US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner is meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today, in efforts to advance a stalled peace plan for Gaza, which Israel rejected earlier this month.
The 15-point plan was issued by Trump’s Board of Peace in late July, and outlined how Hamas would disarm if Israel halted strikes in Gaza and pulled troops back to the “yellow line.”
Here’s more on what the Board of Peace is:
What is it?
Trump had initially floated the Board of Peace as part of a second phase of the US-brokered 20-point Gaza ceasefire plan in September.
The United Nations Security Council backed the plan in November — giving it international legitimacy — with a mandate for the board to oversee the demilitarization and rebuilding of Gaza.
But Trump had longer-term plans. The charter draft, obtained by CNN, describes the Board of Peace as an “international organization” promoting stability, peace and governance “in areas affected or threatened by conflict.”
Trump will serve as chairman of the board indefinitely, according to the charter, possibly holding the post beyond his second term as president.
Who are the members?
Its members include Netanyahu, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Emirati President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and several other world leaders.
The Board of Peace will also sit above a “founding Executive Board” that includes Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, special envoy Steve Witkoff and former British prime minister Tony Blair.
Who has declined?
Multiple Western nations declined to join the board earlier this year.
The UK said it would not sign up due to concerns about Russian involvement. Then-Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper told the BBC the UK would not be one of the signatories “because this is about a legal treaty that raises much broader issues.”
“We do also have concerns about (Russian President Vladimir) Putin being part of something, which is talking about peace, when we have still not seen any signs from Putin that there will be a commitment to peace in Ukraine,” she said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said it was difficult to see being “together with Russia in any council.” The issue, he said, “is that Russia is our enemy, and Belarus is their ally.”
France and Norway also declined, in part citing questions about how the Board of Peace would operate in conjunction with the UN.
US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner is meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today, as mediators push to revive the US-backed Gaza peace plan, which Israel rejected earlier this month.
On Sunday, Kushner and Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya also held talks in Egypt to discuss the plan, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Let’s re-cap the latest developments here:
Trump claims breakthrough
In late July, US President Donald Trump announced what he described as an historic agreement to secure the disarmament of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza — months after he first announced a US-brokered ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel.
As armed groups in Gaza are disarmed, Trump said, Israeli forces will withdraw and an International Stabilization Force, working alongside a new Palestinian police force, will assume responsibility for security in territory.
Trump said he would be “very disappointed” if Israel rejected the plan, but just over a week later, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did just that.
Israel rejects Gaza plan
On August 9, Netanyahu said Israel rejected the plan and demanded the full disarmament of Hamas before any Israeli forces withdraw.
“I want to be precise here: Israel rejects the 15-point document,” Netanyahu said in his first remarks directly addressing the proposal.
Ahead of October’s election, Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition is trailing in opinion polls, and the prime minister is seeking to balance pressure from Washington with demands from hardline Israeli ministers not to make concessions to Hamas.
How did Hamas respond?
Hamas said it would only go through with the deal if Israel halted strikes in Gaza and pulled troops back to the “yellow line,” as defined by the October ceasefire agreement.
CNN’s Alejandra Jaramillo, Abeer Salman, Oren Liebermann, Jeremy Diamond, Tal Shalev, Tim Lister, Eugenia Yosef and Ibrahim Dahman contributed reporting.
US envoy Jared Kushner is meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an effort to advance the Trump administration’s stalled Gaza peace plan, one day after meeting Hamas.
Netanyahu publicly rejected the latest 15-point plan that US President Donald Trump hailed as a major breakthrough at the end of last month, putting the future of the deal in doubt.
On Sunday, Kushner held a rare meeting with Hamas’ new leader, Khalil al-Hayya, in El Alamein in Egypt. The director of the US-backed Board of Peace, Nickolay Mladenov, also took part. An official familiar with the matter said the goal of the meeting was to turn the ceasefire plan into “concrete, verifiable steps,” including the disarmament of Hamas, the withdrawal of Israeli forces, and the beginning of reconstruction.
Hamas agreed to a disarmament plan but warned it could only happen if Israel upheld its obligations, including ending the near-daily attacks on Gaza and beginning to withdraw forces from the enclave.
In a joint statement on Sunday, a group of Arab and Muslim countries – including mediators Egypt and Qatar – condemned Israel for rejecting the plan.
“Such rejection confirms that Israel now bears responsibility for obstructing the efforts to bring peace in Gaza and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” the governments said.
With the memorandum of understanding now expired and no deal to end the war reached, the United States and Iran are both under pressure, an analyst told CNN on Monday.
“This is why it’s a game of chicken but the stakes are very different,” said Ali Vaez, deputy program director for Middle East and North Africa at the International Crisis Group.
The US is “choosing to try to bring Iran to its knees” and accepts the resulting economic fallout, while Iran sees surrender as an existential issue, Vaez said.
“At any cost, they are very unlikely to capitulate and to give in because they believe that that would be the end of the regime.”
Vaez said US-Iran diplomacy “is not dead but it is in dire straits,” noting that the memorandum “was just a page and a half” and “didn’t address any of the substantive disagreements” between both sides.
