony Hunt allowed Bouchaker to stand trial with an interpreter and intermediary. During the three-week trial Bouchaker denied all eight charges and said he did not intend to kill anyone. Prosecutors said his use of the knife, selection of small children and targeting of their upper bodies, necks and heads indicated an intent to kill. The jury of three women and nine men found Bouchaker guilty of all charges. Hunt thanked the jury and said the verdicts aligned with the evidence it had heard. He is to impose a sentence in September. “No more needs to be said today,” he said.

Albania warned EU accession at risk over Jared Kushner-backed resort plans

MEPs have warned Albania that EU accession talks are at risk if the government does not “change course” over plans for a luxury resort backed by Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Tineke Strik, the Dutch MEP heading a European parliament fact-finding mission to the Balkan nation, said Albania’s leadership was “playing with fire” by pursuing the €1.4bn (£1.2bn) real-estate venture that would, she said, wreak havoc on virgin coastline. Opposition to the project has spurred a wave of unprecedented unrest known as the “flamingo revolution” amid mounting calls for the resignation of the Albanian prime minister, Edi Rama. Interviewed by the Guardian, Strik said: “If Rama is really serious about his EU ambitions, he should step back from this trajectory and say to the Trump clan: ‘Sorry, the EU is my first priority.’ “Right now, they’re endangering a process that is so dear to them … they’re playing with fire.” Not since the collapse of communism more than 30 years ago has any policy attracted such overwhelming support from Albanian citizens as EU membership: an estimated 92% back the goal. Rama, who won a historic fourth term in office last year, has vowed to get Albania – one of the poorest countries in Europe – into the 27-member bloc by 2030. Buoyed up by progress made in completing often complex negotiations, he had set the goal of December 2027 to wrap up an accession process. EU officials had welcomed the self-imposed deadline, although they described it as ambitious. That timeline could now be in jeopardy if Rama insists on pressing ahead with the Kushner-backed project to develop what were once environmentally protected areas in the country’s south. Kushner has spoken of creating a mega resort on Sazan, Albania’s only island, while also building along a slice of pristine shoreline on the Zvërnec peninsula opposite, billing it as the sort of place he would happily enjoy with family and friends. Alarmed by the scale of the project – and the protests it has prompted – the European parliament made its distaste clear last month. In a resolution, MEPs not only endorsed the demonstrators but called for an immediate halt to construction in protected zones. They also demanded the withdrawal of legislation that allowed “predatory capitalists” to obtain permits as strategic investors in regions regarded as wildlife safe zones and ecologically unique. Speaking at the end of a four-day trip which included visits to the areas earmarked for development, Strik said: “If they go ahead, they’ll have a big problem with the EU during the negotiations – especially on chapter 27 where they have to meet all the benchmarks of EU environmental policies. The planned construction of such large-scale real estate in such a fragile area is an immense threat.” The MEP emphasised that works already carried out on the Zvërnec peninsula – including the destruction of forests, ancient dunes and the construction of a 7km-long gravel-topped road – had caused considerable damage and were in clear violation of EU directives. The visiting parliamentarians were “encouraged and reassured by the Albanian people” who, Strik said, were out on the streets defending European values and demanding accountability. But they had been left less than impressed by government officials, she said. Strik said she was alarmed that the environment minister, Sofjan Jaupaj, had implied that the works would continue until Albania was obliged to comply with EU standards. She also voiced concern over allegations of corruption that had clouded the issuance of construction permits and sale of land plots in Zvërnec. Opponents have decried the lack of transparency and public debate around the project. “I left today’s meeting with the impression that they intend to continue with this project before they have to be aligned with EU law and this, of course, is not a way of loyal cooperation,” she said. “They cannot say now: ‘We can do more damage and then we’ll see at the end of next year where we stand.’ That’s not a way to go and we will call upon the EU commission to follow this up very strongly with the Albanian government.” Albania has won widespread support from Euro-MPs for its candidacy, and the GreenLeft MEP said she was very much in favour of the tiny Balkan state joining the bloc. “I come away with the feeling that the Albanian people really want to become members of the EU, in fact they already feel they belong there,” Strik said. She said the daily demonstrations were not only about the threat to the environment but had grown into a much wider movement about basic rule of law. “Albanians are protesting every day because they want to have a proper democracy, which really strengthens my trust in the process and in their desire for accession. “What I am not so sure about is whether the government of Albania is taking at all seriously the concerns of the Albanian people, of us [MEPs] and the European Commission – which is why I have called on it to change course and take its citizens seriously.”

