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Minorities Global Village Daily News

Australia: Water is a Costly Commodity For Drought Stricken Farmers

By TANALEE SMITH
Associated Press Writer

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - For farmer Malcolm Holm, water now is just like a new shovel or tractor -- he has to buy it.

The amount of water he is allowed to take from nearby Murrumbidgee River has dwindled to nothing for the past three years because of Australia's crippling drought. And so, except for rain he can catch and store himself, he needs to buy water for his 1,000 acres at Finley in New South Wales state, where he grows crops to feed his 600 dairy cows.

"It's no different to buying a ton of grain or a ton of fertilizer," Holm said. "It's just another commodity."

In the world's driest inhabited continent, there is simply not enough water to go around, and households, cities, industries and agriculture all demand their share from stressed reservoirs and rivers. So Australia's irrigation planting sector relies on a unique trading system to make the most of every drop.

What began as a localized trade within states is now an active national market that shares water along hundreds of miles of river systems used by thousands of farmers. And with the drought, the trading of water is picking up pace.

"Trading activity is certainly strengthening over previous years," said Mark Siebentritt, operations manager of Waterfind, the nation's largest water broker. Water is traded mostly through independent brokers who bring sellers and buyers together and who know the myriad rules in the heavily regulated market. "During drought we're seeing a lot of water moving around."

Waterfind says more than 28 billion gallons of water are traded each year along the Murray-Darling river system. Waterfind turned over $893 million worth of water in 2006-07, up 20 percent over the previous year as prices rose and some license holders realized their allocation was worth more to them as cash.

In Australia, water is managed by state governments through entitlements awarded to urban and rural areas and industries. Sixty percent goes to agriculture.

An entitlement, or license, gives the owner an ongoing right to a share of water from a river system. The amount can fluctuate at any time depending on how much water is in the country's rivers and storage areas.

But years of drought have left rivers and storage basins at low levels and water evaporating away in the heat. Allocations the last few years have been low to nonexistent -- Holm and others in the Riverina got nothing this year or the two before.

In the water market, license holders buy or sell their allocations to others along the river system. Most of the trading is done in the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia's Mississippi-like river system that stretches for thousands of miles across four states, from the high Australian Alps in the east to its sandy delta in the south. Along the way, vast amounts of water -- more than half of all the water used in Australia, according to the government's National Water Commission -- are diverted or siphoned off to support everything from hydropower to oranges, wine grapes to cotton, wheat to sheep.

Other places have water trading markets -- Chile, South Africa, California -- but Australia's is the largest and the most heavily regulated.

The National Water Commission says the trade "allows scarce water resources to be transferred to their most productive uses," and makes up for years of overallocations by state officials who took no account of the downstream effects.

The system has existed for 20 years and in the past, the trade has helped planters struggle through one or two difficult seasons. But nearly a decade of drought has pushed many planters into a financial hole from low harvests and high costs of seed, fertilizer and, now, water.

As in any market, supply and demand drive the water price. A megaliter of water -- about 264,000 gallons or enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool -- costs about US$400. When shortages were at their worst last year, the price was nearly US$960 per megaliter.

Holm said his property needs about half a billion gallons a year. Last year, Holm bought 132 million gallons to keep the farm going. When prices hit a high last October, he calculated it was cheaper to buy feed to grow it and sold off some of his allocation at a profit.

"In essence, what the water trade does is make irrigators really focus on the economic value of their water and using it more efficiently," Holm said. "If you can't produce a good crop for the cost of the water, you're better off selling it to someone who can. If the figures add up, you buy it."

Holm is anxious. The price right now is too high for him and he is watching his pastures die while he waits for a turn in the market or a drop of rain.

The federal government says the Murray-Darling system is in crisis because of overuse and has launched a sweeping 10-year, $10.5 billion plan addresses rural and urban water shortages. It spends nearly $2.4 billion a year buying water entitlements to pump back into the rivers.

Earlier this month, the federal and New South Wales governments bought Toorale Station, a 225,000-acre water-sucking cotton farm in the state's dry north, for $19 million and announced it would be turned it into a national park. By doing so, Toorale's water annual entitlement of roughly 5.3 billion gallons -- or 1,000 Olympic pools -- would be returned to the Darling River.

Critics say even that is a drop in the ocean.

AP-ES-09-30-08 1219EDT

Somalia: Islamists Demolish Old Roman Catholic Church to Build Mosque

By SALAD DUHUL
Associated Press Writer

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - Islamists began demolishing an old Roman Catholic church in southern Somalia on Tuesday to replace it with a mosque, and vowed to do the same with all other non-Muslim places of worship they find in the area.

The act -- and the threat -- were the latest show of strength by the growing Islamic insurgency in and around the southern port of Kismayo. Somalia's third largest city has been in the control of al-Shabab, a powerful Islamist faction, since August.

Sheik Hassan Yakob Ali, a spokesman for al-Shabab, said the city's residents had knocked down a wall of the century-old Italian church, which has not been used for at least 18 years. No one was hurt in the demolition, Ali said.

He said the city administration will finish the demolition job over the next few days and replace the building with a mosque.

"We have demolished a Christian church," Ali told The Associated Press. "And we'll replace it with an Islamic mosque. We will demolish all similar Christian cathedrals and other places of worship for Christians, Buddhists and other religions."

