
News Wrap: Myanmar earthquake death toll tops 3,000
Clip: 4/2/2025 | 6m 45sVideo has Closed Captions
News Wrap: Myanmar earthquake death toll tops 3,000 as civil war hampers relief efforts
In our news wrap Wednesday, the death toll from the earthquake in Myanmar surpassed 3,000 as relief efforts are hampered by the country's civil war, Israel says it will establish a new security corridor across Gaza, Denmark's prime minister spoke out against President Trump's ambition to take control of Greenland and a federal judge dismissed corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams.
Problems with Closed Captions? Closed Captioning Feedback
Problems with Closed Captions? Closed Captioning Feedback
Major corporate funding for the PBS News Hour is provided by BDO, BNSF, Consumer Cellular, American Cruise Lines, and Raymond James. Funding for the PBS NewsHour Weekend is provided by...

News Wrap: Myanmar earthquake death toll tops 3,000
Clip: 4/2/2025 | 6m 45sVideo has Closed Captions
In our news wrap Wednesday, the death toll from the earthquake in Myanmar surpassed 3,000 as relief efforts are hampered by the country's civil war, Israel says it will establish a new security corridor across Gaza, Denmark's prime minister spoke out against President Trump's ambition to take control of Greenland and a federal judge dismissed corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams.
Problems with Closed Captions? Closed Captioning Feedback
How to Watch PBS News Hour
PBS News Hour is available to stream on pbs.org and the free PBS App, available on iPhone, Apple TV, Android TV, Android smartphones, Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire Tablet, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, and Vizio.
Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipGEOFF BENNETT: We start today's other headlines in Myanmar, where the death toll from the devastating earthquake last week has now surpassed 3,000, and as relief efforts have been hampered by that country's civil war.
Today, the ruling military took to state television to call a temporary cease-fire to aid in the recovery.
It will last until late April, though the sides still reserved the right to fight in self-defense.
That's as survivors were still being pulled from the rubble today, five days after Friday's 7.7-magnitude quake.
Neighboring and competing powers like China and India have stepped in with rescue teams, even as hope fades.
KAVITA SINGH, Indian Rescuer (through translator): There is zero possibility of finding survivors.
It is the fifth or sixth day after the earthquake and the weather is extremely hot.
We have only recovered bodies so far.
GEOFF BENNETT: The U.S. has sent a three-person team to Myanmar and pledged $2 million in emergency aid.
A group of Democratic senators sent a letter to the Trump administration criticizing what they called the paltry U.S. aid response.
Israeli leaders say their military will establish a new security corridor across Gaza and would be, in their words, seizing large areas to add to the security zones.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is calling it the Morag Corridor, invoking the name of a Jewish settlement that used to sit between the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Yunis, suggesting the corridor would run between them.
Meantime, local hospitals say more Israeli strikes overnight killed at least 40 Palestinians, including nearly a dozen children.
The U.N. says Israeli evacuation orders since fighting resumed have rendered more than 60 percent of Gaza inaccessible to its people.
Denmark's prime minister spoke out against President Trump's ambition to take control of Greenland today during a visit to its capital, Nuuk.
She also pledged to stand with the semiautonomous territory, saying that it belongs to Greenlanders, not the U.S.
It comes after Vice President J.D.
Vance visited a U.S. air base there last week.
He criticized Denmark for underinvesting in the territory and failing to keep the island safe.
Back in this country, a U.S. official confirmed to the "PBS News Hour" that senior Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev was at the White House today.
He's the top economic and investment envoy in Moscow, the chief of Russia's sovereign wealth fund, and a close adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Dmitriev met with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff about the ongoing cease-fire effort in Ukraine.
He's the most senior Russian official to visit the White House since Russia invaded Ukraine back in 2022.
The administration has not said what came out of the meeting.
A federal judge officially and permanently dismissed the corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams today.
Judge Dale Ho did so with prejudice, meaning the charges cannot be refiled.
Still, the judge blasted the Trump Justice Department for what he called its troubling rationale in dropping the case so the Democratic mayor could help with the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.
