PANAMA CITY (AP) — A second powerful 6.6 magnitude earthquake strikes Panama following a series of aftershocks, USGS says.
THIS IS AN APNewsAlert. Check back for updates. AP's earlier story is below.
A powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake shook Panama on Friday morning, collapsing buildings near its epicenter and prompting evacuations across the country.
The quake, which was felt as far away as neighboring Colombia, was centered about 10 kilometers (6 miles) southwest of the remote community of Pitaloza Arriba, in the central province of Herrera, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It struck at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles).
The USGS initially reported the quake as magnitude 8, then revised it to 7.6 and later to 7.7.
Visibly shaken residents of Panama City gathered outside as they waited for news of the quake’s impact on Friday.
“We felt it very strongly. It knocked things over in the kitchen, but we’re okay, though we’re very scared," Rosendo Domínguez, 60, who is from Herrera province, where the earthquake struck, told The Associated Press by phone. “Everyone is outside, scared.”
Multiple aftershocks continued to rattle Panama, including several measuring magnitude 5.8, 5.5 and 5.2. Seismologists at the University of Panama recorded more than 45 aftershocks, though many were too weak to be felt.
Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino called for calm on Friday, writing on X: “What happened should not be used to cause alarm or disorder.”
Omar Smith of the National Civil Protection Service said on the Telemetro Reporta news channel that damage was concentrated in the central provinces of Veraguas, Herrera and Los Santos. He said there were no reports of damage in the capital, which is known for its hundreds of skyscrapers.
Smith said several injuries have been reported, including one person struck by debris from a partially collapsed structure in the city of Penonomé, around 93 miles (150 km) from the capital. He confirmed a partial collapse and cracks at the cathedral in the district’s main square, as well as damage in the governor’s office building and the Dos Continentes hotel. No casualties were immediately reported.
Local news outlets also reported that the Church of San Atanasio, a colonial-style Catholic church in Panama’s Los Santos province, had collapsed. The church was declared a National Historic Heritage Site in 1938. Elsewhere, including in Veraguas province, large fissures ran along roadways.
Tocumen International Airport in Panama City, one of the region's busiest airports with more than 20 million travelers in 2025, said it would temporarily suspend operations and activated evacuation plans. It said operations would resume once security conditions have been checked.
The Panama Canal Authority said operations were continuing normally along the key global trade route. It said its priority was the safety of employees, vessels and crews and that specialized technical teams were inspecting facilities for possible damage.
The last major earthquake to cause widespread damage in Panama struck in 1991. A magnitude 7.4 quake, centered in nearby Costa Rica killed 23 people, injured 559, and left thousands of people homeless in the border Bocas de Toro region.
Earthquakes are common, especially along Panama's border with Costa Rica and its Pacific coast, because of the interaction of several tectonic plates, including Cocos, Nazca, and Caribbean plates.
Panama lies along the “Ring of Fire,” a 40,000-kilometer (25,000-mile) arc of volcanoes and fault lines around the Pacific Basin, where most of the world’s earthquakes occur.
The National Weather Service issued a tsunami warning Friday for the coasts of Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Guatemala. It warned that waves ranging from 3 to 9 feet (1 to 3 meters) above tide may occur in some coastal areas of Panama.
Alerts were also issued in El Salvador and as far as Chile’s Easter Island, about 3,500 kilometers (2,175 miles) off Chile’s mainland coast. Chile's government placed the island under a precautionary advisory.
Nearby countries sent messages of support Friday afternoon. Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella, whose country was recently hit by earthquakes, expressed his solidarity with the Panamanian people and their government during what he called “difficult times.”
“Panama is not alone! You can count on Colombia’s support and our full willingness to provide whatever assistance is needed,” he wrote on X.
The U.S. Embassy in Panama said it was “closely monitoring” the aftermath of the quake and accounting for the welfare of its citizens in Panama, a well-known retirement destination for Americans.
Janetsky reported from Mexico City, and Solís reported from Panama City. Gabriela Molina in Quito, Ecuador, Clara Preve in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Eléonore Hughes in Rio de Janeiro, María Verza in Mexico City and Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska, contributed.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
People stand outside a building after an earthquake struck Panama City, Friday, Oct. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Alma Solis)
People gather outside shopping mall after an earthquake hit Panama City, Friday, Oct. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Aris Mariota)
People gather outside shopping mall after an earthquake hit Panama City, Friday, Oct. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Aris Mariota)
President Donald Trump opened another chapter in his effort to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook Friday by establishing a “committee of inquiry” to investigate allegations that she made false statements in mortgage applications.
