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Death toll in Burma, Thailand earthquake rises to more than 1,600 victims
The death toll from the devastating earthquake that rocked Burma and Thailand on Friday has risen sharply to more than 1,650 victims.
The earthquake’s epicenter was in central Burma, where 1,644 have been confirmed dead with nearly 140 people still missing, the nation’s ruling military said Saturday.
The 7.7 magnitude quake knocked down scores of buildings as well as destroyed bridges and highways in what was the deadliest natural disaster to hit the impoverished, war-torn country in years. Burma is also known as Myanmar.
Survivors in Mandalay, Burma’s second-biggest city, dug with their bare hands on Friday in desperate attempts to save those still trapped, lacking heavy machinery and with authorities absent. Burma’s military rulers let in hundreds of foreign rescue personnel on Saturday.
Rescue personnel work at the site of a building that collapsed, following a strong earthquake, in Mandalay, Burma on March 29, 2025. (REUTERS/Stringer)
AMERICA’S MOST EXPENSIVE NATURAL DISASTERS IN RECENT DECADES
The quake struck during Friday prayers across the country, causing the collapse of at least 50 mosques across the country, killing nearly 300 people, the Yangon Khit Thit News Agency reported.
An initial assessment by Burma’s opposition National Unity Government said at least 2,900 buildings, 30 roads and seven bridges had been damaged by the quake.
The quake comes amid a raging civil war that has wrecked the economy and displaced millions. It makes movement around the country both difficult and dangerous, complicating relief efforts and raising fears that the death toll could still rise precipitously.
People drive on a motorbike past a collapsed building in Mandalay on March 28, 2025, after an earthquake in central Burma. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)
Airports too have been damaged, further hindering rescue efforts. For instance, satellite photos from Planet Labs PBC show the earthquake toppled the air traffic control tower at Naypyitaw International Airport as if sheered from its base, according to The Associated Press.
The country sits on the Sagaing Fault, a major north-south fault that separates the India plate and the Sunda plate.
WATCH: First responders clear leveled apartment building in Thailand after powerful earthquake
IS THE EAST COAST ON THE BRINK OF A MAJOR EARTHQUAKE — AND ARE WE PREPARED?
President Donald Trump said the earthquake was «terrible» on Friday and assured that the United States would assist in relief efforts.
«It’s a real bad one, and we will be helping. We’ve already spoken with the country,» Trump said.
In neighboring Thailand, where the quake shook buildings and brought down a skyscraper under construction in the capital Bangkok, at least ten people were killed.
Dramatic footage captured in Bangkok midday Friday showed a 33-story apartment building that was under construction falling down, scattering dust and debris throughout the city’s streets. Bangkok city authorities said earlier Friday that 10 people were killed, 16 were injured.
Water from a separate high-rise building with rooftop pools in Bangkok spilled over the side as they shook and debris fell from many buildings.
Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said the country has now «returned to normalcy.»
Aftershocks were reportedly felt in India and China.
WATCH: Skyscraper in Bangkok collapses after 7.7 magnitude earthquake rocks Burma, Thailand
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Photos and video from Burma showed two hard-hit cities with extensive damage.
In Mandalay, Burma’s second-largest city and close to the epicenter, the earthquake damaged part of the former royal palace and buildings, according to videos and photos released on Facebook social media.
In the Sagaing region just southwest of Mandalay, a 90-year-old bridge collapsed, and some sections of the highway connecting Mandalay and the city of Yangon were also damaged.
In the capital Naypyitaw, the quake damaged religious shrines, sending parts toppling to the ground and some homes.
Christina Shaw, Greg Norman, Bradford Betz Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Entre los misiles de Irán y los ataques de Hezbollah: cómo se vive en el kibutz Hanita, el territorio israelí que limita con Líbano
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Russia has turned to its so-called «shadow fleet» to carry out a roughly $29.3 million «semi-dark» ship-to-ship oil transfer in the Gulf of Oman, deliberately sidestepping Western sanctions, according to reports.
