Word: droughts
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...worst drought in memory drains half a continent...
...entire eastern half of Australia is thirsting through a wasting drought that is in many regions the worst in the history of the world's most arid continent. Already, the "Great Dry" has devastated 90% of New South Wales, which is now in its 45th month of drought, and 95% of the state of South Australia, Dubbo, a typical rural town, averages 25.5 in. of annual rainfall. Last year it had 2.3 in. In many areas seeds cannot germinate; in others the regal Murrumbidgee River is nothing but a stagnant puddle. Dust storms have enveloped Melbourne and, five weeks...
...Prune Minister Bob Hawke, who inherited a multitude of economic woes upon taking office earlier this month, has so far offered no solutions except for a $435,000 short-term trial of cloud seeding. Yet the drought's consequences are seeping into every pore of his nation's welfare. Some areas are suffering 40% unemployment. One estimate predicts that the total loss to the nation may amount to $7.5 billion. Australia, which relies on agriculture for half its export earnings, may also find it difficult to regain the markets it is steadily losing. Lamented the national daily...
...since he took the helm of the Harvard hockey team in 1972. In his first five years as head coach, his squads made it to the semifinals four times and to the finals twice, in '74 and '75, losing to Boston University on both occasions. Then came the playoff drought when the Crimson did not even qualify for the ECAC tournament, let alone come close to winning the Ivy Division...
...however, Fraser was largely defeated by Australia's economic woes. Unemployment is at 10.1%, the highest since the early 1930s. Inflation is 11.2% annually, and economic growth is only 1%. The recession has been exacerbated by the worst drought in 40 years and by bush fires that swept through southeastern Australia three weeks ago, claiming 72 lives and destroying 2,500 homes. Further reports of sharply declining productivity in a wide variety of consumer goods reached the candidates as they campaigned. But where Fraser advocated prudent economic conservatism, Hawke called for an ambitious $2.65 billion public works program designed...