Thought of the Day
Monday Morning Blues? Why not change the color of your Monday to yellow and brighten up the coming week?
March 31st 2025
First disappointment and then a celebration as video captures high school band’s big surprise
SNOW HILL, N.C. (AP) — It had been decades since Greene Central High School’s band competed in North Carolina’s statewide competition for musicians. While band members hoped to do well, they weren’t prepared for the surprise they got.
It started when band director Andrew Howell solemnly stepped onto the bus where his students from the small school in eastern North Carolina were waiting after the contest on March 19. He told them they had been through a growing experience — comments that were met with groans. Heads dropped, anticipating the worst.
Then he pulled out a plaque awarding the band with a superior rating, the North Carolina Bandmasters Association’s highest ranking, setting off screams and cheers. The video of their celebration, recorded by trumpet player Haley Kinzler, has now been seen by millions after it was posted on TikTok and other social media sites.
“I didn’t expect to get a superior,” Kinzler told The Associated Press. “Halfway through, I thought it was going to be, like, a sad video.”
Just a few years ago, there were only about a dozen students in the band, which last competed in the competition in 1987.
Greene Central High School wasn’t alone in winning a superior rating at the event, which wasn’t a head-to-head matchup of schools. Howell said. But it was the first time his school’s band had scored that rating, he said.
Howell, who took over the program in 2019, said he took a few minutes to calm himself after learning how well his band had done and composed in his head a speech he had planned to give them. That went out the window when he stepped onto the bus, he said.
“I share in their excitement when they’re successful, and just seeing how excited they were for that — I think that was the most rewarding part of the entire experience,” he said.
Smell of death permeates Myanmar cities after quake kills over 1,600 and leaves countless buried
By THEIN ZAW, DAVID RISING and GRANT PECK Associated Press
MANDALAY, Myanmar (AP) — The smell of decaying bodies permeated the streets of Myanmar’s second-largest city on Sunday as people worked frantically by hand to clear rubble in the hope of finding someone still alive, two days after a massive earthquake struck that killed more than 1,600 people and left countless others buried.
The 7.7 magnitude quake hit midday Friday with an epicenter near Mandalay, bringing down scores of buildings and damaging other infrastructure like the city’s airport.
Relief efforts have been hampered by buckled roads, downed bridges, spotty communications and the challenges of operating in a country in the midst of a civil war.
The search for survivors has been primarily conducted by the local residents without the aid of heavy equipment, moving rubble by hand and with shovels in 41-degree Celsius (106 Fahrenheit) heat, with only the occasional tracked excavator to be seen.
A 5.1 magnitude aftershock Sunday afternoon prompted screams from those in the streets, and then the work continued.
Many of Mandalay’s 1.5 million people spent the night sleeping on the streets, either left homeless by the quake, which also shook neighboring Thailand and killed at least 18 people there, or worried that the continuing aftershocks might cause structures left unstable to collapse.
Many areas still have not been reached
So far 1,644 people have been reported killed in Myanmar and 3,408 injured, but many areas have not yet been reached, and many rescue efforts so far have been undertaken by people working by hand to try and clear rubble, said Cara Bragg, the Yangon-based manager of Catholic Relief Services in Myanmar.
“It’s mainly been local volunteers, local people who are just trying to find their loved ones,” Bragg said after bring briefed by her colleague in Mandalay.
“I’ve also seen reports that now some countries are sending search and rescue teams up to Mandalay to support the efforts, but hospitals are really struggling to cope with the influx of injured people, there’s a shortage of medical supplies, and people are struggling to find food and clean water,” Bragg added.
The organization was sending a team by road on Sunday to assess peoples’ most pressing needs so that it could target its own response.
With the Mandalay airport damaged and the control tower toppled in the capital Naypitaw’s airport, all commercial flights into the cities have been shut down.
Official relief efforts in Naypitaw were prioritizing government offices and staff housing, leaving locals and aid groups to dig through the rubble by hand in residential areas, the hot sun beating down and the smell of death in the air.
