Granada seismic sequence exceeds 620 earthquakes, around 600 residents evacuated, Spain

Granada seismic sequence exceeds 620 earthquakes, around 600 residents evacuated, Spain

Teo Blašković

A shallow seismic sequence south of Granada, Spain, has produced more than 600 earthquakes since August 14, 2026, including two M4.8 events. Around 600 residents were evacuated in Las Gabias while hundreds of buildings were inspected for damage.

The sequence has been concentrated around Alhendín, Gójar and La Zubia, approximately 2–12 km (1.2–7.5 miles) south of Granada. Of the 621 earthquakes recorded between 00:00 UTC on August 14 and 11:00 UTC on August 19, most were below M2, 10 were M3 or greater, and 42 had been felt by the population.

IGN said the earthquakes were very shallow, at depths below 10 km (6.2 miles), increasing the intensity of shaking experienced near the epicentral area.

The two strongest earthquakes both reached Mw4.8 and maximum observed intensity V–VI on the EMS-98 scale. The first occurred at 01:04 LT on August 15 (23:04 UTC on August 14), followed by the second at 10:37 LT (08:37 UTC) on August 18.

Three of the strongest earthquakes following the August 18 Mw4.8 event occurred within about two hours — an Mw3.9 at 08:53 UTC, Mw4.2 at 09:34 UTC and Mw4.0 at 10:39 UTC. They were located south of Churriana de la Vega, north of Alhendín and northeast of Gójar, respectively.

The repeated shaking prompted extensive building inspections and evacuations. Around 600 residents were evacuated from six apartment blocks containing 371 dwellings in Las Gabias after damage was identified.

The Granada Provincial Council evacuated and relocated all 77 residents of the Reina Sofía Psychopedagogical Center after damage was identified at the facility. The residents were transferred to other care facilities in the province while emergency repairs and further inspections were arranged.

The strongest measured ground acceleration during the two Mw4.8 earthquakes reached 0.24 g at IGN’s Armilla station, approximately 3 km (1.9 miles) from the epicentral area.

Peru 6.7 earthquake injures 2, damages buildings

Peru earthquake injures 2, damages buildings

Associated Press 

A magnitude 6.7 earthquake shook Peru's southern Andes Mountains on Thursday, injuring at least two people and damaging homes, health centres and schools, authorities said. 

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake occurred at 1 p.m. local time and was centred 38 kilometres northwest of the city of Upahuacho, in the Parinacochas province of the Ayacucho region. It had a depth of 66 kilometres.

The earthquake was felt in several regions of southern Peru, including Ica, Arequipa, Huancavelica, Apurimac and Cusco, as well as in the capital, Lima. 

Luis Vasquez, head of Civil Defence, told reporters that two people were injured while evacuating their homes during the earthquake in Coracora, the capital of Parinacochas province. Authorities also reported damage to 22 homes, six health centres and a school across several districts in Ayacucho and Cusco, including the towns of Puquio, Pullo, Coracora, Upahuacho, San Pedro and Pichari.

Report: EU preparing sanctions against Israel over E1 construction

Report: EU preparing sanctions against Israel over E1 construction

Elad Benari

The European Union (EU) is preparing an initial package of sanctions against Israel if construction proceeds in the E1 area between Jerusalem and Ma'ale Adumim, Channel 13 News reported Thursday.

Two Western diplomats cited in the report said the EU has already drawn up a list of potential measures, with the United States not opposed to the steps under consideration.

The reported measures could include labeling Israeli products, including those produced outside Judea and Samaria, reducing academic cooperation, and suspending certain security and diplomatic partnerships.

The development follows an Israeli government tender issued Tuesday for seven residential compounds containing 1,234 housing units in E1. The units are part of roughly 3,400 homes approved for the area last August.

Britain's Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband criticized the tender on Wednesday and called for its withdrawal.

"This Israeli Government’s publication of a tender for the E1 settlement project is an unacceptable and destructive act. E1 would cut across the heart of Palestine and risks separating the West Bank from East Jerusalem, which would endanger the viability of a two-state solution," Miliband said in a statement condemning the move.

"The UK has been clear privately and publicly in our opposition to E1 and our support for a two-state solution as the only way to ensure long-term security and peace for both Palestinians and Israelis. All settlements damage that prospect and are a flagrant breach of international law," he claimed.

Miliband said he had spoken with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar about the issue and that Britain's Foreign Office had summoned Israel's Chargé d'Affaires.