Somalia is a mostly Sunni Muslim country, but it still contains a series of old Catholic churches that are a legacy of its colonial past under Italy. There are no known Buddhist temples in Somalia.

Tuesday's demolition was scheduled to coincide with the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. But it was not the only, or the most violent, attack against the Catholic church in Somalia.

In 2006, gunmen in Mogadishu shot and killed a 65-year-old Italian nun and her bodyguard. In 1989, the Bishop of Mogadishu, Pietro Salvatore Colombo, was killed at his cathedral in the Somali capital. After the bishop's assassination, the Vatican eliminated the post and now oversees Somalia through neighboring Djibouti.

Ethiopian troops supporting Somalia's shaky U.N.-backed transitional government pushed the Islamists from power in December 2006, sparking an Iraq-style insurgency.

Islamist fighters have carried out a series of hit-and-run attacks on towns across the country in the past few months, but Kismayo is the fist major city they have held.

Since 1991, Somalia has been without a functioning government. At the time, clan warlords ousted socialist dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, then began fighting each other.

AP-CS-09-30-08 1258EDT

Mexico: Wedding Bells For World's Heaviest Man This Month

MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) - The world's most obese man is getting hitched.

Manuel Uribe says he will wed longtime girlfriend Claudia Solis on Oct. 26 in Monterrey, Mexico. The two will be married in a civil ceremony at a location still to be decided.

Uribe is unable to walk, and leaving his house means being towed through the streets on his specially made bed.

This year the Guinness Book of World Records declared Uribe, who tipped the scales at 1,230 pounds (560 kilograms) in 2006, the world's heaviest man.

The 43-year-old has shed about 550 pounds (250 kilograms) since with the help of Solis. The two met four years ago.

Uribe said Wednesday he will have a bite of wedding cake for photos, but won't eat any more because his diet prohibits it.

AP-CS-10-01-08 1808EDT

Malaysia: Chinese Party Threatens to Quit Government Over Racial Discrimination

By JULIA ZAPPEI
Associated Press Writer

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - A predominantly ethnic Chinese party threatened Monday to desert Malaysia's ruling coalition if it does not curb racial discrimination, just weeks after another minority party quit amid growing dissent in the government.

Leaders of the Gerakan party estimate more than half their members want the party to leave Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's National Front coalition, largely due to frustrations regarding policies linked to racial issues, said party vice president Teng Hock Nan.

Abdullah has been struggling to keep the 13-party coalition together after it performed poorly in March general elections. The coalition retained power with less than its longtime two-thirds parliamentary majority and ceded five of Malaysia's 13 states to the opposition.

Gerakan has two lawmakers in parliament, and while the National Front would not lose its parliamentary majority if the party quit, the move would be a massive blow to morale -- and could prompt more parties to desert the coalition.

Officials in Gerakan, which lost control of the northern industrial Penang state, believe leaving the National Front is "one of the options" if the coalition is "not willing to initiate drastic changes," particularly to curb racial discrimination, Teng said.

Minority leaders accuse the Malay Muslim-dominated government of neglecting their communities in economic, social and religious policies. Discontent over issues such as an affirmative action program for Malays spurred minorities to vote for the opposition in March.

Earlier this month, the Sabah Progressive Party, a small, largely ethnic Chinese party, deserted the National Front to become independent because of disenchantment with Abdullah's leadership.

Gerakan Secretary General Chia Kwang Chye said party officials are likely to discuss the possibility of leaving the coalition at their annual congress on Oct. 11. Teng said the party has set no deadline for a decision, adding that it has no immediate plans to join opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's three-party alliance.

The National Front, dominated by Abdullah's United Malays National Organization, has ruled Malaysia since independence from Britain in 1957. It has been in turmoil for months amid persistent demands by many government members for Abdullah's resignation.

Coalition officials have also been jittery amid Anwar's claim that he has persuaded scores of government lawmakers to defect in a bid to topple Abdullah's administration. The ruling party has indicated Abdullah may step down by March and hand power to his deputy, Najib Razak.

AP-CS-09-29-08 0239EDT

Britain: Ancient Skulls Found Buried in Yard Returned to Native Egypt

By NANCY ZUCKERBROD
Associated Press Writer

LONDON (AP) - Two ancient Egyptian skulls unearthed in a yard in England have been returned to their native country. And the mystery of how they got from the hot sands of Egypt to the rainy north of England has been solved, investigators said Tuesday.

The first skull was discovered by homeowner Matthew McClelland as he did some gardening at his home in the northern city of Manchester a year ago. He called authorities, and they discovered a second skull.

An analysis by an Oxford University expert confirmed the skulls were a little more than 2,000 years old.

Investigators learned they had been buried in the yard by Carl Bracey, a doctor who sold the house to McClelland two years before the skulls were discovered.

Bracey said he bought the skulls as a teenager on a family trip to Egypt. But he buried them years later when his wife said she didn't want them around any longer.

The skulls were repatriated to Egypt a few weeks ago. Manchester police said Tuesday that no criminal charges are expected.

Experts believe tomb raiders initially unearthed the artifacts.

An Egyptian embassy official, who declined to be quoted by name because he is not authorized to do so, said Tuesday the skulls are going to undergo restoration work and may go on public display sometime in the future.

AP-CS-09-30-08 1054EDT

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