The inquiry will include a hearing at the White House on Nov. 5 and Cook “shall” attend to answer questions from the committee, Trump said in a written memo.
Vice President JD Vance cast doubt on Friday about whether the Pentagon will livestream the execution of the Fort Hood shooter in December, telling reporters he wouldn’t watch it. “I don’t know that that’s actually going to happen,” Vance told reporters. He and Trump have both sought to highlight the shooter’s 2009 attack at Fort Hood where he killed 13 people.
Also, a federal immigration officer shot a Dominican man in the neck as he drove in a car with a 5-year-old boy Thursday afternoon, officials said.
An irate New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani called the shooting an outrage, and spent two hours Thursday night pressing President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to release the wounded man, and urging them to stop immigration enforcement operations in the city.
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The event in Los Angeles was meant to bring attention to the candidate’s promise to lower California’s highest-in-the-nation gas prices to $3 a gallon. The average rate in the state stood at $6.33 per gallon Friday, according to AAA.
“This is a preview of what you get when I’m governor,” he told a driver in a video posted to his X page.
Hilton, a former Fox News host who’s running against Democrat Xavier Becerra, has blamed Democratic leadership for the state’s notoriously high cost of living.
He’s making a final push to appeal to voters with mail ballots being sent out ahead of the Nov. 3 deadline to vote.
The United Democracy Project, a super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, has begun spending against Michigan’s Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. The spending was revealed in a filing late Friday, and is only $94,000 to start.
The group spent close to $30 million against El-Sayed — a vocal critic of Israel — in his Democratic primary against Rep. Haley Stevens. Until Friday, the group had stayed out of the general election race. During a Senate debate Thursday, El-Sayed’s opponent, Mike Rogers, signaled he would accept AIPAC’s support when asked directly about it.
A spokesperson for AIPAC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The president said conservative commentator Katie Zacharia, a communications adviser for Trump’s media company, will replace Karoline Leavitt as the chief spokesperson for the White House.
Trump announced the hire in a social media post on Friday, describing Zacharia as “a loyal and brilliant supporter, right from the beginning.”
Zacharia briefly worked as a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security earlier this year and has been a commentator for Fox News and Newsmax. Trump said she was previously involved in his campaigns and helped in key swing states.
A request for comment left with Zacharia was not immediately answered. Her LinkedIn says she has a law degree from Pepperdine University.
The president has now formally confirmed that Hurricane Isaias means he won’t be attending Saturday night’s Alabama-Georgia football game.
He wrote on his social media site on Friday that “based on the fact that a huge Hurricane/Storm is coming, it is important to have our wonderful First Responders, Law Enforcement, and others, focused on that Storm, and in no way be thinking about the safety, or presence, of the President of the United States, ME!”
“Therefore, I will miss that potentially unbelievable Game, Alabama vs. Georgia,” Trump continued. “But, hopefully, the Game will go on despite the weather!”
He also promised, without providing details, “I will be visiting both of those Teams at a later date.”
The president will no longer be attending Saturday’s football game between the University of Alabama and the University of Georgia, according to a White House official speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal planning.
Trump had been planning to travel to Tuscaloosa for the rivalry clash after a rally planned in Tennessee on Saturday. Asked about the impact of the storm on Wednesday said “I gotta go to the game” but said his plans might change based on the weather.
Trump had said he did not want to divert resources from the emergency response.
President Donald Trump said that he has struck a deal to obtain diesel from Russia, a stunning reversal of years of U.S. pressure on Moscow over its war with Ukraine and an attempt to address high fuel prices ahead of the U.S. midterm elections.
Trump said on social media on Friday that he struck the deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call in which he was expected to discuss a suspected case of plague in Russia. Instead, Trump announced that Russia will immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel, followed by an additional 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons “immediately thereafter.” Russia will deliver another 3 million tons “within a short period of time” after that, he wrote.
Trump’s shocking announcement comes after he signed a sweeping Russia sanctions law last month that aimed at clamping down on Russia’s energy economy, among other areas, that fuel its war against Ukraine.
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Katie Zacharia has been offered the job as press secretary, according to a White House official speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal hiring.
It was not immediately clear whether she has accepted. A message left with Zacharia was not immediately answered on Friday. The post has been open since Karoline Leavitt left in August.
