Thailand has declared a state of emergency in Bangkok after a powerful earthquake struck neighbouring Myanmar.
Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra declared the capital city an ’emergency zone’ after dozens of buildings were severely damaged in the tremor. He has also called on everyone to evacuate high-rise buildings immediately.
According to Thailand’s Department of Disaster Prevention, the earthquake was felt in nearly every part of the country.
One of the most serious incidents involved a 30-storey skyscraper under construction in northern Bangkok, which collapsed during the tremor. Thai media reports say at least 43 construction workers are currently trapped inside.
Experts from the US Geological Survey confirmed that two earthquakes were recorded hundreds of miles away in Myanmar.
The emergency department of a hospital in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, following a 7.7 magnitude earthquake / SEBASTIEN BERGER / Contributor / Getty
The first was a 7.7 magnitude quake near Sagaing at around 1.20pm local time (Friday 28 March). 12 minutes later, a second quake measuring 6.4 hit just south of the area.
In Naypyidaw, Myanmar, a team of Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalists were inside the National Museum when the earthquake struck. They reported the ceiling cracking and shaking as the building began to crumble. Staff were rushing outside in panic, trembling and in shock, while others called loved ones.
Tremors tore apart nearby roads, and traffic came to a standstill near one of the city’s main hospitals, which became a ‘mass casualty area’ after the quake, AFP officials added. Medical staff were forced to treat injured patients outside the 1,000-bed hospital, using IV drips hooked up to gurneys on the street.
Myanmar has also declared a state of emergency following the devastation. The State Administration Council stated that the earthquake hit approximately 20 kilometres northeast of Mandalay at a depth of 10 kilometres, and was followed by three aftershocks.
JOHN SAEKINICHOLAS SHEARMAN / Contributor / Getty
“I was in the office at around 1.30pm local time when I felt the tremors,” an eyewitness from Sky News in Bangkok explained. “Lights started to swing, the windowpanes shook, and people rushed downstairs to evacuate the building. There was no warning – despite this being a country still reeling from a devastating tsunami twenty years ago.”
Thai security forces have been mobilised to ensure public safety, and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is now closely monitoring the situation for possible aftershocks or additional seismic activity.
Geological experts warn that aftershocks are common in the hours following an earthquake. Although these are usually less intense, statistical data indicates a risk of a further significant earthquake within the next 24 hours.
Featured Image Credit: SAI AUNG MAIN / Contributor / Getty
Man shows shocking reality of North Korea as one of the first tourists to visit after 5 years of isolation
The secretive regime has since halted its tourism again
A man has lifted the lid on the shocking reality of North Korea after he became one of the first tourists to visit after five years of isolation.
Life in North Korea has been described by people who have escaped the regime, but the extent of the harsh realities for the people still living there is often unknown.
But recently, the secretive country opened its borders to non-Russian tourists for the first time in half a decade.
And one man documented his experience for his YouTube channel visiting a country that is kept so under wraps that ‘when I was flying in, we had to close the blinds on the windows of the plane because we weren’t allowed to look outside’.
Mike Okay shared his visit to North Korea with his 607,000 subscribers where he spent five days with a tour group.
Mike said: “We had five North Koreans with us, three guides, a driver and a photographer. They were very friendly, always polite and they did their absolute best to make sure that we felt at ease but no matter how welcoming they seemed, there was no shaking this feeling that we were being watched.”
The YouTuber shared a bizarre encounter during a trip to a mineral water factory where Mike noticed there weren’t any workers.
Asking his tour guide about it, the man replied: “What’s the day today, Saturday?”
To which Mike responded: “Thursday.”
The YouTuber watched a group of children sing in front of footage of missiles (YouTube/@mikeokay)
At his hotel, the YouTuber showed how his windows had been ‘sealed shut’ and the room’s phone could not connect to anyone ‘outside of North Korea’.
At the end of his trip, Mike visited a school where he watched a group perform a song celebrating their leader, Kim Jong Un.
Many viewers took to the YouTube comment section to share their reactions to the footage.
One user wrote: “This whole episode felt like a Truman Show movie. Like everything around him is set up just for him.”
Another said: “I kinda feel bad for the people that are getting interviewed, one wrong answer and it’s over for them and their whole family. Imagine the amount of pressure.”
A third person commented: “The fact he didn’t know which day it was, said Saturday, and you fact checked him saying it’s Thursday shows something was up.”
