Australia Requests Embassies To Stop Lawn Watering - Reuters

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CANBERRA - Foreign diplomats in Australia's parched capital are being asked to stop watering embassy lawns in solidarity with a nation suffering its worst known drought.

Canberra's plush lakeside diplomatic district is a green oasis amid sunburnt suburbs where Australians are already barred from using sprinklers with the searing summer months still ahead.
Foreign embassies and ambassadorial mansions in Canberra are not bound by Australian laws or the tough water restrictions due to their diplomatic status.

"Shorter showers and not watering the garden have become a reality for all Australians, but our foreign guests are failing to abide by our rules," The Daily Telegraph, the biggest-selling paper in Australia's largest city Sydney said on Wednesday.

"No drought on foreign soil," said the capital's Canberra Times. The lush grounds of Japan's mission, with its cherry blossom trees in front and ornamental garden behind, was pictured in most newspapers, although the nearby US and South African missions also have extensive lawns.

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http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/39251/story.htm