Author: Press Room

As night fell, AFP journalists saw rescuers trying to extract a mother and son from the ruins of a collapsed building in Naypyidaw. Both were seriously injured but rescuers were unable to reach them, a Red Cross worker told AFP. SKYSCRAPER COLLAPSE Across the border in Thailand, a 30-storey skyscraper under construction collapsed to a tangled heap of rubble and dust in a matter of seconds. Officials have said three workers are confirmed dead with dozens more still unaccounted for, many believed trapped in the rubble. “I heard people calling for help, saying ‘help me’,” Worapat Sukthai, deputy police chief…

Note: Map shows the area with a shake intensity of 4 or greater, which U.S.G.S. defines as “light,” though the earthquake may be felt outside the areas shown. The New York Times A major, 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck in Myanmar on Friday, according to the United States Geological Survey. At a depth of about six miles, the quake was relatively shallow, which made it likely to cause violent shaking.The temblor happened at 12:50 p.m. Myanmar time about 10 miles northwest of Sagaing, Myanmar, data from the agency shows. The area near the quake is heavily populated, suggesting that the death toll…

The current secretary of the Smithsonian, Lonnie G. Bunch III, was the founding director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, who has forcefully advocated for what he describes as “nuance and complexity” in history, and warned of continuing backlash against civil rights progress.Mr. Trump’s order criticized the African American Museum, saying it had “proclaimed that ‘hard work,’ ‘individualism,’ and ‘the nuclear family’ are aspects of ‘White culture.’” In 2020, the museum did include a worksheet with those claims as part of a new Talking About Race online portal. But after it drew criticism, Mr. Bunch…

Sovereign credit analysts have a great life. They’re paid to fly around the world, rub shoulders with policy movers and shakers, build glorious Excel workbooks, and dispense important opinions.Moreover, these opinions don’t need to change very often. It’s probably preferable if they don’t. In the case of the United States government there have been only two full-on rating actions from the three main agencies in the past century. (We’re not counting changes in rating outlook.)Some content could not load. Check your internet connection or browser settings.But with US debt metrics having deteriorated meaningfully, it might seem reasonable to expect the…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Talk of uniting Europe’s financial markets has for more than a decade been mostly just that: talk. So now the EU has scaled back its ambitions. Rather than being disappointed, however, executives at many of Europe’s largest banks are more excited about the project than they have been in years. It turns out that in the pursuit of “capital markets union”, less might be more.Deutsche Bank chief Christian Sewing thinks so. Earlier this month he told attendees at a conference that, while…

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Friday that the Trump administration will begin allowing states to bar recipients of federal food assistance from using the money to pay for soft drinks — a core component of his “Make America Healthy Again” agenda.Mr. Kennedy announced the change to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, in Martinsburg, W.Va., where he appeared with Gov. Patrick Morrissey, who recently signed legislation banning foods containing most artificial food dyes and two preservatives — the first state to do so.The health secretary is talking to 15 other governors about similar moves,…

RCMP officers are searching the Hammonds Plains Road area for a man who may be injured, after attempting to light a jerry can on fire at a gas station. 

A powerful earthquake centred in Myanmar has rocked Southeast Asia, killing several people and causing extensive damage, with rescuers in Bangkok searching for 81 people in the rubble of a collapsed building.At least three people were killed in the town of Taungoo in Myanmar when a mosque partially collapsed, witnesses said. Local media reported at least two people died and 20 were injured after a hotel collapsed in Aung Ban.The ruling military in Myanmar did not give any numbers for dead and wounded. The diplomatic spokesman for the parallel National Unity Government that opposes the junta said Friday’s quake killed…

MYANMAR’S RESPONSE In a rare request, Myanmar’s military junta called for international humanitarian aid and declared a state of emergency in six regions and states, including Naypyidaw and Mandalay. “We want the international community to give humanitarian aid as soon as possible,” junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said. THAILAND’S RESPONSE Bangkok was also declared an emergency zone, with some train and light rail services suspended temporarily. Parks have been kept open overnight for those who are not able to sleep at home.  Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who visited the site of the skyscraper collapse, said that “every building” would…

Tamim Iqbal was admitted to hospital on Monday after suffering chest pains while competing in a match in Bangladesh.Former Bangladeshi cricket captain Tamim Iqbal has returned home from hospital, days after suffering a massive heart attack during a local match. The 36-year-old was released on Friday. He was leading Mohammedan Sporting Club in a match of the 50-over Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League on Monday when he was rushed to a nearby hospital, complaining of severe chest pain. Doctors inserted stents to repair an arterial blockage the same day, and Tamim was later moved to a bigger health facility in…