“If that (MOU) doesn’t stand for more than two weeks and the parties can’t find a way back into it then basically, yes, diplomacy is not going to deliver results and this is a formula for a ‘Forever War.’”
Vaez said Washington’s strategy of economic pressure on Iran will simply produce the same outcome as before –– “the hardening of the Iranian position.”
“Pressure is not a new strategy for the United States… continuation on the same trajectory is not going to produce a different result,” he noted.
The MOU unraveled soon after its June 17 signing, as disputes over control of the Strait of Hormuz reignited tensions and prompted renewed military strikes.
A 60-day window for US and Iran to reach a deal to end the war came to a close on Monday. In June, the two sides had signed a temporary agreement that kicked off the window for negotiations. No concrete plans on ending hostilities have been announced so far.
In other news, President Donald Trump announced Sunday the United States would reduce military exercises with South Korea, citing his positive relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Seoul’s lack of assistance with his Iran conflict.
Joint exercises with South Korea began on Monday as scheduled, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff told CNN. What is less clear currently is whether the exercises have been suddenly pared down or not in light of Trump’s announcement.
More headlines:
Defense pact: Trump praised a mutual defense agreement signed by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan, calling it an “important first step.” The three US allies signed the NATO-style mutual defense pact last week, consolidating their long-standing security ties into a collective-defense alliance that stipulates an attack against any of them “shall be regarded as attack on them all.”
USS Abraham Lincoln: Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat who served in the US Army, slammed Trump’s response to reports of poor conditions and low morale on the USS Abraham Lincoln, saying it “pisses me off.” Trump had dismissed claims that families of service members aboard the aircraft carrier have concerns about conditions.
Oil prices: Oil futures were flat on Sunday amid stalled US-Iran talks over fully reopening shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. US gas prices have remained above $4 while stock futures were also flat.
Shipping traffic: In the Strait of Hormuz, there were no notable ship movements in the past 24 hours, according to MarineTraffic data. And on the Bab el-Mandeb strait, at least 40 vessels transited the waterway. This is down from the 2023 peak of 72 ships a day, according to Kpler data.
CNN’s Aileen Graef, Julia Benbrook, Auzinea Bacon and Lisa Wong contributed reporting.
The US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding in June, aiming to stop hostilities and pave the way for a “final deal” within 60 days to end the war on all fronts and settle complicated issues such as Tehran’s nuclear program.
The 60-day window ended at midnight, with nothing concrete agreed so far. Both sides have accused each other of violating the temporary agreement and multiple flare-ups have escalated the conflict in the Middle East.
The 14-point framework, brokered mainly by Pakistan with the support of other neighboring nations, was signed by US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on June 17.
The interim agreement came after more than three months of deadly conflict that severely disrupted Gulf trade, especially oil and gas exports.
The agreement included provisions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, easing some financial restrictions on Iran and outlining expectations for future talks on Iran’s nuclear program.
However, it soon fractured with disputes over the strait, leading to renewed military strikes at the end of June.
On July 8, Trump said the MOU was “over.”
With US weapon stockpiles dwindling and no permanent resolution in sight, he now risks drawing the US into yet another “Forever War.”
Trump has made it clear that inflicting economic pain on Iran is part of Washington’s current strategy.
“We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money,” he said earlier this month.
Tehran, however, remains steadfast. On Saturday, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said no decision has been made on whether to resume negotiations with the US.
Responding to Trump’s recent threat to declare the strait a US territory after “we finish defeating Iran,” Araghchi said that it “cannot be seized with a tweet.”
Strikes between US forces and Iran have paused, but violence by Iran-backed groups in the region persists.
Yemen’s military has intensified its campaign against the Houthis who have targeted shipping hubs and US allies, while Lebanon recently saw its deadliest day of Israeli airstrikes since their June ceasefire.
CNN’s Alayna Treene, Ibrahim Dahman, Kevin Liptak and Nick Paton Walsh contributed reporting.
US President Donald Trump announced Sunday that the United States would reduce military exercises it conducts with key regional ally South Korea, citing his positive relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korea’s lack of assistance with Iran.
Trump went on to raise the Iran war and his request for South Korea to help.
Trump has had a warm relationship with the North Korean leader despite it being a longtime adversary of the United States. Earlier this weekend, he posted a picture of himself and Kim, with the caption: “Despite the unfriendly look on this particular picture, there are many where we’re smiling, Kim Jong Un and I get along GREAT!”
The joint exercises with South Korea, called Ulchi Freedom Shield military drills, were set to begin August 17 and go for 10 days.
North Korea has long criticized such exercises, with its Central Military Commission calling trilateral exercises last year with Japan and South Korea “the most comprehensive and offensive war drill for aggression in terms of scale, content and nature” that has been conducted on the southern Korean Peninsula.
Read the full story here.
Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, held a rare meeting with the leader of Hamas in Egypt over the weekend.
The US envoy is set to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel on Monday, and has already sat down this week with Egypt’s president.
It all comes at a critical time for US diplomacy in a region that’s been roiled by conflicts on multiple fronts this year.
