The week at a glance ... Americas

Toronto

Crossbow murder in library: A Canadian man was arrested this week for allegedly murdering his father with a crossbow in front of horrified patrons at a Toronto public library. Witnesses said Zhou Fang, 24, walked up to his estranged father, Si Cheng, 52, and shot him in the back. Fang then fled, pursued by an elderly man who was able to note the license-plate number on his truck. Police arrested Fang within minutes. They said Fang and his mother had been abused by Cheng, who was twice convicted of domestic assault. The family, originally from China’s Yunnan province, came to Canada in 1997.

Port-au-Prince, Haiti

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Protests over election: A former Haitian First Lady will face President René Préval’s handpicked successor in Haiti’s presidential runoff next month, election authorities said this week. According to official results of last week’s chaotic, fraud-plagued vote, Mirlande Manigat, whose husband was ousted in a 1988 coup, had 31 percent of the vote, and Jude Celestin, Préval’s candidate, took 22 percent. Thousands of supporters of musician Michel “Sweet Micky” Martelly, who had 21 percent, responded to the news with allegations of fraud; they protested in the streets and burned barricades at refugee camps. U.S. and EU observers raised doubts about the official tally, saying their counts suggested that Celestin had won too few votes to qualify for the runoff.

Caracas, Venezuela

Deadly mudslides: Torrential downpours in Colombia and Venezuela this week caused landslides that killed scores of people and destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes. Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez said the weather was the fault of global warming caused by “criminal capitalism” in the West. “The developed nations irresponsibly shatter the environmental order in their desire to maintain a criminal development model, while the immense majority of the earth’s people suffer the most terrible consequences,” he said. Scientists said the heavy rains were caused by the Pacific weather phenomenon La Niña.

Easter Island, Chile

Natives protest: Chilean riot police wielding buckshot and batons broke up a protest last week by the Rapa Nui, the indigenous people of Easter Island. For three months, the Rapa Nui had been occupying government buildings constructed on their ancestral land. They said they wanted to be granted title to the island, 2,000 miles off Chile’s coast, which was annexed by Chile in 1888. When the Rapa Nui refused to end their sit-in, police opened fire, wounding 24, two seriously. The Rapa Nui said they feared that Chile was planning to turn their entire island into a theme park for tourists. Some 50,000 people visit the island each year to view the massive stone statues built by the Rapa Nui’s ancestors.