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WORLD NEWS Wednesday 23 august 2017

3 children pulled from rubble on quake-hit Italian island

By COLLEEN BARRY freed, talking with firefight-
Associated Press ers all the while, eventu-
MILAN (AP) — An Italian ally receiving water and a
family of five was “reborn” flashlight. One official cred-
after all three children bur- ited the older boy, 11-year-
ied in the rubble of their old Ciro, with helping save
home by a 4.0-magnitude his 8-year-old brother, Mat-
quake were pulled to safe- tias, by pushing him out of
ty Tuesday in a painstaking harm’s way under a bed.
16-hour rescue operation The boys’ grandmother de-
on the popular Mediterra- scribed Ciro as shaken by
nean resort island of Ischia. the ordeal. While Mattias
The Toscano family’s hap- was scared, he also “was
py ending brought cheers sorry because he lost the
from the dozens of firefight- money in his piggy bank,
ers who worked through and lost his toys,” she told
the night to extricate the the ANSA news agency.
two boys and their infant When the quake struck just
brother, trapped alone for before 9 p.m. Monday, the
hours after their father was boys’ father, Alessandro
rescued and their preg- Toscano, said he was in
nant mother managed to the kitchen while his wife,
free herself from their col- Alessia, was in the bath-
lapsed apartment in the Rescuers pull out 7-month boy Pasquale from the rubble of a collapsed building in Casamicciola, room and his two older
hard-hit town of Casamic- on the island of Ischia, near Naples, Italy, a day after a 4.0-magnitude quake hit the Italian resort sons in their bedroom. His
ciola. island, Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2017.Hospital officials on the Italian resort island of Ischia say that three wife managed to free her-
“I don’t know how to de- brothers rescued from the rubble of their home after a 4.0-magnitude quake are all in good con- self through the bathroom
dition.
fine it if not a miracle,” the (ANSA via AP) window, Toscano told RAI
boys’ grandmother, Eras- that killed more than 2,000 plex where the family was age of the older boys, who state television, while he
ma De Simone, said after people. Another died in saved. spent 14 and 16 hours re- was rescued soon after-
the family was reunited at the same apartment com- Rescuers hailed the cour- spectively waiting to be ward by firefighters. q
a hospital. “We were all
dead, and we are reborn.” France’s Macron heads east to discuss labor laws
Though relatively minor
in magnitude, the quake
Monday night killed two By VANESSA GERA by competing national in- welfare costs are higher. minimum wage of the
people, injured another 39 Associated Press terests after disputes over The largest number work host country, they often
and displaced some 2,600 WARSAW, Poland (AP) migrants and Britain’s vote in construction, but many earn less than the wages
people in Casamicciola — French President Em- last year to leave the Euro- also work as welders, elec- guaranteed by collec-
and the neighboring town manuel Macron is pushing pean Union. tricians or caring for the el- tive agreements between
of Lacco Ameno on the for tighter European Union During a three-day tour derly. Although they don’t unions and firms.
northern end of the island. rules to protect workers in starting Wednesday, Ma- account for more than a Critics of the current regu-
The damage in Ischia fo- France and other prosper- cron will seek to get an small fraction of the EU’s to- lations, which took effect
cused attention on two ous countries in Western agreement on posted tal workforce, they are per- in 1996, years before a
recurring themes in quake- Europe from cheaper labor workers, those who are ceived as pricing out local large chunk of the former
prone Italy: seismically out- stemming from the conti- temporarily posted by workers in Western Europe, communist bloc joined
dated old buildings and nent’s eastern nations. companies in their home putting downward pressure the EU, say it gives Eastern
illegal new construction Macron is set to raise con- country to a second coun- on wages and exacerbat- European service provid-
with shoddy materials. One cerns over so called “post- try. While abroad, they ing inequalities in wealth. ers an unfair advantage
woman was killed by fall- ed workers” with several continue to pay into the This concern was one of over Western companies
ing masonry from a church leaders in Central Europe as tax and social security sys- the factors behind Brexit, because their wage and
that had suffered dam- he makes his first visit to the tems of their home coun- Britain’s decision to leave social security costs are
age in a quake centered region this week. His stance tries, allowing their employ- the EU. lower. It’s a practice that
in Casamicciola in 1883 threatens fresh tensions in ers to hire them for less than While the posted work- some have dubbed “social
a bloc already strained in Western countries where ers must earn at least the dumping.”q