Here’s some background on Kushner:
He served as a chief Middle East negotiator in Trump’s first presidential term and built deep relationships with leaders in the region, having informally advised administration officials on negotiations with Arab leaders, Trump administration officials and people close to Kushner told CNN last year.
Kushner helped lead Trump administration policies on the Middle East, including the Abraham Accords, which normalized ties between Israel and several Arab states.
After leaving the White House in 2021, Kushner launched a private equity firm, Affinity Partners, which received $2 billion from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. The United Arab Emirates and Qatar have also invested large amounts into his firm.
Kushner has previously denied these investments are a conflict of interest. In an interview with CBS News’ “60 Minutes” last year, Kushner said: “What people call conflicts of interests, Steve (Witkoff) and I call experience and trusted relationships that we have throughout the world.”
US envoy Jared Kushner and Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya held talks in Egypt on Sunday, according to a source familiar with the matter, as part of efforts to advance the Gaza ceasefire plan rejected by Israel.
The talks in El Alamein included Board of Peace director Nickolay Mladenov. Kushner is reported to have only met Hamas officials directly once before.
In October last year, Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, met with al-Hayya to finalize an earlier ceasefire agreement that led to the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza.
Meetings with other key leaders: While in Egypt, Kushner also met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, where the two discussed “the need for all parties to fulfill their obligations under the agreement to stop the war in the Gaza Strip,” according to Sisi’s office.
A US source confirmed Kushner relayed greetings from Trump and reaffirmed the administration’s goals in the Middle East.
Kushner and Mladenov are also expected to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel on Monday, according to a diplomatic source.
On Friday, an official with the Board of Peace — the US-backed body tasked with securing long-term peace in Gaza — said the goal of the meetings was to “concretize” the next steps of a new ceasefire plan.
The big picture: Trump announced a new 15-point Gaza peace plan at the end of last month, which called for a series of sequenced steps to halt regular Israeli attacks in Gaza, disarm Hamas, and lead to the withdrawal of the Israeli military.
But after more than a week of silence, Netanyahu publicly rejected the deal and insisted the Israeli military would not withdraw until Hamas was completely disarmed. Hamas agreed to a disarmament plan but warned it could only happen if Israel upheld its obligations under the previous ceasefire agreement.
Major progress on the ceasefire plan has proven difficult, especially against a backdrop of an upcoming election in Israel in which Netanyahu is unlikely to make serious concessions on Gaza.
Ibrahim Dahman contributed reporting to this post.
One of the Trump administration’s biggest problems in extracting itself from the Iran war is the list of very absolutist goals that President Donald Trump and his team laid out.
The goals have included complete Iranian surrender, regime change, Iran never getting a nuclear weapon and ending Tehran’s support for its Middle East proxy groups like Hezbollah.
As the war — now in its sixth month — has dragged on, this list of goals has conspicuously shifted and been pared back. And Vice President JD Vance appears to have pared it back recently in a remarkable way, offering the latest indication that the administration might be preparing to settle for less — maybe even a lot less.
Appearing on Fox News on Thursday, Vance was asked how the war might end. He laid out two goals.
“It’s ensuring that the Gulf countries continue to send oil and gas to the world economy so that we have energy price stability,” he said, adding: “That’s goal number one: Keep oil and gas cheap for Americans all over our country.
“And then, obviously, goal number two is ensure that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon.”
This is not the administration’s old list of goals — and the order Vance placed them in is striking.
When asked about Vance’s comments on Friday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt maintained that “both goals are equally as important to the president.”
The administration has almost always characterized Iran never getting a nuclear weapon as the overriding concern.
And even if the goals are truly equal in the administration’s mind, including oil and gas prices at all — and not other items — is a notable shift.
Read the full analysis of US objectives in Iran here.
It is getting harder to estimate the volume of shipping using the key Strait of Hormuz, as more vessels pass through with trackers off and ship-to-ship transfers disguise the amount of oil reaching global markets, analysts say.
Traffic through the waterway remains low and although Iran and Oman are negotiating over the waterway, there are no immediate signs of a deal.
The number of ships known to be transiting the Strait of Hormuz varies from a couple to about a dozen on a daily basis. Not all are tankers; many operators are still deterred from using the strait because of sporadic Iranian drone attacks.
Thirteen vessels transited on Thursday, according to maritime intelligence group Windward, with four of those inbound and nine outbound. Of the outbound traffic, four vessels — including a tanker laden with 2 million barrels of Saudi crude – sailed with their satellite trackers off.
There were no notable ship movements in the strait in the past 24 hours, MarineTraffic data showed on Sunday.
Last week, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that between 8 and 9 million barrels a day were getting through Hormuz on a running average. Wright said the US had access to information that tracking agencies lacked.
More context: Many tankers and freighters with Saudi connections are avoiding both Hormuz and the Bab al Mandeb waterway at the southern end to the Red Sea, where the Iranian-backed Houthi militants have warned they will attack Saudi vessels.
Iran’s oil exports have been severely limited by the US naval blockade.
