Ottawa
Computers pile up: Canada’s tax agency is stockpiling hundreds of old computers containing sensitive taxpayer data that officials are unable to delete. Police warned federal agencies two years ago that their disk-erasing software was unreliable, but the tax agency failed to buy new software. Since then, tax offices around the country have been storing the old hard drives in locked facilities. Some have resorted to smashing the computers to destroy the data, but police say that technique has mixed results. To properly destroy a drive, they said, it should be run through commercial equipment that slices it into bits no bigger than the width of a pencil.
San José, Costa Rica
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Multiple multiple births: As Costa Rica has become a leading destination for couples seeking in vitro fertilization, the nation has experienced a surge in multiple births, local paper La Nación reported this week. The average rate of quadruplets is less than two sets per million births, while in Costa Rica it is more than 26 per million. Quintuplets normally occur at a rate of one in 40 million births, but Costa Rica saw three sets born in fewer than half a million births. The newspaper said fertility clinics in Costa Rica have proliferated—and they are not always run with adequate oversight. “A multiple birth is more of a failure of the reproductive technique than a success,” said fertility specialist Dr. Gerardo Escalante, “because it puts the lives of everyone at risk.”
Quito, Ecuador
Leftist victory: Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa was re-elected this week in a landslide, and his left-wing party took most regional posts and the biggest chunk of the national legislature. “We’ve taken a historic step in consolidating our social revolution,” Correa said. Since taking office in 2007, the U.S.-trained economist has been extremely popular, partly because of his program to redistribute wealth to the poor through monthly cash payments. He also has been trying to renegotiate the repayment terms on Ecuador’s foreign debt, and he rewrote the terms of oil contracts. The election this week was mandated by a new constitution, passed last fall, which gave the president increased power. He will serve a four-year term and is eligible for another term in 2013.
Caracas, Venezuela
Fury at Peru: Venezuela has recalled its ambassador to Peru to protest Lima’s decision to grant political asylum to a prominent opponent of President Hugo Chávez. Manuel Rosales, a former state governor who ran against Chávez in 2006, says he is a victim of political persecution. The government has accused Rosales of failing to report income, a charge he says was trumped up. Venezuela’s Foreign Ministry issued a sharp statement saying Peru should have arrested and extradited Rosales. It called Peru’s decision to grant him asylum “an insult to the people of Venezuela.”