Maritime intelligence firm Windward AI reported on March 8 that the Russian-flagged tanker M/V TRUST, a vessel already blacklisted by the U.S., European Union and United Kingdom, carried out a «high-probability» covert crude transfer in Omani territorial waters.
Based on an estimated price of about $90 per barrel on March 10, the cargo involved in the transfer was valued at roughly $29.3 million.
«The timing of the operation coincided with heightened military escalation in the Gulf following Operation Epic Fury, suggesting the vessel exploited regional instability to conduct the transfer under reduced scrutiny,» Windward said.
HORMUZ ERUPTS: ATTACKS, GPS JAMMING, HOUTHI THREATS ROCK STRAIT AMID US-ISRAELI STRIKES
A crude oil tanker sits anchored in Muscat during the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran in Muscat, Oman, March 6, 2026. (Reuters/Benoit Tessier)
The tanker had previously loaded approximately 325,000 barrels of Russian crude oil at the Russian port of Ust-Luga, Windward said.
Windward described the operation as a «semi-dark» activity, meaning one of the vessels transmitted its automatic identification system (AIS) signal while the other did not.
According to the firm, the M/V TRUST had anchored and switched off its AIS transponder while holding what it called a «prolonged stationary meeting» with another tanker, likely producing an anonymous vessel to transfer cargo process.
TRUMP SAYS IT’S AN ‘HONOR’ TO KEEP STRAIT OF HORMUZ OPEN FOR CHINA AND OTHER COUNTRIES
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets the Russian delegation and some officials ahead of the Istanbul talks May 14, 2025, in Moscow, Russia. (Kremlin Press Office/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
A fully «dark» meeting, Windward said, typically involves two vessels not transmitting, but, in this case, only one ship appeared to be broadcasting, creating partial visibility that still complicates tracking efforts.
Such tactics are part of a broader strategy by Moscow to continue exporting crude despite sweeping Western sanctions imposed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The semi-dark oil transfer comes amid heightened volatility in global energy markets tied to the escalating conflict in the Middle East and limited traffic in the Strait of Hormuz given the joint U.S.-Israeli military action against Iran.
US SIGNALS READINESS TO ESCORT TANKERS THROUGH HORMUZ AS TRAFFIC THINS BUT NO MISSION LAUNCHED
A navy vessel sails in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway through which much of the world’s oil and gas passes, March 1, 2026. (Sahar Al Attar/AFP via Getty Images)
Oil topped $100 a barrel March 9 as traders priced in the risk that the conflict was disrupting flows through the Strait, which carries about a fifth of global supply, CNBC reported.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on March 9 that Russia, the world’s second-largest oil exporter and holder of the largest natural gas reserves, stands ready to resume long-term energy cooperation with European customers if they choose to return, Reuters reported.
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Meanwhile, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said Tuesday that Russia «should not be involved» in the escalating conflict between the U.S., Israel and Iran.
His comments followed reports suggesting Moscow may be providing intelligence support to Tehran, though the Kremlin has not publicly confirmed the claims.
On Russia’s ship-to-ship semi-dark cargo transfer amid the ongoing conflict, Windward highlighted «operational blind spots that enable illicit maritime activity to proceed largely uninterrupted.»
russia,vladimir putin,sanctions,iran,war with iran,middle east
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WATCH: Dem witness accuses Trump of ‘population purge,’ Kennedy fires back: ‘You trigger my gag reflex’
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David Bier, a Democrat-called witness at a Senate Budget Committee hearing Tuesday, drew a sharp rebuke from GOP Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana after accusing the Trump administration of attempting a «population purge» in the U.S.
Earlier in the hearing, Bier, an immigration policy expert at the CATO Institute, argued that both legal and illegal aliens «are a benefit to this country» because they help to reduce the national deficit.