For the first time in almost a month, a large tanker last week began loading crude at the western terminal of Iran’s main export hub Kharg Island, Windward said. More than a dozen other tankers remain anchored in the area.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Saturday that the lack of oil exports was hitting the state’s revenues.

BBC asked women and girls to describe their life five years after the Taliban took over Afghanistan. They said that it was unrecognisable.
Since regaining control of the country in 2021, two decades after it was removed by an American-led coalition from power, the hardline Islamists have been undermining the rights for 22 million women.
Since the Taliban took over, the BBC has been one of few media organizations that have maintained access to Afghanistan. From the center of Kabul out to the countryside, we spoke with women from all over the country.
The Taliban have restricted the travel of girls without male companions, and they’ve passed a law that implies legal approval for marriages between children.
The Taliban foreign minister responded to BBC Afghan’s question about the restrictions women face by saying: “Women do not have total freedom in all aspects of their lives”.
The restrictions have a profound impact on their daily lives, and it is difficult for them to share their experiences. They fear retaliation.
Ela, a Kabul resident, said: “Poverty and everyday hardships have forced many people to abandon their dreams and hope for the future.
Many of us have no time to plan for the future.
The following story is a disturbing tale.
Afghanistan is the only country where girls have been officially prohibited from secondary or higher education.
Shakiba said that the “15th August when the government collapsed was the most painful and worst day of my entire life.”
Every year, when the date of this event arrives, I am filled with a feeling that an old wound has opened and a sense of devastation is now in my heart.
The day that I experienced the loss of many dreams which I have carried for years.
Shakiba says that despite completing her secondary schooling online, which she calls “a victory”, her goal to become a pilot still feels unattainable.
When I saw the sky, I imagined flying in an aircraft and viewing the world above. “I wanted to experience the world and fly without boundaries,” said she.
Amir Khan Muttaqi was asked about the education of girls in Afghanistan by BBC, and specifically referenced a Unicef Report stating that approximately 2.6 million Afghan girls are unable to continue their schooling beyond grade 6.
Amir Khan Muttaqi responded that it was “not correct” to state that everything for women is forbidden, adding that at the moment “three million girls attend schools and madrassas (religious centers focused on Islamic learning).
Muttaqi responded to a question about how the religious schools in Pakistan can train doctors: “Women’s rights aren’t totally restricted… only a small portion (of women’s affairs) will be restricted for now.”
The United Nations reports that only 7% of Afghan women are in employment, following their ban from many jobs and study fields.
After a number of Taliban directives, Zuhal the news anchor was fired.
“I did my job with passion and love. “I was proud of myself and my work every time I read and watched the news in front of a camera. It became a part of who I am and what I do.”
The days of waking up with my alarm and watching TV are gone. I now wake up knowing I will be spending the day at home.
Afghanistan’s foreign minister said that in 2020-2021, there were up to 30,000 female business owners in Afghanistan. Since then the number has risen to over 120,000.
“[Women] can be teachers, civil servants or entrepreneurs. Muttaqi stated that women are not prohibited from all types of activities and engagements.
Official records show that hundreds have been publicly flogged by the Taliban since 2021, but it is more likely to be much higher.
Shaima, a BBC reporter said she had been whipped by her mother 50 times. Her body was badly scarred.
They brought me a piece of paper, and made me confess: “Yes, I’m an apostate.” I have been in contact with men who are not related to me and am working with them.
They hit me hard enough that I bent my head to the ground.
Around 200 people, men, children, and boys from the locality, had come together. They were all male. “I was forced to confess my repentance out loud.”
Shaima’s eldest child wakes up scared almost every evening and says, “Mother they beat you” or “Mother they kill you”.
She added, “That’s what I find most painful.”
Manizha received 39 public lashes for her friendship with an unnamed man. She was then sent to jail.
We wanted to marry, but we were unfortunately arrested. “I don’t know how Taliban intelligence discovered that we were married, or if someone else reported us.
“I experienced things in prison that I never told my mom. I had no desire to continue living. After I got out of jail, I said that I’d kill myself as soon as I could.
I had been a shame to my friends and family. “I could not think of marriage.”
BBC Action Line offers a comprehensive list of organizations that can assist you or someone else who has been affected.
Afghanistan is home to one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world. Rules restricting male doctors from treating women or girls mean that many are denied access to healthcare.
Marzia, a midwife from the remote area of the country where she lives, recalled watching a mother of six of 45 years old die before her.
The baby was saved, but I’m still thinking of the six children who were left behind. What happens to her children without their mother in the family? What happens to their whole family?
We were all devastated. Losing a patient in our line of work is the most difficult part. “We become physically and mentally exhausted.”
Maryam, who is pregnant with a girl, said that she was worried about the future of her child.
What will she do if this continues? She won’t even be able to complete school, much less go to university like me.
What if she needs a woman doctor to deliver her child if one day, when she is married and pregnant? It’s a question of life or death.
“Speak out for Us”
Several of the Afghani women that we spoke with expressed hope in the future.
Noori, 24, says she chose to study political science and law because she wants to defend women’s rights and give them a voice.
