Past 24 Hours: Colombia Quake, Ukraine Strike and Europe Heat

Compiled 11 August 2026 from reports published during the preceding 24 hours by the Associated Press and The Guardian. All casualty figures, official claims and developing events are attributed to their sources.

Colombia earthquake kills at least 20 people

At least 20 people were killed after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck western Colombia on Monday, collapsing dozens of buildings and trapping residents beneath debris. The shaking prompted evacuations far beyond the worst-hit cities and was felt in Bogotá as well as neighboring Ecuador.

The epicenter was near San José del Palmar, a community of about 4,800 people in Colombia’s Chocó region, roughly 400 kilometers west of Bogotá. The US Geological Survey placed the quake at a depth of 107 kilometers. Colombia’s Geological Service described it as the country’s highest-magnitude earthquake in a decade and recorded subsequent aftershocks of magnitude 2.8 and 4.8.

Local officials attributed 18 deaths to Pereira and two to Manizales at the time of the report, while rescue teams searched collapsed structures in Pereira, Quibdó, Cali and Manizales. Authorities also suspended flights at several regional airports as damage assessments and aftershock monitoring continued. The toll and extent of destruction remained provisional because search operations were still active. Source: Associated Press

Ukraine confirms a deep strike on a Russian oil refinery

Ukraine’s military said it struck the Taneko oil refinery in Nizhnekamsk, in Russia’s Tatarstan region, overnight and that a fire was recorded at the facility. Nizhnekamsk lies about 1,200 kilometers east of the Ukrainian border, making the operation a long-range attack on an important petroleum center far from the front line.

Russian authorities said the wider drone attack killed 13 people and wounded 75. Reuters reported that seven of those killed were Uzbek citizens, citing Uzbekistan’s consulate in Kazan, while regional officials said nine of the victims had been in a hostel and claimed that a child was among the dead. Those casualty details came from Russian and Uzbek official sources and were not presented as independently verified battlefield findings.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy linked attacks on Russian energy facilities to Ukraine’s effort to increase pressure on Moscow, while Russian authorities opened a criminal investigation and described the strike as terrorism. The event therefore combined a confirmed Ukrainian acknowledgment with competing political characterizations and developing casualty information. Its strategic and humanitarian consequences should be judged separately as more evidence emerges. Source: The Guardian

Iran’s leadership stresses unity as the Hormuz standoff persists

Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian said the country’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, emphasized “unity and cohesion” during a meeting that lasted nearly seven hours. The message came amid indications of disagreement within Iran’s leadership and growing economic pressure from the war with the United States and associated sanctions.

Pezeshkian told Iranian state television that the discussion covered household livelihoods, markets, employment, housing and problems caused by US sanctions. He did not disclose when or where the meeting occurred. AP reported that this was only the second meeting Pezeshkian said he had held with the new supreme leader, who has not appeared publicly since being appointed in March after a US-Israeli strike killed his father.

The internal appeal for unity coincided with Iran’s continued refusal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the United States meets conditions including ending its blockade, lifting sanctions, releasing frozen assets and paying compensation for war damage. Because the strait normally carries roughly one-fifth of globally traded oil, the impasse connects Iran’s domestic economic pressure with energy markets and US politics. The demands remained negotiating positions, not an agreed reopening framework. Source: Associated Press

Western Europe prepares for a fifth heatwave

The United Kingdom and France prepared for their fifth heatwave of the season after repeated episodes of extreme heat across Europe since May. Météo-France forecast temperatures approaching 40C in southeastern France from Tuesday, while an amber heat-health alert was scheduled for most of England and UK temperatures were expected to reach 36C later in the week.

Copernicus data cited by AP showed that western Europe’s average temperature for June and July reached 21.62C, exceeding the previous record set in 2022. Globally, 2026 was the third-hottest year recorded so far, behind 2024 and 2025, while July produced the highest average sea-surface temperature recorded for ice-free oceans. Scientists cited both human-caused warming and a strong El Niño as factors increasing the chance that the year could become the hottest on record.

The heat was already interacting with drought and fire risk. More than 300 personnel and 21 aircraft were battling an 810-hectare wildfire in eastern Spain, while low water stranded boats in parts of the Rhine. Climate specialists said persistent high pressure trapped heat over western Europe and that dry soils reduced natural cooling, allowing heat and drought to reinforce one another. Source: Associated Press

xAI challenges Minnesota’s ban on AI “nudification” tools

Elon Musk’s xAI sued Minnesota in federal court on Monday over a state law banning “nudification” technology on websites and apps. The law, signed in May and scheduled to take effect Saturday, would make Minnesota the first US state to attempt a direct prohibition on tools that can generate fake nude images of real people.

xAI said it did not dispute the state’s interest in stopping the distribution of non-consensual AI-generated intimate images, but argued that the statute extended into constitutionally protected material. The company’s 38-page complaint challenged the law’s definitions, the absence of a safe-harbor provision for good-faith safeguards and penalties that could reach $500,000 per violation.

Minnesota attorney general Keith Ellison said his office had not yet been served with or reviewed the lawsuit, while strongly defending action against technology that creates intimate images without consent. The case differs from many existing deepfake statutes, which primarily punish users who create or distribute images, because it directly targets tool providers. Its outcome could therefore shape how states divide responsibility among developers, platforms and individual users. Source: Associated Press

This briefing preserves the distinction between verified events, government statements, legal arguments and unconfirmed or evolving claims.