Kennedy ripped into Bier, asking, «What planet did you parachute in from? You trigger my gag reflex.»
Bier had just claimed that federal judges opposing President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement operations «are much braver» than U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
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«They are much braver. They put their names on their rulings, and they stand behind their constitutional rulings,» said Bier.
He accused the administration of attempting to carry out a «population purge,» saying, «They’re trying to deport U.S.-born citizens, people born here, they are trying to deport them as well. So, it’s not a mass deportation agenda, it is also an agenda intended to reduce the population of the United States, including U.S.-born people.»
Earlier in the hearing, Bier had called for «more» immigrants to help address the soaring national deficit.
While being questioned by Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Bier said that there are «clear reasons for believing that they are reducing the deficits and debt, they are a benefit to this country, and we need more people who are going to contribute in the future as our population ages.»
Bier said «it’s easy to understand why» immigrants reduce the deficit «because they work at 12 percentage points higher than the national average, they use less benefits because they’re subject to constraints, unique barriers to applying for those benefits, in particular Social Security and Medicare. Those are by far our largest programs, and they’re not eligible for those at all if they’re here in the country illegally or if they came legally and they don’t have a sufficient work history to qualify.»
After the hearing, Bier later told Fox News Digital that «this exchange had nothing to do with illegal immigration» and that «the question was about immigration generally.»
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CHARGED FOR ALLEGEDLY VOTING IN EVERY PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION SINCE 2008
ICE officers participating in a week-long immigration enforcement operation in the Houston, Texas area, which resulted in the arrests of 646 illegal immigrants. (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)
Despite testifying in a hearing titled «Sanctuary Cities: The Cost of Undermining Law and Order,» during which members criticized the mass migration under the Biden administration, Bier posited that more immigration is a positive step for the country.
«According to the Social Security Administration, we need about 35 million more workers in order to keep revenues equal to expenses by the middle of the 2030s,» he said. «So, we are at a position right now where immigration is not going to solve it. Obviously, it’s not going to solve it, but it is moving us in the right direction.»
He praised immigrants, saying, «These are people who are showing up, they’re ready to work, they’re often prime age individuals who are ready to enter the labor force.»
«So, it’s a huge benefit fiscally to the United States to have these people who want to contribute to our country,» he added.
Bier was not the only one arguing in the hearing that illegal immigrants can improve communities. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., one of the Trump administration’s most outspoken critics, took a similar line, arguing that sanctuary policies actually lower crime, poverty and unemployment.
«Data shows that sanctuary policies actually make communities safer, healthier and more prosperous. That’s right, the evidence shows, the research shows sanctuary jurisdictions have lower crime rates, higher median household income, less poverty, less reliance on public assistance, higher labor force participation, and lower unemployment,» said Padilla.
«That’s right. It seems like sanctuary cities are helping to make America great, I said it,» he added.
FOUR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS LINKED TO MS-13 INDICTED FOR ALLEGEDLY MURDERING 14-YEAR-OLD BOY IN MARYLAND PARK
Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio. (Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Likewise, Kennedy was not the only Republican who took issue with Bier. After arguing over whether it was a mistake for Congress to ban people from entering the country illegally, Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, slammed Bier as a «smug guy.»
«You haven’t answered my question, but that’s okay. You’re a smug guy, and that’s part of your shtick,» said Moreno.
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After another Democrat-called witness declined to answer the same question, Moreno criticized both, saying, «This is the best that Democrats can come up with.»
«This is the best witnesses you’ve got? A guy who can’t distinguish whether it’s okay to have people enter our country illegally. Of all the millions of people that you could have chosen to testify … the best you have is a guy who has no idea what our immigration law is, and isn’t sure if somebody should enter the country illegally [and] another guy is a smug guy who obviously has an agenda,» said Moreno.
hearings,immigration,illegal immigrants,sanctuary cities,democratic party,woke
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