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WALL TO SEPARATE SLUM FROM CITY The Rio de Janeiro city government is building a concrete wall to prevent the expansion of the Santa Marta slum, the city's largest and most populous slum, from spreading farther into its picturesque hills. The Brazilian city is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. The government plans to stretch the wall to 11 kilometres.

A Swaziland court asked the government to provide free education to
primary school children. Though free education is a constitutional obligation, the government said it is not feasible due to financial constraint. The
case was filed by ex-mine workers' union.

A meningitis outbreak that began in early 2009 in sub-Saharan Africa
killed 1,500 people and affected 25,000 by March, said who. Nigeria and Niger are the
hardest hit.

Wildlife has become vulnerable in the chaos following the mid-March coup
in Madagascar, 13 conservation groups said. There is a surge in raids on national parks for smuggling rare wildlife and valuable
rosewood timber.

At least 20 miners were killed in northwest Tanzania after a
gold mine collapsed following heavy downpour. Tanzania is Africa's third largest gold producer.

Chinese authorities resorted to contraceptive pills to rein in the exploding
population of gerbils, a desert rodent, which is threatening the ecosystem of Gurbantunggut desert in Xinjiang region.

Kazakh ecologists have cautioned against using water from the country's
third largest river, Syr Darya, for irrigation because it is loaded with pesticides and heavy metals. Rice irrigated with such water can
cause congenital anomalies and cancer.

Following a downpour, a dam burst in the Indonesian capital
Jakarta early on March 27, killing 98 people and flooding two suburbs. Residents blamed poor maintenance for the collapse of the
75-year-old dam.

Militant group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan asked all non-profits to leave
Swat Valley and banned polio vaccination in the region saying it causes infertility. Four polio cases were recorded in Swat in
2008.

Italy and Switzerland decided to redraw their 148-year-old border after
global warming dissolved the Alpine glaciers near Matterhorn mountain over which the national frontier passes. Scientists say the glacial
melting has accelerated in the past five years.

A quake struck Italy's L'Aquila on April 6 leaving millions homeless. More
than 150 deaths were reported the first day. The 6.3-magnitude quake was the deadliest in three decades.

HEAT EXCHANGE

French nuclear giant Areva signed a deal to develop the Imouraren uranium
reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

To protect Lake Titicaca --world's highest navigable lake at 3,810 metres above
sea level-- Bolivia plans to install sewage treatment plants in the lake basin.

Economic meltdown has forced Venezuela to cut investment in the
oil sector by 40 per cent. The cut will not affect its policy to dedicate 10 per cent of the oil revenue to social development, said
the government.

The Peruvian government has asked companies operating in the country
to modify internal regulations to make sure workers with hiv or aids are
not discriminated against by their colleagues.

Brazil's state oil company Petrobras signed a deal with Peruvian oil
company Ecopetrol to explore oil and natural gas in two regions of the Peruvian Amazon --both inhabited by uncontacted
indigenous people.

Ecuador's indigenous people have filed a lawsuit before the constitutional
court to declare the new mining law unconstitutional. They said the government did not consult the communities whose territories will
be affected by mining before approving it.

In a letter to the White House, the US Environm-ental Protection Agency has
declared CO₂ a danger to public welfare and proposed to regulate the gas as a pollutant under the Clean Air
Act.

Fifty new species, including a jumping spider and a chirping frog, were
discovered during a 2008 expedition in Papua New Guinea, said Conservation International, a non-profit.

Scientists tracked an asteroid as it fell on Earth and for the first time recovered its
debris. Found in Sudan's Nubian desert, the debris offers a chance to study the asteroid's route and composition.

Images by nasa's Mars Odyssey spacecraft
show mounds, possibly mud volcanoes, on northern plains of the planet. Scientists say this could provide clues into the possibility of life
on it.