1.   In its announcements this week, India said it conducted a series of nuclear test detonations beneath its northwestern desert, three on Monday and two more on Wednesday.

2.   Also battered by the storm were areas ranging from the northwestern desert region of Xinjiang to the central province of Hubei.

3.   Deaths and flood damage were reported in areas that stretched from the remote northwestern desert region of Xinjiang to the densely populated central province of Hubei.

4.   Dry winds have blown from northwestern deserts earlier in the year than usual.

5.   In the northwestern desert state of Rajasthan, which is in its third year of severe drought, many people must walk for miles each day to get water.

6.   It has been an abnormally hot May, the peak of summer in southern India, with dry winds blowing from the northwestern deserts much earlier than usual.

7.   It has been an abnormally hot May in southern India, with dry winds blowing from the northwestern deserts much earlier than usual.

8.   Last month, India denied American press reports that it was preparing for a nuclear test in the northwestern desert state of Rajasthan.

9.   On Wednesday, it conducted two more underground explosions in defiance of worldwide outrage over the three tests it held Monday under the northwestern Indian desert.

10.   The drivers will travel through France and Spain before crossing the northwestern Sahara desert, taking in Morocco, Mauritania, Mali and Senegal.