Zacharia is a senior communications adviser for Trump Media & Technology, the company behind the Truth Social platform. She briefly worked as a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security this year, and according to her LinkedIn profile has been a commentator for Fox News and Newsmax.
Her LinkedIn profile says she has bachelor’s and law degrees from Pepperdine University.
Earlier Friday morning, the head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops condemned the U.S. government’s decision to livestream the execution of Nidal Hasan by firing squad.
Vice President Vance is a convert to the Catholic Church, which has long opposed capital punishment.
“It is with shock and great sorrow that I have learned of the Department of War’s decision to publicly livestream the execution,” Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the conference, said in a statement. He added that the decision was “a barbaric promotion of a culture of death and must be reconsidered.”
New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will travel to Michigan next week to campaign with Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, further throwing her substantial platform behind a fellow progressive in one of the nation’s most competitive Senate races.
Ocasio-Cortez, one of the most prominent figures in the progressive movement, said at a New York City fundraiser last week that “if Abdul can win in Michigan, anybody can win anywhere.”
The two will campaign Oct. 15 in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, a heavily Republican region that will test the appeal of their progressive politics. They will then travel to southeast Michigan for campaign events Oct. 16.
“Abdul has built a winning coalition with an agenda to bring down costs for Michigan families and I could not be more excited to join him for the final stretch of this race,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement.
“These are accusations. You don’t take messages that people allegedly had between one person or another — or one person’s story — and say, ‘Oh, because of that, Kimberly Guilfoyle is guilty,’ the vice president told reporters.
The Wall Street Journal has reported that Guilfoyle, the U.S. ambassador to Greece, asked a donor and supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump to pay a $100,000 credit card bill just before her confirmation hearing and that she promising him access to administration officials if he did.
Vance suggested it was too early to reach conclusions about Guilfoyle and the allegations.
“Let’s actually see what the facts are. Let’s see what the truth is,” he said. “And, obviously, if there was something bad that happened, then people have to suffer consequences.”
Vice President JD Vance cast doubt on Friday whether the Pentagon will livestream the execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan in December but told reporters that if it is livestreamed, “I’m not going to be watching it.”
The Republican vice president said, “I don’t know that that’s actually going to happen,” when asked about the plans that the Pentagon confirmed on Thursday. But Vance then tried to set aside the controversy over the shocking plans for a public execution and said Hasan’s crimes should not be forgotten.
“So whatever the controversy is about the method of the execution, I hope that people don’t forget that this is a guy who brutally murdered a lot of innocent people,” the Republican said.
“Now, that said, I mean, look, if it’s ultimately livestreamed, I’m not going to be watching it,” he said.
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Trump says his administration “resurrected” Christopher Columbus and other figures from American history whose statues and legacies were being threatened by what he called the “radical left.”
In a meandering address at a Columbus Day celebration at the White House, Trump said: “They want to tear down the history and heritage that makes us who we are, not only Columbus.”
He said George Washington and Thomas Jefferson had been targets too. “We had a time when they wanted to rip down the statue of Abraham Lincoln,” because “they thought he was a racist. He’s the one that freed the country,” Trump said.
There have been laws on the books for years to punish people for defacing monuments and statues. Trump signed executive orders in 2020 that ordered monuments to be rebuilt and pushed for tougher punishments for people who defaced them.
Senate Majority PAC, the outside spending group aligned with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, says it will begin airing television ads in the Kansas Senate race on Saturday. The $5 million television campaign will air on TV stations statewide through Election Day.
The ads are aimed at attacking first-term Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, who is in a competitive reelection race with Democratic challenger Adam Hamilton, the leader of the nation’s largest United Methodist Church.
Schumer’s group is weighing in a week just days after Republicans’ chief Senate super PAC, Senate Leadership Fund, announced it was reserving advertising time in the state, where no Democrat has been elected to the Senate since 1932.
As of Friday, Senate Leadership Fund, aligned with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, had reserved $10.3 million through Nov. 3.
The Department of Homeland Security would not give The Associated Press a clear answer Friday on whether non-criminal immigration enforcement would be suspended in states impacted by Isaias during the emergency.
In past administrations, including Trump’s first, the Department of Homeland Security would sometimes issue messaging in the run up to hurricanes clarifying its immigration enforcement policies during extreme weather.
