UML, MAOISTS AND SEVERAL OTHER PARTIES DECIDE TO OPPOSE FOR THE FIRST TIME FORMER KING’S GANDAKI, DHAULAGIRI ANCHAL VISITS Kathmandu, 19 Sept. :Ten political parties at a meeting sponsored by the opposition Wednesday decided to come out on the street and oppose former King Gyanendra’s 10-day visit of districts on theGandak and Dhaulagiri anchals beginning Thursday. Ruling and opposition parties hadn’t obstructed such visits in the past. The decision of parties to obstruct the visit comes at a time when they failed to institutionalize a filed republic and uncertainty prevails amid government failure to hold declared constituent elections 22 November.. Ruling UCPN (Maoist) leading the government also decided to oppose the visit. The party decided to hold corner meetings in Pokhara and Lekhnath municipality-4. The former king is traveling to Pikhara by car and will base himself at Fish Tail Lodge. The then king is scheduled to offer prayers and puja at temples in the anchals. nnnn INDIA ALSO TESTS MISSSILE AFTER ARCH RIVAL PAKISTAN Kathmandu, 19 Sept. : India test-fired its second-longest-range missile on Wednesday, a defence official said, two days after Pakistan announced its own missile test, AFP reports from New Delhi. The two-stage Agni-IV blasted off from the eastern state of Orissa in the third test for the missile, which was first launched in 2010 in a flight marred by technical problems. Its second test last November was declared a success. "The Agni-IV was tested for its full range of 4,000 kilometres (2,480 miles) and it was a success," Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) spokesman Ravi Gupta told AFP on Wednesday. Pakistan, which has fought three wars with arch-rival India since their 1947 independence, test-fired a nuclear-capable cruise missile on Monday with "stealth features". DRDO spokesman Gupta insisted India´s test was not "country-specific". "None of our missiles are country-specific. We are a peaceful nation which has never attacked any country in thousands of years," the DRDO spokesman added. India unveiled its 5,000-kilometre range Agni-V in April, which was seen as a massive boost to its regional power aspirations and one that narrows -- albeit slightly -- the huge gap with China´s missile systems. The Agni-V left India knocking at the door of a select club of nations with inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), which have a minimum range of 5,500 kilometres. Currently only the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- possess a declared ICBM capability. China and India fought a brief but bloody war in 1962 over a border dispute that remains unresolved despite several rounds of talks between Asia´s two most militarily-powerful nations. Agni, which means "fire" in Sanskrit, is the name given to a series of rockets the DRDO developed as part of its ambitious integrated guided missile development project launched in 1983. While the shorter-range Agnis I and II were mainly developed with traditional rival Pakistan in mind, later versions with longer range reflect the shift in India´s focus towards China. nnnn