Word: rice
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Snaking its way from the icy reaches of Tibet to tropical rice paddies near the South China Sea, the Mekong serves as the lifeblood for 70 million people in six different countries. The river's wetlands alone cover an area the size of Ireland, while its fish diversity is rivaled only by the Amazon. But even as many of the world's other majestic rivers - the Nile, the Yangtze, the Mississippi - were efficiently exploited for trade or hydropower, the 3,000-mile (4,800-km) Mekong has until recently largely escaped the imprint of the modern world. During the colonial...
...people in five countries. Environmental groups estimate that 35% of the silt that's needed to fertilize floodplains down south may be obstructed by the dam - distressing news for a region that depends on the Mekong for 80% of its protein needs and, in the lower river basin, rice production...
...shortages, and compared with coal-fired and oil-burning plants, hydropower is a relatively clean and inexpensive solution. But dams also have severe, long-term environmental consequences. Vietnam's Mekong Delta, where the river finally meets the sea, is a vast web of waterways that serves as a giant rice bowl, providing the nation with half of its total agricultural output. Yet in part because of the increasing number of dams reducing the flow of the river, salt water from the South China Sea has begun traveling up the Mekong. The influx of brackish water over the past few years...
...Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reportedly talked Musharraf out of declaring martial law two weeks ago. But government insiders say it remains a possibility, despite the fact that such a move would alienate Musharraf from his U.S. backers and unite his moderate and extremist opponents against him. One factor he might have to consider if he does take such a drastic step: the views of his fellow servicemen, many of whom seem to be coming to the conclusion that, for their own sake, an elected civilian government is preferable to the current regime...
...Rice didn't mention Musharraf's sharing power with Bhutto in her phone conversations with him. But Bhutto has been working hard behind the scenes to shore up her support in Washington; officials say it was the former Prime Minister who first reached out to the U.S. with a power-sharing proposal. She visited New York City in mid-August, meeting with Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., and talking up a possible team. The task of calibrating U.S. policy on the potential union--to satisfy diverse interests in the Administration and avoid getting crosswise with Musharraf...