Connect with us

INTERNACIONAL

Massive 7.7 magnitude earthquake rocks Thailand, Burma, collapsing buildings and killing more than 1,000

Published

on


A massive 7.7 magnitude earthquake rattled Thailand and Burma on Friday, causing buildings to collapse and leaving more than 1,000 dead across both countries.

The country’s military-led government said in a statement that 1,002 people have now been found dead and another 2,376 injured, with 30 others missing. The statement suggested the numbers could still rise, saying «detailed figures are still being collected.»

Advertisement

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 and 101 are missing from three construction sites, including the high-rise.

The earthquake’s epicenter was in central Burma and aftershocks were reportedly felt in India and China. Photos and video from Burma showed two hard-hit cities with extensive damage. 

One aftershock was reported to have been 6.4 magnitude, according to the United States Geological Survey. People in Bangkok that were evacuated from their buildings were cautioned to stay outside in case there were more.

Advertisement

AMERICA’S MOST EXPENSIVE NATURAL DISASTERS IN RECENT DECADES

bangkok earthquake

Rescuers work at the site of a collapsed apartment building under construction in Bangkok, Thailand. (Reuters/Ann Wang)

The head of Burma’s military government said in a televised speech Friday evening that at least 144 people were killed and 730 others were injured.

«The death toll and injuries are expected to rise,» Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing said, according to the Associated Press.

Advertisement

In Bangkok, Defense Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said 90 people were missing in the wake of the building collapse.

Near Bangkok’s popular Chatuchak market, the 33-story building under construction, with a crane on top, crumpled into a cloud of dust, and onlookers could be seen screaming and running in other videos posted to social media.

Officials there declared the city a disaster area to facilitate interagency aid and emergency help. The greater Bangkok area is home to more than 17 million people, many of whom live in high-rise apartments.

Advertisement

April Kanichawanakul, who works in an office building in Bangkok’s city center, at first didn’t even realize it was an earthquake, the first she’d ever experienced. «I just thought I was dizzy,» she told the AP.

«All of a sudden the whole building began to move. Immediately there was screaming and a lot of panic,» added Fraser Morton, a tourist from Scotland, who was in one of Bangkok’s many malls shopping for camera equipment.

Evacuated hospital in Thailand

Patients are evacuated outdoors at a hospital after a 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Bangkok, Thailand, on Friday, March 28. (Tadchakorn Kitchaiphon)

«I just started walking calmly at first but then the building started really moving, yeah, a lot of screaming, a lot of panic, people running the wrong way down the escalators, lots of banging and crashing inside the mall.»

Advertisement

IS THE EAST COAST ON THE BRINK OF A MAJOR EARTHQUAKE — AND ARE WE PREPARED?

The U.S. Geological Survey and Germany’s GFZ center for geosciences said the earthquake was a shallow 6.2 miles, with an epicenter in central Burma, according to preliminary reports.

Apartment building under construction collapses in Thailand

Rescuers work at the site of a high-rise building under construction that collapsed after a 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Bangkok, Thailand, on Friday, March 28.  (AP/Sakchai Lalit)

Water from high-rise rooftop pools in Bangkok sloshed over the side as they shook, and debris fell from many buildings.

Advertisement

Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra called an emergency meeting to assess the impact of the quake, which Thailand’s Department of Disaster Prevention said was felt in almost all regions of the country. 

Burma earthquake map

The location of Friday’s earthquake that rocked Burma and Thailand. (Fox News)

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.

Advertisement

In the capital Naypyitaw, the quake damaged religious shrines, sending parts toppling to the ground, and some homes.

Myanmar Southeast Asia Earthquake

Damaged pagodas are seen after an earthquake, on Friday, March 28, in Naypyitaw, Burma. (AP/Aung Shine Oo)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

There are reportedly 188 people injured so far in Tibet on the Chinese side of the border, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

Advertisement

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.


Advertisement
Advertisement

INTERNACIONAL

Carta a Javier Bardem

Published

on


Elijo el nombre de Javier Bardem, y no es al azar. Podría haber dirigido esta carta simbólica a Angelina Jolie, o a Billie Eilish, o a esa encarnación del antisemitismo más ruin que es Roger Waters. Y más allá del mundo rutilante del famoseo, la lista de dirigentes políticos que podrían merecerla pululan por todos los rincones de la demagogia. Ahí están los Pedro Sánchez, los Petro, los Mélenchon, los Iglesias…, todos esos ruidosos justicieros que escupen su propaganda desde el atrio de su soberbia moral. Muchos…, tantos…, tan presentes y estridentes hace poco tiempo, y ahora tan ausentes y callados.