A team sent from neighboring China rescued an older man who had been trapped for nearly 40 hours beneath the rubble of a Naypitaw hospital, and many others are believed to still be buried under, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Myanmar sits on the Sagaing Fault, a major north-south fault that separates the India plate and the Sunda plate.
The earthquake occurred when a 200-kilometer (125-mile) section of the fault ruptured, causing widespread damage along a wide swath of territory down the middle of the country, including Sagaing, Mandalay, Magway and Bago regions and Shan State.
With widespread telecommunication outages, few details have come out so far from areas other than the main urban areas of Mandalay and Naypitaw.
Foreign aid starts to arrive in Myanmar
Still, two Indian C-17 military transport aircraft were able to land late Saturday at Naypitaw with a field hospital unit and some 120 personnel who were then to travel north to Mandalay to establish a 60-bed emergency treatment center, according to the country’s Foreign Ministry. Other Indian supplies were flown into Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest city, which has been the hub of other foreign relief efforts.
On Sunday, a convoy of 17 Chinese cargo trucks carrying critical shelter and medical supplies was expected to reach Mandalay, after making the arduous journey by road from Yangon.
The 650-kilometer (400-mile) journey has been taking 14 hours or longer, with clogged roads and traffic diverted from the main highway to skirt damage from the earthquake.
At the same time, the window of opportunity to find anyone alive is rapidly closing. Most rescues occur within the first 24 hours after a disaster, and then survival chances drop as each day passes.
An initial report on earthquake relief efforts issued Saturday by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs noted the severe damage or destruction of many health facilities, and warned that a “severe shortage of medical supplies is hampering response efforts, including trauma kits, blood bags, anesthetics, assistive devices, essential medicines, and tents for health workers.”
China said it has sent more than 135 rescue personnel and experts along with supplies like medical kits and generators and pledged around $13.8 million in emergency aid. Russia’s Emergencies Ministry said it had flown in 120 rescuers and supplies to Yangon, and the country’s Health Ministry said Moscow had sent a medical team to Myanmar.
Teams from Singapore have been working already in Naypitaw. Malaysia dispatched a team of 50 personnel on Sunday with trucks, search and rescue equipment and medical supplies. Thailand said 55 of its soldiers arrived in Yangon on Sunday to help with search and rescue operations, while Britain announced a $13 million aid package to help its locally-funded partners already in Myanmar respond to the crisis.
18 people reported dead in Thailand
In neighboring Thailand, the quake rocked much of the country, bringing down a high-rise building under construction in Bangkok, some 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) away from the epicenter.
So far, 11 people have been found dead at the construction site near the popular Chatuchak market. A total of 18 people have been reported killed by the quake in Thailand so far.
Rescue efforts in Myanmar complicated by civil war
In Myanmar, which is also known as Burma, rescue efforts so far are focused on Mandalay and Naypyitaw, which are thought to have been the hardest hit, but many other areas were also impacted and little is known so far about the damage there.
“We’re hearing reports of hundreds of people trapped in different areas,” said Bragg. “Right now we’re at 1,600 (known fatalities) and we don’t have a lot of data coming out but you’ve got to assume it will be increasing in the thousands based on what the impacts are. This is just anecdotal information at this point.”
Beyond the earthquake damage, rescue efforts are complicated by the bloody civil war roiling much of the country, including in quake-affected areas. In 2021, the military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking what has since turned into significant armed resistance.
Government forces have lost control of much of Myanmar, and many places are dangerous or impossible for aid groups to reach. More than 3 million people have been displaced by the fighting and nearly 20 million are in need, according to the United Nations.
The government military has been fighting long-established militias and newly formed pro-democracy People’s Defense Forces, and has heavily restricted much-needed aid efforts to the large population already displaced by war even before the earthquake.
Military attacks continued with airstrikes on Friday and reports of mortar and drone attacks on Saturday.
