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In Bangkok, at the site where a mass of rubble sits, rescue workers have the machinery they need and the manpower to try and pull people out of the high-rise building that collapsed.

In neighbouring Myanmar, they certainly don’t have that kind of capacity and they’re confronting a much larger death toll – one that is rising.

And yet, progress at the site where an unfinished building was instantly destroyed has been painfully slow.

All day, we watched as cranes tried to shift the concrete and steel around to make way for rescuers to enter.

Tide Banluerit, a volunteer rescuer, emerged looking bewildered after 11 hours inside.

“I looked at the structure and the foundation looked strong,'” he said. “But it’s not meant to collapse like dominoes and stack like pancakes in that way.”

But there is still hope.

Myanmar earthquake: Follow live updates

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Moment Bangkok building collapses after earthquake

The Thai police told us overnight that they had seen signs of life on thermal imaging systems.

Perhaps as many as 15 people, they believed.

Families of the missing were holding on to those nuggets of information – holding vigil at a dusty area now full of makeshift water and footstalls, laid on to support the round-the-clock rescue efforts.

Hovering outside a white tent, Munyapa Thongkorn was waiting for news.

Wiping away tears as she clutched onto her husband, she told me her 17-year-old daughter Naiyana was trapped.

She was working as an electrician inside the multi-storey building when the quake hit.

Read more:
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Eyewitnesses describe quake hitting Myanmar and Bangkok

Munyapa Thongkorn's daughter is missing after the building collapse
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Munyapa Thongkorn’s daughter is missing after the building collapse

Naiyana, 17, was working as an electrician inside the building when the quake hit
Image:
Naiyana, 17, was working as an electrician inside the building when the quake hit

“They told me she’s still inside, still stuck,” she says. “I was only just talking to my friends about her before the earthquake. But I haven’t been able to reach her since.”

A rescuer told me he thought it could be 72 hours before they could properly get inside the mangled structure.

That’s a long time when every second counts.

In Myanmar, people are using their own hands to pull their neighbours from the rubble.

There have been some miraculous escapes.

Tide Banluerit spent 11 hours inside the building looking for survivors
Image:
Tide Banluerit spent 11 hours inside the building looking for survivors

Pic: Reuters
Image:
Pic: Reuters

One video from Mandalay shows a young woman emerging from the smallest of gaps – a flash of a hand and then a smile – confirmation after a long rescue that she had survived against all the odds.

China, Russia, and India have sent teams into the country now after the ruling military junta asked for international support – a rare move.

They have their work cut out.

Information in the isolated country has been slow to emerge – the junta restricting access to the internet.

But videos are starting to show the scale of destruction and the death toll, at over 1,600 as of Saturday evening, is expected to rise.

A woman cries as she waits for news as rescue work is under way. Pic: AP
Image:
A woman cries as she waits for news as rescue work is under way. Pic: AP

Rescue workers at the site of the collapsed building. Pic: Reuters
Image:
Rescue workers at the site of the collapsed building. Pic: Reuters

The US Geological Survey says it could rise as high as 10,000.

The infrastructure has long been under pressure from a bloody civil war in Myanmar.

It could easily be totally overwhelmed by this disaster.

Hospitals are among the buildings hit.

Over the next 48 hours, we will find out a bit more about just how grave the situation is on the ground.

Traversing the roads, let alone the whim of the ruling junta, is deeply challenging.

But even the military concedes, this time, it needs help and fast.

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Donald Trump says tariffs will be cut after ‘amazing’ meeting with Xi Jinping

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Donald Trump says tariffs will be cut after 'amazing' meeting with Xi Jinping

Donald Trump has described crucial trade talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping as “amazing” – and says he will visit Beijing in April.

The leaders of the world’s two biggest economies met in South Korea as they tried to defuse growing tensions – with both countries imposing aggressive tariffs on exports since the president’s second term began.