Pero de todos ellos, escojo a Javier Bardem porque nadie encarna con tanta precisión la indecencia de una izquierda caviar que solo alza el puño, con impostada indignación, cuando la causa cuadra con su obsesión ideológica. Ese Bardem enfundado en el Free Palestine que cumple con todos los requisitos del activismo sectario. “Un actor comprometido”, dicen los titulares rutilantes, pero se olvidan del verbo que lo acompaña: Comprometido, depende… Depende de si Israel tiene algo que ver, o los estadounidenses, o el colonialismo capitalista, o Trump, o las derechas pérfidas… Es el prototipo del “no jews, no news”, de manera que si no hay judíos o yankees de por medio, no hay causa, no hay pancarta y no hay indignación. Son los progresistas de nuestro tiempo, tipos de grito en la manifestación y verbo acusador que deciden qué causas son dignas, y quiénes son víctimas y quiénes verdugos. Nunca, en la historia de la lucha por los derechos humanos, hubo tanta hipocresía arrogante y rastrera como ahora.

Advertisement

¿Dónde están? ¿Dónde estuvieron? Nunca los oímos cuando Hamas convertía Gaza en una cárcel de dos millones de personas, a las que saqueaba, empobrecía, reprimía y condenaba a un ciclo permanente de violencia. Nunca los oímos cuando el Yemen languidecía en años de guerra atroz, sacudida por la locura chiíta. Nunca, cuando Irán fabricaba su círculo de fuego, aupando al dictador sirio, financiando las peores organizaciones yihadistas y destruyendo el Líbano, mientras amenazaba con destruir a Israel. Tampoco los oímos cuando miles de israelíes sufrieron el terror del 7 de octubre: bebés en sus cunas, familias enteras, ancianos, jóvenes cantando en un festival, muertos, heridos, secuestrados. Su silencio, cuando las mujeres nos explicaban el horror de sus cuerpos violados. Su silencio cuando los bebés eran ahogados… Nunca hubo flotillas para ellos.

Y otros, tantos silencios. Nunca los oímos cuando Afganistán se convertía en un terrible infierno para las mujeres, las niñas sin escuelas, las jóvenes sin rostro, el aliento detrás de una cárcel de tela. Nunca en el horror de Sudán, nunca en el dolor cristiano en Nigeria, nunca en ningún lugar, porque si los malos no son los que ellos homologan ideológicamente, no existen víctimas, ni existen causas.

Por eso nunca les oímos hablar del dolor de los iraníes. A pesar de que el terrible régimen de los ayatollahs hubiera convertido la libertad en un crimen penal, y sustentara su poder en la represión y la muerte, nunca oímos a los Bardem. Al contrario, fueron esas izquierdas moralistas y doctrinarias las que antaño iban a visitar al “libertador de los persas”, un tal Khomeini y aplaudieron su “revolución social”. Durante décadas, nunca les preocupó la represión contra los ciudadanos iraníes, directores de cine encarcelados, opositores condenados a muerte, estudiantes torturados, nunca, nada… Al contrario: algunos de esos gurús de la izquierda irredenta se convirtieron en periodistas de los canales iraníes que intentaban vender su veneno a través de Hispan TV. Ahí están los Pablo Iglesias.

Advertisement

Y por eso ahora, cuando Irán arde por todos sus costados, con un pueblo extraordinariamente valiente que se enfrenta directamente a la muerte, y con miles de ellos siendo asesinados, todos estos actores, periodistas, políticos “comprometidos” no están, no hablan, no gritan, no levantan pancartas, no montan excursiones en flotillas, nada. Quizás alguna Irene Montero se despista y dice algo pero solo para avisar que Trump es muy malo y que Israel tiene la culpa de lo que ocurre en Irán.

Esta es la miseria de una izquierda tuerta y dogmática que ha ideologizado tanto las causas universales, que acaba siendo cómplice de los verdugos. Su obsesión antioccidental y su paternalismo arrogante hacia el Islam los ha convertido en incapaces para la causa de la libertad. Hablan mucho de ella, pero retuercen su significado hasta dejarla hueca.

