The week at a glance...Americas

last updated 8 January 2015

Toronto

Ford farce continues: The saga of Rob Ford, the Toronto mayor who refuses to resign despite admitting to smoking crack while in “a drunken stupor,” took a further bizarre turn this week during a heated Toronto City Council meeting. After the council stripped him of many of his powers, Ford compared the body to Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. “You have just attacked Kuwait,” warned Ford. “This is going to be outright war.” The burly politician later barreled across the floor, knocking down City Councilor Pam McConnell; he later apologized for what he called “a total accident.” Also this week Ford said he’d had a “come-to-Jesus moment,” vowing to eschew alcohol and run for prime minister.

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Child porn ring busted: More than 340 people were arrested around the globe this week as part of a massive child pornography bust originating in Canada. The three-year investigation, which led to the rescue of nearly 400 children, began with a Toronto man whom police suspected of owning a company that distributed child porn over the Internet. Police allege that Brian Way, 42, instructed conspirators to create sexual videos of children ages 5 to 12, and then distributed the videos, which he marketed as “naturist” movies, to customers in 94 countries. More than 100 people were arrested in Canada, 76 in the U.S., and over 160 in other countries, including Australia, Spain, Mexico, South Africa, Norway, Greece, and Ireland. Doctors, schoolteachers, and priests were among those detained.

Free-diving death: A Brooklyn man died this week trying to set a record for free diving, a sport in which competitors dive into deep waters without oxygen tanks. Nicholas Mevoli, 32, reached a depth of 236 feet—his goal in the 2013 Vertical Blue Competition—but stopped breathing when he returned to the surface after being underwater for 3 minutes and 38 seconds. “Nick appears to have suffered from a depth-related injury to his lungs,” free-diving association AIDA International said. Mevoli, who worked as a prop man in film and television, was a newcomer to the sport, first competing in early 2012. He is the first to die in an international free-diving competition in the sport’s 21-year history.

War criminal escapes: A former Argentine army officer imprisoned for committing crimes against humanity escaped from custody last week while en route to court. Former Lt. Col. Alejandro Lawless, 66, was found guilty in 2010 for his role in kidnapping, torturing, and killing political opponents of the Argentine military regime during the so-called Dirty War between 1976 and 1983, when 30,000 people were killed in a campaign against perceived dissidents. Lawless reportedly slipped away from a police van outside a courthouse while his guards were distracted with other prisoners. Earlier this year, two other convicted army officers also escaped from police custody and remain on the run.