Low rain coupled with the fact that maize prices in the open market have surged from around Rs 15-16 a kg to almost Rs 25 this year have forced farmers to turn to this crop.
Usually, the annual monsoon forecast is released around mid-April.
Gunmen ambushed a bus carrying Shia pilgrims in Balochistan province of southwest Pakistan on Friday killing 18 people in the latest in a string of attacks in the region targeting the minority community.
About 350 Boeing 737 Max 8 are currently in service with airlines around the world, with thousands more on order. Boeing insists it has no reason to pull the popular aircraft from the skies.
The chairman of the committee that manages the famous Hinglaj Mata temple in Balochistan province of southwest Pakistan has been kidnapped just two days before the beginning of the shrine's annual pilgrimage, according to a media report on Monday. Maharaj Ganga Ram Motiyani was abducted at Lasbela in Balochistan by two men in police uniform. His followers organised a protest outside the Karachi Press Club on Sunday and demanded that the government take steps for his recovery.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik escaped unhurt today when a helicopter he was travelling in made an emergency landing after developing technical problems in Balochistan province of southwest Pakistan.
The Indian Meteorology Department also predicted some respite from the severe heat wave prevailing in several parts of the country.
The deep depression in the Arabian Sea has intensified into cyclonic storm "Ashobaa" and is expected to further develop into a "super cyclonic storm" in next 24-36 hours, the weather office said on Monday.
Residents of Phoenix, Arizona scurried for cover on Tuesday night as a massive desert sandstorm roared through their city.
Champion Novak Djokovic and French Open winner Maria Sharapova were named top seeds for Wimbledon as the grasscourt Grand Slam mostly followed the rankings to draw up the list for the championships that begin on Monday. In the men's side, Rafa Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray completed the top four while defending women's champion Petra Kvitova was seeded fourth.
There are some airlines that are winning praise from customers.
The rains in August have also led to speculation that if the trend continues, rains in September, the terminal month of the four-month monsoon season, could be better, thus aiding production of paddy and other kharif crops.
Rains have been 5% below normal so far, but Met department sticks to its forecast
A bomb blast near a bus killed at least two people and injured dozens in the restive Balochistan province of southwest Pakistan on Monday, officials said.
According to the US Geological Survey, the epicentre of the quake was Guerrero region, located 186 kilometres from Acapulco city.
A wave of self-immolations in protest against the Chinese government, which has rocked regions close to Tibet for several months, has now spread to Lhasa, where two Tibetans for the first time set themselves on fire outside a famous temple, leaving one of them dead. Dargye, from Aba County in the Tibetan area of southwest China's Sichuan province, and Tobgye Tseten, from Xiahe County in northwestern Gansu province, attempted self-immolations at Pargor Street.
In many parts of central and north India, monsoon reaches only in July.
The Chinese police have arrested a man believed to be a serial killer targetting mostly young males in southwest China's Yunnan province and charged him with 11 murders.
A Pakistani journalist was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in the restive southwest Balochistan province, the fourth scribe to be killed in as many months in the country ranked by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation as "the second most dangerous" in the world for reporters.
Months before his ouster, disgraced Chinese leader Bo Xilai suspected a plot to poison his second wife by his son by his first marriage, according to a media report.
Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices cairman Ashok Gulati tells Business Standard that IMD's prediction should be taken with a pinch of salt, as data shows there is usually a deviation of eight-10 per cent from the standard margin of error in many met predictions.
The southwest monsoon has picked up pace, and is now on the verge of covering almost the entire country.
On August 6 and August 9 of 1945, warfare changed forever when the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan, devastating the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and killing more than 100,000 people. The attack on the people of Hiroshima at 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945, and the second attack on the city of Nagasaki at 11:02 am on August 9 killed and wounded hundreds of thousands of unsuspecting men, women, and children in a horrible blast of fire and radiation, followed by deadly fallout. In years that followed, those who survived -- the hibakusha -- suffered from the trauma of the experience and from the long-term effects of their exposure to radiation from the weapons. Before the blast, they were thriving cities. In a flash, they became desolate wastelands. Seventy-five years later, take a glimpse at the destruction.
Met department assures rains are likely to revive from next week
Being neither 'arrogant' nor 'crazy', Rafa Nadal is refusing to think about a third Wimbledon title ahead of his first-round match against Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci on Tuesday.
Fourteen paramilitary troopers were killed in an ambush by militants in Balochistan, one of the deadliest attacks in the restive province of southwest Pakistan in recent months.
Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG), the world's biggest hotel chain operator, has put an ambitious target of opening 150 hotels over the next nine years.
After a significant decline in business in the quarter ended June, leading gold loan companies are set to see a reversal of fortunes. In fact, the recovery already started in August, with a revival in the southwest monsoon.
Unidentified gunmen on Thursday dead five members of the minority Shia community and two employees of an NGO in the restive Balochistan province of southwest Pakistan, police said.
Rainfall in the week ended August 29 was about six per cent more than normal and the best weekly rains in the southwest monsoon season this year. This helped ease concern on drought across several parts of the country.
Four security personnel were killed on Sunday and three more injured when their vehicle hit a landmine in the restive Balochistan province of southwest Pakistan, officials said.
Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport is located 30 miles southwest of the city, but the drive from the airport to the downtown area where the hotels are located is a smooth drive despite the traffic.
Seven United Nations peacekeepers from the west African country of Niger were killed in an ambush while they were on a patrol in a southwest region of Ivory Coast, an attack which drew strong condemnation from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council.
Maaza is the country's top mango juice drink despite competition from brands such as Frooti and Tropicana Slice growing in the past few years.
The Communist Party of China has clipped the wings of Bo Xilai, a popular leader among netizens. B Raman explains why
Planetary scientists claim that the Hubble telescope has found hints of "building blocks of life" on Pluto.
Independent member of Legislative Assembly Bharat Singh was shot at on Saturday morning in southwest Delhi by "four-five" unknown attackers with police suspecting it to be a case of personal rivalry.
Senior officials of the India Meteorological Department said they were now more confident that El Nino would indeed appear during the second half of the southwest season, compared to April when the last official forecast was made.
The Pakistan army on Sunday took over Shamsi airbase in the country's southwest after it was vacated by the United States forces in line with a deadline set by the government following a cross-border North Atlantic Treaty Organisation attack that killed two dozen Pakistani soldiers.
The US has removed all its equipment from Shamsi airbase in Balochistan province, Geo News channel quoted its sources as saying.
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