Tom Andrews, a monitor on rights in Myanmar commissioned by the U.N.-backed Human Rights Council, called for the military to immediately call a ceasefire.
“Aid workers should not have to fear arrest and there should be no obstructions to aid getting to where it is most needed,” he said on X. “Every minute counts.”
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Rising and Peck reported from Bangkok. Jintamas Saksornchai in Bangkok, Simina Mistreanu in Taipei, Taiwan and Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia contributed to this report.
Sears, Alabama can’t duplicate record 3-point night, fall to Duke with Final Four at stake
By DAN GELSTON AP Sports Writer
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Mark Sears shot a free throw late in the second half that could have cut Alabama’s deficit to 10 — a last-gasp effort at a comeback still within reach — and watched the ball clang off the back rim.
Even the supposed gimmes weren’t automatic for Sears on this night.
The star guard equated the hoop to the size of an ocean in his mind after sinking 10 3-pointers in the Sweet 16. But against Duke, with a Final Four berth at stake, that rim for Sears shrunk to the size of a teardrop.
Duke handcuffed Alabama’s All-American and did a pretty good job stifling the rest of the high-scoring Crimson Tide, too.
Sears was held to six points and Alabama followed an NCAA Tournament -record 25 3-pointers with only eight, dooming its shot at a second straight Final Four with an 85-65 loss in the East Region final Saturday.
“It’s tough within 48 hours from playing as well as we did to playing as poorly as we did,” coach Nate Oats said.
Sears — who finished 2 of 12 from the field and 1 for 5 on 3s — shot a clunker on Alabama’s first attempt of the game and never got untracked. He hit 10 3s and scored 34 points on the same Prudential Center court only two nights earlier against BYU. This time, Sears made his only basket of the first half with 2:17 to go, pulling Alabama within eight.
Cooper Flagg and Duke looked largely unflappable — and unstoppable during a late 13-0 run that clinched the win — en route to an 18th Final Four.
The Blue Devils gave Sears nowhere to go and left him scrambling for open looks. Labaron Philon hit a trio of 3s and scored 16 points for Alabama (28-9), but the highest-scoring team in the nation was nearly held to a season low for points. Coming off a 113-point outburst in the Sweet 16, not a single Alabama player made more shots than he missed.
“They did a good job of taking away our 3-ball and that’s something that we do really well at a high level,” Sears said.
Sears fell well shy of his season average of 19 points, and his first 3 didn’t come until there was 16:19 remaining.
Sears, a first-team All-America guard, was in a long-range slump before his BYU breakout. He went just 1 of 9 over the first weekend of the tournament and was only 3 for 25 over his previous five games before he made 10 of 16 from deep Thursday against the Cougars.
That spectacular night seemed more an aberration than a sign of success to come.
“They were just building out,” Sears said. “When we would drive, they would build out, and they had a great rim protector at the rim making it hard on us, and they just did a really good job of doing that.”
Under Oats, the former math teacher who turned a humdrum program into one of the nation’s elite, Alabama reached its first Final Four last season before losing to eventual national champion UConn. Elimination came a round earlier this year — and denied the dominant SEC a shot at placing four teams in the Final Four.
Alabama failed to crack 70 points for only the second time all season. The Crimson Tide set March Madness records by making 25 3-pointers against BYU, attempting 51 and knocking one of college basketball’s most memorable teams, Loyola Marymount, off a perch it had held for 35 years.
They made only five in the first half against Duke and the long ball never fell their way. Alabama shot 8 for 32 from behind the arc and 35.4% overall from the floor.
Alabama also got beat on the boards 41-30 and committed 11 turnovers.
For a program that once considered even making it to the second round a successful season, the expectations in Tuscaloosa have soared to the point where a deep March run is the standard.
Oats has since won SEC titles in 2021 and 2023 and two more conference tournament titles, led Alabama to the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, boasts an active streak of three straight Sweet 16s and hit No. 1 in the AP poll.
