SNIPPETS

• Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo has reinstated three senior civil servants, suspended for their involvement in the dumping of toxic wastes around the capital city of Abidjan, in September 2006.

• Borneo island in Indonesia is being plagued by mud flows, containing toxic substances like nitrogen oxide and methane. The incident occurred when villagers of Kolam Kana were drilling a well. Villagers have now built a metre-high wall of sand bags over an area of some 1,200 sq m to contain the toxic substances.

• The Center for Biological Diversity has filed a petition with the US government requesting that it add 12 species of penguins to the list of threatened and endangered species under the Federal Endangered Species Act.

• Rare Abyssinian lion cubs are being poisoned in a zoo in Ethiopia and sold to taxidermists. The zoo administrator says they do not have enough funds to care for the animals. Famous for their black manes, the lion adorns the national currency. Only 1,000 animals remain in the wild.