■ UNITED STATES
Women trapped for two days
Two cleaning women, trapped inside a broken elevator in Illinois for two days, survived on two cough drops and six aspirin until they were rescued. Beata Bartoszewicz and her mother, Roma Borowski, entered an elevator in an empty building in a Chicago suburb on Dec. 22. After the elevator doors closed, the women discovered they were stuck on the first floor of the two-story building. There was no response from an emergency call alarm and the women could not pry open the doors, Bartoszewicz said. Neither had a mobile phone or water and the building was not due to open until after Christmas. Two days later, on Christmas Eve, an employee of the building happened to go to work. Fire crews freed the women an hour later.
■ BRAZIL
Thieves steal rare alligators
Thieves stole seven rare albino alligators from a Brazilian university zoo and investigators suspect animal smugglers were behind the crime, officials said on Friday. The theft at the Federal University of Mato Grosso was carried out sometime between Monday, when the alligators were last fed, and Wednesday morning when a zookeeper noticed their disappearance, zoo director Itamar Assumpcao said. There were no signs of a break-in, he added.
■ VENEZUELA
Plane crashes into the sea
A plane crashed into the sea on Friday with 14 people on board, including eight Italians and a Swiss citizen. There was no immediate report on casualties. Search teams fanned out by air and sea to look for the downed twin-engine plane, which left Simon Bolivar International Airport near Caracas and hit the sea about 39km from Los Roques islands, said General Antonio Rivero, Venezuela's emergency management director. Italy's foreign ministry said eight Italians were on board. Rivero's agency said there were five Venezuelans on board, as well as one Swiss man.
■ UNITED STATES
Cold snap fells iguanas
How cold was it in South Florida this week? So cold the iguanas fell from the trees. The cold-blooded reptiles go into a deep sleep when the temperature falls below 10oC. Experts said their bodies basically shut off and they lose their grip on the tree. But it is not sudden death -- the reptiles perk up when the temperatures rises. Miami Metrozoo officials said the night cold causes the most drops. "The worst part of the cold comes in the evening and they literally just shut off," said Ron Magill, communications director for the zoo. "Their bodies shut off, they lose their grip on the tree and they start falling." While many of the iguanas will wake up, they could face death if low temperatures persist.
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