How Drought on Mississippi River Impacts You

Woe is the Mississippi. A barge carrying light crude hit a bridge near Vicksburg, Mississippi, on Sunday, causing an oil spill.

But if you think that is the worst thing that's happened this winter to the river, you'd be wrong.

The middle Mississippi—the 200-mile (322-kilometer) stretch from St. Louis to Cairo, Illinois—is experiencing drought conditions unrivaled in the last 50 years. That's been the case  since November.

From December to March, this part of the river is always at its lowest because extra feed from the Missouri is cut off when that river's navigation season ends. The Mississippi typically loses about three feet at St. Louis as a result.

But this winter the river has lost more depth, since spring ice melt and rains weren't forthcoming and reservoirs that help feed the river didn't get filled.

The result is that transport along the Mississippi is down dramatically. In December, total barge cargo was down more than 1,100 kilotons from December 2011. (Video: Drought 101)

Barges have had to lighten their loads considerably to avoid bottoming out. Right now barges on the middle Mississippi can only afford to sink 9 feet (2.7 meters) into the water, some only 8 feet (2.4 meters). They usually run 12 feet (3.7 meters) deep, more laden with goods to get them to market faster and cheaper.

If that doesn't sound like a lot, consider that barges lose about a hundred tons of capacity for each 6 inches (15 centimeters) less deep they can sink in the water.

According to the American Waterways Operators (AWO), in December and January alone more than $7 billion worth of goods was at risk of not reaching their destination.

"It's not like someone is going to put up a sign and say the Mississippi River is closed, but there's not very many vessels that can move in those conditions," says AWO spokesperson Ann McCulloch.  (Read "Road Trip on the Northern Mississippi.)

One of the effects is that farmers on the middle Mississippi, the drought-strapped area, are paying a dollar more to ship each bushel of crops than are farmers on the lower Mississippi, who can fully load barges before sending them down the river, says Joe Kellett, deputy district engineer at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' St. Louis District.

For middle Miss farmers, it's more trips—so higher fuel costs—with less cargo.

Spreading the Costs of Drought

If you don't live along the waterway, likely you don't think often of the Mississippi beyond its Huckleberry Finn-fueled place in American mythology.

But you should be thinking of Big Muddy in more concrete terms. If you live in the United States and many other parts of the world, the Mississippi carries an awful lot of stuff you use every day—corn, cement, coal, and crude oil, among other things.

And the Mississippi is more central on the world stage than those who don't live beside it realize.

"Harvest to market also means Centralia, Illinois, to Tokyo," says Mike Peterson, a spokesman with the Army Corps of Engineers, which constructs and maintains the riverbed of the Mississippi, kind of like a watery Department of Transportation. He notes that Japan gets 90 percent of its livestock feed off the river.

When one of the river lock's gates broke during the 1997 harvest season, Jack Yui of Japan's Zen-Noh grain corporation sent a fax to the corps' lockmaster: "I need to know when lock and dam 27 will be repaired to know if the government will need to release the grain reserves of Japan," it read. Yui wanted a daily report.

He likely wasn't the only one. Sixty percent of farm exports for the entire U.S.—largely corn and soybeans—move along the Mississippi.

"We are blessed to have our great breadbasket and river system line up," says Dave Busse, the chief of engineering and construction for the corps' St. Louis District.  "In Brazil, they grow soybeans but spend a lot to get it to the water. The Nile [and] Congo don't have much grain around them."

And choked-off agricultural exports can affect Americans  too. If Kobe cattle can't get their feed, for instance, fancy burger prices would soar in the U.S.

There are plenty of other domestic implications. If road salt, shipped only in the winter months, can't shimmy northward, northern towns are hard-pressed to deal with icy streets. Fertilizer can't make it to farms for spring planting.

As the oil spill suggests, the Mississippi is carting petroleum and crude, too. Barges and tankers carried almost 48,000 barrels from the Midwest to the Gulf Coast in 2011, nearly double the amount in 2007.

It's important for other energy sources as well. If the river doesn't run at full capacity, coal from West Virginia is slow to get to St. Louis, where it fuels the power plant that fires the Anheuser-Busch factory there, one of only a handful of places in the U.S. where Budweiser gets made.

There are dozens of other power plants that pepper the river's shores that also rely on it to get coal.

How to Run a River

The Army Corps of Engineers is tasked by Congress to maintain the Mississippi as a channel that's 9 feet (2.7 meters) deep and 300 feet (91 meters) wide.

It's often a bit wider in the bends: Tugs have to tow through bends sideways, a process called planking, then let the flow turn the barges straight.

Tugs pulling rafts of 15 barges at a time—three wide and five deep—can fit through the middle Mississippi simultaneously and often do.

During winter the river is typically helped by a system of reservoirs, which allows the corps to keep the Mississippi running at its prescribed height and depth.

Water control managers make decisions on whether and how much to tap reservoirs every two hours, all day, every day.

They have to be vigilant. Water levels in the last year have dropped more than 30 feet (9 meters) from 2011's flood to current conditions.