The Taliban took over the country and she never completed her degree. But, she still found a way of helping women.
Ten brave women currently work there.
Asma is 13 years old and wants to be a doctor. She is certain that she will become one someday.
She told BBC that “one day everything will change… But we must keep patience and will not give up hope.”
Ela is a dental assistant and she urged international communities not to ignore Afghani girls and women.
She said, “Speak out for Afghan women and support their rights to education and employment.”
Keep the attention of the world on them. “We need to be united, not silent.”

A second day of search and rescue efforts is underway after a massive earthquake struck western Colombia on Monday.
The powerful earthquake comes as the country’s new president, Abelardo de la Espriella, faces a tough and early test of his abilities to handle a crisis.
Scroll through below for more photos of the scene in Colombia:
The young son of a mayor of a beach town near the epicenter of the earthquake was among those killed in the disaster.
Mateo Valencia, the six-year-old son of Bahía Solano’s Mayor, Jairson Leonel Valencia, died after his home collapsed, according to the mayor’s office.
Dozens of people attended a candle-lit vigil Monday night to mourn the boy and offer prayers to his family.
Former Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo, who also severed as Chocó governor, expressed solidarity, saying: “In these moments of immense pain, we raise our prayers to God so that He may grant the mayor, his family, and the entire community strength, comfort, and serenity to face this irreparable loss.”
The death toll from the Colombia earthquake has risen to at least 224, according to a CNN tally. Colombia’s Geological Service has recorded more than 70 aftershocks across the country since yesterday’s deadly 7.4-magnitude quake.
Meanwhile, rescue workers are racing to reach people trapped underneath debris in the hardest-hit areas in the country.
Here’s the latest:
The powerful earthquake caused a fire at a jail in Buenaventura, near Cali in the West of the country, leaving at least four people dead and two hospitalized, according to Dilian Francisca Toro, Governor of Valle del Cauca.
First responders have rescued a woman from under the rubble of a collapsed building in Cali almost 30 hours after the powerful earthquake struck.
A dramatic video from Cali shows the rescue of a baby from under the rubble of an apartment building.
In Pereira, rescue workers and volunteers are actively searching for people “within what was an apartment building,” CNN’s David Culver said. He said rescue workers have brought in a crane and fuel truck directly behind it “just to keep the operations going.”
Buildings in the city of Manizales sustained severe damage, Mayor Jorge Eduardo Rojas said this morning, adding that the death toll remains at five. He said the city has received thousands of requests to assess impacted homes, which will take at least a month.
The La Italia district, located in the epicenter of the powerful earthquake, is dealing with structural damage, a lack of water and electricity a day after the tremor, community leader Jeison Guevara said.
Colombia’s President Abelardo de la Espriella announced economic relief measures for those affected by Monday’s quake during his tour of cities in the country’s coffee region.
As charities on the ground provide aid to those affected, CNN’s Impact Your World has ways readers can help victims. Pledge your donation for those affected by the quake here.
CNN’s Mauricio Torres, Caroll Alvarado, Michael Rios, Gonzalo Zegarra and Catherine Nicholls contributed to this report.
The US has sent a Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) to Colombia to “support the government’s critical operations, programming, and overall response coordination,” according to a social media post from the US State Department.
The DART will arrive in the country today. The State Department added that the White House and US Embassy remain in “direct contact” with Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella.
US assistance to Colombia comes as Mexican authorities are also offering aid and expertise. The Mexican government is preparing a contingent of 255 troops specialized in search and rescue, along with tons of humanitarian aid, to be sent as soon as Colombia formally requests it.
A district at the epicenter of Colombia’s powerful earthquake is dealing with structural damage and a lack of water and electricity a day after the tremor, community leader Jeison Guevara told CNN.
La Italia district, located in the mountainous municipality of San José del Palmar, hasn’t yet reported any deaths but several buildings and roads are damaged, he said.
“Some homes in the municipal center do have damage to sidewalks, internal damage,” said Guevara, a bakery owner who was with customers when the earthquake struck.
San José del Palmar, an rural agricultural town of roughly 5,900 people, is currently isolated from the rest of the country. The main road out of town to neighboring Cartago is blocked by 18 separate landslides, according to Guevara. He said there’s only one bulldozer working to clear the road at the moment, and it will take some time for more resources to reach the stricken community.
Guevara described an atmosphere of “anxiety” on Monday night because residents feared there could be an aftershock during the power outage. Today everyone is trying to gradually resume their daily activities as they wait for services to be restored.
“This morning, well, everyone is back to their work, trying to charge their phones with some generators we have here in the municipality, in the district. The community is being given the opportunity to charge, to communicate, to inform their families that we are well, thank God, technically we are fine, and we are coping with the situation, which is what’s important,” he said.
Dramatic video from Cali, Colombia, shows the rescue of a baby from under the rubble of an apartment building.
Brian Osorio Zuluaga told CNN that he heard the La Torre del Limonar building collapse during Monday’s earthquake.
Osorio Zuluaga said he approached the building to try to help even though another woman had warned him about a possible gas leak.