Adams for his part celebrated the decision outside the mayoral mansion this afternoon.
ERIC ADAMS (D), Mayor of New York: This case should have never been brought.
And I did nothing wrong.
I'm now happy that our city can finally close the book on this and focus solely on the future of our great city.
GEOFF BENNETT: Adams also said he will run for reelection against a crowded field that also includes former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
That Democratic primary is a little less than three months away.
The head of Boeing told lawmakers his company made what he called serious missteps in recent years amid heightened scrutiny after a door panel blew off a 737 MAX jet last year.
After the incident, the FAA imposed a manufacturing cap on the model of just 38 planes per month.
Boeing says it has yet to hit that ceiling this year.
At a Senate hearing today, Boeing CEO insisted that improving safety, not production rates, is the company's main focus.
KELLY ORTBERG, CEO, Boeing: We can't just fix the defects.
We have to get to root cause and make sure the defects go away.
I'm not pressuring the team to go fast.
I'm pressuring the team to do it right.
WOMAN: Thank you.
KELLY ORTBERG: That's the most important thing we can do at this point.
GEOFF BENNETT: Boeing recently won the contract to build the Air Force's future stealth fighter jet, the F-47, but its timetable to build two new Air Force One planes is running behind schedule.
And its Starliner spacecraft suffered technical issues last year, failing to safely return two astronauts from the International Space Station.
On Wall Street today, stocks swung higher ahead of President Trump's announcement on tariffs.
The Dow Jones industrial average climbed by more than 230 points.
The Nasdaq gained 150 points, or nearly 1 percent.
The S&P 500 rebounded from an early loss to finish up on the day.
And a passing of note tonight.
Val Kilmer has died.
The gifted actor was once the youngest ever accepted to the prestigious Juilliard School, and those who worked with him marveled at his range.
VAL KILMER, Actor: I don't like you because you're unsafe.
TOM CRUISE, Actor: That's right.
GEOFF BENNETT: Often playing the brooding antihero, he was Iceman, the hotshot pilot opposite Tom Cruise in the "Top Gun" movies.
NICOLE KIDMAN, Actress: What is it about the wrong kind of man?
VAL KILMER: It's the car, right?
Chicks love the car.
GEOFF BENNETT: And at the height of his career in the 1990s, he played the Dark Knight in "Batman Forever.'
Known to immerse himself in his roles, Kilmer blasted the psychedelic music of "The Doors" for a whole year when he portrayed the band's front man, Jim Morrison.
Kilmer survived a 2014 throat cancer diagnosis and underwent two tracheotomies.
The actor's family said he died from pneumonia at his home in Los Angeles.
Val Kilmer was 65 years old.
Still to come on the "News Hour": former Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius on the Trump administration's cuts to the agency; the Supreme Court hears a case that could change access to reproductive care through Medicaid; and West Philadelphia works to address neighborhood problems and threats to democracy through art.
Cuts will grind HHS work to a halt, former secretary says
Video has Closed Captions
Important HHS services 'will grind to a halt' with cuts, former Secretary Sebelius says (8m 35s)
How private equity in health care is affecting patients
Video has Closed Captions
How private equity's increasing role in health care is affecting patients (8m 20s)
How Trump's tariffs could shake up U.S. and global economies
Video has Closed Captions
How Trump's sweeping new tariffs could shake up U.S. and global economies (6m 46s)
Supreme Court hears Planned Parenthood Medicaid funding case
Video has Closed Captions
Supreme Court case could decide if states can block Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood (5m 39s)
West Philadelphia uses art to confront neighborhood problems
Video has Closed Captions
West Philadelphia uses art to confront neighborhood problems and threats to democracy (7m 4s)
What Florida and Wisconsin elections tell us about voters
Video has Closed Captions
What election results in Wisconsin and Florida tell us about voter sentiment (8m 33s)
Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipMajor corporate funding for the PBS News Hour is provided by BDO, BNSF, Consumer Cellular, American Cruise Lines, and Raymond James. Funding for the PBS NewsHour Weekend is provided by...