The drought is challenging reservoirs already stretched to their limit; they didn't get enough rain to fill them enough to start with. "There's an entire ballet going on to squeeze every last drop out of the system to make sure the river stays open without impacting the other purposes of those reservoirs," says Kellett.

During a drought, the corps' annual dredging is even more important. The typical dredging season in St. Louis runs from July to December, when flow is at its lightest, to keep sediments deposited by the flow from building up.

"It's repetitive," says Busse. "The next time the water comes up, all that work disappears."

This year's dredging is more intense. "We're gathering close to twice as much as a regular year, and we're going out earlier and staying out later," says Petersen.

As a more drastic measure, the corps is in the process of lowering the river bottom at Thebes, Illinois, removing limestone and shale pinnacles that range in size from that of a bowling ball to that of a small car and that can make navigation impossible if the water goes any lower.

In the meantime, engineers have been releasing just enough extra water from reservoirs to keep navigation moving. "It was a fight of inches," says Busse.

There is 12 days-worth left of supplemental water. Busse says pinnacle removal should be completed before that water runs out. For now at least, engineering seems to be outpacing natural disaster.

Kellett notes that current low water levels are not unprecedented in the modern era. The year 1963 saw a similar low.

"The river is cyclical—in the '40s, the '60s, the '80s, the early 2000s—every other decade or so we have hit these levels of lows," he says. "What I don't know is the role that climate change is playing here."

The long-term National Weather Service forecast is for temperatures above normal, which dry out soil and evaporate more water.

"What we know is that droughts rarely occur for only one year," says Busse.

What Might the Oil Spill Do?

The lower Mississippi—the stretch from Cairo, Illinois, south to the Gulf of Mexico—had been running at normal capacity because it's fed by the Ohio River, a healthy-size tributary.

But that's the part affected by Sunday's spill.

The barge was carrying 80,000 gallons (303,000 liters) of light crude. About 7,000 gallons (26,000 liters) of oil wasn't in the tank where it should be; it's undetermined how much seeped into Big Muddy.

The Coast Guard, the river's traffic cop, closed the waterway for the cleanup.

Compared to drought effects, the spill is a shorter-term problem. The last oil spill on the Mississippi, 10,000 gallons (38,000 liters) last February, was resolved in less than a day. In 2008, 283,000 gallons (1 million liters) shut off the waterway for just six days.

This week, 5,300 feet (1615 meters) of booms helped block flow downstream toward the Gulf, and workers have skimmed 7,650 gallons (29,000 liters) of oil-and-water mixture so far.

But the cleanup has slowed traffic on the Mississippi even more.

"It will stay closed until we can safely move traffic without impeding the cleanup efforts," said chief petty officer Bobby Nash of the U.S. Coast Guard on Tuesday. The 16-mile affected stretch opened with restrictions at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday.

As of Thursday afternoon, 52 tugs bearing 844 barges—377 headed north and 467 south—were sitting and waiting.

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Arias' Ex-Boyfriend Kept Affair Secret

Accused murderer Jodi Arias was kept away from the Mormon friends of her lover Travis Alexander and their torrid sex affair was kept secret by Alexander who was an elder in the Mormon church and was supposed to be a virgin, according to court testimony today.

The testimony in Arias' trial for killing Alexander in 2008 was intended to bolster the defense's argument that she killed him in self defense, that Alexander was a sexual deviant who treated Arias as his "dirty little secret."

Today's witness was the latest in a string called by the defense, including Alexander's former girlfriend Lisa Daidone, who told the court that Alexander had professed to be a virgin.

Daniel Freeman continued his testimony today, describing how he was a friend of both Arias and Alexander but that Alexander kept Arias distanced from his Mormon pals.

"Travis had made more friends at (the Mormon) ward, and had (Ultimate Fighting Championship) fight nights at his house many times, and Jodi was in town, but she wasn't there," Freeman said.

"There was that group of friends, them and Jodi, two different groups, and so Lisa [Daidone] and friends from church were there, but Jodi wasn't there," Freeman said.

Alexander's behavior, the defense hopes to prove, shows that he mistreated Arias.

Jodi Arias Murder Trial: Former Boyfriend Takes Stand Watch Video

Jodi Arias Murder Trial: Defense's First Day of Witnesses Watch Video

Arias, 32, is on trial for murdering Alexander, whom she dated for a year and continued to have a sexual relationship for a year after that. Her attorneys claim that Alexander was abusive and controlling toward Arias, and that she was forced to kill him.

Freeman described how he took a trip with his sister, Alexander, and Arias, and how Alexander had asked him to come along so that he and Arias "would not get physical."

"I don't know that I can say he didn't want to be alone with her, but he liked that when I was there, and my sister was there. They weren't as physical," Freeman said.

Freeman admitted that he had no idea Alexander and Arias had been having a sexual relationship the entire time they were together. He said Alexander never mentioned that to his friends.