“With the standard of excellence we’ve set across all of college basketball, we’ve established ourselves as one of the best programs in the country. Are we disappointed tonight? For sure we are, but we’ve put ourselves up there with everybody else,” Oats said. “And we’re going to continue to do that year in and year out and keep knocking on the door, keep pounding the stone, if you will, and be one of the teams competing for a Final Four and a national championship and conference championships in the best conference in college basketball every year, and we’ll get back to the Final Four and win one here soon.”
Plastics are seeping into farm fields, food and eventually human bodies. Can they be stopped?
By MELINA WALLING and RODNEY MUHUMUZA Associated Press
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — In Uganda’s Mbale district, famous for its production of arabica coffee, a plague of plastic bags locally known as buveera is creeping beyond the city.
It’s a problem that has long littered the landscape in Kampala, the capital, where buveera are woven into the fabric of daily life. They show up in layers of excavated dirt roads and clog waterways. But now, they can be found in remote areas of farmland, too. Some of the debris includes the thick plastic bags used for planting coffee seeds in nurseries.
Some farmers are complaining, said Wilson Watira, head of a cultural board for the coffee-growing Bamasaba people. “They are concerned – those farmers who know the effects of buveera on the land,” he said.
Around the world, plastics find their way into farm fields. Climate change makes agricultural plastic, already a necessity for many crops, even more unavoidable for some farmers. Meanwhile, research continues to show that itty-bitty microplastics alter ecosystems and end up in human bodies. Scientists, farmers and consumers all worry about how that’s affecting human health, and many seek solutions. But industry experts say it’s difficult to know where plastic ends up or get rid of it completely, even with the best intentions of reuse and recycling programs.
According to a 2021 report on plastics in agriculture by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, soils are one of the main receptors of agricultural plastics. Some studies have estimated that soils are more polluted by microplastics than the oceans.
“These things are being released at such a huge, huge scale that it’s going to require major engineering solutions,” said Sarah Zack, an Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant Great Lakes Contaminant Specialist who communicates about microplastics to the public.
Why researchers want to study plastics in farm fields
Micro-particles of plastic that come from items like clothes, medications and beauty products sometimes appear in fertilizer made from the solid byproducts of wastewater treatment — called biosolids — which can also be smelly and toxic to nearby residents depending on the treatment process used. Some seeds are coated in plastic polymers designed to strategically disintegrate at the right time of the season, used in containers to hold pesticides or stretched over fields to lock in moisture.
But the agriculture industry itself only accounts for a little over 3% of all plastics used globally. About 40% of all plastics are used in packaging, including single-use plastic food and beverage containers.
Microplastics, which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration defines as being smaller than five millimeters long, are their largest at about the size of a pencil eraser. Some are much smaller.
Studies have already shown that microplastics can be taken up by plants on land or plankton in the ocean and subsequently eaten by animals or humans. Scientists are still studying the long-term effects of the plastic that’s been found in human organs. Early findings suggest possible links to a host of health conditions including heart disease and some cancers.
Despite “significant research gaps,” the evidence related to the land-based food chain “is certainly raising alarm,” said Lev Neretin, environment lead at the FAO, which is currently working on another technical report looking deeper into the problem of microplastic pollution in soils and crops.
A study out this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that microplastics pollution can even impact plants’ ability to photosynthesize, the process of turning light from the sun into energy. That doesn’t “justify excessive concern” but does “underscore food security risks that necessitate scientific attention,” wrote Fei Dang, one of the study’s authors.
Climate change making matters worse
The use of plastics has quadrupled over the past 30 years. Plastic is ubiquitous. And most of the world’s plastic goes to landfills, pollutes the environment or is burned. Less than 10% of plastics are recycled.
At the same time, some farmers are becoming more reliant on plastics to shelter crops from the effects of extreme weather. They’re using tarps, hoop houses and other technology to try to control conditions for their crops. And they’re depending more on chemicals like pesticides and fertilizers to buffer against unreliable weather and more pervasive pest issues.