The Harvard astronomer dubbed Trump’s chief alien hunter starts by assuming UFOs human-made

A controversial Harvard University cosmologist who has suggested alien lifeforms could be sailing into the solar system disguised as meteors is leading the Trump administration’s secretive new scientific advisory panel on security risks posed by UFOs. Avi Loeb and his hand-picked committee have already begun looking into the origins of mysterious flying craft, now known as unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and last month asked the Pentagon for dozens of videos, images and documents of reported encounters and incidents, the Associated Press reports. The panel, which meets in private, will report its findings to the White House, which has already begun opening the government’s UFO files with three public releases so far of previously classified material. Loeb, an Israeli-American astrophysicist who previously led Harvard’s astronomy department, told the Associated Press that he saw his appointment as a chance to educate a notoriously science-averse administration into what could be perfectly logical explanations for UAP. “My impression is the government is baffled by not being able to infer the nature of some of these objects,” he said. “At a time when science is not so much celebrated, this is an opportunity to actually do good for all sides involved.” He did, however, tell the AP that he was starting his work as Donald Trump’s chief alien hunter with the assumption that UAP was the work of humans, and approaching the task from a national security perspective. Some analysts say Loeb’s unconventional thinking about alien life, and fringe theories including a hypothesis last year that a comet passing close to Mars was a relic from a civilization in another celestial neighborhood, make his leadership of such an important and influential committee questionable at best. “I don’t know what’s going to come of this, but we’re not going to get any closer to answering these questions with him in charge,” said Steve Desch, professor of astrophysics in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University, and a long-time Loeb critic. In a 2023 interview with the Guardian, Loeb, who also used to lead Harvard’s Black Hole Initiative studying one of the least understood astronomical objects, said his critics were merely jealous. “Childlike bullying is more prevalent than childlike curiosity in academia,” he said. “People just try to step on every flower that rises above the grass level. This negativity is very damaging because it suppresses innovation.” Even so, it is not only Loeb’s presence that concerns observers. Like health secretary Robert F Kennedy’s choice of fellow vaccine skeptics to mold a government health advisory panel on immunizations to his way of thinking, Loeb has surrounded himself with apparently similar minds. One panel member is Timothy Gallaudet, a retired navy rear-admiral who is convinced UFOs of alien origin have visited Earth. “The nonhuman intelligence that operates them or controls them are absolutely real,” he said in April. “We’ve recovered crashed craft. We don’t know if they’re extraterrestrial in origin.” In 2024, Gallaudet told a congressional oversight committee that in 2015, while he was commander of the navy’s meteorology and oceanography operations, UAPs were interacting with humanity almost at will. He also made claims of a government cover-up. “UAP-related information is not only being withheld from senior officials and members of Congress, but elements of the government are engaging in a disinformation campaign to include personal attacks designed to discredit UAP whistleblowers,” he said. Also on the panel is Ben Lamm, a 44-year-old billionaire and entrepreneur best known for his genetics company’s efforts to revive long-extinct animals such as the dodo, the Tasmanian tiger, and the dire wolf. Lamm also has a history of trying to find UFOs, using satellites pointed towards Earth. His outside-the-box scientific thinking fits well with Loeb’s unorthodox approach and decades-long quest for alien life, detailed in hundreds of papers, and a bestselling book, Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth. For example, Loeb’s mission to Papua New Guinea, ostensibly to determine if a meteor discovered in 2014 was part of an interstellar spaceship, epitomized his perspective. Ultimately, an object Loeb theorized could be of “extraterrestrial technological origin” turned out not to be, and spherules – tiny glassy beads of metal and rock – he recovered from the ocean floor were unconnected to the meteor, at least in the view of other scientists. Perhaps most alarming to critics is that Loeb and his team might have access to sensitive Pentagon materials. Sean Kirkpatrick, a physicist who previously investigated UAP at the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, said Loeb is “not viewed favorably” in the scientific community and lacks national security experience. He said the makeup of Loeb’s team suggests the White House is more interested in fringe theories than hard science. Ultimately, however, Loeb’s background and unconventional theories might not matter if the committee can present new information to satiate a curious public. Eight in 10 respondents in a CBS News/YouGov poll published last month said the government knew more than it was telling about the existence of extraterrestrial life, 63% believe there is life on other planets, and more than one in five is convinced aliens have already visited Earth.

