The world at a glance . . . Americas

Malartic, Quebec

Sitting on a gold mine: A small town in Canada is planning to relocate a mile away so a mining company can get at the gold deposits under the streets and houses. Some buildings in Malartic will be trucked to the new location, while others will be rebuilt. Osisko Mining Corp. estimates that more than 6 million ounces of gold lie underneath the town—one of Canada’s largest deposits. Townspeople support the relocation because it will create hundreds of jobs and Osisko has promised to build a state-of-the-art school and community center as well as a golf course. About half the town’s 3,800 residents are retired, unemployed, or on welfare.

Morelia, Mexico

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Drug war intensifies: Five police and soldiers were killed this week after authorities arrested a suspected Mexican drug lord and his forces struck back. Arnoldo Rueda Medina is suspected of being a top boss in the cartel known as la Familia. After months of intelligence work, police arrested him—prompting a bloody reprisal. First, gunmen armed with grenades and large-caliber weapons attacked the police station where Rueda was taken, but police fought them off. In the following days, gunmen attacked other police stations and a military base, killing five and injuring more than a dozen. Authorities said Rueda would be held in “preventive detention” while they gathered evidence to charge him with drug trafficking and murder.

Bogotá, Colombia

Drug lord’s hippos a nuisance: Animal activists are calling on international zoos to adopt the hippopotamuses that late Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar kept on his extensive property. The Colombian government appropriated Escobar’s 7,400-acre estate after the cocaine baron was killed in 1993, and it is now a tourist destination that includes Escobar’s zoo, mansion, and even a replica of the first plane he used to export cocaine. Some of the 22 hippos recently escaped and destroyed neighboring farmers’ crops, and the government now concedes that the hippos must go. Colombian zoos won’t adopt them, though, because hippos are expensive to feed. If no homes can be found, the hippos will be put down.

Porto de Galinhas, Brazil

Boxer’s wife charged in murder: The wife of former boxing champion Arturo Gatti has been charged with his murder. Gatti, 37, was found dead last week in an apartment the couple had rented at a beach resort in Brazil. Police said they believe the Italian-born Gatti’s Brazilian wife, Amanda Rodrigues, 23, strangled the boxer with her purse strap while he was passed out drunk. The couple had been fighting in public the night before the body was discovered. Rodrigues claims she awoke to find her husband dead and assumed he had committed suicide. A fierce warrior in the ring, Gatti won championships as both a light welterweight and super-featherweight. (See Obituary)