Catch up on Trump-Xi meeting

Aboard Air Force One, Mr Trump confirmed tariffs on Chinese goods exported to the US will be reduced, which could prove much-needed relief to consumers.

It was also agreed that Beijing will work “hard” to stop fentanyl flowing into the US.

Semiconductor chips were another issue raised during their 100-minute meeting, but the president admitted certain issues weren’t discussed.

“On a scale of one to 10, the meeting with Xi was 12,” he told reporters en route back to the US.

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‘Their handshake was almost a bit awkward’

Xi a ‘tough negotiator’, says Trump

The talks conclude a whirlwind visit across Asia – with Mr Trump saying he was “too busy” to see Kim Jong Un.

However, the president said he would be willing to fly back to see the North Korean leader, with a view to discussing denuclearisation.

Mr Trump had predicted negotiations with his Chinese counterpart would last for three or four hours – but their meeting ended in less than two.

The pair shook hands before the summit, with the US president quipping: “He’s a tough negotiator – and that’s not good!”

It marks the first face-to-face meeting between both men since 2019 – back in Mr Trump’s first term.

Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. Pic: AP
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Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. Pic: AP

There were signs that Beijing had extended an olive branch to Washington ahead of the talks, with confirmation China will start buying US soybeans again.

American farmers have been feeling the pinch since China stopped making purchases earlier this year – not least because the country was their biggest overseas market.

Chinese stocks reached a 10-year high early on Thursday as investors digested their meeting, with the yuan rallying to a one-year high against the US dollar.

Analysis: A fascinating power play

Sky News Asia correspondent Helen-Ann Smith – who is in Busan where the talks took place – said it was fascinating to see the power play between both world leaders.

She said: “Trump moved quickly to dominate the space – leaning in, doing all the talking, even responding very briefly to a few thrown questions.

“That didn’t draw so much as an eyebrow raise from his counterpart, who was totally inscrutable. Xi does not like or respond well to unscripted moments, Trump lives for them.”

Read more from Sky News:
US cuts interest rates as inflation fears ease
Is Trump preparing for war with Venezuela?

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Will Trump really run for a third term?

On Truth Social, Mr Trump had described the summit as a gathering of the “G2” – a nod to America and China’s status as the world’s two biggest economies.

While en route to see President Xi, he also revealed that the US “Department of War” has now been ordered to start testing nuclear weapons for the first time since 1992.

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Tens of thousands killed in two days in Sudan city, analysts believe

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Tens of thousands killed in two days in Sudan city, analysts believe

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the Sudanese city of Al Fashir by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in a two-day window after the paramilitary group captured the regional capital, analysts believe.

Sky News is not able to independently verify the claim by Yale Humanitarian Labs, as the city remains under a telecommunications blackout.

Stains and shapes resembling blood and corpses can be seen from space in satellite images analysed by the research lab.

Al Fashir University. Pic: Airbus DS/2025
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Al Fashir University. Pic: Airbus DS/2025

Al Fashir University. Pic: Airbus DS/2025
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Al Fashir University. Pic: Airbus DS/2025

Nathaniel Raymond, executive director of Yale Humanitarian Labs, said: “In the past 48 hours since we’ve had [satellite] imagery over Al Fashir, we see a proliferation of objects that weren’t there before RSF took control of Al Fashir – they are approximately 1.3m to 2m long which is critical because in satellite imagery at very high resolution, that’s the average length of a human body lying vertical.”

Mini Minawi, the governor of North Darfur, said on X that 460 civilians have been killed in the last functioning hospital in the city.

The Sudan Doctors Network has also shared that the RSF “cold-bloodedly killed everyone they found inside Al Saudi Hospital, including patients, their companions, and anyone else present in the wards”.

World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was “appalled and deeply shocked” by the reports.

Satellite images support the claims of a massacre at Al Saudi Hospital, according to Mr Raymond, who said YHL’s report detailed “a large pile of them [objects believed to be bodies] against a wall at one building at Saudi hospital. And we believe that’s consistent with reports that patients and staff were executed en masse”.

