The world at a glance . . . Americas

Americas

Ottawa

Canada cleared of ‘torture by proxy’: Canadian officials did not collude with Syria in the torture of three Arab-born Canadians, an official inquiry concluded this week. The inquiry found that three men were, in fact, tortured in Syria and that their mistreatment “resulted indirectly from several actions of Canadian officials.” But no Canadian agency purposely ordered the coercive interrogation of the men, former Supreme Court Justice Frank Iacobucci wrote in a 544-page report. The men had all been questioned by Canadian police as possible al Qaida members after 9/11, but they were not arrested until they flew to Syria separately over the next two years. They are now demanding a Canadian government apology for their treatment in Syria, where they were beaten with electrical cables.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Thousands flee floods: Thousands of Hondurans were stranded in flooded villages this week after several days of torrential rains. The rainy season this year has been unusually harsh, as tropical depressions have stalled over Central America. At least 10 people have died in the ensuing floods and mudslides, and some 100,000 have fled their inundated homes. The Honduran newspaper El Heraldo called the flooding a “disaster of biblical proportions.” Honduras’ neighbors were also battered. Bridges were washed out and villages cut off all across Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Nationalizing pensions: Argentina’s stock market plunged by a staggering 13 percent this week after news leaked of a government plan to nationalize the country’s private pension funds. The government of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said the takeover was intended to protect workers’ pensions. But financial analysts described the plan as a “power grab,” saying the government would simply use the $5 billion in annual pension contributions to cover budget shortfalls. Few major international investors are willing to give Argentina the benefit of the doubt, given the country’s history of insolvency. In 2001, Argentina announced the largest sovereign debt default in the world.

Explore More