Back-To-Back Quakes Slam Venezuela, Collapsing Buildings In Caracas

PARIS - France is bracing for another day of brutal heat, with more than half the country under a red alert and tens of thousands of homes in Brittany without power after a transformer failure tied to the temperatures.

Officials say 40 people have died in heatwave-related drownings since 18 June. The national weather service says Tuesday was France's hottest June day on record, and the worst may not be over yet.

BOGOTÁ - Colombia's left-wing candidate Iván Cepeda conceded defeat Wednesday after preliminary results showed right-wing rival Abelardo de la Espriella had won the presidential runoff by less than 1 percentage point.

Cepeda said he was accepting the result “as an act of democratic responsibility,” ending the immediate dispute over a vote that had already been certified as 99.997 percent accurate by election officials. De la Espriella, a political newcomer and Trump-backed lawyer, is now set to take over a country split almost evenly down the middle.

BERLIN - Deutsche Bahn resumed train services after a fault in its GSM-R rail radio system halted all trains across Germany for a little more than two hours late Tuesday. Trains were held at stations and thousands of passengers were stranded while technicians fixed the problem. The company said it had never seen a disruption like it before, and warned delays could linger into Wednesday morning.

PARIS - France has confirmed its first Ebola case in the current outbreak, in a doctor who returned from a humanitarian mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The health ministry said the patient was immediately admitted to a specialist facility, is stable, and is being treated under strict biosafety protocols. Contact tracing is under way. The outbreak in Congo has topped 1,000 confirmed cases and 267 deaths.

WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court on Tuesday let the Trump administration expand expedited deportations nationwide, clearing the way for immigration officials to use a fast-track process far beyond the border. The 2 to 1 ruling overturns a lower court order that had blocked the move on due process grounds. The policy now reaches any unauthorized immigrant who cannot prove two years of U.S. residence. Another immigration fight is still moving through the courts.

WASHINGTON - President Trump canceled a planned signing ceremony Wednesday for a bipartisan housing bill, saying he will not sign it until the Senate passes his election integrity measure. The housing bill cleared Congress with wide bipartisan support. It is not clear whether Trump means to kill it or just hold it hostage for leverage, which is a distinction Washington loves and everyone else can do without.

WASHINGTON - Weeks of festivities for America's 250th birthday begin Wednesday night on the National Mall, with President Trump set to speak at the opening rally after musical acts dropped out. CBS News says the event kicks off a run of celebrations in Washington. The music may be thinner than planned. The politics will not be.

WASHINGTON - All branches of the U.S. military began requiring flu shots for recruits again earlier this month, a Pentagon official confirmed Wednesday, carving out an exception to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's decision to make the vaccine voluntary. The move came before Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, home to basic training, publicly acknowledged an outbreak that has sickened 275 people. The exemptions were granted in June, and the recruits are back on the list.

SEOUL - SK Hynix Inc. shares surged after the memory chipmaker unveiled plans for a $29 billion U.S. listing, a move investors read as a bid to lift its valuation.

Analysts said the listing could help fund capacity expansion and make the stock easier for foreign investors to buy. The market liked the sound of that. Shares jumped 12%.

TORONTO - Jamieson Wellness Inc., the Canadian vitamins and supplements maker, is working with Bank of Montreal and Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. to explore a sale, according to people familiar with the matter. The company has not said publicly that it is for sale, which is usually how these things go until it isn't. For now, the bankers are in the room and the process is underway.

MIAMI - Vinícius Júnior scored twice and Matheus Cunha added a third as Brazil beat Scotland 3-0 on Wednesday to win Group C and reach the World Cup knockout stage.

Scotland never really recovered from the early defensive mistake that opened the door. Brazil were sharper, calmer and, by the hour mark, already in control. Scotland now need results elsewhere to keep their tournament alive. Steve Clarke did not sound optimistic.

INGLEWOOD - Mauricio Pochettino said four U.S. players on yellow cards will not start Thursday’s Group D finale against Türkiye, with a round of 32 suspension on the line if they pick up another booking.

The Americans have already won the group and Türkiye is out, so the match changes nothing in the standings. Christian Pulisic said he is feeling good after his calf issue and hopes to play, but not for 90 minutes. Pochettino sounds ready to shuffle the deck anyway.

BROOKLYN - The first round of the 2026 NBA Draft went mostly chalk, and the second round still has real names on it. Isaiah Evans, Meleek Thomas and Henri Veesaar all slipped through Wednesday's opening night, even though each was widely projected to go earlier. The Knicks open Day 2 at No. 31, and the trade chatter is already back. That part, at least, feels on brand.

MIAMI - Ronaldinho has signed with Italian Serie C club Ravenna at 46, more than a decade after he last played professionally. The former Brazil star announced the move in Miami and shared footage of himself signing in a new No. 10 shirt. Ravenna says he will play, though it has not said when. For a third-division club, this is the kind of signing that changes the room before it changes the table.

LAUSANNE - The International Olympic Committee is setting up a $140 million fund to pay athletes at the Summer and Winter Games for the first time in its history. The money will be distributed as grants to every participant, a rare admission that the people who make the spectacle are not supposed to live on applause alone. The IOC has spent decades selling amateur purity. It is now writing checks.

MISSOURI - ESPN NFL draft analyst Matt Miller said Tuesday that he was airlifted to Mercy Hospital after a serious car crash in Missouri and underwent a life-saving amputation of his left arm.

He said he also suffered multiple fractures and broken ribs. Miller thanked first responders and hospital staff, and said he is focused on recovery. “I’m incredibly fortunate to be writing this,” he wrote. “While I have a long road ahead, I’m focused on my recovery and taking things one day at a time.”