Free Republic

Magdeburg waterworks keeps crocodile mascot Nearly 40 years ago, the African nation of Mali gave former East Germany a baby crocodile as a gift. Now, Theophila is over three metres long and lives in Magdeburg's water treatment plant where she has become a local legend. Theophila, a nile crocodile, arrived in the communist country as a thank you from the Malian town of Kayes for building its waterworks some four decades ago. Just 22 centimetres long, the boss of the Colbitz water plant at the time, Gunter Hellmann, never imagined she would still be paddling around today. “The African mentality...

When it rains in this border town, toxic goo from Mexican slums and factories flows down the Tijuana River onto U.S. soil. It winds through tidal marshes and ends up in the Pacific Ocean, closing the beach to swimmers and diehard surfers 198 days last year. The U.S. government found a novel fix: pay a private developer an estimated $700 million to build and manage a treatment plant in Tijuana, Mexico. If the plant sells recycled water to thirsty Mexican factories, U.S. taxpayers will get some of their money back. Ground has not yet broken and the 7-year-old agreement between...