The UN has warned Venezuela is heading for the same refugee “crisis moment” seen in the Mediterranean in 2015.
The warning comes as neighbouring countries try to stem the flow of Venezuelans looking to escape the country’s dire economic situation.
Peru brings in stricter border regulations on Saturday – a day after a court overturned Ecuador’s attempt to strengthen its own controls.
More than two million Venezuelans have fled their country since 2014.
They are fleeing a severe economic crisis which has led to shortages of food, medicine and basic goods, with many saying they are doing so because they cannot get the operations and medical care they need.
Now, the threat of becoming trapped has sent many more running for the border.
Jonathan Zambrano, 18, told reporters he had been on the road for five days, seeing many others walking towards Peru as he made the journey.
More than 2,500 crossed into a small Peruvian border town on Friday, according to the AFP with thousands more attempting to reach Peru at the main crossing in Ecuador.
They are trying to arrive before the new rule, requiring them to have valid passports, is brought into force on Saturday.
Until now, Venezuelans have been allowed to enter Peru with just their ID cards.
Ecuador brought in a similar law last week.
However, on Friday, a judge found requiring Venezuelans to carry valid passports broke regional agreements on freedom of movement.
The state of Roraima, in Brazil’s Amazon region, also had its attempt to close the border thrown out by a judge earlier this month.
A hardening towards Venezuelans seeking a new life could also be heard on the streets in Peru.
Giannella Jaramillo, who runs a clothes stall in a town near the border, told news agency AFP: “On the one hand, we’re sorry for the Venezuelan people, but they are taking a job away from a Peruvian.
“It’s hard to help more people.”
Her words are echoed by Ecuadoran Gerardo Gutierrez.
“Walk two blocks and you see 10 Venezuelans, walk another two and you see 10 Venezuelans.
“In economically poor countries, it’s hard to help more people with what little there is.”
Joel Millman, a spokesman for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), pointed out all this – as well as recent violence at the border in Brazil – was an early warning sign that the region was in need of help.
“This is building to a crisis moment that we’ve seen in other parts of the world, particularly in the Mediterranean,” he told reporters.
“A difficult situation can become a crisis situation very quickly and we have to be prepared,” he added.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is to set up a special UN team which will co-ordinate a regional response to the crisis, while Ecuador is to host a 13-nation regional summit in September.
Papal visit: Pope Francis to begin two-day Irish visit
Pope Francis is set to meet victims of clerical sex abuse later during the Republic of Ireland’s first papal visit for almost 40 years.
In a letter to the world’s 1.2bn Roman Catholics, the Pope this week condemned the “atrocities” of child abuse and clerical cover-ups.
The visit coincides with the World Meeting of Families – a global Catholic gathering held every three years.
It will end with a Mass for 500,000 people at Phoenix Park on Sunday.
The Ireland that Pope Francis will visit when he steps off his aircraft, Shepherd One, in Dublin later is a different country to that which greeted Pope John Paul II in 1979.
Since the Polish Pope’s visit, there have been huge changes in public attitudes to social issues including abortion, contraception, divorce and same-sex marriage.
The country voted for constitutional change on gay marriage in 2015 and voted overwhelmingly to overturn its strict abortion law in May.
The Irish Catholic Church has been engulfed in scandal with the uncovering of widespread clerical sexual abuse of children and cover-ups.
Child sex-abuse scandals continue to embroil the Church around the globe.
On Friday, Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister (taoiseach), said he hoped Pope Francis’s visit would mark the beginning of a new chapter in Ireland’s relationship with the Church.
“In the past the Catholic Church had too much of a dominant place in our society,” he said.
“It still has a place in our society, but not one that determines public policy or determines our laws.”
The taoiseach described the papal visit as one of the biggest events in Ireland in the past 40 years, adding it was also a chance for the Pope to speak directly to those harmed by crimes that took place in Church-run institutions.
The Vatican said the meeting with sex-abuse survivors would not be announced until after it was over, and that it would be up to victims if they wanted to speak afterwards.
On Saturday evening, the Pope will attend the Festival of Families concert in Dublin’s Croke Park stadium.
