■UNITED STATES
Suspicious powder tested
Envelopes containing suspicious powder were sent to three foreign consulates in Manhattan on Monday, but initial tests suggested the mailings were a hoax, police officials said. A field test done on the powder sent to the Uzbekistan Consulate came back negative for anthrax or any other dangerous substance, a New York Police Department spokesman said. Envelopes containing a powder were also sent to the French and Austrian consulates. The potential threat prompted an emergency response from federal and local authorities, including hazardous material units that decontaminated employees of the consulates who handled the envelopes.
■UNITED STATES
Chestnut wins eating contest
Joey Chestnut maintained his dominance in the sport of competitive eating by setting a new world record and winning the first-ever Martorano’s Masters Meatball Eating Championship in Las Vegas. Chestnut on Sunday gobbled 50 meatballs, the 2.8kg a new world record. Pat “Deep Dish” Bertoletti finished in second place, just one meatball behind Chestnut.
■CANADA
Teen survives on ice floe
A teenager was rescued on Monday after being trapped on an ice floe in the Arctic Sea with a polar bear and her two cubs. The 17-year-old had been out hunting with his uncle when they became separated on Saturday and he was set adrift on a large chunk of ice. Also trapped on the floe were the three bears. The teen, who was armed with a rifle, had to shoot the mother bear in self-defense, officials said. He survived one day and one night on the ice before being picked up by a search helicopter, having drifted about 45km into the open sea.
■BRAZIL
Student wins skirt battle
A student expelled from university for wearing a mini-skirt was re-admitted on Monday. Pressure from the government to reinstate 20-year-old Geisy Arruda appeared to have paid off late on Monday, when the private Bandeirante University reversed its decision. Brazil’s education ministry earlier demanded the Sao Paulo state university explain its decision to bar Arruda from the rest of her tourism course. The minister for women’s rights, Nilcea Freire, also waded in on Sunday, criticizing the university for “this total intolerance and discrimination.” Geisy attacked her expulsion, saying it violated her constitutional rights. She also slammed hundreds of students who jeered and called her a “whore” on Oct. 22, when she turned up in her revealing pink outfit. That incident quickly escalated, leading to security guards being assigned to accompany Geisy on campus for her protection. The university expelled her last week, blaming her for disturbing classes by “a flagrant lack of respect for ethical principles, academic dignity and morality.”
■UNITED STATES
Amputations lead to recall
A baby stroller company recalled about a million strollers on Monday after reports that children had had their fingertips severed in a hinge, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said. Maclaren Strollers had received 15 reports of children placing their fingers in the hinge mechanism, resulting in 12 reports of fingertip amputation, the safety commission said. The risk occurs when a child’s finger is placed in the hinge mechanism of a stroller while it is being unfolded and locked into place. The locking motion can shear off tiny fingertips, the safety commission said.
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