ANKARA, June 25 (Reuters) - Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan discussed the earthquakes in Venezuela and the country's need for aid in a call with his Venezuelan counterpart Yvan Gil on Thursday, a Turkish foreign ministry source said.

Fidan also said Turkey would continue to help and support Venezuela, the source said.

(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Chris Reese)

WASHINGTON, June 25 (Reuters) - NATO chief Mark Rutte said on Thursday that tens of billions of dollars in new defense-related contracts will be announced at the alliance's upcoming Julysummit in Ankara.

In remarks at the Atlantic Council, Rutte also said NATO would pledge support for Ukraine at the summit, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will attend.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal, Jonathan Landay, Katharine Jackson; Editing by Daphne Psaledakis)

LONDON, June 25 (Reuters) - The United Nations’ shipping agency on Thursday paused an evacuation effort to get hundreds of stranded ships and thousands of seafarers out through the Strait of Hormuz after a vessel was attacked in the Gulf of Oman.

"I have been informed of an attack today in the Gulf of Oman on a vessel which passed through the Strait of Hormuz. This vessel did not transit under IMO’s evacuation framework," Arsenio Dominguez, Secretary-General of the U.N.'s International Maritime Organization (IMO), said in a statement.

By Andrew Chung

WASHINGTON, June 25 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way on Thursday for President Donald Trump's administration to strip hundreds of thousands of Haitian and Syrian immigrants of a humanitarian status that protects them from deportation, giving another boost to his hardline approach toward immigration.

By Ahmed Saeed

KARBALA, Iraq, June 25 (Reuters) - Carrying photos of loved ones killed in the war with the U.S. and Israel, Iranian pilgrims crossed into the Iraqi holy city of Karbala to commemorate Ashura, the holiest day on the Shi'ite Muslim calendar.

Ashura falls on the 10th day of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, and marks the anniversary of the death of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammad, who was killed in battle in 680 in Karbala.

By Vivian Sequera and Mayela Armas

CARACAS, June 25 (Reuters) - Thousands of Venezuelans were feared dead on Thursday after two powerful earthquakes wreaked havoc in and around the capital Caracas, trapping people beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings and setting off powerful aftershocks.

A magnitude 7.2 earthquake hit about 160 km (100 miles) west of Caracas on Wednesday afternoon, followed less than a minute later by a magnitude 7.5 tremor, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

ANKARA, June 25 (Reuters) - Dozens of Turkish journalists have been denied accreditation for a NATO summit in the Turkish capital Ankara next month, media outlets and journalist associations said on Thursday, with NATO saying it relied on Turkey for guidance about journalists.

Turkey will host 32 NATO leaders, as well as officials from the alliance's partners in the Gulf and Asia-Pacific region, on July 7-8.

ADEN, June 25 (Reuters) - A correspondent for Saudi Arabia's Al Arabiya television in Yemen was killed when a bomb planted on his car exploded, the network said on Thursday.

It said Mohammed Aydah, a Yemeni who reported for Al Arabiya and its sister channel Al Hadath, was killed late on Wednesday in the city of Mukalla, in Yemen's eastern Hadramout governorate.

Al Arabiya said Mukalla's security authorities had warned Aydah approximately a month ago that his life was under threat, without elaborating. No group has claimed responsibility.

By Mohammad Yunus Yawar

KABUL, June 25 (Reuters) - Afghanistan's Taliban government has ordered a nationwide ban on civil servants' smartphone use, a military court order showed, prompting warnings from rights activists that the move could further restrict access to information.

The court order seen by Reuters states that smartphone use by "all officials of the military and civilian institutions, including judges" will be prohibited from June 16.

Violators will have their cellphones smashed and face punishment under the law, the order said.

By Ali Hankir and Mohamed Azakir

BEIRUT, June 25 (Reuters) - A long-awaited ceasefire has brought relative calm to Lebanon, but it hasn't brought peace of mind to Hussein Merhi.

He is among tens of thousands who remain displaced because their homes were destroyed in Israeli strikes or their hometowns fall within a swathe of the south occupied by Israel's military — or, as in his case, both.