Midday Roundup: Another quake shakes Nepal

Still shaking. Another earthquake rattled Nepal this morning. According to officials, the death toll stands at 42 and counting. At least three people in India and one in China also died. The 7.4 magnitude temblor struck a remote area northeast of the capital, near the Chinese border. At least eight aftershocks rumbled in the hour following the first quake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Officials closed Kathmandu’s international airport for about 30 minutes and now are questioning plans to reopen area schools Friday. The region is still trying to recover from the 7.8 magnitude quake on April 25 that killed more than 8,150 people and injured 17,000 more. Many buildings in the area remain unstable after the initial earthquake, putting people at greater risk during future quakes. Residents who just returned to their homes poured into the streets once more, making plans to spend the night outdoors.

Tense talks. Secretary of State John Kerry is in Sochi, Russia, today to meet with President Vladimir Putin. The Russians have described the meeting as a chance to “normalize relations” strained by conflicts in Syria and Ukraine. But State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf took issue with that description yesterday, saying, “It’s just not a term I would use. That’s sort of a technical, diplomatic term. This is part of our ongoing effort to maintain open lines of communication on all of these issues, where we agree, where we disagree.” Two areas of likely disagreement up for discussion today in Sochi: getting rid of the Russian-backed Assad regime in Syria and continued ceasefire violations by Russian separatist forces in Ukraine.

Less Christian? According to a new Pew Research Center survey, the number of American Christians is shrinking, while the number of people who don’t identify with any religion is growing. Compared to a similar survey conducted in 2007, those who said they identified with no religion, commonly known as “nones,” grew from 16 percent to 23 percent. Christians dropped from 78 percent to just under 71 percent of the population. But most of the losses came from liberal denominations and the Catholic Church, according to the study. Mainline Protestants declined by 5 million between 2007 and 2014. Those who identified as evangelicals grew to 62 million people, about one-quarter of all Americans. Although their numbers are growing, Muslims and Hindus still make up just a fraction of the U.S. population—1 percent each.

Another look. A federal judge has reopened a lawsuit to obtain Hillary Clinton’s emails. Revelations that she used both a private server and private email account while serving as secretary of state meant Freedom of Information Act requests were thwarted, critics say. The watchdog group Judicial Watch filed several records requests that were ignored. It then went to court to force compliance with the law. Chris Fedeli of Judicial Watch said reopening a closed case is uncommon: “In this case, not only the judge but both Judicial Watch and the State Department agreed that this newly discovered evidence of Hillary Clinton’s private email arrangement was sufficient grounds to reopen a lawsuit which had already been settled and dismissed with prejudice.” Clinton wiped the server of thousands of emails she says weren’t related to government business. She also refuses to release the server for inspection by a third party.

You’ve got a deal. Verizon Communications announced this morning it plans to buy one-time internet leader AOL in a deal worth $4.4 billion. As part of the acquisition, Verizon will get popular online media outlet The Huffington Post and a collection of video streaming services that will help the company with its goal to become the leader in delivering streaming television over the internet. AOL once ruled the world wide web, but since its $165 billion acquisition of Time Warner, it has been shuffled to the sidelines. That deal became the symbol of the dot-com bubble and was widely regarded as the biggest debacle in corporate history.

WORLD Radio’s Mary Reichard and Jim Henry and the Associated Press contributed to this report.