"Today, I made clear to the Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar that the Israeli Government must halt E1 plans immediately, retract the tender and stop all settlement expansion. In addition, the Israeli Chargé d’Affaires has been summoned to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, where we set out the UK’s profound objection to this move by the Netanyahu government and demanded an immediate reversal," said Miliband.

He also said Britain was preparing additional measures in response to Israeli government policies.

"Britain will not stand back and accept the destruction of the two-state solution. In the coming weeks we will set out a comprehensive set of measures to respond to Israeli government policies, protect the viability of the Palestinian state, target sanctions at those who participate in illegal settlement expansion and support a just and lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians," the UK Foreign Secretary declared.

Sa'ar rejected Miliband's demands on Thursday, sharply criticizing both the substance and tone of the British statement.

"I reject outright the statement of the UK Foreign Secretary and the patronizing tone of his words," Sa'ar wrote on social media.

"The Jewish people have the right to live throughout the Land of Israel, just as the British have the right to live in London and throughout the United Kingdom. More than a century ago, the Balfour Declaration formally recognized the historic right of the Jewish people to re-establish their national home in the Land of Israel - including in the area in question."

Sa'ar also accused Britain of hypocrisy over its criticism of Israeli construction.

"Britain itself still controls colonial territories thousands of miles from its shores. It is absurd for Britain to lecture the Jewish people about where they may live in their historic tiny homeland, when the Jewish people’s connection and right to this land is the most extensively documented of any people in human history."

He further disputed the characterization of the tender as a new decision.

"There have been no new decisions regarding development in E1. The decision was made in 2025. The tender process has been underway for several months, with certain tender documents published only in recent days. The British Foreign Secretary’s statement is entirely one-sided."

Later Thursday, Britain joined France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada and Norway in a joint condemnation of the Israeli tender.

The seven countries called the construction plans "unacceptable" and urged Israel to withdraw them immediately, saying they had repeatedly expressed opposition to the expansion of Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria.

"The E1 settlement will undermine the prospect of the two-state solution by driving a wedge through the West Bank and harming the territorial contiguity of the Palestinian Territories," the statement said.

The countries also repeated their position that Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria violate international law, referring to what they described as a longstanding international position reaffirmed by the UN Security Council.

"We urge the Government of Israel to retract these plans immediately and end its expansion of settlements," the statement said.

The seven governments warned that continued construction would further damage prospects for peace and Israel's international standing.

Iran shifts to ‘survival economy’ as US vows to ‘collapse the regime’

Iran shifts to ‘survival economy’ as US vows to ‘collapse the regime’

Lior Ben Ari

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday that the Trump administration’s new economic campaign against Iran is ultimately intended to bring down the Islamic Republic, as Washington prepares what it says will be an unprecedented new round of sanctions alongside its naval blockade.

Bessent said the measures would be detailed at a news conference Monday and described the strategy as a combination of the blockade and what he called the toughest sanctions ever imposed on a country. “It is going to work in Iran and we are going to collapse this regime,” Bessent told CNBC.

The declaration is significant because President Donald Trump himself has not explicitly said regime collapse is the objective, leaving unclear whether Bessent’s unusually blunt wording represents formal administration policy or his own description of the expected outcome.

Trump on Wednesday announced what he called an “ECONOMIC D-DAY,” promising economic warfare and isolation against Iran on an unprecedented scale and threatening consequences for countries, companies and institutions that continue providing Tehran with an economic lifeline.

The new campaign is expected to target not only Iran but third countries that continue trading with it, including through oil purchases, financial transfers and sanctions-evasion networks.

Bessent said it was time for U.S. allies and other countries to decide whether they would cooperate with Washington’s campaign. He indicated that the Treasury Department and wider U.S. government would use their enforcement powers against entities that continue enabling Iranian trade.

The strategy effectively puts governments and businesses around the world on notice that maintaining commercial links with Tehran could expose them to U.S. economic penalties.

One of the biggest unresolved questions is China. Beijing remains Iran’s most important oil customer, purchasing more than 80% of Iran’s seaborne crude in 2025, according to Kpler data cited by Reuters. But when Bessent was asked whether Washington would also punish China for continuing to do business with Tehran, he declined to give a direct answer, saying some conversations were better conducted privately.