How extreme heat is exposing extreme inequality

Call it a tale of two heatwave experiences. As brutally hot conditions brought much of western Europe to its knees, an American writer living in Paris asserted that, for many, the heat was not “nearly as apocalyptic” as most media were suggesting. He said he had yet to buy a fan, instead relying on closed shutters, misting sessions and open windows in the evening to keep his ground-level flat cool. Less than 20km away, in a southern suburb of Paris, Aboubakar, 60, wept as he explained that temperatures had climbed as high as 40C inside his fourth-floor flat. “I’m suffocating,” he told the Guardian. “I can’t afford to buy a fan. There are no shutters on my flat. At night I can’t sleep, it’s like a furnace.” It’s a glimpse of a disparity that researchers in Europe and beyond have increasingly sought to highlight as the climate crisis intensifies. As scorching summer temperatures become the new normal, those living in poverty are disproportionately bearing the brunt. Julio Díaz Jiménez, a professor at Madrid’s Carlos III health institute, told me when I first started to dig into this: “It’s common sense. A heatwave is not the same when you’re in a shared room with three other people and no air conditioning, as when you’re in a villa with access to a pool and air conditioning.” This disparity burst into view in recent days, as the most severe heatwave on record swept across much of Europe, leaving up to 150 million people, from Bordeaux to Budapest, grappling with days of record-breaking temperatures. As the mercury soared past 40C at times, people got creative: heat-choked Parisians took to sleeping in parks, police in Berlin deployed water cannon to cool people down and households in Amsterdam hung curtains outside their windows to block out the sun. It soon became clear, however, that not everyone was equally exposed, or able to access such strategies. In the UK, hotels reported a surge in demand from people booking air-conditioned rooms. In the richest area west of Paris, some towns banned access to their municipal swimming pools for anyone coming from other areas, while in Germany, a public swimming lake turned away visitors who did not speak German. Others, including those who live in the half of French homes that have insufficient protection from high temperatures, said they had little choice but to suffer through the heat. Some live in heat-trap homes or concrete-heavy areas with little access to green spaces; many rely on crowded, hot buses to get around the city. Many spoke of struggling to access adequate healthcare, leaving them more likely to suffer conditions that could be exacerbated by extreme heat or working in sectors where they are regularly exposed to high temperatures, such as agriculture and construction. *** The hardest hit As Asad Rehman, chief executive of Friends of the Earth, told the Guardian, the heat “throws a grenade into every vulnerability you already have”. The sharp divergence in experiences should set off alarm bells for policymakers across Europe, the world’s fastest-warming continent. As my colleague Ajit Niranjan pointed out in a climate crisis Q&A this week: “Each year heat kills 10 times more people than murderers in Europe.” The point was underlined by recent research suggesting that the combination of extreme temperatures and inequality could be responsible for more than 100,000 deaths a year in Europe. Instead, the heatwave laid bare just how unprepared much of Europe is for extreme heat, with most people left to their own devices to cope. A fuller picture of the consequences of this most recent heatwave is now beginning to emerge, as France’s national public health agency said about 1,000 additional deaths were recorded between 24 and 27 June, while in Spain, a public institute suggested that the heatwave could be linked to more than 600 deaths. It’s a bleak display of how the climate crisis is exacerbating inequalities, argued the leftwing Democracy in Europe Movement 2025, launched by Greece’s former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis in a stark social media post. “This heat is not only a climate emergency, but it is also a class war,” it said. “The rich burn the planet, then buy air conditioning, private pools and second homes while workers are left in overheated flats, unsafe jobs, failed public services and burning cities.” To receive the complete version of This Is Europe in your inbox every Wednesday, please subscribe here.

