MANDALAY: Myanmar declared a week of national mourning on Monday over the country’s devastating earthquake, as the death toll passed 2,000 and hopes faded of finding more survivors in the rubble of ruined buildings.
National flags will fly at half-mast until April 6 “in sympathy for the loss of life and damages” from Friday’s massive quake, the ruling junta said in a statement.
The junta also announced a minute’s silence on Tuesday, to begin at 12:51:02 p.m. (0621 GMT) — the precise time the 7.7-magnitude quake struck.
People should stop where they are to pay tribute to the victims, the junta said, while media should halt broadcasting and show mourning symbols, and prayers will be offered at temples and pagodas.
The announcement came as the tempo and urgency of rescue efforts wound down in Mandalay, one of the worst-affected cities and the country’s second-largest, with more than 1.7 million inhabitants.
“The situation is so dire that it’s hard to express what is happening,” said Aung Myint Hussein, chief administrator of Mandalay’s Sajja North mosque.
People prepared to camp out in the streets across Mandalay for a fourth successive night, either unable to return to ruined homes or nervous about the repeated aftershocks that rattled the city over the weekend.
Some have tents but many, including young children, have been bedding down on blankets in the middle of roads, trying to keep as far from buildings as possible for fear of falling masonry.
The junta said Monday that 2,056 have now been confirmed, with more than 3,900 people injured and 270 still missing, but the toll is expected to rise significantly.
Three Chinese nationals are among the dead, China’s state media said, along with two French people, according to the foreign ministry in Paris.
At least 19 deaths have been confirmed hundreds of kilometers away in Thailand’s capital Bangkok, where the force of the quake caused a 30-story tower block under construction to collapse.
Mandalay’s 1,000-bed general hospital has been evacuated, with hundreds of patients being treated outside.
Patients lay on gurneys in the hospital car park, many with only a thin tarpaulin rigged up to shield them from the fierce tropical sun.
Relatives did their best to comfort them, holding hands or waving bamboo fans over them.
“We’re trying to do what we can here. We are trying our best,” said one medic, who asked to remain anonymous.
The sticky heat has exhausted rescue workers and accelerated body decomposition, which could complicate identification.
But traffic began returning to the streets of Mandalay on Monday, and restaurants and street vendors resumed work.
Hundreds of Muslims gathered outside a destroyed mosque in the city for the first prayer of Eid Al-Fitr, the holiday that follows the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan.
The challenges facing the Southeast Asian country of more than 50 million people were immense even before the earthquake.
Myanmar has been ravaged by four years of civil war sparked by a military coup in 2021, with its economy shattered and health care and infrastructure badly damaged.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the quake a top-level emergency as it urgently sought $8 million to save lives, while the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has launched an appeal for more than $100 million.
International aid and rescue teams have been arriving after junta chief Min Aung Hlaing made an exceptionally rare appeal for foreign assistance.
In the past, isolated Myanmar’s ruling generals have shunned foreign assistance, even after major natural disasters.
Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun thanked key allies China and Russia for their help, as well as India, and said the authorities were doing their best.
“We are trying and giving treatment to injured people and searching for missing ones,” he told journalists.
But reports have emerged of the military carrying out air strikes on armed groups opposed to its rule, even as Myanmar grapples with the quake’s aftermath.
One ethnic minority armed group told AFP on Sunday that seven of its fighters were killed in an aerial attack soon after the quake, and there were reports of more air strikes on Monday.
Myanmar’s raging civil war, pitting the military against a complex array of anti-coup fighters and ethnic minority armed groups, has displaced around 3.5 million people.
In Bangkok, diggers continued to clear the vast pile of rubble at the site of the collapsed building.
Officials say they have not given up hope of finding more survivors in the wreckage, where 12 deaths have been confirmed and at least 75 people are still unaccounted for.
Myanmar declares week of mourning as quake toll passes 2,000
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Myanmar declares week of mourning as quake toll passes 2,000
- The figure was a sharp rise compared to the 1,002 announced just hours earlier, highlighting the difficulty of confirming casualties over a widespread region
- In neighboring Thailand, the death toll rose to 17 after the quake rocked the greater Bangkok area, home to around 17 million people, and other parts of the country
South Sudan cholera patients died walking to clinic after US cut aid, charity says
NAIROBI: Eight people in South Sudan, including five children, died on a three-hour walk to seek medical treatment for cholera after US aid cuts forced local health services to close, the UK-based charity Save the Children said on Wednesday.
The deaths last month are among the first to be directly attributed to cuts imposed by US President Donald Trump after entering office on January 20, which he said were to ensure grants were aligned with his “America First” agenda.
“There should be global moral outrage that the decisions made by powerful people in other countries have led to child deaths in just a matter of weeks,” said Christopher Nyamandi, Save the Children’s country director in South Sudan.