A fourth wrote: “It still blows my mind that a place like this actually exists…”
And a fifth person added: “Everybody seems so programmed and gets nervous when asked about any other counties. I feel for the kids—smart, talented and articulate. I genuinely hope the best for them.”
Featured Image Credit: YouTube/@mikeokay
Safest country to be in if war breaks out as Russia issues frightening ‘WW3’ threat
Better get those plane tickets booked
It seems barely a week goes by without us having a new reason to be worried someone is going to push their big, red, button.
We don’t need so-called mystics like Nostradamus and Baba Vanga to predict the end of days with World War III these days.
There’s a reason the Doomsday Clock has moved closer to midnight than ever before, and with the Russia-Ukraine war still bubbling away, it’s one of the many things keeping us up at night.
Russia has delivered its own ‘threat’ of WWIII, thanks to the Deputy Chair of the Security Council of the Federation of Russia slamming two of the USA’s biggest allies as’ dumb’.
As President Donald Trump still tries to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine following his fiery altercation with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, Dimitry Medvedev took to X to slam French President Emmanuel Macron and UK President Sir Kier Starmer. The pair have called for a ‘coalition of the willing’ that could see NATO deploy 10,000 troops alongside a fleet of ‘minehunter’ ships to Ukraine. A vexed Medvedev wrote: “Macron and Starmer are playing dumb. Time and again they are told that peacekeepers must be from non-NATO states.
“No, we will send tens of thousands – just lay it out – you want to give military aid to the neo-Nazis in Kiev. That means war with NATO. Consult with Trump, scumbags.”
Macron and Starmer are playing dumb. Time and again they are told that peacekeepers must be from non-NATO states. No, we will send tens of thousands – just lay it out – you want to give military aid to the neo-Nazis in Kiev. That means war with NATO. Consult with Trump, scumbags.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin warned that if NATO sends troops into Ukraine, he will pull from his own massive nuclear arsenal and has sparked obvious worries that WWIII is just around the corner.
This has led to a spike in interest of people wanting to know where we should run to if the bombs start to drop.
Up first on the list, we hope you’ve packed your thermals because the extreme isolation of Antarctica makes it a popular choice. Unfortunately, the same remote conditions that make it a viable option also mean it lacks the infrastructure of some of the other places on the list.
Antarctica’s remote backdrop makes it the perfect place to avoid WWIII (David Merron Photography / Getty)
Up next, New Zealand is another popular choice. Once known for having more sheep than people, its own remote credentials mean it’ll hopefully be far enough away from any nuclear epicenter and is unlikely to be hit itself.
Apparently, OpenAI’s Sam Altman has an agreement with PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel to head to New Zealand if things start going wrong.
A more unexpected option is South Africa, with its multiple sources of food, fertile land, and fresh water being paired with a modern infrastructure as a potential place to see out the apocalypse.
Iceland’s renewable energy sources, Chile having the longest coastline in the world, and Fiji being made up of a chain of just over 100 inhabited islands all see them make the list.
We hopefully won’t be struck by the horrors of World War III anytime soon, but if Putin or any of the other world leaders decide to start throwing their nukes around, at least you’ve got plenty of potential destinations to watch the world implode from.
Featured Image Credit: MIKHAIL METZEL / Contributor / Getty
Eerie mystery of world’s tallest abandoned skyscraper left unfinished after 15 years
It’s nearly 600 meters tall – and totally abandoned.
Imagine putting all the time and labor into building a skyscraper nearly 600 meters tall, only to then have it abandoned.
It’s not the most auspicious use of any building – but that’s what happened to the Goldin Finance 117 in Tianjin, China.
A fascinating new video from YouTube channel Curious Minds (@TheCuriousMinds1), which looks at interesting phenomenons you might not have heard about and has 13.2K subscribers, has taken a look at the strange history of Goldin Finance. Check it out:
According to the video, construction on the tower first started way back in 2008 – by 2015, it finally topped out at a height of 597 meters.
It’s made up of 128 stories above ground, with 117 of them meant to be dedicated to housing, hotel and commercial space.
But this wasn’t the fate of the unfortunate project, with the video saying: “As of today, Goldin Tower remains unfinished and unoccupied.”
According to construction website The B1M, trouble first hit the building early on in the form of the global financial crisis, causing work to be paused in January 2010.
Things reportedly restarted the following year, but June 2015 saw the popping of China’s stock market bubble, which had widespread financial ramifications across the country.
