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<ul class="summary-list"><li>"<keyword id="2627105" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Betaal">Betaal</keyword>" is a new horror series on <keyword id="128682" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Netflix">Netflix</keyword> about a group of Indian soldiers and indigenous civilians trying to defeat British colonial zombies. </li><li>The show premiered in late May and contains timely messages about gender and imperialism, though it's gotten mixed reviews. </li><li>Director and co-writer <keyword id="455115" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Patrick-Graham">Patrick Graham</keyword> told Insider that he envisioned the show as a tongue-in-cheek "hate letter to England" and their colonizing past. </li><li>And co-writer <keyword id="1431621" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Suhani-Kanwar">Suhani Kanwar</keyword> said that the show's strong and relatable female characters came from her own experiences with sexism in the Indian film and <keyword id="6355065" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="TV">TV</keyword> industry. </li></ul><p>With bloodthirsty zombies, an ancient curse, and gruesome deaths, Netflix's new horror series "Betaal" is a must-watch for horror fans. </p><p>But the show isn't just about vicious reanimated corpses and the struggles of the fictional Counter-Insurgency Police Department (CIPD) to defeat them. There are also messages about colonialism, gender roles, and police brutality hidden beneath the bloody plot points. </p><p>Even though it premiered in late May, here's why you shouldn't sleep on the quietly revolutionary new Netflix series "Betaal."</p><p><div type="image" title="betaal 2 netflix" height="2016" width="2688" msid="76520751" hostid="261"></div></p><h2>'Betaal' focuses on a group of Indian soldiers and civilians as they try to escape from colonial-era British zombies</h2><p>The central conflict of the show starts between the soldiers from CIPD and the villagers of Adivasi. </p><p>The corrupt CIPD has been sent to Adivasi to excavate a tunnel dating back to colonial India that runs through the nearby mountain Betaal. Not only would this displace the villagers, but the villagers also warn that doing so would release an evil spirit called Betaal. </p><p>Of course, because this is a horror show, the villagers are ignored. Things quickly take a turn for the worse for the CIPD officers when they discover the construction has released British colonial zombies who are out for blood.</p><p>The villagers and CIPD squad must face off against the reanimated colonizers and defeat Betaal over the show's four episodes. </p><p><div type="image" title="patrick graham BTS betaal" height="2331" width="3108" msid="76520755" hostid="261"></div></p><h2>Writer and director Patrick Graham called the show a tongue-in-cheek 'hate letter to England' and the memory of the British empire</h2><p>The references to colonialism in "Betaal" are pretty obvious from the start. A British lieutenant in the East India Trading Company is revealed to have sacrificed his son and the remains of his regiment in order to harness the powers of the Betaal and become emperor of India.</p><p>And in fighting the Betaal and his zombie army, the CIPD and other survivors are, in a way, recreating the battles between Indians and British soldiers hundreds of years before. </p><p>According to Graham, himself a white British man, he wanted the show's portrayal of colonialism to be a stern rebuke to those in Britain who might be nostalgic for the days of empire while also centering the Indian experience. </p><p>"Even in the most liberal English person, you often find this kind of glimmer of nostalgia, even though it was just a series of terrible atrocities," he told Insider. "And you can see in British fiction, a lot of the time they're still making stuff which glorifies the empire." </p><p>"I like the idea of making 'Betaal' my hate letter to England because Britain might be in their false delusion that they have a glorious past, but no one else thinks so — and particularly not the Indian population," Graham said. </p><p>"I was kind of hoping — I'm not sure if I quite managed it — that the show would be almost like a cathartic experience," he continued. "With people experiencing this band of Indian soldiers just decimating these undead British troops in the same way that it might be fun to watch the Nazis getting shot in 'Inglourious Basterds.'" </p><p><div type="image" title="betaal 3" height="2331" width="3108" msid="76520757" hostid="261"></div></p><h2>Co-writer Suhani Kanwar used the show to give voices to female and indigenous characters, in addition to touching on issues like colonialism</h2><p>Kanwar told Insider she was interested in exploring India's "postcolonial identity" in the show and said her collaboration with Graham allowed her to re-examine the decades-old story of the Betaal. </p><p>"Of course I'm aware of the fact that he's literally a foreign gaze, but he brought me this myth of the Betaal, which we grew up with over here," Kanwar said. "It's just part of our childhoods, it's everywhere. But what Patrick made me do is relook at it."