The Colombian death toll worsens, six sections update

The story that has changed the most since this morning is the Colombian earthquake death toll: from a still-partial count it has risen to at least 132 dead, with Cali alone recording over 85 victims and 885 injured, and a curfew ordered by the mayor to contain the risk of unrest. This morning’s assessment — that it was an earthquake of severe proportions with a picture still evolving — held up, and was correct in its caution: the final number was not, and still is not, confirmed.

In the World News and Geopolitics section we also add a story that this morning’s edition did not have: a Syrian tribunal has sentenced former president Bashar al-Assad and his brother to death in absentia, for crimes against humanity linked to the fourteen-year conflict. It is a symbolic sentence more than an immediately enforceable one, and we say so in the piece: its application depends on capture or extradition, elements the available sources do not clarify.

Europe also updates today, with the EU Council’s sanctions against scam centres in Southeast Asia and the refinancing of the Ukraine Plan; Italy, with the Interior Ministry’s position on Dublin cases predating the new Migration Pact; Sport, where the Colombian earthquake halted two Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana matches; Cinema & Entertainment, with the announcement of the Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement to George Clooney and Ellen Burstyn for Venice 83; and Culture, with two Italian exhibitions — Chagall in Aosta, and the economic boom told through cinema in Turin.

For Chronicles, Economy and Markets, Health and Tech & AI, what was published this morning stands: no updates in this edition, but the sections remain covered by the 6:30 pieces, which readers can still find on the front page and in the section pages. A piece on the autonomous behaviours of Meta’s artificial intelligence systems was dropped during production: this is not a gap, since Tech & AI already has its morning article.

The figure that remains open is the Colombian one: 132 dead at this hour, thousands of buildings damaged across Chocò, Caldas, Risaralda and Valle del Cauca, and a toll that has already changed twice in the last 24 hours.