While calling out for survivors he heard a faint male voice say “I’m over here. I’m with a baby.”
“I told the person to scream louder if possible,” said Osorio Zuluaga, “When I finally located where their voice was coming from, I yelled for help. ‘There’s one over here! They’re with a baby; they’re with a baby!’”
Osorio Zuluaga said that he and six others pulled the baby out before emergency responders arrived and continued the rescue efforts.
The powerful earthquake that struck Colombia on Monday caused a fire at a jail in Buenaventura, near Cali in the West of the country, leaving at least four people dead and two hospitalized, Valle del Cauca Governor Dilian Francisca Toro said on Tuesday.
The fire, which was extinguished around 1:30 a.m., caused serious damage to the Marte detention center. It held roughly 370 inmates from some of Colombia’s biggest gangs, Toro said.
The governor has asked the justice ministry and national prisons agency to transfer the inmates to other penitentiary centers to prevent any “risk of violence.”
Colombia’s President Abelardo de la Espriella announced economic relief measures for those affected by Monday’s earthquake during his tour of cities in the country’s coffee region.
The president said today that he ordered the Minister of Housing to decree “an economic relief in public services for all people affected in Risaralda for three months.” It means people won’t need to pay household bills, allowing people “some respite in the midst of this tragedy.”
People who lost their homes will be given financial support to rent temporary housing. The cost of repairing and rebuilding will be addressed later, he said.
Pereira, the capital of Risaralda, is one of the cities most severly affected by the earthquake, with more than 70 dead.
“In Pereira, we assessed the situation and coordinated all the capacities of the State to respond quickly and forcefully to the affected communities. We are on the ground, at the forefront of the emergency and alongside our people,” De la Espriella said on X.
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Volunteers in Miami preparing aid for Colombia earthquake victims
1:28 • Source: CNN
Volunteers in Miami preparing aid for Colombia earthquake victims
1:28
Woman rescued from rubble of collapsed building in Cali
0:49 • Source: CNN
Woman rescued from rubble of collapsed building in Cali
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First responders have rescued a woman from under the rubble of a collapsed building in Cali almost 30 hours after a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck Colombia.
Video shows people cheering as firemen carried her out on a stretcher after pulling her out of a mountain of concrete.
Officials identified the woman as Diana Troncoso and said she is in stable condition. She’s a medic in her early 30s and was alone in her apartment when it collapsed, local media reported.
Firefighters from Cali and from the capital, Bogotá, were involved in the hours-long rescue operation, which they described as complex.
CNN’s David Culver is on the ground in Pereira, Colombia, where rescue workers and volunteers are racing to reach people trapped underneath rubble.
“There’s folks who have jumped in and you can see they’re wearing everything from athleisure wear to shorts, tennis shoes — they’re not prepared for this. The gloves have been handed out by volunteers, and yet they’re stepping in to help determined to try to do something to contribute,” Culver said, while reporting live for CNN.
Rescue workers and volunteers are actively searching for people “within what was an apartment building,” Culver said. “And you can see it’s covered now.”
He said rescue workers have brought in a crane and fuel truck directly behind it “just to keep the operations going.”
Colombia’s Geological Service has recorded more than 70 aftershocks across the country since the deadly 7.4 magnitude earthquake took place yesterday, with the latest being felt a short while ago.
The new seismic event this morning had a magnitude of 3.8, the agency said. Although far less powerful than yesterday’s earthquake, this was still felt in several cities across the country.
The epicenter of the aftershock, at a depth of 99 kilometers, was once again located in San José del Palmar, in the department of Chocó.
It is “likely” that aftershocks will continue to occur, the Colombian Geological Service said yesterday afternoon, when it had already counted nearly 50 seismic events, the largest of which was magnitude 4.8.
“These can last for days, weeks, or even months, as energy continues to be released until the areas surrounding the rupture zone of the main earthquake are balanced again,” it explained.
Buildings in the city of Manizales sustained severe damage, Mayor Jorge Eduardo Rojas said this morning, adding that the death toll remains at five.
In a video posted to X, Rojas said officials have received thousands of requests to assess impacted homes.
“There are so many needs, so many homes, that this will take us a month or a little more,” he said.
The mayor said there are 60 buildings with total or partial collapse in the city.
“There are 2,000 people affected, and we will likely reach 4,000, with 150 people in the shelter at the Coliseo Mayor,” he recounted.
He also asked evacuated residents to register with the firefighters to be eligible for a subsidy.
The earthquake is one of the first major challenges for Colombia’s new President Abelardo de la Espriella. He took office only last week after his election on a far-right platform, promising to strike hard at criminal groups and leftist militants in Colombia.
He mocked previous government efforts at peacemaking in his inaugural address, declaring that the “option of dialogue is completely exhausted.”
It had been expected that De la Espriella’s first week in office would be devoted to that security agenda. Criminals killed a police officer in northern Colombia with explosive drones less than 24 hours after de la Espriella was sworn in. The next day, his government shared video of 117 high-profile prisoners being shuffled to different maximum-security facilities.
“A country without security has nothing, and we are going to recover it with an iron fist,” de la Espriella said in the video.
