India tests long-range missile; capable of reaching China

A scientist at the launch site said the launch was successful, minutes after television images showed the rocket with a range of more than 5,000 km (3,100 miles) blasting through clouds from an island off India's east coast.

"It has met all the mission objectives," S.P.Dash, director of the test range, told Reuters. "It hit the target with very good accuracy."

The Indian-made Agni V is the crowning achievement of a now-mothballed missile program developed primarily with a possible threat from neighboring China in mind.

Only the U.N. Security Council permanent members - China, France, Russia the United States and Britain - along with Israel, are believed to have such long-range weapons.

Fast emerging as a world economic power, India is keen to play a larger role on the global stage and has long angled for a permanent seat on the Security Council. In recent years it has emerged as the world's top arms importer as it rushes to upgrade equipment for a large but outdated military.

"It is one of the ways of signaling India's arrival on the global stage, that India deserves to be sitting at the high table," said Harsh Pant, a defense expert at King's College, London, describing the launch as a "confidence boost".

The launch, which was flagged well in advance, has attracted none of the criticism from the West faced by hermit state North Korea for a failed bid to send up a similar rocket last week.

But China noted the launch with disapproval.

Read more...

Syria uprising deaths top 5,000

Politicians and the navy blamed for illegal fishing

Nearly two thousand fishermen from Kalpitiya peninsular protested today against the use of illegal methods of fishing. They say the use of Dynamite, and triple nets are destroying marine life and their livelihood in the region.

	Protesting fishermen (Photo - Prasad Purnimal)

"From what we hear, high officials of the Navy own some of the boats that use the illegal nets for many years. Politicians and the police are all corrupt. That is why it had not been stopped for over five years." one of the protesters told the BBC.

Roads closed

The protestors cordoned off roads in the area with burned tyres to disrupt the traffic. Police and the army were deployed to contain the demonstrators.

	Police had to call the Army to contain the protest. (Photo - Prasad Purnimal)

Sanath Nishantha, fisheries minister of Wayamba Provincial council, gave an assurance to the protesting fishermen that he will call a meeting of the officials on Tuesday to make arrangements with the Navy and the Police to take necessary steps to stop the usage of illegal methods of fishing,

The practice had continued without the enforcement of the law, due to "certain difficulties some officials had to face", said the minister.

Pakistan NATO blockade to continue

Prime minister says suspension may remain in place for several weeks, as tensions between Islamabad and US remain high.

The US military has left a Pakistani airbase as tensions with Islamabad continue to remain high [AFP/ISPR HANDOUT] Pakistan may continue a suspension of NATO supply routes into Afghanistan for several weeks, the country's prime minister has said. Speaking to the BBC, Yousuf Raza Gilani also refused to rule out closing Pakistani airspace to the US military. Pakistan suspended the passage of NATO supplies on routes that run through the country into Afghanistan in protest against a strike by NATO forces on Pakistani border posts last month that killed 24 soldiers, an attack the government termed "a deliberate act of aggression". Gilani said that there was a "credibility gap" in the relationship with the US. His government is currently carrying out a review of Pakistan's "terms of engagement" with Washington. "[The suspension of supplies] has already entered its 17th day. Hundreds, if not thousands, of containers are parked on the borders, whereas many more are now waiting at the Karachi port," Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said. "The chief minister of Balochistan province is even warning that he wants all these tankers and containers to go back, because they're coming under attack: they're sitting ducks. "This is indeed a serious crisis, because most of the aviation fuel which is going into Afghanistan is going through strategic corridors, which both go through Pakistan. Continue reading...

Pakistan PM: No more "business as usual" with U.S.

(Reuters) - Pakistan's prime minister ruled out "business as usual" with the United States on Monday after a NATO attack killed 24 Pakistani soldiers and the army threatened to curtail cooperation over the war in Afghanistan.

Saturday's incident on Pakistan's border with Afghanistan has complicated U.S. attempts to ease a crisis in relations with Islamabad and stabilize the region before foreign combat troops leave Afghanistan.

"Business as usual will not be there," Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani told CNN when asked if ties with the United States would continue. "We have to have something bigger so as to satisfy my nation."

While the NATO strike has shifted attention from what critics say is Islamabad's failure to go after militants, Gilani's comments reflect the fury of Pakistan's government and military - and the pressure they face from their own people.

"You cannot win any war without the support of the masses," Gilani said. "We need the people with us."

The relationship, he said, would continue only if based on "mutual respect and mutual interest." Asked if Pakistan was receiving that respect, Gilani replied: "At the moment, not."

continue reading...

Farc leader Timochenko new top target in Colombia

29 November 2011 Last updated at 04:06 GMT Help

The Colombian leader will now be counting on Venezuela to help capture the leader of the Farc guerrillas, Rodrigo Londoño, alias "Timochenko" following the arrest of one of Colombia's most-wanted men, Maximiliano Bonilla Orozco.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos praised his Venezuelan counterpart, Hugo Chavez, for the arrest.

The news came on a visit to Caracas by President Santos , as he and President Chavez cemented their rapprochement after years of mistrust between the neighbours.

Jeremy McDermott reports from Colombia.

NASA launches new Mars rover

An unmanned Atlas 5 rocket carrying a $2.5bn NASA Mars probe has lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The Mars Science Laboratory, a nuclear-powered rover as big as a compact car and nicknamed Curiosity, is scheduled to touch down on the 'Red Planet' on August 6, 2012, and will search for signs of whether it is or ever was suitable for life. It is powered by a nuclear-driven electrical system and is equipped with 10 of the most intricate scientific instruments ever sent into space. Quest for water Curiosity, has 17 cameras and 10 science instruments, including chemistry labs, to identify elements in soil and rock samples to be dug up by the probe's drill-tipped robotic arm. The base of the crater's mountain has clays, evidence of a prolonged wet environment, said planetary scientist John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology and the mission's lead scientist. Water is considered to be a key element for life, but not the only one. Previous Mars probes, including the rovers Spirit and Opportunity, searched for signs of past surface water.