Colombia quake death toll rises to 329

The death toll from the 7.5-magnitude earthquake that struck Colombia on Aug. 10 has risen to 329, the country’s National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD) said Friday.

The quake has also left 4,600 people injured and 247 missing, while 364 people have been rescued, the UNGRD said.

According to the agency, the disaster has affected 481 municipalities in 16 departments across the country, impacting 314,000 people.

The 7.5-magnitude earthquake jolted Colombia last week at a depth of 80 km, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC).

The Trump administration has initiated procedures to pay 725 million U.S. dollars toward U.S. arrears owed to the United Nations, according to a State Department notification to Congress on Thursday.

The payment is expected to be completed before President Trump travels to New York next month to attend the UN General Assembly and deliver an address.

However, the 725 million U.S. dollars represents less than 20 percent of the total amount the United States owes.

In May, the United Nations said U.S. arrears exceeded 4 billion U.S. dollars. The U.S. side maintains that the actual total is lower than that figure.

Under the UN Charter, a member state may lose its voting rights in the General Assembly if its arrears equal or exceed the total assessments due for the preceding two years.

The United States is the largest contributor to the UN budget. The Trump administration had previously refused to pay some mandatory assessments for the UN regular budget and peacekeeping budget, cut voluntary funding to multiple UN agencies, and withdrawn from several international organizations.