In a video message released on Wednesday, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo acknowledged “violations in Al Fashir” and claimed “an investigation committee should start to hold any soldier or officer accountable”.

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Army soldiers ‘fled key Sudan city’ before capture

The Saudi Maternity Hospital in Al Fashir. Pic: Airbus DS /2025 via AP
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The Saudi Maternity Hospital in Al Fashir. Pic: Airbus DS /2025 via AP

The commander is known for committing atrocities in Darfur in the early 2000s as a Janjaweed militia leader, and the RSF has been accused of carrying out genocide in Darfur 20 years on.

Sources have told Sky News the RSF is holding doctors, journalists and politicians captive, demanding ransoms from some families to release their loved ones.

One video shows a man from Al Fashir with an armed man kneeling on the ground, telling his family to pay 15,000. The currency was not made clear.

In some cases, ransoms have been paid, but then more messages come demanding that more money be transferred to secure release.

Muammer Ibrahim, a journalist based in the city, is currently being held by the RSF, who initially shared videos of him crouched on the ground, surrounded by fighters, announcing his hometown had been captured under duress.

Read more:
Key Sudan city falls – what does this mean for the war?
‘Massacre’ kills more than 50, including children

200,000 trapped after army flees

He is being held incommunicado as his family scrambles to negotiate his release. Muammer courageously covered the siege of Al Fashir for months, enduring starvation and shelling.

The Committee to Protect Journalists regional director Sara Qudah said the abduction of Muammar Ibrahim “is a grave and alarming reminder that journalists in Al Fashir are being targeted simply for telling the truth”.

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At least 30 killed after ‘unprecedented’ Hurricane Melissa ravages through Caribbean

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At least 30 killed after 'unprecedented' Hurricane Melissa ravages through Caribbean

At least 30 people have died after Hurricane Melissa tore through the Caribbean on Wednesday.

The Red Cross said early indications show the storm has been a “disaster of unprecedented catastrophe”.

Storm Melissa has so far ravaged through Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Cuba.

At least 34 are estimated to be dead in the Caribbean, with eight of those in Jamaica, one in the Dominican Republic and 25 in Haiti.

This was down from a previously reported 40.

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‘Unimaginable’ destruction of Hurricane Melissa

‘Heartbreaking’ aerial footage reveals scale of destruction

Later on Wednesday, the Jamaican government confirmed four people – three men and one woman – had been killed. This figure later rose to eight.

Local government minister, Desmond McKenzie, said: “They were discovered after being washed up by the flood waters generated by the hurricane.”

Devastating aerial footage shows towns destroyed by the storm.

The Jamaican prime minister, Andrew Holness, travelled to St Elizabeth, where the first deaths were reported, to inspect the storm’s impact.

Read more:
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Sharing aerial footage of battered homes, he wrote: “The damage is great, but we are going to devote all our energy to mount a strong recovery.”

The storm made landfall in Cuba in the early hours of Wednesday morning before leaving mid-afternoon, heading towards the Bahamas.

Hurricane Melissa has ravaged through the Caribbean. Pic: Reuters
Image:
Hurricane Melissa has ravaged through the Caribbean. Pic: Reuters

‘Whole communities are underwater’

Alexander Pendry, British Red Cross global response manager, said: “News is already coming through that whole communities are underwater and that the damage left by the strong winds has been devastating.

“The Jamaica Red Cross has been proactively supporting communities by preparing essential supplies and managing shelters. Their priority now is to reach people with aid as soon as possible.

“Across the Caribbean, Red Cross teams have been mobilising as Melissa continues its trajectory across Cuba, Dominican Republic and Haiti.”

He added: “Tragically, experience tells us that the impact on communities and individuals will be shattering and long lasting.

“We will be here for as long as people need us.”

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