Bayeux tapestry tickets generate nine-hour online queues as public scramble for access

People keen to see the Bayeux tapestry faced online queues of up to nine hours when tickets went on sale for the first time on Wednesday morning. The British Museum, which is hosting the wool-on-linen artwork from September, saw huge traffic to its ticketing website as a scramble for access began. There were reports of 40,000 people queueing by mid morning, with that figure ballooning to almost 80,000 by mid afternoon. Those queueing online were told: “We’re currently experiencing high levels of demand. Booking online is still recommended however wait times may extend up to nine hours.” Those waiting were asked to “be patient” and were advised queueing online was still a better option than contacting the museum’s “exceptionally busy” phone lines or email inbox. Ticket sales today would be for slots between the show’s opening in September and December. Two other releases will follow in October and January for the remainder of the tapestry’s historic stay in Britain, which runs until July 2027. Tickets are priced at £33 during peak times, which is almost triple the €12 (£10) charged where it is normally on display in Normandy. Off-peak tickets will cost adults £27; it is estimated that the British Museum could generate more than £8.6m from the exhibition. The museum’s director, Dr Nicholas Cullinan, defended the ticket prices in advance of the sale. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Well, £33 are the peak tickets. “The majority of tickets are off-peak, so they’re less and all children under 16 will see it for free. We felt it was very important to make this something that all young people have access to.” The tapestry’s arrival in Britain is one of the most anticipated cultural moments of the year and is closely tied to the soft power agenda of both Britain and France. In exchange for allowing the British Museum to show the tapestry – which is almost 1,000 years old and depicts William the Conqueror’s victory over King Harold II of England at Hastings in 1066 – the Lewis chessmen, the Sutton Hoo helmet, the Mold gold cape and the Dunaverney flesh hook will travel to Normandy. The 70-metre-long cloth has not been seen in England since it was created in the 11th century and has been insured for £800m before the British Museum exhibition. It is covered under the Government Indemnity Scheme, an alternative to commercial insurance that allows art and cultural objects to be shown in the UK. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has faced a backlash for allowing the loan to go ahead, critics saying he ignored expert advice that said the artefact was too fragile to be transported to UK. French campaigners sought to block the loan by taking their case to the Conseil d’État, France’s highest court for determining the legitimacy of executive power. Despite those efforts the tapestry will come to the British Museum from September 2026 to July 2027, and joins France’s 1963 loan of the Mona Lisa to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York as one of the most high-profile loans ever. The piece will be transported in a specially designed container made to absorb any shocks and vibrations from potholes, while humidity levels will be closely monitored.

EU must keep promises on Ukraine accession talks, says Zelenskyy, as Ireland takes presidency – as it happened

We are now closing the blog. Here is your summary of the day so far: Ireland’s prime minister Micheál Martin has pledged to “give it our all” as Ireland begins its six-month rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union and lead the bloc’s discussions on the next EU budget, Ukraine, and accession talks (15:24). Ukraine’s bid to join the European Union will be one of the central issues of the presidency, with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy urging the bloc to “show that the EU keeps its promises” (15:39). Ever an optimist, the European Council president António Costa said “we will be counting on the Irish humour and charm to see us through” (15:46). In other news, At least five people were killed and more injured in a fire in a 10-storey apartment tower in the Belgian city of Antwerp (13:07, 13:35), with the country’s monarch and prime minister set to visit the scene later today (16:49). A rebel group of ultra-conservative Catholics has defied Pope Leo by ordaining bishops without his consent, which they declared a “sacred duty” despite it causing their automatic excommunication. Canada will join the Eurovision song contest in 2027, becoming the first new ⁠participant since Australia in 2015, organisers have announced. If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at jakub.krupa@theguardian.com. I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.

