- Mystery drones won't interfere with Santa's work: US tracker
- Djokovic eyes more Slam glory as Swiatek returns under doping cloud
- Australia's in-form Head confirmed fit for Boxing Day Test
- Brazilian midfielder Oscar returns to Sao Paulo
- 'Wemby' and 'Ant-Man' to make NBA Christmas debuts
- US agency focused on foreign disinformation shuts down
- On Christmas Eve, Pope Francis launches holy Jubilee year
- 'Like a dream': AFP photographer's return to Syria
- Chiefs seek top seed in holiday test for playoff-bound NFL teams
- Panamanians protest 'public enemy' Trump's canal threat
- Cyclone death toll in Mayotte rises to 39
- Ecuador vice president says Noboa seeking her 'banishment'
- Leicester boss Van Nistelrooy aware of 'bigger picture' as Liverpool await
- Syria authorities say armed groups have agreed to disband
- Maresca expects Man City to be in title hunt as he downplays Chelsea's chancs
- Man Utd boss Amorim vows to stay on course despite Rashford row
- South Africa opt for all-pace attack against Pakistan
- Guardiola adamant Man City slump not all about Haaland
- Global stocks mostly higher in thin pre-Christmas trade
- Bethlehem marks sombre Christmas under shadow of war
- NASA probe makes closest ever pass by the Sun
- 11 killed in blast at Turkey explosives plant
- Indonesia considers parole for ex-terror chiefs: official
- Global stocks mostly rise in thin pre-Christmas trade
- Postecoglou says Spurs 'need to reinforce' in transfer window
- Le Pen says days of new French govt numbered
- Global stocks mostly rise after US tech rally
- Villa boss Emery set for 'very difficult' clash with Newcastle
- Investors swoop in to save German flying taxi startup
- How Finnish youth learn to spot disinformation
- South Korean opposition postpones decision to impeach acting president
- 12 killed in blast at Turkey explosives plant
- Panama leaders past and present reject Trump's threat of Canal takeover
- Hong Kong police issue fresh bounties for activists overseas
- Saving the mysterious African manatee at Cameroon hotspot
- India consider second spinner for Boxing Day Test
- London wall illuminates Covid's enduring pain at Christmas
- Poyet appointed manager at South Korea's Jeonbuk
- South Korea's opposition vows to impeach acting president
- The tsunami detection buoys safeguarding lives in Thailand
- Teen Konstas to open for Australia in Boxing Day India Test
- Asian stocks mostly up after US tech rally
- US panel could not reach consensus on US-Japan steel deal: Nippon
- The real-life violence that inspired South Korea's 'Squid Game'
- Blogs to Bluesky: social media shifts responses after 2004 tsunami
- Tennis power couple de Minaur and Boulter get engaged
- Supermaxi yachts eye record in gruelling Sydney-Hobart race
- Hawaii's Kilauea volcano erupts, spewing columns of lava
- Battery X Metals Announces Closing of Non-Brokered Private Placement and Debt Settlement
- MGO Global Announces Closing of Upsized $6.0 Million Public Offering
Quake sparks brief tsunami warning in California
A powerful earthquake that struck off the coast of California sparked a brief tsunami warning on Thursday, with residents warned to flee to higher ground before the alert was cancelled.
Seismologists at the US Geological Survey said the shallow 7.0 magnitude tremor had hit around 68 kilometers (42 miles) from the coastal town of Ferndale mid-morning, with people living in the area experiencing strong ground shakes.
Smartphone users received warnings urging them to move to higher ground immediately, AFP reporters in the area said.
"A series of powerful waves and strong currents may impact coasts near you," the warning said. "You are in danger. Get away from coastal waters."
The National Weather Service, which issued the warning, withdrew it around midday, shortly before the first waves had been expected.
The quake appeared to have been felt across the region, including in the San Francisco Bay Area, where some people said they had felt rolling waves underfoot.
Marc Buller, an attorney who lives in Eureka, a port city in northern California close to the offshore epicenter, said he had experienced a lot of quakes, but this one felt unusual.
"It was an intense jolt. When the big jolt stopped, it felt like the house was on rollers," he told AFP.
"It was like when you throw a big stone in water and the ripples go out, it was like the earth was doing that."
The US West Coast is the confluence of several of the Earth's tectonic plates, and tremors are not uncommon.
The area has been struck by a number of major earthquakes, including a 1994 quake that hit Northridge, in the Los Angeles area, killing dozens of people and injuring thousands more, as it wrought billions of dollars of damage to homes and infrastructure.
The San Francisco earthquake of 1906, which also caused a tsunami, is thought to have killed upwards of 3,000 people, some of whom died in fires that erupted after the powerful tremor.
A.Jones--AMWN