Before Hurricane Irma in 2017, the agency issued a statement that “DHS will not conduct non-criminal immigration enforcement operations in the affected area … When it comes to rescuing people in the wake of Hurricane Irma, immigration status is not and will not be a factor.”
Asked Friday what the DHS policy is during Isaias, the department instead cited a statement about FEMA’s storm preparations. It included: “Under President Trump and Secretary Mullin’s leadership, the safety of the American people is DHS’s top priority.”
DHS did not immediately respond to follow-up questions.
The president said Nidal Malik Hasan will be getting “the death penalty through firing squad. And he deserves it.”
Trump called Hasan, who was convicted of killing 13 people and injuring 32 others in a shooting at the military base in 2009, “a maniac.”
Trump has long been a vocal supporter of capital punishment. But he didn’t mention plans the Pentagon has announced to livestream the execution so the broader public can see it.
During an event marking Columbus Day, the president talked excitedly about the ballroom he demolished the East Wing to build and even declared, “I’m going to do something that I rarely do.”
He then invited the event’s attendees to tour the ballroom construction site and said he’d lead the impromptu tour of construction “which nobody sees.”
That’s not true. In fact, Trump inviting attendees of unrelated events at the White House to see the ballroom construction site has become something of a Trump fixture lately.
The president led a group after a back-to-school event — including many children — to see the site. He did the same for attendees of a recent state dinner in honor of Chinese President Xi Jinping and those who came to an event marking National Hispanic Heritage Month.
The U.S. president is celebrating Christopher Columbus after erecting a statue to the nautical explorer on the north side of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus.
The statue is a replica of a Columbus statue in Baltimore that was thrown into the Baltimore harbor in 2020.
Columbus heralded the start of European colonialism in the Western Hemisphere. In his Oct. 7 proclamation for Columbus Day, Trump said the explorer had started a chain of events that led to the creation of the United States.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries is set to campaign with Democratic challengers in two battleground seats in the East.
Jeffries will campaign Friday alongside Rebecca Bennett in New Jersey’s 7th District, where she’s challenging two-term incumbent Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. He’s also attending a rally in suburban Philadelphia on Saturday with Bob Harvie, the Democrat taking on five-term incumbent Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick.
The two races are viewed as among the most competitive in this year’s midterm election. Also attending the Harvie event will be Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who’s also seeking reelection this year.
The Trump administration has imposed sweeping new sanctions on the International Criminal Court as part of its campaign to dismantle the tribunal the U.S. believes has become politicized and attempted to unfairly and illegally prosecute Americans and Israelis on war crimes charges.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the sanctions Friday after the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to South African prosecutor Navi Pillay, who had led investigations into potential ICC charges against U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The move, however, long predated the Nobel Prize announcement.
“We will ban transactions with this rogue court, cutting off their resources and crippling its ability to operate against us,” Rubio said in a video address posted to social media. “The United States and the American people are not subject to the jurisdiction of this fake ICC.”
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President Trump opened another chapter in his effort to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook on Friday by establishing a “committee of inquiry” to investigate allegations that she made false statements in mortgage applications.
The inquiry will include a hearing at the White House on Nov. 5 that Cook “shall” attend to answer questions from the committee, Trump said in a written memo.
The extraordinary move follows a Supreme Court ruling in June that Cook could keep her job after Trump sought to fire her last year. That ruling found Cook should have had notice and an opportunity to respond to the charges.
Cook has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime.
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The lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans, say Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s intent to livestream the execution must be halted.
“Public executions are what oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan do. It should not be happening in America,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican.
Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan should face the death penalty, he said, “but making his execution public and streaming it? Beyond disgusting.”
Sen. Patty Murray, a Washington state Democrat, said: “We can seek justice in this country without glorifying violence and turning an execution into a grotesque public spectacle.”
“Kids watch what our leaders do and say, is this kind of bloodshed really what we want them seeing?” she asked in a statement. “The Pentagon must revoke this decision immediately.”
Mullin said ICE agents weren’t aware the child was in the car at the time. But he said Belgal “was aware” and chose to evade officers.
He didn’t answer a question about how officers wouldn’t know that, saying only that it’s an investigation.
Mullin also revealed that the officers involved in the incident were wearing body cameras “and they were on.”
FILE - Federal Reserve Board of Governors member Lisa Cook leaves the Supreme Court in Washington, Jan. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
President Donald Trump arrives to speak at the U.S. Institute of Peace, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani talks during a news conference near the scene of a shooting on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
