Bangalore, Dec 30 (ANI): Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman G. Madhavan Nair has said that after the success of Chandrayaan 1, India's Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is going to launch an exclusive weather satellite jointly with the French space agency CNES (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales) in 2009.

The satellite, named 'Mehga Tropiques' will study the tropical atmosphere and its associated phenomena and would help India and France to study the cyclones, monsoon and other changes.

The Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS) would be built and launched by ISRO and two instruments called SCARAB and SAPHIR would be built by the CNES.

The other critical instrument called MADRAS will be jointly engineered by ISRO and CNES.

Talking to reporters here on the sidelights of a programme on Monday, Nair said that the satellite would be launched by the end of 2009.

"It is a joint agreement between France and ISRO. Some instruments are made by French people and some we are doing it. By the end of the 2009, it would be launched. This satellite will provide lot of inputs for weather modulates and near time weather forecast and so on," said Nair.

The satellite would be operated by ISRO and both the countries (India and France) would share data.

India hopes to send an astronaut into space by 2012 and a manned mission to the moon by 2020.

India's Chandrayaan-1, the first unmanned spacecraft mission to moon and the country's first space vehicle to venture beyond Earth's orbit successfully entered lunar orbit on November 8. (ANI)

New Delhi, Dec 30 (ANI): Police officers had to send a lovesick man back home after he claimed to be a fugitive in a bid to serve a three-year jail term, just to win back his girlfriend.

Huang, 26, from the Maoming, Guangdong province, went to police substation at the city's railway hub, but had to return home after the police learned the truth, reports the China daily.

He fell in love with his co-worker in a company in Shenzhen last year. However, when the girl wanted to break up, Huang refused and she joked that she'd marry him if he served three years on the inside.

Thus, Huang took her joke literally and went to the police station claiming to be a fugitive. (ANI)

Melbourne, Dec 30 (ANI): The number of tourists to Australia will decline in 2009 to the lowest level since 1989, a report has said.

As the global financial crisis bites, Australia could be short on overseas visitors for at least the next two years, impacting severely on destinations that rely solely on international guests.

The report said that the number of visitors is predicted to fall from 5.56 million to 5.33 million, with next year shaping as the industry's worst since 1989.

The Tourism Forecasting Committee predicts international numbers will recover by 2010, but other experts warn the pain may continue well into 2010.

"Unless we see a huge pick-up in the global economy to the later half of 2009 into 2010, then that year could be looking just as bleak," the Age.com.au quoted the executive director of the Tourism and Transport Forum, Olivia Wirth, as telling ABC Radio.

"It's too early to call at this stage," she said.

Wirth said that with destinations such as Cairns and Uluru predominantly visited by international guests, some people might lose their jobs and businesses might close.

Other setbacks for Australia's tourism industry include shark attacks and shark sightings.

And with recession taking a toll on Australia's tourism industry, the country is to be promoted through a series of advertisements created by the filmmaker Baz Luhrmann. (ANI)