“Through global warming, we have less and less arable land to make crops on. But we need more crops. So therefore the demand on agricultural chemicals is increasing,” said Ole Rosgaard, president and CEO of Greif, a company that makes packaging used for industrial agriculture products like pesticides and other chemicals.
Extreme weather, fueled by climate change, also contributes to the breakdown and transport of agricultural plastics. Beating sun can wear on materials over time. And more frequent and intense rainfall events in some areas could drive more plastic particles running into fields and eventually waterways, said Maryam Salehi, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Missouri.
Can agriculture escape the plastic problem?
This past winter, leaders from around the world gathered in South Korea to produce the first legally binding global treaty on plastics pollution. They didn’t reach an agreement, but the negotiations are scheduled to resume in August.
Neretin said the FAO produced a provisional, voluntary code of conduct on sustainable management of plastics in agriculture. But without a formal treaty in place, most countries don’t have a strong incentive to follow it.
“The mood is certainly not cheery, that’s for sure,” he said, adding global cooperation “takes time, but the problem does not disappear.”
Without political will, much of the onus falls on companies.
Rosgaard, of Greif, said that his company has worked to make their products recyclable, and that farmers have incentives to return them because they can get paid in exchange. But he added it’s sometimes hard to prevent people from just burning the plastic or letting it end up in fields or waterways.
“We just don’t know where they end up all the time,” he said.
Some want to stop the flow of plastic and microplastic waste into ecosystems. Boluwatife Olubusoye, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Mississippi, is trying to see whether biochar, remains of organic matter and plant waste burned under controlled conditions, can filter out microplastics that run from farm fields into waterways. His early experiments have shown promise.
He said he was motivated by the feeling that there was “never any timely solution in terms of plastic waste” ending up in fields in the first place, especially in developing countries.
Even for farmers who care about plastics in soils, it can be challenging for them to do anything about it. In Uganda, owners of nursery beds cannot afford proper seedling trays, so they resort to cheaply made plastic bags used to germinate seeds, said Jacob Ogola, an independent agronomist there.
Farmers hardest hit by climate change are least able to reduce the presence of cheap plastic waste in soils. That frustrates Innocent Piloya, an agroecology entrepreneur who grows coffee in rural Uganda with her company Ribbo Coffee.
“It’s like little farmers fighting plastic manufacturers,” she said.
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Walling reported from Chicago.
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The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
Turkey Neck Soup
Turkey Neck Soup
Turkey Neck Soup Recipe from MomsDish
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Serving size: 8 servings
Ingredients
- 1 lb turkey necks
- 2 carrots
- 1 yellow onion
- 1/3 cup rice
- 2 potatoes
- 1/2 cup chopped green onions
- 1/3 cup chopped fresh dill
- 1 tbsp salt adjust to taste
- 1 tsp ground black pepper adjust to taste
- 3 qt water
Directions
- Chop the carrot and onion into large pieces (no need to make it fancy, you will remove them from the broth later). In a large pot, boil the turkey necks, onion, and carrots for 60-90 minutes, or until the turkey meat falls off the neck bone.
- Remove turkey necks from the broth and set aside. Drain the broth through a colander to remove the chunks of onion and carrots.
- Place turkey necks and broth back into the large soup pot. Add in rice and let it simmer on low for about 20 minutes.
- Once the rice is cooked, add in the diced potato. Let the soup simmer until all ingredients are fully cooked. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot with a sprinkling of fresh dill and green onion.
March 30th 2025
Thought of the Day
Happiness is an attitude.
Myanmar’s earthquake death toll jumps to 1,644 as more bodies are recovered from the rubble
By DAVID RISING and JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI Associated Press
BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s ruling military said Saturday on state television that the confirmed death toll from a devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake rose to 1,644, as more bodies were pulled from the rubble of the scores of buildings that collapsed when it struck near the country’s second-largest city.