Ese es el activismo de los Bardem de turno: un grito vacío. Moralistas de doble moral y progresistas a tiempo parcial, no forman parte de la solución, pero sin ninguna duda, forman parte del problema.

Advertisement

X: @RaholaOficial

Web: https://pilarrahola.com

Instagram: pilar_rahola

Advertisement

Continue Reading

INTERNACIONAL

Mamdani housing czar called ‘White, middle-class homeowners’ a ‘huge problem’ during 2021 podcast appearance

Published

on


NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

The housing official appointed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani to lead New York City’s newly revived Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants previously said, «White, middle-class homeowners are a huge problem for a renter justice movement» and argued organizers must «undermine the institution of homeownership,» during a 2021 podcast appearance.

Advertisement

Cea Weaver, who was named director of the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants on Jan. 1 through an executive order signed by Mamdani, made the remarks during a September 2021 episode of the «Bad Faith podcast» while discussing eviction policy and renter organizing strategies.

The comments have drawn renewed attention as Weaver now holds formal executive authority over tenant policy and enforcement in New York City. 

Her appointment was announced on Mamdani’s first day in office as part of a slate of executive actions reviving the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants, according to City Hall.

Advertisement

NYC DEM REVEALS HOW CITY COUNCIL REJECTED CEA WEAVER—NOW MAMDANI IS HANDING HER POWER WITHOUT CONFIRMATION

Cea Weaver, left, speaks during a news conference with New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Jan. 1, in New York. (Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office via AP)

During the podcast, Weaver argued that resistance to progressive reform often comes not from large corporate landlords but instead from homeowners.

Advertisement

«I think the reality is that a lot of the people who are pushing back on the eviction moratorium and more rental assistance are not corporate landlords,» Weaver said. «They are homeowners who feel as though an eviction moratorium is an attack on their rights as a property owner.»

She added that this opposition presents a challenge for housing organizers, saying «White, middle-class homeowners are a huge problem for the renter justice movement.»

MAMDANI SAYS HE ‘OBVIOUSLY’ DISAGREES WITH AIDE’S OLD VIEWS LINKING HOMEOWNERSHIP TO WHITE SUPREMACY

Advertisement
Zohran Mamdani speaks at dais

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a news conference with Cea Weaver, Jan. 1, in New York. (Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office via AP)

Later in the conversation, Weaver said homeownership has become the primary source of stability in the U.S. because of gaps in social programs, but argued that structure itself poses an obstacle to housing activism.

«Unless we can undermine the institution of homeownership and seek to provide stability in other ways, it’s a really difficult organizing situation we find ourselves in,» she said.

Weaver framed evictions as a matter of power rather than economics, saying landlords resist the idea that tenants could remain in properties they «consider themselves to own.»

Advertisement
Zohran Mamdani's housing boss Cea Weaver in Brooklyn

Cea Weaver walks in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y. Weaver has been tapped by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to be his new director of the city’s Office to Protect Tenants. (Gregory P. Mango)

In the same podcast, Weaver endorsed policies including universal rent control, the right to form tenant unions, blocking evictions, and funding rental assistance through higher taxes on the wealthy. She also argued that broader government programs could «chip away at homeownership» by providing stability through other means.

Weaver has also drawn scrutiny for past social media posts criticizing white homeownership. In an August 2019 post on X which was later deleted but resurfaced by Fox News Digital, Weaver wrote that «private property including and kind of ESPECIALLY homeownership is a weapon of white supremacy masquerading as ‘wealth building’ public policy.»

Cea Weaver controversial tweet

In a tweet on her since deleted X account, Mamdani tenant director Cea Weaver called homeownership a «weapon of white supremacy.» (Fox News)

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Advertisement

On her first day in office, Weaver joined Mamdani in announcing city intervention in the bankruptcy proceedings of Pinnacle Group, a landlord tied to housing violations and complaints, according to City Hall.

Fox News Digital contacted the mayor’s press office with questions about whether Mamdani stands by Weaver’s 2021 remarks but did not receive a response by publication.

Fox News Digital’s Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.