In fact, Freeman noted that Alexander was considered to be a church elder when he baptized Arias into the Church of Latter-Day Saints. Both a church elder and a convert were expected to abide by the church's strict law of chastity, which banned any sexual relations outside of marriage.

"One thing people give up in this baptism process was sex," prosecutor Juan Martinez said. "Did you know she was having oral sex with Mr. Alexander at the time of her baptism? Would that be an insincere baptism?"

"She would not be ready to be baptized in that case," Freeman said.

"You were asked about Miss Arias, whether she was worthy of baptism if she was performing oral sex, but what about the elder receiving oral sex?" defense attorney Kirk Nurmi said.

"They would not be worthy of performing that ordinance at that time until they had gone through repentance," Freeman said. "They would go to a discipline council and could face excommunication or a probation period or have their priesthood removed."

Freeman said that Alexander never confessed to having a sexual relationship with Arias.

Freeman's testimony came on the third day of the defense's attempt to paint Alexander as a controlling, sex-obsessed liar who was cruel to Arias. Other witnesses have said that Alexander cheated on other women he dated with Arias, and lied to his friends and family about their relationship.

The defense also had Freeman point out that Alexander was strong and fit. They are expected to conclude that Alexander was physically threatening Arias when she killed him.

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Brazil night club owner attempts suicide

SANTA MARIA: An owner of the Brazilian night club where 235 people perished in a weekend fire tried to commit suicide, police said Wednesday, as the number of survivors seeking medical treatment after the disaster continued to rise.

Elissandro Sphor tried to kill himself with a plastic shower hose, said senior police official Lilian Carus in the town of Cruz Alta 125 kilometres from Santa Maria, where the club owner is hospitalised.

"It was clear he wanted to hang himself," Carus told AFP, adding that a police officer arrived at the scene -- a hospital where Sphor is being treated for gas poisoning -- before anything happened.

Police took Sphor and three others into custody as they pieced together what caused the inferno at the Kiss nightclub, which was packed with partying students when the blaze broke out early Sunday.

About 75 injured victims of the fire are clinging to life, some in critical condition, in the college town of Santa Maria.

Meanwhile, health officials there said about 20 people have been hospitalised since the fire with symptoms of "chemical pneumonitis" after breathing in smoke and toxic gases emitted during the inferno.

The symptoms may take five days to appear and can be severe, health official Neio Pereira said.

Most of the victims died of smoke inhalation as they desperately tried to escape.

Those treated for the respiratory ailments Wednesday were in addition to 123 people hospitalised after the fire, which authorities say was sparked by a cheap flare lit by musicians as part of an illegal pyrotechnics display.

Authorities catalogued a long list of other infractions at club, including a lack of emergency lighting, non-functioning fire extinguishers and suspected overcrowding.

It also was operating with an expired licence and had only one functioning exit, which survivors said was unmarked and blocked by steel barriers, making it difficult to flee the establishment.

Sphor's doctor told the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper that since the tragedy, his client -- who is one of two owners of the night club -- cries incessantly, has had to be put on a prescription of tranquilisers, and is emotionally "destroyed."

Meanwhile, dozens of people late Tuesday took to the streets of Santa Maria demanding justice and stricter laws.

"We will work tirelessly until all those responsible are identified," police commissioner Marcelo Arigony promised the demonstrators -- even as many blamed the government itself for failing to carry out the inspections that might have saved lives.

Some survivors said that security guards initially blocked the exit to prevent customers from leaving the club without paying their bar tabs.

Fire chief Sergio Roberto de Abreu said his department had been in the process of reviewing the club's fire extinguisher documentation, but that approval had not yet been given at the time of the fire.

Lawyers for the club, however, have insisted that the establishment was in full compliance.

- AFP/jc

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Anna launches 'Jantantra Morcha', aims to change system

PATNA: Anna Hazare on Wednesday launched a new outfit " Jantantra Morcha" at a rally in Patna.

"Now a change in the system is our aim. The change can be brought about by passing the Jan lokpal Bill and decentralizing power to gram sabhas and ward sabhas," he told a public meeting.

The social activist said the new outfit would not join electoral politics and the occasion marked the beginning of the "second freedom struggle". He said now he plans to tour the entire country to awaken people. "I wish to awaken only six crore of the country's 120 crore people. If six crore people are with me, government "ki naak dabaunga, munh khulegi" (government will be forced to talk)," he said. He said the government would be forced to give Jan lokpal to the country.

In his 45-minute speech, Anna did not refer to Arvind Kejriwal at all. Alleging the Congress-led government did not intend to bring the Jan lokpal because 15 of its ministers would be behind bars and that 163 of the MPs were tainted, he said after the demand of Jan lokpal was fulfilled they would force Parliament to empower people with the "right to reject" and "right to recall" their candidates if they were unworthy.

"None of the rejected candidates should be allowed to contest election," he said and added that parties would be forced to give tickets to clean candidates.

Hazare said he chose Bihar as the venue for his first 'Jantantra Rally' because the "pious land" was the "tapobhoomi" of JP and Mahatma Gandhi. "We have to realize the dreams of JP that have remained unfulfilled," said Anna in a bid to strike a chord with the crowd responding with an applause every time he used adjectives like "goonda", "lootera" and "ghotalebaaz" for the people in power.

