The world at a glance . . . Americas

Providenciales, Turks and Caicos

End of an era: Prime Minister Michael Misick, the flashy partyer whose Hollywood lifestyle made his British territory a celebrity playground, announced last week he would resign because of corruption investigations. Misick, who was first elected in 2003, doubled the territory’s gross domestic product during his tenure, largely by promoting the island chain as an elite tourist destination. He said his big spending and jet-setting ways were vital to the tourism strategy, allowing him to woo ritzy developers and their clients. But British investigators have charged that the money to keep up his mansions and jets and his estranged wife’s lavish wardrobe came from the illegal sale of public lands. He denies any wrongdoing but said the allegations have proved too big a distraction.

Tegucigalpa, Honduras

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Catholics block Mormon temple: The U.S.-based Church of Latter-day Saints agreed last week to change the site of its planned temple in the Honduran capital after Catholics said the building would dwarf a famous Catholic church. Work had already begun on the temple just blocks from the Basilica of the Virgin of Sayupa, which holds a relic said to be from the Virgin Mary. But several city officials, including the mayor, strongly opposed the construction. “Out of respect for the laws and to avoid any perceived stand against the Catholic Church, LDS Church officials made the decision to relocate the temple,” the church said. Honduras is home to some 120,000 Mormons.

Caracas, Venezuela

President for life? Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez decisively won a referendum this week that allows him to be re-elected indefinitely. Just over 54 percent of voters approved the abolition of presidential term limits. Chávez, who has been in power since 1999, said he would run again when his current term ends, in 2013. “Those who voted yes today voted for socialism, for revolution,” he told cheering supporters, vowing to continue his programs to distribute wealth to the poor. Chávez’s critics raised concerns that he was amassing too much power. Several newspapers prominently displayed a quote from Venezuela’s founding father, Simón Bolívar, with their articles on the referendum: “Nothing is as dangerous as allowing the same citizen to remain in power for a long time.”

Quito, Ecuador

Tough on oil companies: Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa this week froze the assets of two foreign oil companies, charging that they hadn’t paid their taxes. Correa said he had “ordered that coercive measures be taken” against Spain’s Repsol-YPF and France’s Perenco because the two had failed to hand over their “windfall profits,” the earnings that result when oil prices rise higher than specified in the contract with Ecuador. Correa decreed in 2007 that 99 percent of such profits should go to Ecuador. He shrugged off suggestions that international courts would support the companies, saying Ecuador would “ignore extra-regional bodies that want to tell us what and what not to do.”