Briefly

UNITED STATES

NYC high-rise to be fixed as columns buckle

Workers began making emergency repairs to stabilize a Manhattan high-rise on Tuesday evening after buckled columns and sagging floors forced evacuations in and around the midtown construction site. The scene unfolded throughout the day after the precarious conditions were spotted in the morning at the 1970s-era building, which is being converted into luxury apartments. Construction workers at the site and people in nearby buildings — including a school, diplomatic offices and several hotels — in the busy corridor of midtown were rushed out after firefighters were called there around 8 am. By early afternoon, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the building remained unstable and called it "an extremely serious situation". City officials going floor-by-floor later found no additional movement of the damaged columns, giving on-site contractors the green light to move forward with emergency repairs, his office said.

VENEZUELA

Airport damaged by quakes to reopen

Venezuela's Acting President Delcy Rodriguez said on Tuesday the international airport damaged in last month's twin earthquakes would reopen as soon as possible using an alternative runway. Simon Bolivar International Airport is in La Guaira, north of Caracas and near the epicenter of the June 24 quakes that toppled scores of residential buildings and killed nearly 3,700 people. One of Latin America's worst earthquake disasters has left thousands of people homeless and thousands more still missing, especially in badly damaged La Guaira, where families are still digging in the rubble. The airport has been partially open to humanitarian flights.

AGENCIES-XINHUA