Former army chief Gen VK Singh and former IPS officer Kiran Bedi were present at the rally as well.

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Water Demand for Energy to Double by 2035

Marianne Lavelle and Thomas K. Grose

The amount of fresh water consumed for world energy production is on track to double within the next 25 years, the International Energy Agency (IEA) projects.

And even though fracking—high-pressure hydraulic fracturing of underground rock formations for natural gas and oil—might grab headlines, IEA sees its future impact as relatively small.

By far the largest strain on future water resources from the energy system, according to IEA's forecast, would be due to two lesser noted, but profound trends in the energy world: soaring coal-fired electricity, and the ramping up of biofuel production.

National Geographic

If today's policies remain in place, the IEA calculates that water consumed for energy production would increase from 66 billion cubic meters (bcm) today to 135 bcm annually by 2035.

That's an amount equal to the residential water use of every person in the United States over three years, or 90 days' discharge of the Mississippi River. It would be four times the volume of the largest U.S. reservoir, Hoover Dam's Lake Mead.

More than half of that drain would be from coal-fired power plants and 30 percent attributable to biofuel production, in IEA's view. The agency estimates oil and natural gas production together would account for 10 percent of global energy-related water demand in 2035. (See related quiz: "What You Don't Know About Biofuel.")

Not everyone agrees with the IEA's projections. The biofuel industry argues that the Paris-based agency is both overestimating current water use in the ethanol industry, and ignoring the improvements that it is making to reduce water use. But government agencies and academic researchers in recent years also have compiled data that point to increasingly water-intensive energy production. Such a trend is alarming, given the United Nations' projection that by 2025, 1.8 billion people will be living in regions with severe water scarcity, and that two-thirds of the world's population could be living under water-stressed conditions.

"Energy and water are tightly entwined," says Sandra Postel, director of the Global Water Policy Project, and National Geographic's Freshwater Fellow. "It takes a great deal of energy to supply water, and a great deal of water to supply energy. With water stress spreading and intensifying around the globe, it's critical that policymakers not promote water-intensive energy options."

Power Drunk

The IEA, established after the oil shocks of the 1970s as a policy adviser on energy security, included a warning on water in a special report within its latest World Energy Outlook released late last year. "A more water-constrained future, as population and the global economy grow and climate change looms, will impact energy sector reliability and costs," the agency said.

National Geographic News obtained from IEA a detailed breakdown of the figures, focusing on the agency's "current policies" scenario—the direction in which the world is heading based on current laws, regulations, and technology trends.

In the energy realm, IEA sees coal-powered electricity driving the greatest demand for water now and in the future. Coal power is increasing in every region of the world except the United States, and may surpass oil as the world's main source of energy by 2017. (See related interactive map: The Global Electricity Mix.)

Steam-driven coal plants always have required large amounts of water, but the industry move to more advanced technologies actually results in greater water consumption, IEA notes. These advanced plants have some environmental advantages: They discharge much less heated water into rivers and other bodies of water, so aquatic ecosystems are protected. But they lose much more water to evaporation in the cooling process.

The same water consumption issues are at play in nuclear plants, which similarly generate steam to drive electric turbines. But there are far fewer nuclear power plants; nuclear energy generates just 13 percent of global electricity demand today, and if current trends hold, its share will fall to about 10 percent by 2035. Coal, on the other hand, is the "backbone fuel for electricity generation," IEA says, fueling 41 percent of power in a world where electricity demand is on track to grow 90 percent by 2035. Nuclear plants account for just 5 percent of world water consumption for energy today, a share that is on track to fall to 3 percent, IEA forecasts. (See related quiz: "What You Don't Know About Water and Energy.")

If today's trends hold steady on the number of coal plants coming on line and the cooling technologies being employed, water consumption for coal electricity would jump 84 percent, from 38 to 70 billion cubic meters annually by 2035, IEA says. Coal plants then would be responsible for more than half of all water consumed in energy production.

Coal power producers could cut water consumption through use of "dry cooling" systems, which have minimal water requirements, according to IEA. But the agency notes that such plants cost three or four times more than wet cooling plants. Also, dry cooling plants generate electricity less efficiently.

The surest way to reduce the water required for electricity generation, IEA's figures indicate, would be to move to alternative fuels. Renewable energy provides the greatest opportunity: Wind and solar photovoltaic power have such minimal water needs they account for less than one percent of water consumption for energy now and in the future, by IEA's calculations. Natural gas power plants also use less water than coal plants. While providing 23 percent of today's electricity, gas plants account for just 2 percent of today's energy water consumption, shares that essentially would hold steady through 2035 under current policies.

