Indonesia’s Mt Ibu Erupts as Agency Warns Local Aviation Authorities 

This handout picture taken and released on May 21, 2024 by the Indonesian Geological Agency shows Mount Ibu spewing volcanic ash as seen from the monitoring post in West Halmahera, North Maluku. (Photo by Indonesian Geological Agency / AFP)
This handout picture taken and released on May 21, 2024 by the Indonesian Geological Agency shows Mount Ibu spewing volcanic ash as seen from the monitoring post in West Halmahera, North Maluku. (Photo by Indonesian Geological Agency / AFP)
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Indonesia’s Mt Ibu Erupts as Agency Warns Local Aviation Authorities 

This handout picture taken and released on May 21, 2024 by the Indonesian Geological Agency shows Mount Ibu spewing volcanic ash as seen from the monitoring post in West Halmahera, North Maluku. (Photo by Indonesian Geological Agency / AFP)
This handout picture taken and released on May 21, 2024 by the Indonesian Geological Agency shows Mount Ibu spewing volcanic ash as seen from the monitoring post in West Halmahera, North Maluku. (Photo by Indonesian Geological Agency / AFP)

A volcano on the remote Indonesian island of Halmahera erupted on Monday spewing a grey ash cloud six kms (four miles) into the sky, the country's volcanology agency said, adding it had issued a warning for aviation authorities managing local flights.

This follows a series of eruptions this month after authorities noticed an uptick of volcanic activity since April, leading to evacuations of people from seven nearby villages.

"The ash column is seen to be thick and grey and moving westward," the agency said, adding the eruption occurred at 3 a.m. local time (7 p.m. GMT) and recommending that a seven-km (4.35-mile) radius be cleared.

Footage shared by the agency on Monday showed the volcano spewing ash that grew thicker and eventually obscured it.

The agency also issued a "red" color code warning to local aviation authorities on Monday, the highest of its kind due to ash exceeding six kms in height, its website stated.

It previously raised the alert level of the volcano to the highest on its scale on May 16.

Ibu's activities follow a series of eruptions of different volcanoes in Indonesia, which sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" and has 127 active volcanoes.

Flash floods and cold lava flow from Mount Marapi, one of the most active in West Sumatra province, covered several nearby districts following torrential rain on May 11, killing at least 62 people with 10 people still missing.

In recent weeks North Sulawesi's Ruang volcano has erupted, spewing incandescent lava. The eruption prompted authorities to evacuate more than 12,000 people on a nearby island.



India’s Monsoon Rains a Fifth Below Normal So Far

Indian commuters use umbrellas during a hot afternoon in Kolkata, India, 14 June 2024. (EPA)
Indian commuters use umbrellas during a hot afternoon in Kolkata, India, 14 June 2024. (EPA)
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India’s Monsoon Rains a Fifth Below Normal So Far

Indian commuters use umbrellas during a hot afternoon in Kolkata, India, 14 June 2024. (EPA)
Indian commuters use umbrellas during a hot afternoon in Kolkata, India, 14 June 2024. (EPA)

India's monsoon has delivered a fifth less rain than normal so far this season, the weather department said on Monday, in a worrying sign for the vital agricultural sector.

Summer rains, critical to economic growth in Asia's third-largest economy, usually begin in the south around June 1 before spreading nationwide by July 8, allowing farmers to plant crops such as rice, cotton, soybeans, and sugarcane.

India has received 20% less rainfall than normal since June 1, according to data compiled by the state-run India Meteorological Department (IMD), with almost all regions except for a few southern states seeing shortfalls and some northwestern states experiencing heat waves.

The rain shortfall in soybean, cotton, sugarcane, and pulses-growing central India has risen to 29%, while the paddy-growing southern region received 17% more rainfall than normal due to the early onset of the monsoon, according to the data.

The northeast has received 20% less rainfall than normal so far, and the northwest some 68% less.

The lifeblood of the nearly $3.5-trillion economy, the monsoon brings nearly 70% of the rain India needs to water farms and refill reservoirs and aquifers.

In the absence of irrigation, nearly half the farmland in the world's second-biggest producer of rice, wheat and sugar depends on the annual rains that usually run until September.

"The monsoon's progress is stalled. It has weakened. But when it revives and becomes active, it can erase the rain deficit in a short burst," an IMD official told Reuters.

The official sought anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Heat wave conditions are likely to prevail in northern states for a few more days, but temperatures could start coming down from the weekend, the official added.

The maximum temperature in India's northern states is ranging between 42 and 47.6 degrees Celsius (107.6 to 117.7 degrees Fahrenheit), about 4-9 C above normal, the IMD data showed.