Venezuela
17 killed in stampede after brawl at club
CARACAS — Seventeen people were killed at a crowded nightclub in Venezuela’s capital Saturday after a tear gas device exploded during a brawl and triggered a desperate stampede among hundreds gathered for a graduation celebration, government officials said.
Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said the incident at the “Los Cotorros” club in the middle-class neighborhood of El Paraiso left eight minors dead and five injured. Seven people have been detained, including the individual believed to have set off the tear gas canister.
“The establishment has been ordered closed, and we are investigating in coordination with the public ministry, which is directing the criminal investigation,” he said.
More than 500 people were believed to be inside the club when the fight broke out. Photos shared online from previous celebrations at the club show a dark interior with wooden tables and a stage upfront where DJs shuffled songs.
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Greece
Government survives Macedonia vote
ATHENS — Greece’s left-led coalition government survived a no-confidence vote in parliament Saturday over a deal to end a decades-old dispute with neighboring Macedonia concerning the latter’s name.
But the government suffered a loss in its parliamentary majority after lawmaker Dimitris Kammenos of the nationalist Independent Greeks, the government’s junior coalition partner, voted in favor. He was kicked out of the party immediately after the vote, leaving the governing coalition with a three-member majority.
Lawmakers voted 153-127 in the 300-member parliament against the motion brought by the conservative main opposition party over the deal to rename the former Yugoslav republic North Macedonia. In the agreement, Athens would drop its objections to the country joining NATO and the European Union.
Germany
Couple exchanges vows on tightrope
BERLIN — A couple in eastern Germany was married in a swing dangling from a motorcycle atop a tightrope, 46 feet above the ground.
The German news agency dpa reported that a pastor standing in a cage atop a fire service ladder presided over the wedding of Nicole Backhaus and Jens Knorr in the town of Stassfurt on Saturday. The couple exchanged rings in the air but, for safety’s sake, waited until they were back on the ground to kiss.
More than 3,000 people watched the wedding.
Wire reports