The IEA report includes a sobering analysis of the water impact of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology. If the world turns to CCS as a way to cut greenhouse gas emissions from coal plants, IEA's analysis echoes that of outside researchers who have warned that water consumption will be just as great or worse than in the coal plants of today. "A low-carbon solution is not necessarily a low-water solution," says Kristen Averyt, associate director for science at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado. However, based on current government policies, IEA forecasts that CCS would account for only 1.3 percent of the world's coal-fired generation in 2035. (See related story: "Amid Economic Concerns, Carbon Capture Faces a Hazy Future.")

Biofuel Thirst

After coal power, biofuels are on track to cause the largest share of water stress in the energy systems of the future, in IEA's view. The agency anticipates a 242 percent increase in water consumption for biofuel production by 2035, from 12 billion cubic meters to 41 bcm annually.

The potential drain on water resources is especially striking when considered in the context of how much energy IEA expects biofuels will deliver—an amount that is relatively modest, in part because ethanol generally produces less energy per gallon than petroleum-based fuels. Biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel now account for more than half the water consumed in "primary energy production" (production of fuels, rather than production of electricity), while providing less than 3 percent of the energy that fuels cars, trucks, ships, and aircraft. IEA projects that under current government policies, biofuels' contribution will edge up to just 5 percent of the world's (greatly increased) transportation demand by 2035, but fuel processed from plant material will by then be drinking 72 percent of the water in primary energy production.

"Irrigation consumes a lot of water," says Averyt. Evaporation is the culprit, and there is great concern over losses in this area, even though the water in theory returns to Earth as precipitation. "Just because evaporation happens here, does not mean it will rain here," says Averyt. Because irrigation is needed most in arid areas, the watering of crops exacerbates the uneven spread of global water supply.

Experts worry that water demand for fuel will sap water needed for food crops as world population is increasing. "Biofuels, in particular, will siphon water away from food production," says Postel. "How will we then feed 9 billion people?" (See related quiz: "What You Don't Know About Food, Water, and Energy.")

But irrigation rates vary widely by region, and even in the same region, farming practices can vary significantly from one year to the next, depending on rainfall. That means there's a great deal of uncertainty in any estimates of biofuel water-intensity, including IEA's.

For example, for corn ethanol (favored product of the world's number one biofuel producer, the United States), IEA estimates of water consumption can range from four gallons to 560 gallons of water for every gallon of corn ethanol produced. At the low end, that's about on par with some of the gasoline on the market, production of which consumes from one-quarter gallon to four gallons water per gallon of fuel. But at the high end, biofuels are significantly thirstier than the petroleum products they'd be replacing. For sugar cane ethanol (Brazil's main biofuel), IEA's estimate spans an even greater range: from 1.1 gallon to 2,772 gallons of water per gallon of fuel.

It's not entirely clear how much biofuel falls at the higher end of the range. In the United States, only about 18 to 22 percent of U.S. corn production came from irrigated fields, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. And the remaining water in ethanol production in the United States—the amount consumed in the milling, distilling, and refining processes—has been cut in half over the past decade through recycling and other techniques, both industry sources and government researchers say. (One industry survey now puts the figure at 2.7 gallons water per gallon of ethanol.) A number of technologies are being tested to further cut water use.

"It absolutely has been a major area of focus and research and development for the industry over the past decade," says Geoff Cooper, head of research and analysis for the Renewable Fuels Association, the U.S.-based industry trade group. "Our member companies understand that water is one of those resources that we need to be very serious about conserving. Not only is it a matter of sustainability; it's a matter of cost and economics."

One potential solution is to shift from surface spraying to pumped irrigation, which requires much less water, says IEA. But the downside is those systems require much more electricity to operate.

Water use also could be cut with advanced biofuels made from non-food, hardy plant material that doesn't require irrigation, but so-called cellulosic ethanol will not become commercially viable under current government policies, in IEA's view, until 2025. (If governments enacted policies to sharply curb growth of greenhouse gas emissions, IEA's scenarios show cellulosic ethanol could take off as soon as 2015.)

Fracking's Surge

Fracking and other unconventional techniques for producing oil and natural gas also will shape the future of energy, though in IEA's view, their impact on water consumption will be less than that of biofuels and coal power. Water consumption for natural gas production would increase 86 percent to 2.85 billion cubic meters by 2035, when the world will produce 61 percent more natural gas than it does today, IEA projects. Similarly, water consumption for oil production would slightly outpace oil production itself, growing 36 percent in a world producing 25 percent more oil than today, under IEA's current policies scenario.

Those global projections may seem modest in light of the local water impact of fracking projects. Natural gas industry sources in the shale gas hot spot of Pennsylvania, for instance, say that about 4 million gallons (15 million liters) of water are required for each fracked well, far more than the 100,000 gallons (378,540 liters) conventional Pennsylvania wells once required. (Related: "Forcing Gas Out of Rock With Water")

IEA stresses that its water calculations are based on the entire production process (from "source to carrier"); water demand at frack sites is just one part of a large picture. As with the biofuel industry, the oil and gas industry is working to cut its water footprint, IEA says. "Greater use of water recycling has helped the industry adapt to severe drought in Texas" in the Eagle Ford shale play, said Matthew Frank, IEA energy analyst, in an email.

