Tourists brave heavy downpour as monsoon arrives in Delhi on Sunday. NEW DELHI: It's official. The monsoon has hit the Capital and that too a fortnight ahead of its scheduled normal date of June 29, breaking a 108-year-old record. Delhiites woke up to cloudy weather on Sunday morning and soon the skies opened up lashing the city with heavy rain. Sardarjung recorded 30.3 mm of rainfall between 8-30 a.m. and 5-30 p.m., while Palam received 23.8 mm of rain. The maximum temperature stood at 28.8 degrees Celsius, while the minimum was 26 degrees.

SILAPATHAR

Many Delhiites welcomed the rain, as it brought relief from the muggy weather of the past few days.

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today stressed the need for establishment of flood forecasting stations in coordination with organisations like the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Central Water Commission (CWC) and the Meteorology department to mitigate the losses due to flash floods.

Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the People's Republic of China Karunatilaka Amunugama, handed over 1000 tents worth Sri Lanka Rs. 23 million (US $ 210,000) to the earthquake victims in Western China at an official ceremony held in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China on Friday. He YaFei accepted the consignment on behalf of the Government of the People's Republic of China. The tents would be transported to Tianshui city in the Gansu Province, one of the worst hit areas in the recent earthquake.

The districts of Lakhimpur and Dhemaji and parts of Arunachal Pradesh have been totally cut off from the rest of the country following washing away of a portion of National Highway-52 by flood waters and it will take some time to restore road communication even as the flood situation in Lakhimpur district remained grave with as many as 11 breaches in the embankments. Talking to The Assam Tribune, Lakhimpur Deputy Commissioner, Manish Thakur said that though the weather condition improved today, the situation remained grave today.

It's Going To Be A Long Wet Season, Says Met Office The monsoon splashed its way into the record books on Sunday, hitting Delhi a full two weeks before its

The Sindh government has declared as calamity-hit areas 153 dehs of three talukas of Dadu district and five talukas of Qambar-Shahdadkot district which were hit by heavy rains, floods and breaches in different waterways during Kharif season of 2007.

Roadblock: A taxi driver looks at a landslip that blocked a mountain road following an earthquake in Japan on Saturday. KURIHARA (Japan): Military helicopters and fire department rescue squads raced to find 11 people missing after a deadly earthquake in mountainous northern Japan sent whole hillsides crashing down on Saturday, killing at least six and injuring more than 140. The 7.2-magnitude quake triggered several major landslips, blocking roads and stranding about 100 visitors at a hot-spring resort.

At least 15 people, including seven women and four children, were killed today in landslides across Arunachal Pradesh following incessant rains for the last 30 hours, throwing the transport and telecommunication networks out of gear. Police said rescue operations were being hampered by the continued downpour, adding that the casualties could increase to over 20. The casualty figure were so far available from Itanagar, Nirjuli and Naharlagun only, with the other areas of the State still inaccessible through roads or telephone.