Experts have warned that the cuts — including the cancelation of more than 90 percent of USAID’s contracts — could cost millions of lives in the coming years due to malnutrition, AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other diseases.
The US State Department said it did not have information about the deaths reported by Save the Children. A spokesperson said many US government programs providing lifesaving aid in South Sudan remained active but that support for medical services had also been used to enrich the country’s leaders.
“While emergency lifesaving programs continue, we will not, in good conscience, ask the American taxpayer to provide assistance that effectively subsidises the irresponsible and corrupt behavior of South Sudan’s political leaders,” the spokesperson said.
South Sudan’s government has in the past acknowledged a significant amount of public corruption but denied specific accusations of graft, including against President Salva Kiir’s family.
Humanitarian aid to the country is often channelled through non-governmental organizations, largely because of corruption concerns.
Save the Children supported 27 health facilities in eastern South Sudan’s Jonglei State until earlier this year when the US cuts forced seven to shut completely and 20 to close partially, the organization said in a statement.
US funded transport services to take people to hospital in the main local town also stopped for lack of funds, which meant the eight cholera patients had to walk in nearly 40°C (104°F) heat to seek treatment at the nearest health facility, it said.
Three of the children were under the age of 5, Nyamandi said.
Besides the US cuts, more gradual reductions by other donors have strained the humanitarian response in South Sudan. Save the Children expects to spend $30 million in the country in 2025, down from $50 million last year, Nyamandi said.
Over a third of South Sudan’s roughly 12 million people have been displaced by either conflict or natural disaster, and the United Nations says the country could be on the brink of a new civil war after fighting broke out in February in the northeast.
A cholera outbreak was declared last October. More than 22,000 cases had been recorded as of last month, causing hundreds of deaths, the World Health Organization has said.
At least 79 dead in Dominican Republic nightclub roof collapse
- Renowned Dominican merengue singer Rubby Perez was one of those killed in the disaster
- More than 370 rescue personnel combed mounds of fallen bricks, steel bars and tin sheets for survivors
SANTO DOMINGO: Rescuers raced to find survivors Tuesday among the rubble of a Dominican Republic nightclub where at least 79 people, including a prominent merengue performer and a former Major League Baseball star, were killed when the roof collapsed.
Renowned Dominican merengue singer Rubby Perez, who was on stage at the popular Jet Set nightclub when the roof caved in shortly after midnight, was one of those killed in the disaster, according to his manager.
“We are waiting for the children to reach an agreement for the funeral,” Perez’s manager Enrique Paulino said, confirming his death.
More than 370 rescue personnel combed mounds of fallen bricks, steel bars and tin sheets for survivors.
Also among the dead was 51-year-old retired MLB pitcher Octavio Dotel, who won a World Series in 2011 with the St. Louis Cardinals.
He was rescued alive but died of his injuries while being taken to hospital, local media reported.
A black-and-white photo of the player and images of the Dominican flag were projected onto the scoreboard at Citi Field in New York before Tuesday’s game between the New York Mets and the Miami Marlins.
“Peace to his soul,” the Dominican Republic Professional Baseball League wrote on social media.
Local media said there were between 500 and 1,000 people in the club when disaster struck shortly at 12:44 a.m. local time (4:44 GMT). The club has capacity for 700 people seated and about 1,000 people standing.
Dozens of ambulances ferried the injured to hospital, as scores of people gathered outside the venue desperately seeking news of their loved ones.
Perez was on stage when there was a blackout and the roof came crashing down, according to eyewitness reports.
Perez’s daughter Zulinka told reporters she had managed to escape after the roof collapsed, but he did not.
Also among the dead was the governor of the Monte Cristi municipality, Nelsy Cruz, according to President Luis Abinader.
The death toll started at 15 and kept rising throughout the day. By evening it had reached 79.
“As long as there is hope for life, all authorities will be working to recover or rescue these people,” said Juan Manuel Mendez, director of the Emergency Operations Center.
President Abinader visited the scene and declared three days of national mourning.
Iris Pena, a woman who had attended the show, told SIN television how she escaped with her son.
“At one point, dirt started falling like dust into the drink on the table,” she said.
“A stone fell and cracked the table where we were, and we got out,” Pena recounted. “The impact was so strong, as if it had been a tsunami or an earthquake.”
Dozens of family members flocked to hospitals for news.
“We are desperate,” Regina del Rosa, whose sister was at the concert, told SIN. “They are not giving us news, they are not telling us anything.”
Helicopter images revealed a large hole where the club’s roof once was. A crane was helping lift some of the heavier rubble as men in hard hats dug through the debris.
Authorities have issued a call for Dominicans to donate blood.
