Update on Australia:
Australian bushfires killed at least 14 people in the southern state of Victoria on Saturday as a heatwave sparked more than 40 blazes across the state and neighboring New South Wales, police said.
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 It seems the issue of drought is spreading.
Millions of people and cattle in north China face shortages of drinking water because of a severe drought, the government said on Saturday, promising to speed up disbursement of billions of dollars of subsidies to farmers.
State television quoted disaster relief officials as saying 4.4 million people and 2.1 million cattle lacked adequate drinking water. Official media have described the drought as north China's worst in half a century.
However, meteorological officials said there were signs that better rainfall in coming weeks would ease the crisis. Rainfall is forecast for the next 10 days, the official Xinhua news agency quoted the China Meteorological Administration as saying.
Xiao Ziniu, director of China's National Climate Center, was quoted as saying most of north China's wheat belt was expected to receive slightly less than or nearly normal rainfall in March.
Photo and Source: ReutersLabels: australia, china, drought, fire |
