It is estimated that a fifth of Russia's wheat crop has now died due to the lack of rain in what is thought to be the country's worst drought for more than a century.

BBC: Russia mobilises 240,000 to fight deadly wildfires

Hamilton said the shower of rain before the end put what had been a finely calculated finish into jeopardy.

CNN: Hamilton makes history after Brazil thriller

There should be a better word to describe what was witnessed Sunday in the rain at the Masters, something that can adequately cover the bright, thrilling place between tense and fun.

WSJ: Masters: Thumbs Up to a Great Duel��Adam Scott, Angel Cabrera

You know it's a part of life but, we have to come resigned, you know, we had been blessed, a bunch of near-misses and you know, just some rain and what not.

NPR: New Orleans Family Heads North

Many High Street retailers had reported a last-minute surge in shoppers the last weekend before Christmas, and bumper Boxing Day sales, following what had otherwise been a fairly quiet run-up to Christmas, not helped by the rain.

BBC: UK retail sales fall in December

Let it rain, as that's what our boys love and there'll be a shower of goals from the lads from OT.

BBC: Countdown to AC Milan v Man Utd

Francis, wearing white papal robes, appeared on a rain-soaked night to the throngs shortly after being elected by cardinals in what apparently was the fifth round of voting on the second day of the conclave.

CNN: Pope Francis, the pontiff of firsts, breaks with tradition

At the same time, the royal family does touch the real world, albeit the part of it inhabited by what remains of the landed upper classes: a life of moors and deer-stalking, of summers under Scottish rain, dogs and horses, the church, the armed forces, the same few boarding schools and the right sort of nightclubs.

ECONOMIST: Bagehot