A major, 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck in the North Pacific Ocean near Japan on Monday, according to the United States Geological Survey. The Japan Meteorological Agency issued tsunami warnings for parts of the country’s northeastern coast.

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The temblor happened at 11:15 p.m. Japan time about 45 miles northeast of Misawa, Japan, data from the U.S.G.S. shows.

As seismologists review available data, they may revise the earthquake’s reported magnitude. Additional information collected about the earthquake may also prompt U.S.G.S. scientists to update the shake-severity map.

Aftershocks can occur days, weeks or even years after the first earthquake. These events can be of equal or larger magnitude to the initial earthquake, and they can continue to affect already damaged locations.

EU leader Costa and the German government have hit back at a US security strategy harshly critical of Europe.

European Council President Antonio Costa and the German government have lambasted a new US national security strategy that paints Europe as a troubled, declining power that may one day lose its usefulness as an ally to Washington.

The remarks on Monday from the European Union’s leading economy and one of its top officials delivered a stinging rebuke to the National Security Strategy released on Friday by the administration of US President Donald Trump.

The 33-page document contains scathing criticism of the continent, claiming it is facing the “prospect of civilisational erasure” due to migration, scorning it for “censorship of free speech” and suppression of anti-immigration movements, and suggesting that the US may withdraw the security umbrella it has long held over it.

The stoush over the strategy, playing out as Washington ramps up pressure on Ukraine to agree to a plan to end the war with Russia, reflects what EU leader Costa said was a “changed” relationship between the US and Europe.

“We need to focus on building a Europe that must understand that the relationships between allies and the post-World War II alliances have changed,” Costa said at the Jacques Delors Institute, a think tank in Paris.

In response to the strategy document’s comments on free speech, Costa warned, “There will never be free speech if the freedom of information of citizens is sacrificed for the aims of the tech oligarchs in the United States.”

Costa strongly criticised allegations that free speech is being censored in Europe and said only European citizens can decide which parties should govern them.

“What we cannot accept is this threat of interference in Europe’s political life. The United States cannot replace European citizens in deciding which are the right parties and the wrong parties,” Costa said.

“The United States cannot replace Europe in its vision of freedom of speech,” he noted, adding, “Our history has taught us that there is no freedom of speech without freedom of information.”

‘Ideology, not strategy’

In Berlin, Sebastian Hille, a deputy spokesperson for the German government, said some of the criticisms in the document were “ideology rather than strategy”.

“Political freedoms, including the right to freedom of expression, are among the fundamental values of the EU,” he said.

He said Berlin also disagreed with the document’s failure to classify Russia, which in February 2022 launched a full-scale invasion of neighbouring Ukraine, as a threat.

“We stand by NATO’s joint analysis, according to which Russia is a danger and a threat to trans-Atlantic security,” he added.

Divisions over Russia

The US strategy document makes clear that Washington wants to improve its relationship with Moscow, saying that it has a “core interest” in ending the conflict with Ukraine to “reestablish strategic stability with Russia”, while hitting out at European officials’ “unrealistic expectations” for a solution to the war.

An initial US plan for ending the war, which would have allowed Russia to hold on to large territories in eastern Ukraine, sparked criticism from European leaders amid concerns that Washington is trying to force Kyiv to accept unfavourable terms.

The plan has since been altered, first with input from Ukraine alongside its European allies and then in meetings between Ukrainian and US officials. The full details of the proposal as it stands have not been disclosed.

By contrast, Moscow has welcomed Trump’s strategy document.

Costa said that given the strategy document’s position on Ukraine, “we can understand why Moscow shares [its] vision.”

“The objective in this strategy is not a fair and durable peace. It’s only [about] the end of hostilities, and the stability of relations with Russia,” he said.

“Everyone wants stable relations with Russia,” Costa said, but “we can’t have stable relations with Russia when Russia remains a threat to our security”.

Security forces in Benin are searching for the soldiers who tried to seize power on Sunday morning, with the president saying they have taken an unknown number of hostages.