</p><p>"And now in my adulthood, when I've revisited the story, it's actually a story of moral and ethical conundrums," she added. </p><p>According to Kanwar, a key part of the story for her was the role the indigenous villagers play, especially as they're confronted and murdered by law enforcement. </p><p>"I was thinking about police brutality, about this obsession that we have with ideas of national security. Who are we attacking? What are we defending?" Kanwar said of her mindset during writing the interactions between the CIPD and the villagers. </p><p>"We give those armed forces special powers. We give them immunity and we hope that what will happen will develop the nation, but tribal people are paying for it," she said.</p><p><div type="image" title="suhani kanwar betaal_edited 1" height="900" width="1200" msid="76520760" hostid="261"></div></p><h2>The strong female characters in 'Betaal' were a result of Kanwar's experience with sexism</h2><p>While some horror movies feature women as mere victims, there are unforgettable female characters in "Betaal," including Ahlu, the CIPD lieutenant; Puniya, a ruthless and resilient villager; and little Saanvi, a young girl who proves to be the key to defeating the Betaal. </p><p>Kanwar told Insider that her experiences as a woman in the film and TV industry led her to create such memorable women characters. </p><p>"It's coming from a very conscious place. I wish I could say it's organic, but it's been an adrenaline rush and kind of wish fulfillment to write these characters, Puniya especially," Kanwar said of her mindset while writing the show's female characters.</p><p>According to the screenwriter, when she attended film school in Bombay, things were much different for women than they are today. </p><p>"You come in with your youthful optimism, of joining the workforce in film," Kanwar explained. "But the odds are stacked against you. The system is designed to keep you out and you feel that discrimination every step of the way." </p><p>"The only way to be a writer a few years ago was to be able to 'write like a man' in Bombay. But that is changing, I am very happy to report," Kanwar said.  "The playing field is much wider. It's much more level. And I can actually write characters like Puniya, like Saanvi, like Ahlu." </p><p><div type="image" title="betaal trailer" height="1436" width="1915" msid="76520762" hostid="261"></div></p><h2>Despite the engaging plot and timely undertones, most Indian critics weren't fans of 'Betaal'</h2><p>"'Betaal' routinely undermines its own timely themes with an over-reliance on needless gore, cheap jump scares, and plot contrivances," Rohan Naahar <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/tv/betaal-review-shah-rukh-khan-s-netflix-zombie-show-is-dead-on-arrival/story-7utjRc9n4OwqOGlk0O93rJ.html">wrote in his review  for the Hindustan Times</a>, while reviewer Poulomi Das <a href="https://silverscreenindia.com/streaming/reviews/betaal-review-an-awful-netflix-zombie-horror-that-has-nothing-to-say/">said the show</a> "somehow manages to be too long, repetitive and needlessly convoluted, stretching its one-line plot, glaringly under-written, way too thin." </p><p>Naahar and Das weren't alone in their dislike for the show — numerous other critics from India also <a href="https://www.filmcompanion.in/streaming/betaal-netflix-review-deafening-and-dead-foray-into-zombie-horror-shah-rukh-khan/">slammed "Betaal" in their reviews</a>. </p><p>Graham and Kanwar had their own thoughts on why the show was received negatively in India. </p><p>"They might not be familiar with this kind of genre, but I think there's so much more stuff at play," Graham told Insider. "I think that they might have an issue with Netflix, because it's seen as like an American entity that's coming in and trying Westernize certain things. They probably see the show isn't as a kind of Western show."</p><p>But Graham was adamant that "Betaal" isn't a Western show, despite what critics might say. </p><p>"I'm the only Westerner working with a crew of hundreds of Indian people. And I had an Indian co-director and an Indian co-writer Suhani — we both came up with the story together," Graham said. "So it's very much an Indian story for an Indian audience, and it's an Indian show first and foremost." </p><p>Kanwar, for her part, didn't have a clear explanation as to why critics had such an intense dislike for show. </p><p>"I wish I had an answer to that question," she said when asked by Insider about the critical response. "I guess all I can do is write about things that I care about and that interest me. I want to keep writing stories about interesting women because I've been waiting so long to do this, and I finally can." </p><h2>Overall, if you're a fan of horror, 'Betaal' is worth a watch</h2><p>Whether you're a hardcore horror fan or just in need of a new show to binge, the compelling plot and social commentary of "Betaal" make it worth a watch. </p><p>All four episodes of "Betaal" are currently streaming on Netflix, and you can watch the trailer below. </p>

