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India test fires Astra beyond visual missile
India on Friday successfully test fired Astra beyond visual air-to-air missile from Su-30 Mk-I aircraft off the coast of Odisha, demonstrating its indigenous defence capabilities.
The missile has a range exceeding 100 km and is equipped with state-of-the art guidance and navigation system, officials said.
During the tests, two launches were carried out against high-speed unmanned aerial targets at different ranges, target aspects and launch platform conditions, it said.
"In both the cases, the missiles destroyed the targets with pin-point accuracy," the ministry said in a statement.
It said all subsystems performed as per expectations including the radio frequency seeker which has been indigenously designed and developed by the DRDO.
These successful flight tests have re-established the accuracy and reliable performance of Astra weapon system with indigenous seeker, the ministry said. In addition to various laboratories of DRDO, more than 50 public and private industries, including Hindustan Aeronautics Limited have contributed towards development of the weapon system.
UNESCO inscribes Sharjah's Faya to World Heritage List
The UAE marked a milestone in heritage preservation as the UNESCO World Heritage Committee officially inscribed Sharjah's Faya Palaeolandscape on the World Heritage List.
Recognised under the Cultural Landscape category, Faya was the only Arab site added this year and the second from the UAE after Al Ain's cultural sites were inscribed in 2011.
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Located in Sharjah's central region, Faya Palaeolandscape holds one of the world's oldest and most continuous records of early human habitation in arid environments, dating back over 200,000 years.
It is the first desert Paleolithic site on the World Heritage List, offering invaluable insight into human evolution and prehistoric life in Southeast Arabia.
This inscription affirms the UAE's and Sharjah's global standing in heritage protection and acknowledges over three decades of archaeological research led by the Sharjah Archaeology Authority in collaboration with institutions such as the University of Tubingen and Oxford Brookes University.
The site has yielded 18 archaeological layers, providing critical evidence of human settlement in desert environments.
Sharjah formally submitted the nomination in February 2024 following 12 years of dossier preparation. Faya's inclusion came after a rigorous evaluation based on UNESCO's standards of Outstanding Universal Value. The achievement reflects Sharjah's long-standing vision to integrate heritage, education and sustainable development, in line with the commitment of H.H. Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah.
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Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, official ambassador of the nomination file, expressed gratitude to the World Heritage Committee for recognising Faya's significance. She said the inscription affirms Sharjah's role in early human history and highlights the Arabian Peninsula's position in the story of human migration from Africa.
"The stone tools found at Faya are testimony to the ingenuity of our ancestors and the deep roots of cultural tradition in our region," she said.
Faya's inscription brings the total number of World Heritage sites to 1,226 across 168 countries, including 955 cultural, 231 natural and 40 mixed sites. The Arab region now hosts 96 such sites across 18 countries.
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