The Instagram page of the Jet Set club said it has been in operation for more than 50 years, with shows every Monday until the early hours.
Its last post before Monday’s event invited fans to come and “enjoy his (Perez’s) greatest hits and dance in the country’s best nightclub.”
On Tuesday, the club issued a statement saying it was working “fully and transparently” with authorities.
The Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, received over 11 million visitors in 2024, according to the tourism ministry.
Tourism generates about 15 percent of GDP, with visitors attracted by its Caribbean beaches, music and nightlife, as well as the colonial architecture of Santo Domingo.
US freezes funding for Cornell, Northwestern University in latest crackdown
- Human rights advocates have raised free speech and academic freedom concerns over the crackdown by the Trump administration
- The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to block federal funding for schools over pro-Palestinian campus protests as well as other issues such as diversity, equity and inclusion programs and transgender policies
WASHINGTON: The Trump administration has frozen over $1 billion in funding for Cornell University and $790 million for Northwestern University while it investigates both schools over civil rights violations, a US official said on Tuesday.
The funding being paused includes mostly grants and contracts with the federal departments of health, education, agriculture and defense, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to block federal funding for schools over pro-Palestinian campus protests as well as other issues such as diversity, equity and inclusion programs and transgender policies.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Trump has threatened to freeze funding over pro-Palestinian protests, DEI, transgender policies
• Cornell and Northwestern among 60 schools being probed by US over alleged antisemitism
• Rights advocates raise free speech and academic freedom concerns
Last month, it sent a letter to 60 universities, including Cornell and Northwestern, that it could bring enforcement actions if a review determined the schools had failed to stop what it called antisemitism.
Northwestern said it was aware of media reports about the funding freeze but had not received any official notification from the government and that it has cooperated in the investigation.
“Federal funds that Northwestern receives drive innovative and life-saving research, like the recent development by Northwestern researchers of the world’s smallest pacemaker, and research fueling the fight against Alzheimer’s disease. This type of research is now in jeopardy,” a Northwestern spokesperson said.
Cornell did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In an opinion piece in the New York Times last week, Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff said his university was not afraid to let people argue, including over issues like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Trump has attempted to crack down on pro-Palestinian campus protests against US ally Israel’s devastating military assault on Gaza, which has caused a humanitarian crisis in the enclave and followed a deadly October 2023 attack by Islamist group Hamas.
The US president has called the protesters antisemitic, and has labeled them as sympathetic to Hamas militants and as foreign policy threats.
Protesters, including some Jewish groups, say the Trump administration wrongly conflates their criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza and advocacy for Palestinian rights with antisemitism and support for Hamas.
TRUMP CRACKDOWN ON SCHOOLS
Human rights advocates have raised free speech and academic freedom concerns over the crackdown by the Trump administration.
Last week, the US government announced a review of $9 billion in federal grants and contracts to Harvard University and has since listed conditions it must meet to receive federal money. Princeton University also said last week the government froze dozens of research grants.
Last month, the Trump administration canceled $400 million in funding for Columbia University, the epicenter of last year’s pro-Palestinian campus protests.
Columbia agreed to some significant changes that Trump’s administration demanded for talks about restoring the funding.
Federal agents have also detained some foreign student protesters in recent weeks from different campuses and are working to deport them. And the government has revoked visas of many foreign students.
Rights advocates have also raised concerns about Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias during the Israel-Gaza war. The Trump administration has not announced steps in response.
In March, the Trump administration suspended $175 million in funding to the University of Pennsylvania over its transgender sports policies.
Government given one day to produce evidence for deporting Columbia University protester Khalil
- President Donald Trump’s administration says it has revoked Khalil’s status as a lawful permanent resident under a 1952 law allowing the deportation of any immigrant whose presence in the country the secretary of state deems harmful to US foreign policy
JENA, Louisiana: A month after Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil was picked up by immigration agents in New York and transferred 1,200 miles to a detention center in rural Louisiana, an immigration judge on Tuesday gave the government a day to provide evidence he should be deported and said she would rule on that question on Friday.
“If he’s not removable I’m going to be terminating this case on Friday,” Assistant Chief Immigration Judge Jamee Comans said during a hearing at the LaSalle Immigration Court in Jena, Louisiana. Khalil was in the courtroom at a table where he could see his attorney Marc Van Der Hout, appearing remotely from California, on a nearby screen.
Department of Homeland Security lawyers told Comans they would provide the evidence by her 5 p.m. Wednesday deadline.
HIGHLIGHGTS
• Khalil's case tests Trump's efforts to deport student activists
• Trump administration revokes Khalil's residency under 1952 law
• Khalil's lawyers argue arrest violates First Amendment rights
President Donald Trump’s administration says it has revoked Khalil’s status as a lawful permanent resident under a 1952 law allowing the deportation of any immigrant whose presence in the country the secretary of state deems harmful to US foreign policy.
