■CANADA
Salmon inquiry launched
The government launched a judicial inquiry on Friday into why millions of Pacific salmon failed to reach Canadian rivers some months ago, in a bid to salvage the stocks. Bruce Cohen, a justice on British Columbia’s Supreme Court, was appointed commissioner by International Trade Minister Stockwell Day for the inquiry into the decline of sockeye salmon in the Fraser River. The report due by May 1. Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans had projected that between 6 million and 10 million sockeye salmon would return to the Fraser River in a peak August run. Only a fraction showed up and where the others went remains a mystery. “It is very big news because I do not know of any government anywhere in the world that appointed a judicial inquiry to look at its government’s management of the fishery,” said Phil Eidsvik, spokesman for the British Columbia Fisheries Survival Coalition. The inquiry may help prevent the industry from going the way of Atlantic cod, whose stocks collapsed in the early 1990s following over-fishing, Eidsvik said
■UNITED NATIONS
Peacekeepers punished
Some 33 UN peacekeepers have been punished for sexual exploitation and abuse this year, up significantly from only two who were chastised last year, the UN said on Friday. The disgraced peacekeepers have been handed punishments by their national authorities including dismissal, imprisonment and reduction in rank, a statement issued by the UN said.
■UNITED STATES
‘Gordo’ found guilty
A Guatemalan man said by the US government to have been one of the world’s biggest cocaine dealers was found guilty on Friday of conspiracy to import and sell the narcotic, prosecutors in New York said. Jorge Mario Paredes-Cordova, “one of the world’s most significant drug kingpins, was found guilty of conspiracy to import and distribute cocaine,” the US Attorney’s office in Manhattan said. Paredes, said to weigh 150kg and nicknamed “Gordo” (Fat One), was extradited to the US after his capture in may last year in Honduras.
■UNITED STATES
Car stolen for court date
The California Highway Patrol say a man stole a car to make a court appearance on a previous auto theft charge. Patrol investigator Chris Linehan says he arrested Samuel Botchvaroff, 24, on Tuesday as he sat inside a stolen 2000 Range Rover at the Vallejo courthouse. He had just left his arraignment on auto theft charges stemming from an Oct. 31 arrest. Linehan said the Range Rover’s LoJack system helped him locate the vehicle, which had been stolen from Oakland on Tuesday morning. Authorities say Botchvaroff told officers his car had been impounded, and he had no other way to get to his arraignment.
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