■ Mexico
Kidnapped victims freed
Police on Sunday freed five kidnapped businessmen from a 2m by 2m metal cage where they had been held for ransom for months by the Arellano Felix gang, prosecutors said. Police found the men in Tijuana, where they did business. The men were freed after a firefight, during which one of the kidnappers threatened to kill the hostages if police did not leave, the prosecutors said. The captors demanded sums as large as US$5 million, state prosecutors said. The family of one man, who owns a candy shop, paid part of his ransom while he remained kidnapped for two months. Five kidnappers were captured, according to the prosecutors, who said they were all attached to the Arellano Felix gang.
■ Chile
Bachelet honors her father
President Michelle Bachelet, on her first full day in office on Sunday, paid a moving graveside tribute to her father, who died in prison 32 years ago after being tortured under dictator Augusto Pinochet. Accompanied by her mother Angela Jeria, Bachelet visited a mausoleum where her late father Alberto Bachelet is buried. "Thank you all for having lived," she said as she laid flowers for her father and other family members buried there. Her father was an adviser to Socialist president Salvador Allende, toppled in a 1973 coup that brought Pinochet to power. He died of a heart attack at the age of 50 after six months in captivity during which he was tortured.
■ United States
Fans buy film stars
About 400 movie fans made bids on Saturday in the "Everything Must Go" auction at the Movieland Wax Museum in Buena Park, California for wax figures of Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando and many other famous movie stars. The museum was closed last year after 43 years and about 500 items were up for auction. Chris Doohan, 46, went to the auction hoping to buy the figure of his dad, James Doohan, who played Scotty in Star Trek and died last year. The bidding, however, reached US$4,200, which was a little too high for Doohan.
■ United States
Workers fall from coaster
Seven carnival workers fell from a roller coaster on Sunday while testing the ride for the upcoming Miami-Dade County Fair, authorities said. "One of the carts seemed to have jumped off the tracks or was derailed," Miami-Dade Fire-Rescue Lieutenant Roman Bas said. "As a result, it looked like the cart kind of tipped over and the individuals fell out." Four of the injured others were hospitalized It wasn't clear how far they fell.
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