More than 70,000 people are expected to take part, with the world-renowned tenor Andrea Bocelli due to perform.
Other acts on the bill include Nathan Carter, Daniel O’Donnell, Moya Brennan, the Begley Family and the Priests.
Jean-Pierre Bemba ‘cannot run for DRC president’
Former warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba cannot run to be the next president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the country’s electoral commission said.
Mr. Bemba was one of six would-be candidates deemed ineligible following hours of deliberation.
The ex-rebel leader had a war crimes conviction overturned in June.
However, the commission said Mr. Bemba was excluded because of his conviction by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for bribing witnesses.
Mr. Bemba, who returned to the DR Congo at the start of August after 11 years spent in exile or prison, is currently appealing against the ICC conviction.
This year’s election is meant to choose a successor to President Joseph Kabila, whose second and final term in office ended two years ago.
The governing coalition has nominated former Interior Minister Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary to be its candidate.
A total of 25 people put their names forward, including former prime ministers Antoine Gizenga and Adolphe Muzito – both of whom were deemed ineligible to run.
Opposition parties condemned the electoral commission’s decision before it was even announced, accusing “the current regime” of trying “to suppress the electoral process.”
Those excluded, including Mr. Bemba, who is one of President Kabila’s most feared rivals, can appeal against the decision.
The final list of candidates is scheduled to be published in September.
Hawaii storm: Hurricane Lane downgrade to tropical storm
Hurricane Lane has been downgraded to a tropical storm as it churns towards Hawaii, but is still causing flash flooding and landslides.
Schools and offices were closed as residents took shelter from the storm, which pummelled the US state with strong winds and torrential rain.
But Hawaii looks spared its first direct hit by a major storm in 25 years.
President Donald Trump earlier declared a state of emergency for the state.
The White House said federal authorities were on standby to provide support and supplies to local and state emergency response efforts.
The Central Pacific Hurricane Centre said early on Friday afternoon Hurricane Lane was “weakening quickly,” with sustained winds of 85 mph (137km/h).
By 17:00 local time (03:00 GMT Saturday), the sustained wind speed had dropped to 70 mph, although “more flooding and damaging winds” were expected on parts of the islands.
Weather Service forecaster Leigh Anne Eaton said some parts of Big Island had already seen almost 3ft (90cm) or rain.
Meanwhile, the National Weather Service said there had been “catastrophic flooding” and wind gusts reaching 67mph (108 kmph).
Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) chief, Brock Long, took to Twitter to warn those in Hawaii to “heed the warnings of local officials and stay aware of your surroundings” until the danger had passed.
Amidst concerns of the approaching storm, emergency personnel responded to “rapidly spreading” brush fire in western Maui.
The fire has prompted highway closures, power outages and precautionary evacuations.
Lane was also forecast to cause dangerous surf heights of up to 25ft (7.6m) in Maui and Oahu.
Officials warned of “significant beach erosion” and waves hitting coastal roadways.
Germany: Firefighters battle huge Berlin forest blaze
Firefighters in Germany are battling to subdue one of the largest forest fires in recent decades, around 50km (30 miles) south of Berlin.
The blaze spread overnight on Thursday to an area equivalent to 500 football pitches.
Fire crews, many of them volunteers, had their work complicated by the presence of unexploded munitions, which litter the forests around Berlin.
Hundreds of people have been evacuated from homes menaced by the fire.
Authorities said 540 from three villages were moved to safer places, mostly emergency accommodation.
Blazes near the village of Treuenbrietzen were targeted by helicopters dropping water from above.
Police water cannon have also been deployed.
“I have huge respect for the firefighters who are out there right now, risking their lives,” local politician Günter Baaske said.
“We know there is ammunition lying around in the forest.”
The munitions are believed to date from the Soviet Army’s actions in the former East Germany, during World War Two.
Mr. Baaske added that some explosions had been heard.
Authorities have said the fire is now under control, but that it may take days to fully extinguish.
The blaze is believed to have been started deliberately.
The BBC reports that people living in the capital were told to close their doors and windows because of a cloud of smoke hanging over the city.
So far, air traffic to and from Berlin remains unaffected.
