Tsunami warning issued as 7.4 magnitude earthquake strikes off Japanese coast, USGS says
Table indicating the escape route in the case of tsunamis. (Getty stock photo)
(TOKYO) — A 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck on Monday off Japan’s northeastern coast, the U.S. Geological Survey said, prompting authorities to issue tsunami warnings and advisories along parts of the coast.
“Based on the preliminary earthquake parameters,” USGS said, “hazardous tsunami waves are possible for coasts located within 300 km of the earthquake epicenter.”
The Japan Meteorological Agency said tsunami warnings were in place for some of the coast along the Pacific, along with lesser advisories and forecasts farther away from the quake’s center.
“Residents in areas where tsunami warnings have been issued should immediately evacuate to higher ground or evacuation buildings and other higher, safer locations,” Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said.
The tsunami waves that were expected to have been the highest struck the coast within hours, with the largest one registering about 80 cm, or about 2.5 feet, but officials said they had not ruled out further waves. Official warnings were still in place, although the U.S. weather officials said in an update that, based on available data, “the tsunami threat from this earthquake has now passed.”
Preliminary U.S. data pinpointed the quake about 100 km, or about 62 miles, off the eastern coast of Miyako, USGS said. Light rumbling could be felt as far away as Tokyo. A 5.6 magnitude earthquake struck nearby about 40 minutes afterward, according to USGS data.
The Japanese agency held a press conference on Monday, during which it identified the quake as having been a 7.5 magnitude one. The depth was 10 km, or about 6.2 miles. It occurred at 4:53 p.m. local time, the agency said.
A tsunami warning was issued under twenty seconds after the initial earthquake, an official said. Officials warned people to stay on the alert for about week, as an equal or lesser than quake may occur. The risk was especially elevated for the next two or three days, officials said.
The U.S. Tsunami Warning System said a “destructive” Pacific-wide tsunami was not expected “and there is no threat to Hawaii.”
Lebanese army forces carry out efforts to reinforce their positions at the Serde area, accompanied by the United Nations Interim Force on February 25, 2026, in Marjayoun, Lebanon. (Photo by Ramiz Dallah/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — United Nations peacekeepers operating in southern Lebanon have been fired upon around 20 times since the resumption this month of hostilities there between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia, a spokesperson for the force told ABC News.
Around 7,500 personnel from 48 countries make up the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) mission, tasked with monitoring the cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah in support of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF).
UNIFIL peacekeepers have regularly been caught in the crossfire between the warring sides in recent years, with intense bouts of violence in southern Lebanon touched off by the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Iranian-backed Hamas militants into southern Israel and the subsequent war in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, which Hezbollah joined in support of Hamas.
Limited respite secured by a November 2024 ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah has now given way to another round of conflict, sparked by the joint U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran in late February. Hezbollah joined the conflict on March 2, firing projectiles into northern Israel, seemingly in support of their patrons in Tehran.
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said the attacks were a response to Israeli “transgressions” since the signing of the 2024 ceasefire, which he described as “excessive.”
The Israel Defense Forces said this week that the group had fired over 2,000 rockets and drones toward northern Israel during the conflict to date. A 27-year-old Israeli woman was killed by a Hezbollah rocket on Tuesday.
More than 1 million people in Lebanon have been displaced by Israel’s offensive and evacuation orders, according to U.N. data. More than 1,000 people have been killed by Israeli attacks in Lebanon in the latest round of fighting, the country’s health ministry said.
Peacekeepers are now back in the line of fire from both sides. Of the roughly 20 firing incidents so far recorded since Feb. 28, UNIFIL spokesperson Kandice Ardiel told ABC News that a preliminary count found that around 60% were of unknown origin, 25% were attributed to the IDF and 15% to non-state actors on the Lebanese side — “most likely” Hezbollah.
Four UNIFIL peacekeepers have so far been injured in two separate incidents, Ardiel said. Three of the injuries were minor and one was severe. The peacekeeper who sustained severe injuries is now in a stable condition, she said.
UNIFIL has not yet established responsibility for the incidents that caused casualties, Ardiel added.
However, the IDF has acknowledged responsibility for one incident, when it said that on March 6 an Israeli tank mistakenly fired on a UNIFIL position, wounding Ghanaian peacekeepers.
Hezbollah is not known to have claimed responsibility for any recent attacks on UNIFIL forces.
Ardiel credited UNIFIL’s security measures for the relatively low number of casualties to date.
Even the force’s headquarters in the coastal city of Naqoura, she said, “has been hit with bullets, shrapnel, fragments of intercepted projectiles.” On Monday, the headquarters was also struck by “a rocket fired by a non-state actor — likely Hezbollah,” Ardiel said.
UNIFIL was first deployed to Lebanon in 1978, tasked with monitoring the ceasefire that ended an Israeli incursion into the south of the country.
Since 2006, UNIFIL has been tasked with monitoring the cessation of cross-border hostilities following a major conflict between the IDF and Hezbollah and supporting the planned — but ultimately unrealized — Hezbollah withdrawal from the area and the redeployment of the LAF in its place. That plan was set out by U.N. Security Council resolution 1701.
The U.S.-brokered 2024 ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah restated UNIFIL’s role in supporting the LAF’s disarmament of all non-state armed groups — prime among them Hezbollah — south of the Litani River. The LAF claimed to have achieved the first phase of this plan in January, but Hezbollah’s daily fire toward Israel seems to undercut those claims.
