Pakistan's next generation ARM

MAR-1 is an anti-radiation missile (ARM) developed by Brazil's Mectron and the Aerospace Technical Center (Centro Técnico Aeroespacial, CTA) of the Brazilian Air Force (FAB).
Development began in 1997 ^[1] and was kept under tight secrecy, for many years the weapon's manufacturers refused to acknowledge its existence.^[2] The missile is guided by a Brazilian-developed passive anti-radiation seeker designed to target different types of land-based and sea-based radars with different modes, including high power surveillance radars, low power mobile radars and radars used by surface-to-air missile systems. Enemy radars can be targeted by the missile independently or with targeting data from the launch aircraft's electronic warfare systems, such as the radar warning receiver. The missile's airframe is constructed from composite materials to reduce its radar cross-section.^[1] MAR-1 has been reported to have a range of 25 km when launched from an altitude of approximately 33,000 feet,^[2] but according to a Brazilian engineer the actual range is far larger than this.^[3]
In December 2008 the Brazilian government approved the sale of 100 MAR-1 missiles to the Pakistan Air Force in a contract worth $108 million.[1

MAR-1
A MAR-1 missile mounted under the wing of an AMX attack fighter of the Brazilian Air Force.
Type	Anti-radiation missile (ARM)
Place of origin	Brazil
Production history
Manufacturer	Mectron
Specifications
Weight	274 kilograms (600 lb)
Length	4.03 metres (13.2 ft)
Diameter	0.23 metres (0.75 ft)
Warhead	High-explosive
Warhead weight	90 kilograms (200 lb)
Detonation mechanism	Laser/contact proximity fuse
Engine	Rocket motor
Guidance system	Passive radar homing, home-on-jam
Launch platform	Combat aircraft: Northrop F-5, AMX

Bofors ex-accused 'given bribes' in India arms deal

Mr Quattrocchi has always maintained his innocence

India's income tax department has ruled that illegal commissions were paid to an Italian businessman accused over an arms scandal which ended Rajiv Gandhi's term as prime minister 20 years ago.

It said over $9m (£6m) was paid to Ottavio Quattrocchi and an Indian arms dealer, Win Chadha.
In 2009, India dropped a graft case against Mr Quattrocchi and withdrew his name from Interpol's wanted list.
The main opposition BJP has now demanded the case be reopened.
Mr Quattrocchi was an accused in the high profile Bofors corruption case, one of the longest-running criminal investigations in India.
The Swedish firm AB Bofors was alleged to have paid $1.3bn in bribes during the sale of 400 howitzers to India in 1986, when Rajiv Gandhi of the Congress party was prime minister.
Politically sensitive The Bofors issue is extremely sensitive politically for the governing Congress party, as Mr Quattrocchi was known to be a friend of Italian-born party leader Sonia Gandhi.
Now an income tax investigation has found that commissions were paid to Mr Quattrocchi and a now deceased Indian arms dealer Win Chadha, and that tax should be paid on such income.
"Inaction in this regard may lead to a non-existent undesirable and detrimental notion that India is a soft state and one can meddle with its tax laws with impunity," the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal said in its order.
Correspondents say the ruling will embarrass the Congress party.
A party spokesman told reporters it will give a response after examining the income tax ruling.
The main opposition BJP demanded that the case against Mr Quattrocchi be reopened, insisting that there had been a "huge cover-up operation" while closing the case against him.
The Italian businessman has always denied any involvement, arguing he was the victim of a political vendetta in India.
Indian investigators have tried unsuccessfully for much of the past decade to get Mr Quattrocchi extradited to India.
The case contributed to the election defeat of Rajiv Gandhi in 1989, two years before he was assassinated.
In 2004, he was posthumously cleared of any wrongdoing in the deal.

China 'in nuclear power advance'

China is determined to reduce its heavy reliance on coal as an energy source

China has developed its own technologies that will enable it to reprocess spent nuclear fuel, state television has reported.

The country has launched an ambitious programme to build a number of new nuclear power stations.
This latest breakthrough could provide fuel for those plants for years to come.
Chinese scientists have apparently been working on this technology for 24 years.
State television says they have now perfected a procedure that will allow them to reprocess spent nuclear fuel.
It is a complex and costly procedure but the recycled material can be used again to fuel nuclear power stations.
China is not the first country to develop its own reprocessing facilities. France, Britain and India are just three countries that already have their own operations.
But this breakthrough will have major implications in China.
The country is building a number of new nuclear power plants in an effort to diversify its energy sources.
At the moment it mostly relies on coal. This latest development could help its nuclear power programme.
State television says the country currently has enough known uranium for at most 70 years.
It claims this new process could mean that supply will now last for 3,000 years.

Iran 'invites foreign diplomats to nuclear sites'

Diplomats will be shown Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant, reports say

Iran has invited foreign diplomats to tour its nuclear facilities, according to reports.

The invitation, which has not been confirmed by Tehran, comes ahead of fresh talks with key world powers over Iran's controversial nuclear programme.
Delegates from Russia, China and the EU are among those invited, but not the US, AP news agency reported.
Many Western countries suspect Iran is developing nuclear weapons but Tehran says its programme is peaceful.
A senior European diplomat in Brussels told Reuters news agency that Iran had invited several ambassadors accredited to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to visit its nuclear sites.
The Associated Press said it had seen a letter in which senior Iranian envoy Ali Asghar Soltanieh suggests the weekend of 15-16 January for the tour.
Bushehr and Natanz were the venues to be toured, the agency added, citing a diplomat accredited to the IAEA.
Tehran is already subject to inspections by the IAEA but it would appear that this tour may be aimed at diplomats not inspectors, says the BBC's Iran correspondent James Reynolds.
A new round of talks between Iran and the five permanent UN Security Council members - the US, Russia, China, Britain and France - plus Germany, is tentatively set for Istanbul, Turkey, in late January.
The talks will follow a two-day meeting in Geneva early last month which EU foreign affairs chief Baroness Ashton described as "substantive".
The UN Security Council has imposed four rounds of sanctions on Iran and demanded that it stops its uranium enrichment programme.
Uranium can be enriched to make nuclear fuel or be more highly enriched and used in nuclear weapons.
Iranian negotiators have flatly ruled out discussing such demands at the Istanbul meeting.