Just before the earthquake struck, the BBC reported that De la Espriella’s government targeted and killed the alleged leader of a leftist militant group.
The earthquake may prove to be a test of de la Espriella’s anti-crime strategy in addition to his disaster management skills. The epicenter of the earthquake was in Chocó, one of Colombia’s more underdeveloped regions and a significant hub for criminal and militant activity.
It’s unclear how the security situation in Chocó will affect rescue, recovery and rebuilding efforts in the aftermath of the earthquake. Government statistics show that Colombia has seen a 20% increase in injuries from landmines planted by paramilitary groups in recent years.
Last year, the City Paper Bogota reported the department’s governor saying that people are “afraid to walk” in many areas for fear of triggering a mine.
A music festival that was set to be held in Cali this week has been canceled after yesterday’s deadly earthquake, in which the western Colombian city was hit particularly hard.
The mayor of Cali, Alejandro Eder, “has decided to suspend” this year’s edition of the Petronio Alvarez Festival following the disaster, the event’s organizers announced on Instagram.
This year was set to be the 30th edition of the festival, which is held every August, according to Colombia’s tourism board.
“More than 3,500 artists bring the festival to life, playing instruments inherited from the region’s first inhabitants,” the tourism board says, calling it an “opportunity to show the world the music, gastronomy, crafts and ancestral knowledge of the country’s Afro-descendant culture.”
CNN’s Michelle Velez contributed to this reporting.
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First responders work ferociously to try and rescue elderly womand and young girl believed to be trapped in Pereira building
3:01 • Source: CNN
First responders work ferociously to try and rescue elderly womand and young girl believed to be trapped in Pereira building
3:01
In the Colombian city of Pereira, a CNN crew has witnessed the scale of the destruction after yesterday’s deadly earthquake, as rescue teams desperately search for survivors in the rubble of collapsed buildings.
Describing the scenes from Pereira live on CNN, Culver said the atmosphere was “eerily quiet” as rescuers listened out for survivors.
A crane has been deployed and canine search and rescue teams are searching for people trapped under rubble, Culver said, including under one building that used to host apartments, a bar and a drug store.
Culver spoke to one man who witnessed the building collapsing in the earthquake. The man said that he felt “a lot of confusion” and “powerless at times.”
“What’s happened in Venezuela and other parts of the world now is happening right here in his community,” Culver said of the man. “And he said, ‘It’s moments like this that you have to come together.’”
At least 213 people have been confirmed killed following a powerful 7.4 magnitude quake in Colombia on Monday, according to a CNN tally of figures from local authorities, as paramedics struggle to keep apace of mounting rescue needs.
Communities in two of the most densely populated cities in the South American nation – Cali and Pereira – are facing some of the heaviest impact, according to the Colombian Association of Capital Cities.
Throughout the country, disoriented residents, health workers and volunteers are scrambling through the rubble of pancaked buildings and clambering over mounds of debris – as they reckon with the mammoth scale of destruction.
Here’s what you need to know:
Scattered rescue efforts: Victor Chamapuro, leader of the Wounaan Indigenous Reserve “Buenavista” in Litoral del San Juan, Chocó department, warned aid is yet to reach the area, which can only be entered by boat on a five-hour journey from the port of Buenaventura, on Colombia’s Pacific coast.
Food assistance needs: Nils Grede, the country director for the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) in Colombia, said getting food and water to survivors would be “important in these first days after the catastrophe.” Residents with disabilities are struggling with additional survival challenges, the global NGO, CARE International said on Tuesday.
International leaders step in: The European Union mobilized its satellite service and is providing funding to strengthen response operations, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Tuesday.
Below-grade buildings: John Londoño of the Colombian Geological Service (SGC), told Spanish newspaper El País that a “huge number of low-income and social housing dwellings” do not meet earthquake resistance rules for new construction projects, exacerbating “danger for the most vulnerable people.”
Pope Leo pays tribute to those killed: Pope Leo XIV is “deeply saddened to learn the painful news of the earthquake” in Colombia. In the letter to survivors, which was sent through the Colombian Episcopal Conference, the pope said he is praying “for the eternal rest of the deceased.”
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Native Californian recounts earthquake experience in Colombia
5:14 • Source: CNN
Native Californian recounts earthquake experience in Colombia
5:14
A native Californian, Mark Ericson grew up with earthquakes. But little could have prepared him for the once-in-a-decade quake that careened through Colombia on Monday.
The former TV journalist was inside his house in Cali, west of the capital Bogotá, when he felt a gentle rumbling that quickly morphed into convulsive tremors – lasting about 45 seconds to a minute.
Communities in Cali, the third-largest city in Colombia, have faced some of the most lethal impacts of the earthquake nationwide – with at least 95 people killed there alone, according to local agencies and authorities in the country. Multiple landslides trapped residents in parts of the city on Monday, the UN reported.
Across the country, those with disabilities are plagued by additional survival challenges, the global NGO, CARE International said on Tuesday. For Ericson’s son, who has autism, trying to escape the building “was very difficult,” he said.