Fears of Catholic schism as defiant sect ordains ultra-conservative bishops

A rebel group of ultra-conservative Catholics has defied Pope Leo by ordaining bishops without his consent, which they declared a “sacred duty” despite it causing their automatic excommunication. In a ritual-filled ceremony on Wednesday, streamed live from the Swiss village of Ecône, the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) went ahead with the consecrations of four bishops, one from Switzerland, one from France and two from the US. Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta, who himself was consecrated without papal consent in 1988, placed his hands on the head of the four new bishops, a ritual laying of the hands that Catholics believe confers the Holy Spirit from one bishop to another. Under Catholic church law, all five now face automatic excommunication. The SSPX, founded in 1970 in Ecône to oppose liberalising changes in the Catholic church, is a considered a threat to Pope Leo’s leadership since it represents a parallel, ultra-Catholic church. The pontiff had made a last-ditch effort to persuade the society to halt the ordinations, calling them a “schismatic act” and a “sin of extreme gravity”. But, as the mass began on Wednesday, a priest read aloud a statement defending the consecrations while lamenting the Catholic church’s deviation from tradition. “Therefore before God we consider it a sacred duty toward holy church and toward souls to proceed with the consecration of bishops who are entirely faithful to her holy tradition and to her constant magisterium,” the priest said. “We consider every punishment and censure brought to bear against this step will have no validity.” Organ music played and a large crowd gathered to watch as hundreds of priests processed through the mountain village towards the society’s seminary, where the ordinations were carried out. Among those in the crowd were members of the Italian neofascist party Forza Nuova, and Futuro Nazionale, a new far-right force threatening the Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s chances of winning a second mandate in general elections next year. Despite being a splinter group, the SSPX has a wide reach, gaining a significant following in the US, where it has a large operations base in Kansas, as well as in France, Argentina and other countries. The order has nearly 1,500 priests, seminarians and other vocational members. The society rejects central changes that emerged from the Second Vatican Council – a landmark Vatican gathering of cardinals, patriarchs, bishops, theological experts and others between 1962 and 1965 – including allowing mass to be celebrated in local languages. Until then it had been said only in Latin. However, the live stream of Wednesday’s ceremony, carried out in French, was translated into English, German, Italian and Polish. During the offertory, a QR code appeared on the screen so that those following remotely could make donations. The ordinations could prove to be the first significant crisis for Pope Leo because they provoke a schism – an intentional rupture of the church’s unity. Since Leo was elected in May last year, the first North American pope, he has made church unity a priority and has worked especially hard to heal rifts with traditionalists, which had deepened during the papacy of his predecessor, Francis. The clash is the first between the Vatican and the SSPX since 1988, when Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, the society’s founder, and four bishops he had ordained without the permission of the then pope, John Paul II, were excommunicated, including a British bishop, Richard Williamson. In 2009, the conservative Pope Benedict lifted the excommunications. Shortly before, Williamson had caused uproar by denying the Holocaust.

