A Russian Mars probe launched early Wednesday has failed to reach its intended orbit.

The abnormality occurred after the Phobos-Grunt probe separated from the Zenit-2SB launch vehicle, which blasted off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan.

The spacecraft was supposed to use its own booster to reach the designated flying orbit, but failed to do so.

Vladimir Popovkin, head of Russia's space agency Roscosmos, says the mission control lost contact with the probe after the separation.

The Phobos-Grunt was launched along with a Chinese Mars probe, the Yinghuo-1. There's no immediate word on what happened to that probe.

 

 

China's CPI growth eases to 5.5 pct in October

China's inflation cooled to the slowest pace in five months as gains in food costs moderated.

The Consumer Price Index, or CPI, eased to 5.5 percent in October, from September's 6.1 percent, in line with most estimates.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, food prices, which account for nearly one third of the basket of goods in the nation's CPI calculation, moved up 11.9 percent in October from a year earlier but dipped 0.2 percent month-on-month.

Producer prices rose 5 percent last month, less than many forecasts.

 

 

China's local legislative election begins

More than 9 million voters in Beijing have cast their ballots to elect about 15,000 new lawmakers at grassroots levels.

The deputies, after being elected, will vote for the new lineup of local governments at grassroots legislature's plenary session, to be held in December. 

The grassroots election, held every five years, is the lowest and only level of China's electoral process where direct elections are allowed. 

More than 900 million voters at the county level and more than 600 million voters at the township level will cast their ballots by the end of next year.

 

 

Italy's Berlusconi to resign after austerity plan approved

The office of the President of Italy has released a statement, saying that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will resign after austerity measures demanded by the European Council are approved.

Berlusconi's decision comes after he lost his parliamentary majority in a vote on the budget Tuesday. 

Both opposition parties and Berlusconi's allies have urged the embattled prime minister to step down amid the current debt problems and his legal challenges.

 

 

New Greek coalition 'to be announced on Wednesday'

A Greek government official says the make-up of the interim government will be announced later on Wednesday.

The announcement came as talks dragged into a third day without any sign of progress.

Greece is under mounting pressure from Europe to end its political crisis and pass a key bailout package.

Negotiations have been taking place between Prime Minister George Papandreou and main opposition leader Antonis Samaras.

Papandreou has promised to resign and a new premier will be chosen to lead the coalition government until elections in February.

 

 

IAEA report says Iran engaged in nuclear weapon-related activities

A new report from the United Nation's nuclear watchdog indicates that Iran has been involved in the development of nuclear weapons.

In its latest report on Iran's nuclear program, the International Atomic Energy Agency listed a series of "credible" pieces of evidence that Iran had been carrying out projects and experiments suspected being involved in nuclear warhead design at least until 2010. 

The report says some of these activities are possibly still in progress.

However, Teheran is rejecting the report as "unbalanced, unprofessional and politically motivated."

 

 

Liberia concludes presidential run-off voting as counting commences

Vote counting is now underway in the Presidential run-off election in Liberia.

Reports indicate that the vote went off without any major problems, despite pre-election violence on Monday that left one person dead.

The vote has pit incumbent Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf against opposition rival Winston Tubman, who's party boycotted the run-off election campaign, suggesting fraud in the first round of voting.

Johnson-Sirleaf is widely expected to win the run-off.

 

 

Death toll in Colombian landslide reaches 44

The death toll from a massive landslide in Colombia's central city of Manizales has risen to 44.

The landslide buried 14 houses Saturday after intense rains made the soil carrying the fragile housing units give in and collapse.

16 people had been rescued after being trapped for hours.

 

 

More than 2 mln still with water difficulties in SW China's ongoing drought

New government figures indicate that more than 2 million people are still short of drinking water in southwest China's Yunnan Province because of this year's drought. 

Yunnan's water storage ponds and reservoirs are at their the lowest level in 17 years. 

According to the provincial meteorological bureau, the drought conditions are likely to worsen in March and April, with a delay in the rainy season expected.