He nevertheless pointed to Beijing’s dependence on Persian Gulf energy supplies, arguing that China has a strong interest in helping restore normal traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. “Keep in mind that the Chinese get 50% of their energy from inside the Gulf,” Bessent said, adding that cooperation with Washington would therefore serve Beijing’s own interests.

The dilemma is considerable. Punishing Chinese trade with Iran could intensify pressure on Tehran, but it could also reopen economic confrontation between Washington and Beijing after Trump reached agreements that had eased previous trade tensions.

The economic campaign comes as China maintains close strategic ties with Iran, with reports in recent weeks also raising questions over possible military assistance to Tehran.

Despite Washington’s rhetoric, many analysts doubt that even a combination of a naval blockade and severe secondary sanctions can quickly force Iran’s economy, or its political system, to collapse.

Iran has endured extensive U.S. sanctions for decades and entered the latest conflict already suffering from deep structural economic problems. The International Monetary Fund expects Iran’s economy to contract by 5.4% this year. The Wall Street Journal reported that annual inflation is now running above 80%, while shortages and rapidly rising prices are eroding living standards.

Iran’s oil revenues have also been hit particularly hard. According to Capital Economics data cited by the Journal, Iranian oil exports fell from about $4.5 billion in June to close to zero in July after the U.S. reimposed its blockade. The pressure is severe. But economic pain does not necessarily translate into political capitulation. Instead, Iran is increasingly reorganizing its economy around endurance rather than recovery.

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Netanyahu: Israel’s position on Turkish role in Syria ‘better understood’ after strikes

Netanyahu: Israel’s position on Turkish role in Syria ‘better understood’ after strikes

 Joshua Marks

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Israel would not tolerate Turkish military entrenchment in Syria that moved south, following strikes on the Abu al-Duhur military base near Aleppo.

“We will not tolerate a Turkish military entrenchment that moves south because it threatens us,” Netanyahu said in a video posted to X. He said Israel had learned of plans for Turkey to establish itself “on the southern side of the line close to Aleppo” and had sent a message to Ankara: “don’t.”

Netanyahu said the message had been delivered but “apparently they didn’t hear it,” adding, “We made sure it was better understood.”

The Prime Minister’s Office said on Tuesday that Syria had been on the verge of violating the security status quo by allowing Turkish troops to deploy at the base.

Defense Minister Israel Katz on Thursday accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of drawing Turkey into “dangerous adventures” in Syria.

“Israel will not allow any entity to threaten its security,” Katz wrote on X.

“It is preferable for Erdoğan to continue delivering empty, delusional speeches against Israel in the Turkish parliament rather than testing Israel’s resolve to defend itself,” Katz said.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said Wednesday that Israel would not allow “hostile forces” to establish themselves along its borders during a tour of the Syrian front.

“We are operating in a multi-front reality, in which the challenges are constantly changing and developing—the Syrian arena is one of them,” said Zamir.

Syria’s foreign minister acknowledged that Turkish officers had visited the Abu al-Duhur airbase days before Israel struck it, but said the visit was part of military cooperation involving training and an exchange of expertise, rather than a Turkish military buildup, Axios reported on Wednesday.

Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said Syria was rebuilding its military and civilian institutions and had similar cooperation programs with Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar and Russia.

Syria’s foreign ministry on Tuesday blamed Israel for carrying out the attack, calling it “a violation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity.” The statement described the strikes as “an unjustified act of aggression” and a “dangerous escalation” threatening the region’s security and stability, the state’s official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported.

Syria called on the international community and the United Nations Security Council to take a firm stance against any Israeli violations of Syrian sovereignty.

United States Ambassador to Turkey and Special Presidential Envoy to Iraq and Syria Tom Barrack said that “we are deeply concerned that the confirmed Israeli airstrikes on Abu al-Duhur Airbase constitute an unnecessary escalation that does not advance regional stability.”

Barrack wrote in a post to X that Syria’s al-Sharaa government had signaled a preference for deescalation with Israel, adding that Washington would continue facilitating discussions between the sides. He urged “restraint and engagement” and called on all parties to prioritize dialogue over additional military encounters.

“Highly sensitive intelligence was shared with the United States in advance, at the most senior levels of the various agencies and bodies,” a senior Israeli official told Fox News on Tuesday. “Al-Sharaa understands that he cannot operate like the previous Syrian regime, which maintained proxy forces. It’s possible that he didn’t understand what was going on, or didn’t know.”

The official couldn’t offer more details, “due to the highly classified nature of the intelligence.”