Israeli forces retained control of five positions on Lebanese territory and continued strikes against alleged Hezbollah targets all across Lebanon despite the ceasefire deal. Hezbollah was vocally critical of the continued Israeli presence and attacks but did not retaliate.
The resumption of hostilities earlier this month prompted a major new Israeli campaign. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said he instructed the IDF to “accelerate the destruction of Lebanese homes in the line of contact villages, to thwart threats to Israeli communities, in accordance with the model of Beit Hanoun and Rafah,” referring to Israel’s destruction of Gaza towns during operations against Hamas.
Katz sent thousands of additional troops into southern Lebanon, vowing to seize the territory up to the Litani River to create what he called a “defensive buffer.” The effort included the destruction of several bridges along the Litani, which Katz claimed were being used by Hezbollah.
Ardiel said the destruction of those bridges — which she described as “vital arteries” — would complicate UNIFIL and LAF efforts in the area.
“While peacekeepers are well-prepared and supplied and can continue daily activities, we rely on these arteries for essential logistical movements, including troop rotations,” Ardiel said, urging all actors to avoid harm to civilians and damage to civilian infrastructure.
UNIFIL troops, she added, have facilitated the safe movement of around 100 civilians from dangerous areas.
UNIFIL peacekeepers remain in all their positions, Ardiel said, but, “due to the volatile and dangerous security situation, our movements are heavily restricted. We are no longer conducting patrols in the way we used to, so our monitoring is more limited than it was before.”
“Our patrols are now focused on areas around our positions, to ensure our peacekeepers are safe and discourage armed groups from using our positions as cover for their activities,” she added.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla bid farewell to President of Nigeria Bola Ahmed Tinubu and First Lady Oluremi Tinubu as they depart from Windsor Castle, March 19, 2026 in Windsor, England. (Aaron Chown/Wpa Pool/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — King Charles and Queen Camilla will make an official state visit to the U.S. this spring, Buckingham Palace announced Tuesday.
The British royals are embarking on the trip to celebrate the 250th anniversary of America’s independence and were invited by President Donald Trump, according to the palace.
In a social media post, Trump said the royal visit will take place April 27-30. It will include a banquet dinner at the White House on Tuesday, April 28, he noted.
After visiting the U.S., Charles will also visit Bermuda, a British overseas territory, making his first visit to the island as monarch.
Queen Elizabeth II made the last state visit to the U.S. in May 2007 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Jamestown settlement in Virginia.
Charles and Camilla‘s visit comes during a tense period amid the ongoing U.K. police inquiry into the Jeffrey Epstein files and the Iran war.
It is unclear if Charles will visit with his second son, Prince Harry, who lives in California with his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex and their two children.
A plume of smoke rises after an explosion on February 28, 2026 in Tehran, Iran. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — President Donald Trump threatened “certain death” to elite forces in the Iranian regime and advised the country’s military to lay down their weapons as the United States and Israel launched attacks on the country early Saturday.
Announcing the “massive and ongoing operation” against Iran and its Middle East proxies, Trump promised immunity to members of “the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, the armed forces and all of the police if they “lay down” their weapons now.
“So, lay down your arms. You will be treated fairly with total immunity, or you will face certain death,” Trump said in a video address released overnight.
To the people of Iran, Trump said, “The hour of your freedom is at hand.”
“When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take,” he added. “This will probably be your only chance for generations.”
Trump explained that among the reasons for launching the military operation is that the Iranian regime has failed to negotiate in good faith a deal in which they would agree to stop pursuing nuclear weapons.
Iran has stated numerous times that it doesn’t want nuclear weapons, but believes it has the right to use nuclear power for civilian purpose. It had also been part of a nuclear deal with the U.S., which Trump withdrew from during his first term.
Trump said Iran’s “menacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas and our allies throughout the world.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the U.S.-Israel strikes on Saturday were “wholly unprovoked, illegal, and illegitimate.”
Trump did not specifically say what led his administration to believe the U.S. was in imminent danger.
In a sobering message to the American people, Trump said, “The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties.”
“That often happens in war. But we’re doing this not for now, we’re doing this for the future, and it is a noble mission,” Trump said.
He said that after the U.S. targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities last year in limited strikes, the regime continued to rebuild its nuclear program.
“They rejected every opportunity to remove their nuclear ambitions and we can’t take it anymore,” Trump said.
He said Iran was developing long-range missiles with the capability of threatening U.S. allies in Europe and U.S. troops stationed overseas and “could soon reach the American homeland.”
Trump said the operation intends to “prevent this very wicked, radical dictatorship from threatening America and our core national security interests.”
“We are going to destroy their missiles and raise their missile industry to the ground. It will be totally, again, obliterated,” Trump said. “We are going to annihilate their Navy. We’re going to ensure that the region’s terror proxies can no longer destabilize the region or the world and attack our forces.”
ABC News contributor Steve Ganyard, a retired U.S. Marine Corps colonel and former deputy assistant secretary of state, said it appears the U.S. operation in Iran will be a “dayslong” effort.
“I think the real point here in what the president is saying, this could be a long-term effort,” Ganyard said. “This isn’t just a pinprick. They are going after missile sites. They’re going after nuclear sites. The president did mention naval sites.”
Ganyard said that it appears the U.S. military has a list of widespread targets not seen in previous attacks, such as “Operation Midnight Hammer” that targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities in June 2025.
“The U.S. is hitting things that Iran could do to effect the rest of the world, which include nuclear sites, missile sites, the [Iranian] Navy that may be able to close the very strategic waters that could effect the global economy,” Ganyard said.
