WEEK IN REVIEW

1: 7 Red Cross workers kidnapped in Syria

BEIRUT — Gunmen abducted six Red Cross workers and a Syrian Red Crescent volunteer after stopping their convoy early Sunday in northwestern Syria, a spokesman said, in the latest high-profile kidnapping in the country’s civil war.

Simon Schorno, a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Damascus, said the assailants snatched the seven aid workers from their convoy near the town of Saraqeb in Idlib province around 11:30 a.m. local time as the team was returning to Damascus. He declined to provide the nationalities of the six ICRC employees, and said it was not clear who was behind the attack.

2: 7.2 quake hits central Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — A 7.2magnitude earthquake struck in the central Philippines Tuesday morning, killing at least four people and collapsing and damaging buildings, radio reports and officials said.

The quake was centered 35 miles deep below Carmen town on Bohol Island and was felt across the region.

Radio station DZMM quoted civil defense officials as saying that four people died when part of a fish port collapsed in nearby Cebu city, across the strait from Bohol.

3: Congress votes to end shutdown

WASHINGTON — Up against a deadline, Congress passed and sent a waiting President Barack Obama legislation late Wednesday night to avoid a threatened national default and end the 16-day partial government shutdown, the culmination of an epic political drama that placed the U.S. economy at risk.

The Senate voted first, a bipartisan 81-18 at midevening. That cleared the way for a final 285-144 vote in the Republican-controlled House about two hours later on the legislation, which hewed strictly to the terms Obama laid down when the crises erupted more than three weeks ago.

The legislation would permit the Treasury to borrow normally through Feb.7 or perhaps a month longer, and fund the government through Jan.15. More than 2million federal workers would be paid — those who had remained on the job and those who had been furloughed.

4: Typhoon, mudslides strike in Japan

deadly mudslides that buried people and destroyed homes on a Japanese island Wednesday before sweeping up the Pacific coast, grounding hundreds of flights and disrupting Tokyo’s transportation during the morning rush.

Hardest hit from Typhoon Wipha was Izu Oshima island, which is about 75miles south of Tokyo. Rescuers found16 bodies, most of them buried by mudslides, police and town officials said. Dozens of homes were destroyed, and about 45 people were missing.