The new total is a sharp rise compared to the 1,002 total announced just hours earlier, underlining the difficulty of confirming casualties over a widespread region and the likelihood that the numbers will continue to grow from Friday’s quake. The number of injured increased to 3,408, while the missing figure rose to 139.
Rescue efforts are underway especially in the major stricken cities of Mandalay, the country’s No. 2 city, and Naypyitaw, the capital. But even though teams and equipment have been flown in from other nations, they are hindered by the airports in those cities being damaged and apparently unfit to land planes.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, is in the throes of a prolonged civil war, which is already responsible for a humanitarian crisis. It makes movement around the country both difficult and dangerous, complicating relief efforts and raising fears that the death toll could still rise precipitously.
The earthquake struck midday Friday with an epicenter not far from Mandalay, followed by several aftershocks, including one measuring 6.4. It sent buildings in many areas toppling to the ground, buckled roads, caused bridges to collapse and burst a dam.
In Naypyidaw, crews worked Saturday to repair damaged roads, while electricity, phone and internet services remained down for most of the city. The earthquake brought down many buildings, including multiple units that housed government civil servants, but that section of the city was blocked off by authorities on Saturday.
More damage in Thailand
In neighboring Thailand, the quake rocked the greater Bangkok area, home to around 17 million people, and other parts of the country.
Bangkok city authorities said the number of confirmed dead was now 10, nine at the site of the collapsed high-rise under construction near the capital’s popular Chatuchak market, while 78 people were still unaccounted for. Rescue efforrs were continuing in the hope of finding additional survivors.
On Saturday, more heavy equipment was brought in to move the tons of rubble, but hope was fading among friends and family members of the missing that they would be found alive.
“I was praying that that they had survived but when I got here and saw the ruin — where could they be? In which corner? Are they still alive? I am still praying that all six are alive,” said 45-year-old Naruemol Thonglek, sobbing as she awaited news about her partner, who is from Myanmar, and five friends who worked at the site.
Waenphet Panta said she hadn’t heard from her daughter Kanlayanee since a phone call about an hour before the quake. A friend told her Kanlayanee had been working high on the building on Friday.
“I am praying my daughter is safe, that she has survived and that she’s at the hospital,” she said, Kanlayanee’s father sitting beside her.
Thai authorities said that the quake and aftershocks were felt in most of the country’s provinces. Many places in the north reported damage to residential buildings, hospitals and temples, including in Chiang Mai, but the only casualties were reported in Bangkok
Myanmar sits on a major fault line
Earthquakes are rare in Bangkok, but relatively common in Myanmar. The country sits on the Sagaing Fault, a major north-south fault that separates the India plate and the Sunda plate.
Brian Baptie, a seismologist with the British Geological Survey, said that the quake caused intense ground shaking in an area where most of the population lives in buildings constructed of timber and unreinforced brick masonry.
“When you have a large earthquake in an area where there are over a million people, many of them living in vulnerable buildings, the consequences can often be disastrous,” he said in a statement.
A natural disaster on top of a civil war
Myanmar’s government said that blood was in high demand in the hardest-hit areas. In a country where prior governments sometimes have been slow to accept foreign aid, Min Aung Hlaing said that Myanmar was ready to accept outside assistance.
Myanmar’s military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, and is now involved in a civil war with long-established militias and newly formed pro-democracy ones.
Military forces continued their attacks even after the quake, with three airstrikes in northern Kayin state, also called Karenni state, and southern Shan — both of which border Mandalay state, said Dave Eubank, a former U.S. Army Special Forces soldier who founded the Free Burma Rangers, a humanitarian aid organization that has provided assistance to both combatants and civilians in Myanmar since the 1990s.
Eubank told The Associated Press that in the area he was operating in, most villages have already been destroyed by the military so the earthquake had little impact.
“People are in the jungle and I was out in the jungle when the earthquake hit — it was powerful, but the trees just moved, that was it for us, so we haven’t had a direct impact other than that the Burma army keeps attacking, even after the quake,” he said.
