Ottawa

Diplomats strike: A strike by Canadian diplomats has stretched into its ninth week and could cost the economy billions of dollars. Foreign service officers have walked off their jobs at 15 embassies and consulates in China, India, the U.K., and other countries, causing massive backlogs in visa processing. That hampers not only tourists but also businesspeople and students from getting to Canada. With the university school year about to begin, Canada could lose $8 billion in tuition and other spending by foreign students. The Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers says it wants its members to get the same pay that other federal workers get; the government counters that diplomats already receive many non-salary perks.

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Santiago, Chile

Terrorist label challenged: The U.N. has asked Chile to stop using an anti-terror law to crack down on a revolt by indigenous Mapuche Indians. In the 19th century, the Mapuche were forced off their lands, now owned by ranchers and timber companies, and nearly 1 million of them live in poverty. Over the past two years, a radical faction demanding the return of the ancestral land has occupied and burned farms, and the government has invoked a harsh law dating from the Pinochet dictatorship to arrest and hold suspects in isolation without charging them. “It has been applied in a confusing and arbitrary way, which has turned into a real injustice that has impaired the right to a fair trial,” said U.N. human rights envoy Ben Emmerson.

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