A rare earthquake in Australia sows panic in Melbourne

A magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck southeastern Australia on Wednesday, shaking Melbourne buildings and running out panicked residents in a region unaccustomed to earthquakes. The quake, which occurred only about ten kilometers deep, surprised residents of Australia's second largest city at 09:00 in the morning (23:00 GMT) and was felt hundreds of kilometers around. Rescue services received calls for help as far as Dubbo, about 700 kilometers from the epicenter. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) estimated the magnitude at 5.8, before revising it to 5.9. Scenes of panicked residents leaving homes have invaded social media.

One of Biden's great allies calls for an end to the "vile" expulsions of Haitians

In a rare criticism, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer urged Joe Biden to immediately end the "despicable" deportations of Haitian migrants, sent back to an unstable country plagued by violence. The Democratic president's administration is struggling to deal with a sudden and massive influx of thousands of Haitian migrants, who massed under a bridge last week in the small border town of Del Rio, Texas. This weekend, his government began flying them back to their country. "Such a decision goes against common sense" and "decency," Chuck Schumer protested in the Chamber. In addition to political unrest and insecurity in Haiti, a deadly earthquake ravaged the southwest of the island in August, killing more than 2,200 people. More broadly, Chuck Schumer, one of Joe Biden's main allies, asked him to reverse the health rules adopted at the beginning of the pandemic by his predecessor Donald Trump, to allow the immediate refoulement of migrants. "We cannot continue these vile and xenophobic policies coming from Trump, which ignore our refugee laws," he said.

IN BRIEF

U.S. and French Foreign Ministers Antony Blinken and Jean-Yves Le Drian will be able to "exchange views" on Wednesday at a meeting with other powers at the UN, although no one-on-one meetings are yet scheduled on the crisis between the two allied countries.

Cent-fifty-four migrants who were trying to reach England on makeshift boats were rescued between Monday and Tuesday in the Strait of Pas-de-Calais, the maritime prefecture announced Tuesday.

With his usual sense of humor, football legend Pelé on Tuesday posted a video in which he is seen pedaling on a bicycle in the hope of soon getting out of the Sao Paulo hospital where he is being treated after colon surgery.