The US government also has said the pro-Palestinian demonstrator should be forced from the country because he withheld that he worked for a United Nations Palestinian relief agency in his visa application, and also left off the application that he worked for the Syria office in the British embassy in Beirut and that he was a member of the group Columbia University Apartheid Divest.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Comans read the government’s allegations, and Van Der Hout responded with “deny” to each.
The immigration case is separate from a challenge to the legality of his March arrest, known as a habeas corpus petition. A different judge hearing Khalil’s habeas petition has ruled that he must remain in the United States for now.
Since Khalil’s arrest Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said he has revoked the visas of hundreds of foreign students. The Trump administration says college protests against US military support for Israel have included harassment of Jewish students.
Student protest organizers, including some Jewish groups, say criticism of Israel is being wrongly conflated with antisemitism.
Khalil, a Palestinian born in a refugee camp in Syria, has called himself a political prisoner. His lawyers have argued the Trump administration improperly targeted him for his political views in violation of his right to free speech guaranteed by the US Constitution’s First Amendment.
Khalil’s wife, US citizen Noor Abdalla, is due to give birth to their first child “imminently,” Khalil’s lawyers said in a court filing on Friday. She has not been able to travel to Louisiana to visit him due to her pregnancy. She watched on Tuesday via a court video link.
Trump administration moves to restore some terminated foreign aid programs, sources say
- According to Stand Up For Aid, an advocacy group of current and former US officials, WFP contracts canceled on Lewin’s orders last weekend for Lebanon, Syria, Somalia and Jordan totaled more than $463 million
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday moved to reinstate at least six recently canceled US foreign aid programs for emergency food assistance, six sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The quick reversal of decisions made just days ago underscored the rapid-fire nature of Trump’s cuts to foreign aid. That has led to programs being cut, restored then cut again, disrupting international humanitarian operations.
USAID Acting Deputy Administrator Jeremy Lewin, who has previously been identified as a member of billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, asked staff in an internal email to reverse the terminations.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Lewin asked staff to reverse terminations
• WFP awards in Lebanon, Syria, Somalia among those to be restored
He asked to restore awards to the World Food Programme in Lebanon, Syria, Somalia, Jordan, Iraq and Ecuador, five sources familiar with the matter said.
The administration has also resumed four awards to the International Organization for Migration in the Pacific region, two sources familiar with the matter said.
“Sorry for all the back and forth on awards,” Lewin said on Tuesday in the internal email seen by Reuters. “There are a lot of stakeholders and we need to do better about balancing these competing interests — that’s my fault and I take responsibility,” he added.
Reuters reported on Monday that the Trump administration had ended life-saving aid programs for more than a dozen countries including Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia and Syria, totaling over $1.3 billion.
According to Stand Up For Aid, an advocacy group of current and former US officials, WFP contracts canceled on Lewin’s orders last weekend for Lebanon, Syria, Somalia and Jordan totaled more than $463 million.
Many of the terminated programs had been granted waivers by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio following an initial round of cuts to foreign aid programs. The State Department said those did not reflect a final decision.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment about restoring the awards.
A ‘DEATH SENTENCE’
The decision to restore some aid followed pressure from inside the administration and from Congress, two sources said.
The World Food Programme said on Monday that the US notified the organization it was eliminating emergency food assistance funding in 14 countries, warning: “If implemented, this could amount to a death sentence for millions of people facing extreme hunger and starvation.”
The US did not restore aid to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and to Yemen, most of which is controlled by Islamist militants of the Iran-backed Houthi movement. Washington has been the largest aid donor to both countries, which have suffered years of devastating war.
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce on Tuesday told reporters that the United States had concerns that WFP funding for Yemen and Afghanistan was benefiting the Houthis and the Taliban.
“There were a few programs that were cut in other countries that were not meant to be cut that have been rolled back and put into place,” Bruce said, adding that the administration remains committed to foreign aid.
Among the cuts over the weekend were $169.8 million for the WFP in Somalia, covering food assistance, nutrition for malnourished babies and children and humanitarian air support. In Syria, $111 million was cut from WFP food assistance.
The cuts have been the latest piece of the Trump administration’s drive to dismantle USAID, the main US humanitarian aid agency.
The administration has canceled billions of dollars in foreign aid since the Republican president began his second term on January 20 in an overhaul that officials described as marked by chaos and confusion.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Democrats on Tuesday wrote a letter to Rubio regarding plans to restructure the State Department, including by folding in USAID, which they said was “unconstitutional, illegal, unjustified, damaging, and inefficient.”