The coup plotters appeared on state TV to announce they had taken over, and gunfire was heard near the presidential residence.

However, President Patrice Talon later announced that the situation was “totally under control” in the West African country.

Regional power Nigeria assisted in thwarting the mutiny, saying its fighter jets had helped “dislodge the coup plotters from the National TV and a military camp” following a request from Benin’s government.

On Sunday afternoon, huge explosions were heard in Cotonou, Benin’s largest city and seat of government. They were thought to have been the result of an air strike.

Prior to the explosions, flight-tracking data showed that three aircraft had entered Benin’s airspace from neighbouring Nigeria before returning home.

The extent of the damage is not clear.

Earlier on Sunday, Benin government spokesperson Wilfried Leandre Houngbedji told the Reuters news agency that 14 people had been arrested in connection with the attempted coup.

A journalist in Benin also told the BBC that of those reportedly arrested 12 are believed to have stormed the offices of the national TV station – including a soldier who had previously been sacked.

The coup plotters said they were led by Lt Col Pascal Tigri, whose whereabouts are not known.

In Sunday evening’s national address, the 67-year-old president said that loyalist forces had “cleared the last pockets of resistance held by the mutineers”.

“This commitment and mobilisation enabled us to defeat these opportunists and avert disaster for our country. This treachery will not go unpunished,” he added.

“I would like to reassure you that the situation is completely under control and therefore invite you to go about your business peacefully.”

It is not clear if there have been any casualties, but the president expressed his condolences “to the victims of this senseless adventure, as well as to those still being held by fleeing mutineers”.

There had been a series of coups in West Africa before Sunday’s thwarted attempt in Benin, heightening fears that the security of the region could worsen.

Benin, a former French colony, has been regarded as one of Africa’s more stable democracies. But Talon has faced accusations of suppressing criticism of his policies.

The nation is one of the continent’s largest cotton producers, but ranks among the world’s poorest countries.

Nigeria, Benin’s large neighbour to the east, has described the coup attempt as a “direct assault on democracy”.

The French and Russian embassies on Sunday urged their citizens to remain indoors, while the US embassy’s advice was to stay away from Cotonou, especially the area around the presidential compound.

The rebel soldiers justified their actions by criticising Talon’s management of the country, complaining first about his handling of the “continuing deterioration of the security situation in northern Benin”.

Benin’s army has suffered losses near its northern border with insurgency-hit Niger and Burkina Faso in recent years, as jihadist militants linked to Islamic State and al-Qaeda spread southwards.

The soldiers’ statement cited “the ignorance and neglect of the situation of our brothers in arms who have fallen at the front and, above all, that of their families, abandoned to their sad fate by Mr Patrice Talon’s policies”.

The rebels also hit out at cuts in health care, including the cancellation of state-funded kidney dialysis, and taxes rises, as well as curbs on political activities.

Talon, who is regarded as a close ally of the West, is due to step down next year after completing his second term in office, with elections scheduled for April.

A businessman known as the “king of cotton”, he first came to power in 2016. He has endorsed Finance Minister Romuald Wadagni as his successor.

Talon has been praised by his supporters for overseeing economic development, but his government has also been criticised for suppressing dissenting voices.

In October, Benin’s electoral commission barred the main opposition candidate from standing on the grounds that he did not have enough sponsors.

Last month, constitutional amendments were passed by MPs, including the creation of a second parliamentary chamber, the Senate.

Terms for elected officials were extended from five to seven years, but the presidential two-term limit remained in place.

Sunday’s attempted coup comes just over a week after Guinea-Bissau’s President Umaro Sissoco Embaló was overthrown – though some regional figures have questioned whether this was staged.

In recent years, West Africa has also seen coups in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali and Niger, prompting concerns about the region’s stability.

Russia has strengthened its ties with these Sahel countries over recent years – and Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have left the West African regional bloc Ecowas to form their own group, the Alliance of Sahel States.

News of the attempted takeover in Benin was hailed by several pro-Russian social media accounts, according to BBC Monitoring.

Ecowas and the African Union (AU) both condemned the coup attempt.