In northern Shan, an airstrike on a rebel-controlled village just minutes after the earthquake killed seven militia members and damaged five buildings, including a school, Mai Rukow, editor of a Shan-based online media Shwe Phee Myay News Agency, told the AP.
Government forces have lost control of much of Myanmar, and many places are incredibly dangerous or simply impossible for aid groups to reach. More than 3 million people have been displaced by the fighting and nearly 20 million are in need, according to the United Nations.
“Although a full picture of the damage is still emerging, most of us have never seen such destruction,” said Haider Yaqub, Myanmar country director for the NGO Plan International, from Yangon.
Control tower at Myanmar airport collapsed
Satellite photos from Planet Labs PBC analyzed by the AP show the earthquake toppled the air traffic control tower at Naypyitaw International Airport as if sheered from its base.
Debris lay scattered from the top of the tower, which controlled all air traffic in the capital of Myanmar, the photos showed on Saturday.
It wasn’t immediately clear if there had been any injuries in the collapse, though the tower would have had staff inside of it at the time of the earthquake Friday.
Rescue groups head to Myanmar
China and Russia are the largest suppliers of weapons to Myanmar’s military, and were among the first to step in with humanitarian aid.
China said it has sent more than 135 rescue personnel and experts along with supplies like medical kits and generators, and pledged around $13.8 million in emergency aid. Hong Kong sent a 51-member team to Myanmar.
Russia’s Emergencies Ministry said it had flown in 120 rescuers and supplies, and the country’s Health Ministry said Moscow had sent a medical team to Myanmar.
Other countries like India and South Korea are sending help, and the U.N. allocated $5 million to start relief efforts.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that Washington was going to help with the response, but some experts were concerned about this effort given his administration’s deep cuts in foreign assistance.
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Jerry Harmer and Grant Peck in Bangkok, Simina Mistreanu in Taipei, Tong-hyung Kim in Seoul, South Korea, and Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.
Pear Frangipane Tart
Pear Frangipane Tart
Pear Frangipane Tart Recipe from A Beautiful Plate
Prep time: 1 hour
Cooking time: 1 hour 30 minutes – 2 hours
Serving size: 8 servings
Ingredients
For the Tart Dough
- 2 cups (240 g) unbleached all-purpose flour fluffed, spooned, and leveled
- ⅓ cup (70 g) granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 11 tablespoons (155 g; 1 stick plus 3 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter cubed
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
For the Poached Pears
- 6 cups (1.4 L) cold water
- 2 cups (400 g) granulated sugar
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 1 star anise pod
- 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste or 1 tablespoon vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean, scraped
- 2 strips lemon peel without the pith, plus half a lemon
- 3 Harry & David Royal Riviera Pears or pears of your choosing as long as they are firm yet slightly ripe
For the Frangipane Filling
- 8 tablespoons (4 oz; 115 grams) unsalted butter softened
- ½ cup + 1 tablespoon (115 g) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (115 g) almond flour
- 3 large whole eggs room temperature
- 1 tablespoon (15 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon dark rum optional
For Serving (optional)
- powdered sugar for dusting (optional)
- lightly sweetened whipped cream (optional)
Directions
- Prepare the Tart Dough: Lightly grease a 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom and set aside. In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, sugar, salt, and lemon zest. Pulse until well mixed. Add the cold cubed butter and pulse repeatedly until the butter is well distributed into the flour. You shouldn’t be able to see any distinguishable pieces. Add the egg yolk and vanilla extract and pulse continuously until the dough just starts to clump together. Note: It might appear very dry at first, but if you continue to pulse and process, it will come together. Be patient.