Advertisement

housing,zohran mamdani,new york city,politics,podcasts,fox news media

Advertisement
Continue Reading

INTERNACIONAL

Japan’s Prime Minister Takaichi plans to dissolve Parliament and call early election to strengthen coalition

Published

on


NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi plans to dissolve Parliament’s powerful lower house as early as this month, setting up a snap election aimed at securing voter backing for her agenda while her approval ratings remain high, a senior party official said.

Advertisement

The Associated Press reported that the move would allow Takaichi to seek fresh support for her economic and security priorities at a time when her scandal-tainted party and a new coalition partner hold only a slim majority in Japan’s legislature.

Takaichi made history in October when she was elected as Japan’s first female prime minister.

Described by some Japanese and international media as an ultraconservative, hard-line figure, Takaichi has backed strengthening Japan’s defense posture, emerged as a vocal China hawk and supported constitutional revisions to expand the role of the Self-Defense Forces.

Advertisement

JAPAN’S FIRST FEMALE PM TO MEET TRUMP: WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE HEAVY METAL FAN

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, whose warnings about a Taiwan crisis have angered Beijing, in Tokyo, Japan. Oct. 21, 2025. (Eugene Hoshiko/AP Photo)

Calling a snap election could allow Takaichi to capitalize on approval ratings of about 70% and help her Liberal Democratic Party gain additional seats in Parliament.

Advertisement

Shunichi Suzuki, secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, told reporters that Takaichi informed him and other senior officials of her intention to dissolve the lower house «soon» after it convenes Jan. 23.

Suzuki said no date has been set for dissolving the chamber or holding a snap election, adding that Takaichi plans to outline her strategy at a news conference Monday.

TAIWAN UNVEILS $40B DEFENSE SPENDING PLAN TO COUNTER CHINA MILITARY THREAT OVER NEXT DECADE

Advertisement
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi

Former Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks during the Liberal Democratic Party’s leadership election in Tokyo Oct. 4, 2025.   (Kim Kyung-Hoon/Pool Photo via AP)

Takaichi’s scandal-tainted LDP and its coalition hold only a narrow majority in the lower house, Parliament’s more powerful chamber, after losses in the 2024 election.

By calling an early vote, Takaichi appears to be aiming to expand her party’s share of seats and strengthen its position alongside a new junior coalition partner.

Opposition lawmakers criticized the plan as self-serving, saying it would delay urgent parliamentary debate over the national budget, which must be approved quickly.

Advertisement

FORMER JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER’S ACCUSED KILLER PLEADS GUILTY DURING TRUMP VISIT

trump and japan pm sanae takaichi

President Donald Trump, with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, speaks to members of the military aboard the USS George Washington in Yokosuka Oct. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Echoing Suzuki’s comments, media reports have said Takaichi plans to dissolve the lower house on Jan. 23, the opening day of this year’s ordinary parliamentary session, potentially setting the stage for a snap election as early as Feb. 8.

Takaichi is seeking voter backing for her agenda, including «proactive» fiscal spending and an accelerated military buildup under a new coalition with the Japan Innovation Party, Suzuki said.

Advertisement

The conservative Japan Innovation Party joined the ruling bloc after the centrist Komeito party withdrew, citing disagreements over Takaichi’s ideological positions and her approach to anti-corruption reforms.

TRUMP SAYS MISSILES FOR JAPAN’S F-35S WILL ARRIVE ‘THIS WEEK’ DURING VISIT TO USS GEORGE WASHINGTON

Takaichi met Wednesday with Suzuki and other coalition leaders after holding talks in Nara with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung at a summit aimed at strengthening bilateral ties. The meetings came as she faces rising trade and political tensions with China following remarks on Taiwan that angered Beijing days after she took office.

Advertisement

Winning a snap election would also make it easier for Takaichi and her governing bloc to pass a budget and advance other legislation.

Her Cabinet approved a record 122.3 trillion yen ($770 billion) budget in late December that must clear Parliament before the fiscal year begins in April. The plan includes measures to fight inflation, support low-income households and boost economic growth.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Advertisement

Known for her hawkish and nationalistic views and her ultra-conservative positions on social issues, including gender and sexual diversity, Takaichi is seeking to reclaim conservative voters drawn to emerging populist parties in recent elections.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Advertisement



japan,elections,world politics,foreign affairs,politics

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Tendencias