"The volumes of water used in shale gas production receive a lot of attention (as they are indeed large), but often without comparison to other industrial users," Frank added. "Other sources of energy can require even greater volumes of water on a per-unit-energy basis, such as some biofuels. The water requirements for thermal power plants dwarf those of oil, gas and coal production in our projections."

That said, IEA does see localized stresses to production of fossil fuels due to water scarcity and competition—in North Dakota, in Iraq, in the Canadian oil sands. "These vulnerabilities and impacts are manageable in most cases, but better technology will need to be deployed and energy and water policies better integrated," the IEA report says. (See related story: "Natural Gas Nation: EIA Sees U.S. Future Shaped by Fracking.")

Indeed, in Postel's view, the silver lining in the alarming data is that it provides further support for action to seek alternatives and to reduce energy use altogether. "There is still enormous untapped potential to improve energy efficiency, which would reduce water stress and climate disruption at the same time," she says. "The win-win of the water-energy nexus is that saving energy saves water."

This story is part of a special series that explores energy issues. For more, visit The Great Energy Challenge.

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Jodi Arias Trial: Defense Attacks Ex-Boyfriend

Defense attorneys for accused murderer Jodi Arias went on the attack today, drawing testimony from an ex-girlfriend of Travis Alexander in order to portray Alexander as an insensitive philanderer who was obsessed with sex.

Arias is charged with killing Alexander in a jealous rage in June 2008, and her lawyers are attempting to convince the jury that it was a case of self defense against an abusive lover.

One observer, veteran defense lawyer Melvin McDonald, said it was "swimming up Niagara Falls" because of the evidence amassed by prosecutors.

Arias' defense tried to bolster their case by questioning Lisa Daidone, the woman who became Alexander's girlfriend after he broke up with Arias.

"Did you tell him that you felt he wanted you just for your body, that kissing didn't mean anything to him and was just a way for him to let out sexual tension? And that it made you feel used and dirty?" defense attorney Jennifer Willmott asked Daidone.

Daidone agreed that she had told Alexander all of those things, along with other complaints, when she broke up with him in an email in the fall of 2007. She had also found out that Alexander had cheated on her.

"I came to the understanding that he was cheating on me with Jodi Arias," said Daidone, a Mormon like Alexander.

Jodi Arias Murder Trial: Defense's First Day of Witnesses Watch Video

Jodi Arias Murder Trial: Defense Begins Case Watch Video

Jodi Arias Murder Trial: Reported Plea Deal Attempt Watch Video

Daidone said that Alexander always kept in close contact with Arias, texting and calling her often. She was suspicious that he was cheating on her, but did not know they were involved sexually.

Daidone said she was "shocked" to find out Alexander was not a virgin after his death. She and Alexander never had a sexual relationship though she felt pressured to have sex with him, she testified.

The prosecution has shown that Alexander and Arias often traded sexual phone calls and text messages, and engaged in oral and anal sex. On the day she killed him, Arias posed for graphic sexual photos along with Alexander on his bed in his Mesa, Ariz., home.

The defense has argued that Alexander kept Arias as his "dirty little secret" as he pretended to be a virgin to his friends and family.

Daidone's testimony came on the second day of Arias' defense. She is charged with murder for stabbing Alexander 27 times, slashing his throat, and shooting him in the head. Arias could face the death penalty if convicted.

The attacks on Alexander's character may be the only way to help convince jurors that Arias, who admitted to killing Alexander after initially denying it, was acting in self-defense and should not be convicted of murder.

"What you do, obviously, if you're defending this case, especially when the evidence against you is so compelling, is make a case of self-defense. And to do that, you've got to paint this guy as a bad guy," said McDonald, a former judge and prosecutor who has tried cases against Arias prosecutor Juan Martinez.

The testimony today, McDonald said, has still not proven that Alexander might have threatened or been physically violent toward Arias.

"With this other girl, he's feeding her lies and misleading her, but that doesn't show any inclination toward violence whatsoever," McDonald said.

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US Senate confirms Kerry as next secretary of state

WASHINGTON: The US Senate on Tuesday confirmed Senator John Kerry as the next secretary of state, approving President Barack Obama's pick to replace Hillary Clinton by a wide majority.

The Senate voted 94-3 in favour of Kerry, after the chamber's Foreign Relations Committee approved the nomination earlier in the day.

His nomination was pushed through the Senate in a matter of days, given the clear bipartisan support for the 69-year-old veteran Democratic lawmaker, who spent 28 years in the Senate.

Kerry -- a senator from Massachusetts best known outside the United States for his unsuccessful 2004 presidential campaign -- was nominated last month by Obama to take over from Clinton as the nation's top diplomat.

He is known to have long coveted the job, but almost lost out to US ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, who had been seen as Obama's first choice.

But she withdrew from consideration for the post under Republican fire over the administration's response to the September 11 attack on a US mission in Libya that left four Americans dead.

Earlier, Kerry said he was "humbled" and gratified by the support from the members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which he himself chairs.