- Transfer the dough and any smaller pieces to a clean countertop, and knead – pressing the dough down with the heel of your hand – until it is completely smooth. It will resemble a sugar cookie dough in texture. Press the dough into the greased tart pan (with a removable bottom) – it should be just under ¼-inch thick, you should have some dough leftover – and chill in the fridge for a minimum of one hour, or freeze for at least 30 minutes.If you are preparing the dough ahead of time: press it into a disc, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for a minimum of 1 hour or up to 2 days. If following this method, take the dough out of the fridge at least 15 to 20 minutes before rolling, as it will be too hard to roll right from the fridge. Roll the dough out (between pieces of parchment or wax paper to prevent sticking), carefully pick up and transfer the dough to the tart pan, using fingers to push in dough and gently shape the tart. If it cracks, just simply patch or press the pieces back together. This is a forgiving tart dough. Make sure to press dough tightly inside corners and sides. The dough can be made up to 2 days in advance or frozen up to a month ahead.
- Poach the Pears: As the tart dough is chilling, poach the pears. Combine the cold water and granulated sugar in a medium pot (roughly 3-quart capacity). Place over medium heat and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has completely dissolved. Add the cinnamon sticks, star anise pod, vanilla bean paste, and lemon peel.
- Peel the pears, leaving the stem on, and gently rub each pear with the lemon half to prevent the pears from oxidizing. Using melon baller or small paring knife, core the pears from the bottom end. Using a large spoon, gently lower the cored, whole pears into the poaching liquid. The poaching liquid should almost completely cover the pears.
- Return the poaching liquid to a low simmer, cover the surface of the pot with a parchment round, and simmer the pears, occasionally flipping them during the cooking process, for about 12 to 15 minutes or until tender. Remember that you will be cooling the pears in the liquid, so do not overcook. You can test whether the pears are done by piercing the pear (through the bottom end) with a paring knife. The pears should be tender, yet not at all mushy.
- Cool the pears to room temperature in the poaching liquid. Serve or transfer the pears to a large container and refrigerate for up to one week. The poaching liquid can be kept, discarded, or used to store the poached pears. Try reusing the liquid for poaching other pears or as a simple syrup in cocktails, etc.
- Blind Bake the Tart Shell: Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C) with a rack in the center position. Lightly grease the shiny side of a piece of aluminum foil and fit it, buttered side down, against the chilled tart dough. Fill the foil with baking weights, dried beans, or granulated sugar (all options work well). Place the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and weights, and bake uncovered for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, or until the shell is lightly golden and cooked through. Set tart pan on a wire rack to cool completely before adding the frangipane and poached pears.
- Make the Frangipane Filling: Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or use a hand-held mixer). Beat over medium speed until creamy. Over low speed, add the almond flour, alternating with egg until the ingredients are incorporated evenly. Add the flour and mix to combine. Add the vanilla extract, lemon zest, and rum (if using) and mix until just combined. Use right away if the other tart components are ready, or transfer to a container and refrigerate until ready to use.
- Assemble the Tart: Place the tart pan on a baking sheet. Fill the pre-baked tart shell with the frangipane filling and spread into an even layer with an offset spatula. Place the poached pears on a few paper towels to help soak up any excess poaching liquid (this will help prevent it from seeping into the frangipane). Cut the poached pears in half, removing the stem and any core that might remain. Slice the pear halves crosswise into thin slices. Using a spatula, carefully lift each sliced pear half and place on the frangipane, with the narrow end of the pear facing the center of the tart, fanning the slices apart slightly as you work. Repeat with the remaining pear halves, spacing them evenly around the tart.
- Bake at 375°F (190°C) for 40 to 55 minutes, or until the frangipane has risen substantially around the pears and is deep golden brown in color.Note: *If your oven runs hot, you may wish to reduce the temperature by 25 degrees. If the edges of the tart are gaining color too quickly, you can lightly cover them with a ring of foil – be sure to cook the filling through completely. Transfer the tart to a rack to cool until lukewarm or room temperature before removing the sides of the tart pan.
- Before serving, dust lightly with powdered sugar. Serve plain or with whipped cream. While you can prepare several components of this tart ahead, it is best served the day of baking. Any leftovers can be kept at room temperature for 1 to 2 days.
March 29th 2025
Thought of the Day
Sometimes, I spend the whole meeting wondering how they got the big meeting table through the door.