Aftermath: The first planeloads of international aid arrived in Vanuatu today. About 90 percent of the housing in Port Vila, the capital, has been damaged or destroyed, according to the aide agency Oxfam. The organization says its resident director told them, “This is likely to be one of the worst disasters ever seen in the Pacific.”

Vanuatu’s president said homes, schools and medical clinics have been flattened.

Only a handful of deaths have been reported, but the country’s quarter million residents are spread over 80 islands, many with their communications cut off.

Back Off: The White House late yesterday sent the Senate a letter warning Republican senators not to pass a bill to interfere with nuclear negotiations with Iran. Written by White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, the letter says, “If congressional action is perceived as preventing us from reaching a deal, it will create divisions within the international community, putting at risk the very international cooperation that has been essential to our ability to pressure Iran.” President Obama is threatening to veto any such bill.

World: A bus carrying families to an evangelical event in southern Brazil yesterday plunged off a cliff killing at least 49 people. The driver lost control on a curve. Brazil has some terribly dangerous roads, but also a lot of reckless drivers. An estimated 40,000 Brazilians die in traffic accidents every year.

The Mouse that Roared: Venezuela … yes, Venezuela … is staging a 10-day chest-beating military exercise to ward off a perceived threat by the United States. Socialist President Nicolas Maduro has mobilized 80,000 soldiers and 20,000 civilians. And while it may sound ridiculous, the Obama administration last Monday declared Venezuela to be a national security threat. Venezuela’s defense minister said, “And that means an imminent danger for us, so we have to use the National Bolivarian Armed Forces as part of our constitutional mission to guarantee independence and sovereignty.”

President Maduro, you may recall, is the same leader who has had trouble keeping his country supplied with toilet paper.

Going Clear: The Church of Scientology has gone on the offensive against the new HBO documentary “Going Clear” even before the film has aired. In a six page letter to the Hollywood reporter, church representative Karin Pouw’s opening salvo says, “In two hours this film racks up more falsehoods, errors, embellished tales and blatant omissions than were committed by Rolling Stone, Brian Williams and Bill O’Reilly combined. By our calculation, the film on average includes at least one major error every two minutes.”

The movie, “Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief,” portrays Scientology as a cult that bullied the IRS into tax-exempt status as a church, and sometimes isolates and imprisons its dissenters. The church is known to fight its detractors with everything it’s got.

A Dollar Here, a Dollar There: Creflo Dollar, a televangelist and founder of the World Changers International Church who preaches “prosperity gospel,” has embarked on a new campaign. He wants a new airplane. He says he needs a new airplane. He has asked his followers to come up with more than $60 million to buy him and his wife a new Gulfstream G650 jet so they can travel the world and spread the gospel of the dollar … uhh … Minister Dollar.

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