-
Sweden jihadist jailed for life over Jordan pilot burned alive
-
Zelensky signs bill ensuring anti-graft agencies' 'independence'
-
Sleepless in Singapore: Marchand wins gold, day after world record
-
England make early double strike in India series decider
-
Popovici wins 100m freestyle world gold for sprint double
-
Marchand wins 200m medley gold, day after world record
-
Thousands of Afghans scramble for chance to work in Qatar
-
Trump's envoy arrives in Israel as Gaza criticism mounts
-
McIntosh powers to third gold of worlds, 12-year-old Yu fourth
-
Hong Kong sees 3.1% growth in second quarter
-
Stocks, dollar mixed tracking Fed, tariffs, results
-
World Athletics brings in gene tests for female category eligibility
-
Trump says tariffs are making US 'great & rich' again
-
Pakistan opposition leader given 10 years for Imran Khan protests
-
India's Bumrah out of Oval finale as England bowl in fifth Test
-
Rights groups urge Nepal to reverse Telegram ban
-
BMW says can weather tariff storm despite profit plunge
-
Zelensky urges allies to push for 'regime change' in Russia
-
Renault profits slump as competition intensifies
-
Beijing officials admit 'gaps' in readiness after rains kill dozens
-
Macau ex-lawmaker arrested in city's first national security law action
-
Beijing officials admit 'gaps' in readiness after rain kill dozens
-
Japan lifts tsunami advisory after Russia quake
-
Shell net profit retreats on lower energy prices
-
Unilever profit slides ahead of ice cream demerger
-
Trump announces new tariffs as deadline nears
-
US tariffs corrode steelmaker ArcelorMittal's profitability
-
Lions have 'massive responsibility' to finish job against Wallabies
-
BMW profits slump on China woes, US tariffs
-
Russia strikes kill six in Kyiv, Moscow says captured key town
-
Firms in Vietnam walk tightrope as Trump's transshipping rule looms
-
China summons chip giant Nvidia over alleged security risks
-
Veteran White gets fairytale sendoff for 'deflated' Wallabies
-
Trump gets his way on tariffs, but global trade system intact for now
-
Myanmar junta ends state of emergency in election run-up
-
Lions make two changes for final Wallabies Test
-
Puppet ban in Indonesian capital threatens buskers
-
White and Tupou to start for Wallabies in third Lions Test
-
Fritz beats rain, Carballes Baena, to advance in Toronto
-
Laos braced for blow of Trump tariff threat
-
United cruise over Bournemouth in Premier League US friendly
-
Most markets down as Fed holds and Trump announces fresh tariffs
-
McLaughlin-Levrone, Lyles headline US championships
-
Too much too young?: Swimming's dilemma over 12-year-old schoolgirl
-
Swiatek cruises, Osaka battles, Bouchard says goodbye in Montreal
-
China manufacturing sinks again in July as US trade talks stall
-
Vatican embraces social media 'digital missionaries'
-
'Silent killer': the science of tracing climate deaths in heatwaves
-
Seoul breaks century-long record with 22 'tropical nights' in July
-
Wallabies scrum-half Nic White calls time on career
RBGPF | 0.52% | 74.42 | $ | |
SCU | 0% | 12.72 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.26% | 23.06 | $ | |
RYCEF | -3.05% | 13.1 | $ | |
CMSC | -0.04% | 22.6 | $ | |
BCC | -1.47% | 84.89 | $ | |
JRI | 0.38% | 13.11 | $ | |
RIO | -4.67% | 59.49 | $ | |
NGG | -0.47% | 70.19 | $ | |
RELX | -0.27% | 51.78 | $ | |
SCS | -1.74% | 10.33 | $ | |
BCE | -0.55% | 23.53 | $ | |
VOD | -0.45% | 11.06 | $ | |
AZN | 3.41% | 76.59 | $ | |
GSK | 3.34% | 38.97 | $ | |
BTI | 0.73% | 53.16 | $ | |
BP | -2.2% | 32.25 | $ |
Millions evacuate in face of Pacific tsunamis after Russia quake
One of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded struck Russia's sparsely populated Far East Wednesday, causing tsunamis that forced millions to evacuate homes across the Pacific rim, from Japan to Ecuador.
The magnitude 8.8 quake struck off Russia's Kamchatka peninsula, rattling the earth and generating waves of up to four meters (12 feet) in height.
The initial quake caused limited damage and only light injuries, despite being the strongest since 2011, when 15,000 people were killed in Japan.
But tsunami warnings were issued for more than a dozen countries, with millions of residents put on high alert.
In Russia, a tsunami crashed through the port of Severo-Kurilsk submerging the local fishing plant, officials said.
Russian state television footage showed buildings and debris swept into the sea.
The surge of water reached as far as the town's World War II monument about 400 meters from the shoreline, said Mayor Alexander Ovsyannikov.
In Japan, almost two million people were told to head to higher ground, before the warnings were downgraded or rescinded.
The Fukushima nuclear plant in northeast Japan -- destroyed by a huge quake and tsunami in 2011 -- was evacuated, its operator said.
One woman was killed as she drove her car off a cliff as she tried to escape, local media reported.
A swathe of South America's Pacific coast remained under a tsunami warning by 1800 GMT Wednesday.
In the Galapagos Islands, national parks were closed, schools were shuttered, loudspeakers blared warnings and tourists were spirited off sightseeing boats and onto the safety of land.
"As residents here, we really do feel scared: there's this sense of uncertainty, we truly don't know what's going to happen" said Patricia Espinosa of Isabela Island, where inhabitants were taken higher to ground in requisitioned buses and dump trucks.
"Once the wave train arrived… maximum heights of up to 1.3 m were observed" according to the Ecuadoran navy’s oceanographic institute. "Disturbances are currently being recorded, which will continue for the next few hours."
Peru closed 65 of its 121 Pacific ports as the Navy warned that fishing should be suspended and people should stay away from the coast.
Earlier, tsunami sirens blared near Hawaii's popular Waikiki beach where an AFP photographer saw gridlocked traffic as Hawaiians escaped to higher ground.
Hawaii governor Josh Green said flights in and out of the island of Maui had been cancelled as a precaution.
"STAY STRONG AND STAY SAFE!" US President Donald Trump said on social media.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center later downgraded the alert for Hawaii to an advisory and local authorities cancelled a coastal evacuation order.
Russian scientists reported that the Klyuchevskoy volcano erupted shortly after the earthquake.
"Red-hot lava is observed flowing down the western slope. There is a powerful glow above the volcano and explosions," said Russia's Geophysical Survey.
- Pacific alerts -
Wednesday's quake was the strongest in the Kamchatka region since 1952, the regional seismic monitoring service said, warning of aftershocks of up to 7.5 magnitude.
The USGS said the quake was one of the 10 strongest tremors ever recorded.
The quake was followed by at least six aftershocks that further rattled the Russian far east, including one of 6.9 magnitude.
In Taitung in Taiwan, hotel resort worker Wilson Wang, 31, told AFP: "We've advised guests to stay safe and not go out, and to avoid going to the coast."
Pacific nation Palau, about 800 kilometers (500 miles) east of the Philippines, ordered the evacuation of "all areas along the coastline".
Waves of up to four meters are expected overnight in the Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia, authorities said in a press statement.
burs-arb/sms
L.AbuAli--SF-PST