Venezuelan police officers arrested over alleged looting after earthquakes

Four Venezuelan police officers have been arrested and are facing dismissal after being accused of looting cash from the rubble of a building that collapsed during last week’s devastating twin earthquakes. Local people and national and international rescue teams continue to search for survivors in the aftermath of the back-to-back quakes, which have killed almost 2,000 people, injured more than 10,000, and left tens of thousands missing. Videos on social media showed angry people trying to stop members of the scientific, penal and criminalistic investigation service corps (CICPC) helping themselves to a safe full of dollars from a ruined building in the hard-hit state of La Guaira. In a statement, the CICPC said four officers had been arrested and relieved of their duties, and disciplinary action for their “immediate dismissal” had begun. “In light of the recent events in the areas affected by the earthquakes in La Guaira state, it was confirmed that a group of officers, deviating from their duties and taking advantage of the rescue and humanitarian aid efforts, acted improperly by appropriating valuables found among the rubble,” the statement said. “This individual conduct, reprehensible and contrary to the fundamental values of our doctrine, directly undermines the institution’s prestige and public respect.” Although a three-year-old boy was pulled alive from the rubble of a building in La Guaira on Tuesday, hopes of finding more survivors are dwindling. Meanwhile, public anger over the slow pace of the government’s rescue effort – and over the conduct of some members of the military and police – is growing. Volunteers, many equipped with little more than with shovels, ropes and their bare hands, say they are doing everything they can to locate survivors while, they say, some Venezuelan military and police personnel are looting, blocking aid and co-opting donations. On Wednesday hundreds of volunteers were still streaming into La Guaira, the disaster’s ground zero, to offer their support. “We want to do everything we can to help,” said Fabiano Nadales, 35, a volunteer from the city of Valencia who was travelling on the back of a pickup truck with a team of about 15 medical students and amateur searchers. Nadales said he still had hope that more survivors could be found. “Miracles happen. Some people can survive 10 days,” he said as his convoy waited in a huge traffic jam. “It’s really tough … but we are just trying to help,” said Estefania Callejas, 25, a third-year medical student from Valencia who was also among those battling to reach the scene in the hope of helping treat the thousands of walking wounded. Senior government officials have blamed misinformation for the growing civilian anger and ⁠reports of military personnel involvement in looting and slow aid. They have urged the public to ignore “manipulation strategies on social networks” and rely on official information. But some of the volunteer rescuers say they see little evidence of the authorities rushing to help, a week after the disaster hit. “You see the ⁠firefighters and [Mexican rescue team] Los Topos,” Alexander Delgado, a teacher from the central ⁠Venezuelan state of Aragua, told Reuters. “But you don’t see the state, per se.” His team has spent five days shifting rubble and listening intently for sounds of life under the hot Caribbean sun in La Guaira. They are supported by other local volunteers, who bring water, face masks, ice and knowledge about the eight-tower Hugo Chávez housing development, where six towers are now debris. Venezuela’s ministry of communications, which handles media inquiries for the military and police, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. By Tuesday, six days in, there ‌were two international rescue teams and some local firefighters, as well ‌as one truck from Venezuela’s forensic service, but they still lacked heavy equipment, said Delgado. Mijaed Díaz, a veterinarian who had joined other volunteers, also said more help was needed from the Venezuelan authorities. “I would like more presence of public entities, who really are those responsible for this,” he said as he looked for body bags for four cadavers that had just been pulled from the rubble. “But in the end we’re used to making do with almost nothing.” Daniela Armas, who was waiting to get food in an emergency shelter in La Guaira, said the situation was desperate. “They give out supplies here, but sometimes people nearly kill each other for food,” she told Agence France-Presse. “It’s like a cockfight.” After initially thanking civilian volunteers, the government on Friday restricted public access to La Guaira, enraging people trying to help find survivors. One government employee stationed at a checkpoint in La Guaira on Sunday told Reuters they had witnessed police officers and military personnel commandeer aid from three trucks carrying supplies, bragging about what they had managed to “score”. The acting Venezuelan president, Delcy Rodríguez, is trying to shore up her power after the US snatched her predecessor, Nicolás Maduro, in January. “Delcy and company have been in charge for 26 years and they only have one script,” said James Story, who was the US ambassador to Venezuela until 2023. “They take credit for anything positive, push blame for anything negative and try to control the narrative.” Donald Trump, however, has hailed the US relationship with Rodríguez, and American companies have expressed interest in everything from oil to gold. The US embassy’s charge d’affaires, John Barrett, also vouched for Rodriguez’s handling of the disaster, telling Univision on Monday that he had “a great deal of confidence” in local authorities. The 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude shocks – one of the worst earthquake disasters in Latin American history – collapsed whole residential complexes on 24 June. Preliminary analysis of satellite data suggests that more than 58,000 buildings may have been damaged or destroyed in the quake, dwarfing official estimates of the devastation. On Monday, Jorge Rodríguez, the president of the National Assembly, said 855 buildings had been damaged, including 189 “total collapses”. Reuters and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report