Australia dries out
Updated on 30 November 2007
Australia is in the grip of its worst drought on record, the victim of changing weather patterns that some have attributed to global warming.
The two rivers that feed the Murray-Darling basin in the south-east of the country are so low there will soon be only enough water for drinking supplies in a region that supplies nearly half of Australia's agricultural produce.
The issue of climate change is important in Australia, where the new Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, made it a central issue of his election campaign and will this week sign the Kyoto Protocol.
