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Massive 7.7 magnitude earthquake rocks Thailand, Burma, collapsing buildings and killing more than 150

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Massive 7.7 magnitude earthquake rocks Thailand, Burma, collapsing buildings and killing more than 150

A massive 7.7 magnitude earthquake rattled Thailand and Burma on Friday, causing buildings to collapse and leaving more than 150 people dead across both countries.

Dramatic footage captured in Bangkok 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 10 people were killed, 16 were injured and 101 are missing from three construction sites, including the high-rise.

More than 144 people were killed in Burma, where photos and video from two hard-hit cities showed extensive damage. The earthquake’s epicenter was in central Burma and aftershocks were reportedly felt in India and China. 

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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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.

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.”

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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.

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.

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. 

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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.

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

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

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

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Google puts AI agents at heart of its enterprise money-making push

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Google puts AI agents at heart of its enterprise money-making push
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai is deepening a push into enterprise software, signaling to investors at Google’s annual ​cloud conference that AI agents — human-like digital assistants — are a lynchpin of its strategy to monetize artificial intelligence.
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Landlords allegedly posting ‘Muslim-only’ apartment ads in violation of country’s equality act: report

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Landlords allegedly posting ‘Muslim-only’ apartment ads in violation of country’s equality act: report

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Some landlords in England are apparently advertising “Muslim-only” apartments online, according to a local media report.

An investigation by The Telegraph found that alleged listings posted in London on Facebook, Gumtree and Telegram feature phrases such as “only for Muslims,” “for 2 Muslim boys or 2 Muslim girls,” and “Muslims preferred.”

Other ads appeal to Punjabi and Gujarati speakers, while some job vacancies on the platforms are advertised for men only.

Some listings specify “Hindu only,” in addition to posts that likely use religious subtext by stating: “The house should be alcohol and smoke-free.”

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On Facebook, a company called Roshan Properties posted dozens of listings stating “prefer Muslim boy,” “one double room is available for Muslims,” and “suitable for Punjabi boy.” A Meta spokesman told Fox News Digital that Facebook then removed the company’s page “for violating the platform’s policies on discriminatory practices.”

Apartment buildings in Westminster, London, U.K. (John Keeble/Getty Images)

The ads run afoul of Britain’s Equality Act 2010, which prohibits discrimination based on religion or belief, race and other protected characteristics.

“These adverts are disgusting and anti-British. It goes without saying that there would be a national outrage if the tables were turned,” Robert Jenrick, Reform UK’s economic spokesman, told The Telegraph. “All forms of racism are unacceptable, and no religious group should get a special exemption to discriminate in this way.”

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Houses and properties line Cheyne Walk in Chelsea, London, U.K. Some landlords in the city are illegally advertising for “Muslim only” tenants across the city, an investigation by The Telegraph has found. (Richard Baker/In Pictures via Getty Images)

One landlord told The Telegraph to “go away” when asked about an ad for a “Muslims only” room for $1,150, and whether it was available to renters of other faiths.

A spokesperson for Gumtree told the newspaper that the company has clear policies in place that prohibit unlawful discrimination.

On Facebook, a company called Roshan Properties posted dozens of listings stating “prefer Muslim boy,” (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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“We take reports of inappropriate listings very seriously,” the spokesperson said. “The ads referenced appear to relate to private rooms within shared homes, where existing occupants may express preferences about who they live with. This is different from renting out an entire property, which is subject to stricter rules under the Equality Act.”

Telegram did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

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Is Europe too late to the metal recycling game?

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Is Europe too late to the metal recycling game?

Europe’s critical raw materials crisis has a partial answer sitting in the waste stream — but the continent has been too slow to see it.

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Dorota Włoch, CEO of Eneris Surowce, was direct: recycling is no longer optional.

Unlike plastics, metals can be recovered and reused indefinitely, making urban mining — the recovery of raw materials from existing products and waste — increasingly valuable, particularly for batteries.

“From recycling, we recover metallic aluminium and so-called black mass, which is a concentrate of metals, mainly cobalt-nickel. These are some of the most valuable battery metals. And batteries are crucial today, not only in the automotive sector, but also in storing energy from renewable sources such as wind and solar,” she said.

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‘Europe is 25 years late’

Włoch put the scale of the problem plainly. “Deposits are critical — any machine can be bought, but natural resources are not. They are non-transferable and non-renewable. If we use them, they simply disappear,” she said.

Europe’s belated recognition of that reality has cost it dearly.

“The regulation of critical raw materials came 25 years after other regions of the world had invested heavily in deposits. Europe was too passive. Today we are catching up, but the regulations are often so demanding that countries like Poland have difficulty implementing them.”

Who benefits most from extraction?

Poland holds significant reserves of raw materials critical to the modern economy, such as copper, coking coal, nickel, platinum group metals, helium, rhenium, lead and silver.

But the minerals needed most for the energy transition, such as lithium, cobalt and graphite, exist only in limited quantities, forcing imports.

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Arkadiusz Kustra, dean of the faculty of civil engineering and resource management at AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków, told a panel at the European Economic Congress that awareness of the full supply chain, and who profits from it, was now essential.

He pointed to Serbia as a case study.

“Serbia has lithium deposits and is already in talks with Mercedes or Stellantis,” he said. Belgrade is using that leverage to attract investment in battery factories and car plants, keeping more of the value chain at home.

The goal, Kustra argued, should be regional supply chains that retain added value locally.

“You can earn the least at the beginning and the most from the end customer,” he said.

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The bigger obstacle is Chinese dominance.

“Margins in critical raw materials largely go to the Chinese, who control more than 90% of processing and trading, even though they do not own most of the deposits,” he said.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo — among the world’s most resource-rich countries — Chinese entities control around 90% of deposits.

The panel also pointed to growing interest in new supply partnerships, with Poland eyeing assets in the Congo region and the Americas.

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