"They've been wonderful, they've been really superb," he said of his committee colleagues, adding, "I'm very wistful about it, it's not easy" leaving.

Clinton, 65, is expected to leave her post Friday, amid swirling speculation about whether she will run for the presidency in 2016. For now, she has said only that she is looking forward to some rest after four gruelling years.

At his confirmation hearing last week, Kerry called for "fresh thinking" as he outlined his foreign policy agenda and plans for relations with Iran, China and the Middle East.

"American foreign policy is not defined by drones and deployments alone," he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

"We cannot allow the extraordinary good that we do to save and change lives to be eclipsed entirely by the role that we have had to play since September 11th, a role that was thrust upon us," he said.

The decorated Vietnam veteran turned anti-war activist has built impeccable credentials during his time in the Senate. He has sat down with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, soothed nerves in Pakistan and visited the Gaza Strip.

- AFP/jc

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Intellectuals come out in support of Ashis Nandy

NEW DELHI: The paradox of a champion of social justice being booked under the caste atrocities law has prompted an array of intellectuals and artistes to come out in support of academic Ashis Nandy from India and abroad. They include Romila Thapar, Gayatri Chakravorti Spivak, Aparna Sen, Shabana Azmi, Sharmila Tagore, Dipesh Chakrabarty, Charles Taylor, Rajeev Bhargava and Yogendra Yadav.

Referring to his controversial statement at the Jaipur Literature Festival, an online petition signed by them said: "While Nandy's deliberately ironic remark on corruption in the OBC and SC/ST political elites as a form of equality may not be to the liking of all, we have no doubt that it was meant to question the upper caste-middle class notions of morality rather than denigrate marginalized and subaltern groups."

In a tacit admission that his statement was open to diverse interpretations, the petition addressed to the government said that Nandy had evolved "a distinctive and provocative style of making claims, comments and arguments". Although he has over the years "affirmed the rights of marginalized groups and communities to assert and express themselves in their unique ways", the petition added that Nandy's own method has been "to illuminate through anecdote, aphorism and irony".

Lamenting the illiberal demands for his arrest, the petition signed so far by over 300 persons said: "In a country where intellectual freedoms are shrinking every day, the right of thinkers like Ashis Nandy to argue and articulate unconventional views must be protected at all costs."

Other signatories to the petition include Arjun Appadurai, Nandita Das, Alok Rai, Zoya Hasan, Leela Gandhi, Achin Vinaik, Nandini Sundar, Lawrence Liang, Pranab Bardhan, Shamndad Basheer, Kamal Chenoy, Dilip Menon and Sumit Sarkar.

In a similar expression of support to the besieged scholar, Jamia Teachers' Solidarity Association (JTSA) alleged that the crisis had been created by "media violence and culture of intolerance". According to JTSA, a section of the media "in the garb of safeguarding the dignity of the underprivileged has not only harmed that further but has also disgraced the eminent intellectual by forcing an apology out of him".

Denying the suggestion that he had held backward communities responsible for widespread corruption, JTSA said that those who were familiar with Nandy's work would know that "the accusation is farthest from the truth". It said: "Not only has he been grossly misunderstood but the accusation is an affront to his decades long deeply sensitive scholarship including that on the backward communities."

Meanwhile, Kancha Ilaiah, well-known scholar on Dalit issues, reportedly said: "Ashis Nandy made a bad statement with good intentions. However, as far as I know, he was never against reservation. The controversy should end here."

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Timbuktu’s vulnerable manuscripts are city’s "gold"

French and Malian troops surrounded Timbuktu on Monday and began combing the labyrinthine city for Islamist fighters. Witnesses, however, said the Islamists, who claim an affiliation to al Qaeda and had imposed a Taliban-style rule in the northern Malian city over the last ten months, slipped into the desert a few days earlier.

But before fleeing, the militants reportedly set fire to several buildings and many rare manuscripts. There are conflicting reports as to how many manuscripts were actually destroyed. (Video: Roots of the Mali Crisis.)

On Monday, Sky News posted an interview with a man identifying himself as an employee of the Ahmed Baba Institute, a government-run repository for rare books and manuscripts, the oldest of which date back to the city's founding in the 12th century. The man said some 3,000 of the institute's 20,000 manuscripts had been destroyed or looted by the Islamists.

Video showed what appeared to be a large pile of charred manuscripts and the special boxes made to preserve them in front of one of the institute's buildings.

However, a member of the University of Cape Town Timbuktu Manuscript Project told eNews Channel Africa on Tuesday that he had spoken with the director of the Ahmed Baba Institute, Mahmoud Zouber, who said that nearly all of its manuscripts had been removed from the buildings and taken to secure locations months earlier. (Read "The Telltale Scribes of Timbuktu" in National Geographic magazine.)

A Written Legacy

The written word is deeply rooted in Timbuktu's rich history. The city emerged as a wealthy center of trade, Islam, and learning during the 13th century, attracting a number of Sufi religious scholars. They in turn took on students, forming schools affiliated with's Timbuktu's three main mosques.

