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What are the latest updates on the earthquakes in Venezuela?
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dave Mattingly. Authorities in Venezuela are reporting more than 30 deaths and widespread destruction from a pair of powerful earthquakes that struck the country yesterday. The U.S. Geological Survey says the first quake had a magnitude of 7.2. That was followed about a minute later by a stronger 7.5 earthquake.
The country's acting president says dozens of buildings collapsed north of Caracas. Reporter Maria Gratterall is in Caracas.
We see people out in the streets. They are like in groups with their families, with the pets, cats. And well, they are basically waiting outside the buildings and outside their houses. And they are covered with some sweaters. They have some blankets. And they are just, you know, like trying to wait for something because they cannot really enter their houses.
That's reporter Maria Gratterall in Venezuela's capital. A day after passing a war powers resolution on Iran, the Senate rejected a similar measure. The late-night vote was 50-47, with one GOP lawmaker, Rand Paul of Kentucky, voting present.
The vote came hours after President Trump went to Capitol Hill and criticized senators in his party for supporting Tuesday's resolution, denouncing the lawmakers as losers.
Afterwards, Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana told reporters he defended his position during the closed-door meeting with Trump, saying the war with Iran lasted months, not weeks, and the original objectives have not been achieved.
Cassidy says he later received a briefing on Iran from Vice President Vance and the president's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, before voting with fellow Republicans last night against the latest War Powers resolution. The cost of fertilizer is on the decline for the first time since the start of the war between the U.S. and Iran.
NPR's Kirk Sigler says American farmers don't expect to see much relief from the higher prices for months.
Farmers are watching the tentative peace deal with Iran closely. The conflict and the straining of global shipping of diesel and fertilizer has been just the latest economic shock for the heartland. Most of the fertilizer farmers like Dave Walton are using right now was bought by local co-ops before the Strait of Hormuz reopened. Walton grows soybeans in Iowa.
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