Agni-II launch fails

NEW DELHI: India’’s first nighttime test of a medium-range missile was a failure, missing its target, a defence ministry official said on Tuesday. India test fired the surface-to-surface Agni-II missile from Wheelers Island in the eastern state of Orissa on Monday. “It couldn’t hit the target,” the official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity in line with ministry rules. “The lift-off was smooth, even the first stage of separation was smooth. But there was some problem during the second stage of separation and it deviated from its coordinated path,” the official added.

Translator dead

BEIJING: Renowned Chinese literature translator Yang Xianyi has has died at the age of 94, China’’s official Xinhua News Agency said on Tuesday. Together with his British wife, Gladys Taylor, Yang translated classics such as the 18th century A Dream of Red Mansions as well as more modern works by 20th century writers such Lu Xun. Born in the northern treaty port of Tianjin in 1915, Yang was sent by his wealthy family to study classics at Oxford University in 1936, where he met Taylor. Returning to China in 1940, the two married and embarked on a decades-long career in translation against the backdrop of war, communist revolution and waves of political campaigns.