The scholars imported parchment and vellum manuscripts via the caravan system that connected northern Africa with the Mediterranean and Arabia. Wealthy families had the documents copied and illuminated by local scribes, building extensive libraries containing works of religion, art, mathematics, medicine, astronomy, history, geography, and culture.

"The manuscripts are the city's real gold," said Mohammed Aghali, a tour guide from Timbuktu. "The manuscripts, our mosques, and our history—these are our treasures. Without them, what is Timbuktu?"

This isn't the first time that an occupying army has threatened Timbuktu's cultural heritage. The Moroccan army invaded the city in 1591 to take control of the gold trade. In the process of securing the city, they killed or deported most of Timbuktu's scholars, including the city's most famous teacher, Ahmed Baba al Massufi, who was held in exile in Marrakesh for many years and forced to teach in a pasha's court. He finally returned to Timbuktu in 1611, and it is for him that the Ahmed Baba Institute was named.

Hiding the Texts

In addition to the Ahmed Baba Institute, Timbuktu is home to more than 60 private libraries, some with collections containing several thousand manuscripts and others with only a precious handful. (Read about the fall of Timbuktu.)

Sidi Ahmed, a reporter based in Timbuktu who recently fled to the Malian capital Bamako, said Monday that nearly all the libraries, including the world-renowned Mamma Haidara and the Fondo Kati libraries, had secreted their collections before the Islamist forces had taken the city.

"The people here have long memories," he said. "They are used to hiding their manuscripts. They go into the desert and bury them until it is safe."

Though it appears most of the manuscripts are safe, the Islamists' occupation took a heavy toll on Timbuktu.

Women were flogged for not covering their hair or wearing bright colors. Girls were forbidden from attending school, and boys were recruited into the fighters' ranks.

Music was banned. Local imams who dared speak out against the occupiers were barred from speaking in their mosques. In a move reminiscent of the Taliban's destruction of Afghanistan's famous Bamiyan Buddha sculptures, Islamist fighters bulldozed 14 ancient mud-brick mausoleums and cemeteries that held the remains of revered Sufi saints.

A spokesman for the Islamists said it was "un-Islamic" for locals to "worship idols."

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Palin and Fox Part Ways, but Is She Really Over?

Sarah Palin's break up with Fox News should not have been, well, breaking news, as she had publicly complained in August on Facebook that the network had canceled her appearances at the Republican National Convention. And going back even further, Palin didn't give Fox the scoop in October 2011 when she announced she wasn't going to run for president. Still, the news of the Fox split overtook Twitter and the news cycle by storm.

One thing I've learned in my years covering Palin, which began on Aug. 29, 2008, when Sen. John McCain stunned the country by selecting her as his running mate: Everyone has an opinion on whatever she does, and she can get clicks and coverage like no one else.

The prevailing theory now is that since Palin no longer has a megaphone like Fox News through which she can blast her opinions, her moment is now officially over.

The 'Ends' of Sarah Palin

It might be true, but there have been so many "ends of Sarah Palin" that it's almost too hard to keep track of them all. She was over when she lost the 2008 campaign, she was over when she quit the Alaska governorship, she was over when she decided to do a reality show, she was over when she decided not to run for president, and now again, she's over because her appearances on Fox News are over.

Secret Service Scandal: Fired Agent 'Checked Out' Sarah Palin Watch Video

I, for one, did think Palin would lose her relevancy when she quit the Alaska governorship, and also when she didn't run for president. But in both cases, people who both love her and hate her just couldn't get enough information about her, and she still got an incredible amount of news coverage. Her voice was heard loud and clear, even if it blasted only from her Facebook posts. That's just another example of what she's been able to pull off that others who've come before or after just haven't. Palin's been written off from Day One, but like a boomerang, she just keeps coming back.

Yes, she wasn't really helpful to Mitt Romney's campaign, but she also never really explicitly backed him. And what an odd pair they would have made if she had. In her interview last weekend with Steve Bannon, the executive chairman of Breitbart News who made "The Undefeated," the positive 2011 movie about her, she said, "The problem is that some on the right are now skittish because of the lost 2012 election. They shouldn't be. Conservatism didn't lose. A moderate Republican candidate lost after he was perceived to alienate working-class Reagan Democrats and independent voters." Not a sign that she wants to rethink some of her policy points, or that she will retreat into the shadows.

Another Possible TV Home

I think more likely than her fading away (we all still cover every eyebrow-raising Facebook post of hers) is that she will possibly find an on-air home elsewhere, at somewhere like CNN. She told Breitbart.com that she "encourages others to step out in faith, jump out of the comfort zone, and broaden our reach as believers in American exceptionalism. That means broadening our audience. I'm taking my own advice here as I free up opportunities to share more broadly the message of the beauty of freedom and the imperative of defending our republic and restoring this most exceptional nation. We can't just preach to the choir; the message of liberty and true hope must be understood by a larger audience."

Later in the interview, she added, "I know the country needs more truth-telling in the media, and I'm willing to do that. So, we shall see."

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