World Briefing: March 28, 2025
Rows of wounded lay outside the emergency department of the 1,000-bed hospital in Myanmar's capital Nay Pyi Taw on Friday, some writhing in pain and others in shock after a powerful earthquake. A stream of casualties were brought to the hospital -- some in cars, others in pickups, and others carried on stretchers, their bodies bloody and covered in dust. "This is a mass casualty area", a hospital official said, as they ushered journalists away from the treatment area. The hospital itself was hit by the terrifying tremors, which buckled roads and ripped tarmac apart as the ground vibrated violently for around half a minute. The hospital's emergency department was itself heavily damaged, a car crushed under the heavy concrete of its fallen entrance. The Myanmar capital is some 250 kilometres south from the epicentre of the 7.7-magnitude shallow tremor, that hit northwest of the city of Sagaing on Friday afternoon, according to the United States Geological Survey. A 6.4-magnitude aftershock hit the same area minutes later. A team of AFP journalists were at the National Museum in Nay Pyi Taw when the earthquake struck, with chunks of the ceiling falling and cracks running up the walls. The road to one of the biggest hospitals in Nay Pyi Taw was jammed with traffic - Bangkok Post
Powerful tremors were also felt in neighbouring China and in Thailand, where buildings in the capital Bangkok were shaken violently. Pol Lt Col Worapat Sukthai, deputy police chief of Bangkok's Bang Sue district, said he could hear the sound of people screaming for aid trapped in the debris after a 30-story under-construction tower block collapse. "I heard people calling for help, saying help me," he told AFP. "We estimate that hundreds of people are injured but we are still determining the number of casualties." “I heard people calling for help, saying help me," he told AFP. "We estimate that hundreds of people are injured but we are still determining the number of casualties…I fear many lives have been lost. We have never experienced an earthquake with such a devastating impact before." Bangkok residents are used to tremors -- and know to find a safe space outside if possible -- but many said the force on Friday came as a shock. "I was shopping inside a mall when I noticed some signs moving, so I quickly ran outside," said Attapong Sukyimnoi, a broker. "I knew I had to get to an open space -- it was instinct - Bangkok Post
Teams of rescuers were rushing to help workers trapped in the rubble of a collapsed high-rise building under construction near Chatuchak market after the powerful earthquake that shook Bangkok on Friday. Eighty-one people were were trapped in the rubble of the 30-storey structure and three had been confirmed dead, Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said on Friday afternoon. A report said there were about 400 people working at the construction site, both Thai and foreign workers. The injured were being transported to nearby hospitals in Bangkok. Elsewhere in Bangkok, schoolchildren were terrified when the quake shook Siamscape, a mixed-use building in Siam Square that also houses tutoring schools. Some structures collapsed and cracks formed in the ceiling and walls. The children were trapped in the building for a while, according to a post on the X account #แผ่นดินไหว, but were all evacuated out safely later. In Klong Toey, hundreds of people were evacuated from the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre, where the National Book Fair was being held, when powerful shaking was felt. The fair has been closed to the public for now, according to the Publishers and Booksellers Association of Thailand - Bangkok Post
Bangkok has been declared a disaster area following a strong earthquake in neighbouring Myanmar, City Hall announced on Friday. Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt has been placed in charge of coordinating the disaster response, it said. The governor said that the Myanmar quake has caused damage to many high-rise buildings in the capital. He said inspections were underway and urged people to be cautious. Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) announced that all flights in and out of Bangkok are operating normally following the Myanmar quake that rattled the city. However, the Transport Ministry ordered the suspension of public transportation services, including buses and electric trains. The earthquake on Friday caused damage to Rama II Road in Bangkok, making the road surface uneven. Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who was in a meeting in the resort town of Phuket, said the government is setting up a 24-hour emergency centre and arranging for all state agencies to respond quickly to the emergency. Deputy Prime Minister Prasert Jantararuangtong said the country’s telecommunication system has been disrupted.
The top Democrat and the Republican chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee have formally requested an inquiry by the Pentagon’s acting inspector general into a group chat where senior national security officials shared plans about a US military attack in Yemen on Signal that inadvertently included a journalist. Since Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, published his articles revealing details of the highly sensitive strike plans, Democrats have been calling for accountability for the incident, which they argue endangered national security and US troops. Some Republicans have described the security breach as a “glitch” and a “mistake,” and want to move on without investigating or punishing the officials involved. On Thursday, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to preserve all messages the officials sent on Signal between March 11 and March 15 - CNN
The White House has pulled Rep. Elise Stefanik’s nomination to be the next ambassador to the UN. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the decision was made to help preserve the GOP’s razor-thin majority in the US House of Representatives. Currently, Republicans hold 218 seats to Democrats’ 213, and there are four vacancies. Multiple sources said some members of the House GOP leadership were stunned by the decision to drop the New York congresswoman and longtime ally of the president as they had already been preparing for a special election - CNN
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem was wearing a gold Rolex watch worth nearly $60,000 when she visited a prison camp in El Salvador on Wednesday, online sleuths suggested. The watch—which appeared on Noem’s wrist while she filmed her latest publicity stunt, this time in front of a cell full of Venezuelan prisoners— looks a whole lot like a Rolex Daytona, as observed by the online media outlet MeidasTouch. The variant of the luxury timepiece matching Noem’s watch sells for just under $60,000 on the site Chrono24. Commentators on social media wondered how Noem, who was until this year the governor of South Dakota, would be able to afford such a watch on a government salary. Noem was at the Terrorism Confinement Center to send a message to America’s undocumented immigrants, whom President Donald Trump has vowed to deport en masse. “If you come to our country illegally, this is one of the consequences you could face,” she said in the video. “This facility is one of the tools in our toolkit that we will use if you commit crimes against the American people.” - Daily Beast
The arrest of opponents figure Ekrem Imamoglu has triggered heavy losses in Turkey's capital markets, as many investors appear to be losing confidence in the presidency of Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkish stocks experienced their worst week since the global financial crisis of 2008, with the blue-chip ISE 100 stock index losing more than 16% at the peak of the rout. In response, Turkey's capital markets authority banned short selling and betting on further price declines. At the same time, it eased stock buybacks to support plunging shares. While the index initially rose by about 2%, it soon turned negative again, reaching its lowest level since November - DW