Moments later, disoriented residents were streaming onto the streets, said Ericson. Just a couple of blocks away, an entire apartment building had collapsed, he told CNN. “It was chaos… Like you’re in one of those disaster movies,” said Ericson.
Nearly 24 hours after the earthquake first struck Colombia, paramedics are struggling to keep apace of emergency needs, according to Ericson, propelling civilians into action. “Everybody is just coming together to help each other out,” he said.
CNN’s Brooke Jenner and Christina Macfarlane contributed reporting.
Colombia is highly vulnerable to seismic activity given its position on the Pacific Ring of Fire and the confluence of three tectonic plates, and experts say that the country needs to do more to prepare for future earthquakes.
Speaking to Spanish newspaper El País in an article published Monday, Flover Rodríguez, geologist and director of the Colombian Association of Energy Geologists and Geophysicists (ACGGP), said that authorities need to update the land-use maps on which seismic regulations are based.
“Colombia needs to establish a clear land use policy to protect its people,” he said.
To this end, the ACGGP had already called on the government to improve the quality of mapping data in a statement published at the end of July. It also expressed its concern that there is no centralized database detailing which municipalities have carried out basic geological studies, which would help to reduce the risk of damage from earthquakes, landslides and floods.
In addition, John Londoño of the Colombian Geological Service (SGC) told El País that, despite recent advances in earthquake resistance rules for new construction projects, there are many buildings that fall short of these requirements.
“A huge number of low-income and social housing dwellings don’t meet these standards,” he said. “This is a huge danger for the most vulnerable people.”
Gina Villalobos, a civil engineer and professor of seismology, added that although engineering and building designs are of a high quality, standards can slip during the construction phase.
“A lot of the time construction projects don’t follow the plans in order to save time or money, and the earthquake resistance rules are broken,” she told El País.

WHO says we are on the trail of Ebola.
WHO has said that the latest Ebola outbreak began in the Democratic Republic of Congo at least three month before the official declaration. This means the authorities still have a lot of catching up to do.
Since the 15th of May declaration, more than 1,900 Ebola cases have been reported. This is the second worst Ebola outbreak in history.
The infection rate is still very high. This adds to concerns that authorities struggle to control the spread of disease.
Insecurity in eastern DR Congo has hampered efforts to control this Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak.
Bundibugyo is difficult to treat because there are no recognised drugs or vaccines.
At a press conference held in Bunia (the city at the center of the outbreak), WHO Africa Director Dr Mohamed Janabi stated: “We’re chasing the disease, but the disease is already ahead of us.”
The virus was misdiagnosed at first as typhoid or malaria, according to research cited by the doctor.
Janabi said, that in part due to insecurity, the health workers only reach about 30% of cases, with the remainder dying at home.
Some communities are also hesitant to trust health officials because of traditional burial practices, whereby mourners will touch the body.
There are several treatment centers in eastern DR Congo that are dedicated to this disease and are able to diagnose patients much faster.
DR Congo’s Health Ministry has confirmed that there are 4,294 cases of cholera and 1,960 deaths.
In West Africa, between 2014 and 2016, 11,325 deaths were recorded.
BBCAfrica.com has more information about the African continent.
You can follow us on Twitter at @BBCAfrica or Facebook as BBC Africa.

The surface of the Sun has been captured in unprecedented detail by scientists using the most powerful telescope on the planet.
The images and video show a “whirlpool” of activity, which was not visible before.
The magnetic field of the Sun is being bent and moved as a result of the hot gas.
This constant spiraling creates space weather that could disrupt Earth’s satellites and power grids. It can also cause astronauts to be injured.
David Boboltz, a scientist at the US National Solar Observatory NSO (National Solar Observatory), explained that the Sun was the source of this energy and all the space weather.
He said that taking more detailed photos of the star in our solar system will allow us to better respond to this weather.
We want to know the Sun’s physics, even at the most minute scales, to be able to predict the space weather.
Inouye Solar Telescope, a facility located on Hawaii’s highest peak, is responsible for the findings published in Nature. The skies of Hawaii are clear and blue, with no dust.
The team zoomed in to capture a close-up view of the swirling vortices.
NSO’s Dr David Kuridze told BBC News that these motions create magnetic energy which could build to cause large explosions.
Space weather explosions
Scientists have named the phenomenon they discovered in the Sun as “Kelvin Helmholtz Instability”.
This phenomenon occurs when liquids, in this instance hot gases, slide by each other. Small disturbances grow to spiral vortices. It helps to explain why ripples in the ocean become powerful, giant waves.
Dr Friedrich Woeger from the NSO explained that the discovery of it on the Sun’s surface explained not only the dynamics behind the space weather but also why the Sun’s surface is so hot.
This diagram shows the energy transport upwards.
He said that once there is enough energy in the upper layers it could be released as a “flare” or a so-called coronal mass eruption.
Boboltz said that in addition to the practical necessity of understanding and protecting ourselves against space weather, these new findings are a reminder that our Sun is “a unique laboratory”.
He said, “It is our nearest star.” It can also help us to understand the very basics of physics.