This caused the project to be put on hold yet again, and while it looked like it might restart in 2018, no more movement was seen on the building.
According to The B1M, the tower was even later put up for sale – but no one seemed keen to take it on.
Anadolu / Contributor / Getty
Goldin Finance 117 is now seen as something of a cautionary tale. The tower, along with some other failed megaprojects, apparently contributed to China’s government restricting the construction of skyscrapers over 500 meters tall – to prevent vanity projects being started and never finished.
But China isn’t the only country with mega skyscrapers that are totally abandoned. North Korea is home to the cheerily-named ‘hotel of doom’, AKA Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang.
This pyramid-shaped eyesore is 330 meters tall and dwarfs the city’s skyline – but it’s also totally empty.
Construction on the building first started way back in 1987, and while it’s an 105-storey shell, economic problems mean it’s been beset by difficulties and never fully finished.
And with a nickname like the ‘hotel of doom’, if it ever did open, we’re not sure if anyone would be rushing to check in…
Featured Image Credit: Anadolu / Contributor / VCG / Contributor / Getty
FBI issues warning to Tesla owners as ‘Tesla Takedown’ protesters gear up for ‘global day of action’ this week
Protesters aim to hit Musk through targeting Tesla
The FBI has stepped in to issue a warning for Tesla owners and dealerships, as protesters gear up towards a ‘Global Day of Action’ where the Tesla Takedown campaign aims to harm the car company’s financials.
There have been a number of incidents in the past few months where protesters have targeted either Tesla dealerships or vehicles as a means of retaliating against CEO Elon Musk‘s actions in government.
Having earned the vast majority of his vast wealth through his control over the electric car company, Musk has allegedly been able to leverage his wealth in support of far right wing politics, including the campaign and presidency of Donald Trump.
Officials have reported incidents where people have fired bullets towards Tesla dealerships, and suspicious ‘incendiary’ packages have been found in showrooms, alongside general mass protests.
The ‘Tesla Takedown’ campaign has planned a ‘Global Day of Action’ where peaceful protests aim to tank the company’s value (Telsa Takedown)
There now appears to be a worldwide campaign under the name of ‘Tesla Takedown‘ that aims to harm the company, and Musk as a consequence, with a ‘Global Day of Action’ planned to increase the effect of the actions.
“On March 29, 2025, we are calling for a GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION to stop Musk,” outlines the Tesla Takedown campaign website.
“Elon Musk is destroying our democracy, and he’s using the fortune he built at Tesla to do it. We are taking action at Tesla to stop Musk’s illegal coup. Sell your Teslas, dump your stock, join the picket lines.”
Tesla has already experienced major stock market losses in recent months as a consequence of Trump’s tariffs and the company’s reported sales declines in the last quarter, but if the protest is successful it could wipe a significant amount from Musk’s eye-watering net worth that even a White House publicity stunt couldn’t salvage.
The FBI has been investigating the increase in violent activity toward Tesla, and over the last few days, we have taken additional steps to crack down and coordinate our response. This is domestic terrorism. Those responsible will be pursued, caught, and brought to justice.
Scoop: The FBI launched a task force Monday to try to nail the criminals setting fire to Tesla vehicles and charging stations — calling the acts “domestic terrorism” and eyeing an anarchy blog calling for more. nypost.com/2025/03/24/us-…
However, as reported by Fox News, FBI Director Kash Patel has issued a warning against this and all other protests against Tesla, reiterating President Trump’s assertions that anyone engaging in actions against Musk’s company would be considered a ‘domestic terrorist’.
Through a post on X, Patel has outlined: “The FBI has been investigating the increase in violent activity toward Tesla, and over the last few days, we have taken additional steps to crack down and coordinate our response. This is domestic terrorism. Those responsible will be pursued, caught, and brought to justice.”
In addition, the FBI has said that it “urges the public to exercise vigilance and to look out for suspicious activity in areas occupied by Tesla dealerships or Tesla-related entities,” in the wake of these planned mass protests.
Tesla Takedown insist that they only support peaceful protest and condone violence or destruction of property (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)
However, Tesla Takedown has affirmed that it is a “peaceful protest movement,” illustrating that they “oppose violence, vandalism and destruction of property.”
These peaceful protests aren’t just limited to the United States either, as the interactive map shows planned locations across Europe and Australia.
Featured Image Credit: Justin Sullivan / Getty
