A team of New York City police officers and firefighters saved two children who had been buried beneath the debris of a two-story building since a devastating earthquake struck Haiti last week. After being flagged down by passersby, members of the 76-person NYPD/FDNY Urban Search and Rescue Task Force pulled an 8-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl — believed to be brother and sister — from the wreckage yesterday at around 9:15 pm, according to the Daily News. That account corresponds closely with the above picture, posted today on the NYPD's Twitter page. According to an NYPD spokesman, the children received treatment at an Israeli tent hospital and were reunited with their parents, who had escaped the building collapse. "They were extremely dehydrated," the spokesman noted. more ›

Members of NY's Urban Search and Rescue team used power tools to help pull four Haitians from the rubble of Port-au-Prince this weekend. Among them was a young girl who survived four days trapped in a grocery store. Another group, the Church of Scientology, used the texts of L. Ron Hubbard in their rescue efforts. more ›

With donations rolling in after last week’s massive earthquake, aid organizations are negotiating how best to implement their rescue missions to devastated Haiti. Individual success stories abound, but rescue workers and survivors must operate amidst the violence, danger and scarcity of resources that’s resulted from the natural disaster. more ›

In the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti on Tuesday, former Fugees star Wyclef Jean has emerged as one of the most prominent advocates for charitable giving in his home country. His nonprofit, Yele Haiti Foundation, has already netted more than $2 million in contributions via text messages. But that charity has a "lackluster history of accounting for its finances," and it has paid at least $410,000 to businesses tied to Jean in past years, The Smoking Gun reports. more ›

After an earthquake in central Italy has left over 200 dead, injured hundreds, and made thousands homeless, New York's Italian-American community is mobilizing to lend a hand. Queens College's Maria Fosco told NY1, "The towns there are very old towns, medieval towns. These are old Roman cities, they're not equipped to handle earthquakes," which is why Italian-American Museum president Dr. Joseph Scelsa said, "They will be devastated. The housing will not hold up. We know that people will be homeless as they were in 1980. I worked on the relief fund with Mario Cuomo at the time when he was lieutenant governor. We sent aid over to Italy and we know we're going to have to do that again." (NY1 has details on donations to the IAM.) According to the American Red Cross, it is "ready to provide further assistance if requested. The Italian Red Cross has not yet asked for international assistance." more ›

Mayor Bloomberg is bringing his bottom-line approach to governance to the issue of poverty; specifically, where is the poverty line and who is below it? The Mayor is dissatisfied with the current federal standard for judging who is poor and who is not, which is based on the cost of groceries to feed a family. The current federal standard is 42 years old and criticized by many as totally off-base and outdated, especially since it discounts other costs of living, such as rent, utilities, and childcare. more ›