Haiti
Haiti Man Found Alive After Two Weeks
In a remarkable twist of fate, a 35-year-old Haiti man was rescued from the ruble two weeks after the deadly earthquake struck the impoverished country. U.S. troops pulled the man out, dressed only in underpants, from under the collapsed buildings in the center of Port-au-Prince. The man reportedly had one of his legs crushed and was taken for medical treatment. The rescue comes three days after the Haiti government called an end to the search and rescue operations on Saturday. A U.N. spokesperson said on Saturday that 132 people were rescued by international rescue teams.
Peru
Mudslides Flood Ancient City
Mudslides and floods have killed at least five people in Peru and have left around 2,000 tourists stranded at the ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu. Heavy rain and mudslides have blocked rail lines to the city, which at 8,000 feet has no other access route. Due to lack of hotel space, hundreds of tourists were forced to sleep in tents on the main square of the city. Army helicopters have been been evacuating tourists in small numbers. The bad weather has destroyed at least 500 homes and around two thousand acres of crops, according to Peruvian media.
Australia
Indian Students Attacked
Two Indian students were assaulted on Monday night in Melbourne in what appears to be the latest in a series of racial driven attacks in Australia. The students were pushed to the ground and kicked by a group allegedly making racial comments, leaving one student in need of surgery. Nine of the alleged attackers have been arrested with five men charged for the attacks. Earlier this month an Indian student was stabbed to death in Melbourne, sparking anger in India over reluctance of the Australian government to acknowledge the attacks as racially motivated. On Tuesday Van Thanh Rudd, nephew of the Australian prime minister, was arrested after protesting the recent racist attacks dressed in a Ku Klux Klan outfit.
The Netherlands
‘It was just a slice of cheese’
A McDonald’s franchise in the Netherlands was incorrect to fire one of its employees over a slice of cheese, a Dutch court ruled on Monday. The employee was fired after she gave a colleague a slice of cheese on a regular hamburger for free, which turned the hamburger into a cheeseburger according to McDonald’s. The judge said it was “just a slice of cheese” and a less severe punishment, such as a written warning would have sufficed, Dutch media reported. McDonald’s now has to pay the remaining five months salary, around $6,000, of the contract.
Venezuela
Students Protest Television Closures, Two Dead
Students took to the streets on Tuesday in the city of Meridia to protest President Hugo Chavez’s order to yank six Venezuelan television channels off of cable last week. The channels refused to broadcast mandatory government announcement and hour-long speeches by Chavez, as required under Venezuelan law since last month. A state governor said two students had died in the protests. Governor of Meridia state, Marcos Diaz, said one of the students was shot dead and the other was killed by an explosive amid clashes between police, anti-Chavez students, and government supporters, AP reported.
Friends Read Free