Why horror fans shouldn't sleep on 'Betaal,' Netflix's quietly revolutionary new series

<strong><br /></strong><ul><li><strong>While the <keyword id="6408304" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="doordarshan">Doordarshan</keyword> has made us nostalgic with 80’s superhits like Ramayana, Mahabharat, the originals across OTT platforms — Netflix, <keyword id="758541" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Amazon-Prime">Amazon Prime</keyword> and <keyword id="6245082" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="ZEE5">ZEE5</keyword> — also have a lot to offer.<br /></strong></li><li><strong>From crime to horror and thriller, here are the Indian originals that will be worth your time during the lockdown.<br /></strong></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/"><strong>Visit businesinsider.in for more stories.</strong></a></li></ul>The 21-days nationwide lockdown has made Indians sit on their comfy couch and opt for binge watching. While the Doordarshan has made us nostalgic with 80’s superhits like Ramayana, Mahabharat, the originals across OTT platforms — Netflix, Amazon Prime and ZEE5 — also have a lot to offer.<br /><br />From crime to horror and thriller, here are the Indian originals that will be worth your time during the lockdown.<br /><br /><strong>Bhram — ZEE5<br /><br />  <div type="Youtube" id="hwmkcdOGnJk" title="Official Trailer | Bhram | A ZEE5 Original" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/hwmkcdOGnJk/mqdefault.jpg"></div></strong><br /><strong>IMDb rating:</strong> 8.9/10<br /><strong>Director: </strong>Sangeeth Sivan<br /><strong>Cast:</strong> Kalki Koechlin, Sanjay Suri, Ejaz Khan, Bhumila Chawla<br /><br />Alisha Khanna faces post-traumatic stress disorder, and moves to her sister’s place in Shimla to start afresh. Soon after, she starts getting visions of a girl. While it looks like hallucination at first, Alisha later investigates the story to write a book and finds out that the girl died 20 years ago.<br /><br />Bhram is an Indian thriller series of s female novelist who puts her own life in danger while investigating a girl who died 20 years ago.<br /><br /><strong>Jamtara — Netflix<br /><br />  <div type="Youtube" id="GoXd_sESBBI" title="Jamtara | Official Trailer | Netflix" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/GoXd_sESBBI/mqdefault.jpg"></div></strong><br /><strong>IMDb rating:</strong> 7.5/10<br /><strong>Director:</strong> Soumendra Padhi<br /><strong>Cast:</strong> Amit Sial, Dibyendu Bhattacharya, Aksha Pardhasany<br /><br />Jamtara is a story of a phishing operation in a small town in Jharkhand. A story of a group of youngsters fooling around people across the country by asking their personal bank details to transfer the money into their bank account. The chase stops when a cop decides to fight against it and tracks down a corrupt politician involved in the operation.<br /><strong><br />Inside Edge — Amazon Prime<br /><br />  <div type="Youtube" id="es_cjyjeYbc" title="Inside Edge Season 2 - Official Trailer 2019 | Amazon Original" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/es_cjyjeYbc/mqdefault.jpg"></div></strong><br /><strong>IMDb rating: </strong>8/10<br /><strong>Director: </strong>Karan Anshuman, Aakash Bhatia, Gurmmeet Singh<br /><strong>Cast: </strong>Richa Chadha, Vivek Anand Oberoi, Angad Bedi<br /><br />Inside Edge is a must watch for all the cricket lovers in India. Inside Edge is a story of a T20 cricket franchise showcasing the ‘behind the scenes’ of a cricket league. From conflict of interest to power, money and fame, the narrative is the ‘game behind the game.’<br /><br /><strong>Mission Over Mars (MOM) — ZEE5<br /></strong>  <div type="Youtube" id="6qWsmv3Y3rk" title="M.O.M | Mission Over Mars | Official Trailer | Mona | Sakshi | Nidhi | Palomi | ALTBalaji" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/6qWsmv3Y3rk/mqdefault.jpg"></div><br /><strong>IMDb rating: </strong>8.9/10<br /><strong>Director: </strong>Vinay Waikul<br /><strong>Cast:</strong> Mona Singh, Sakshi Tanwar, Nidhi Singh, Palomi Ghosh<br /><br />Mission Over Mars is an inspiring account of how the four women — who worked on the Mars Orbiter Mission — managed both their personal and professional lives to work for the country, India.<br /><br /><strong>Ghoul — Netflix<br /><br />  <div type="Youtube" id="zg0N4L4mwFk" title="Ghoul | Official Trailer [HD] | Netflix" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/zg0N4L4mwFk/mqdefault.jpg"></div></strong><br /><strong>IMDb rating:</strong> 7.1/10<br /><strong>Director:</strong> Patrick Graham<br /><strong>Cast:</strong> Radhika Apte, Manav Kaul, Ratnabali Bhattacharjee<br /><br />Ghoul, which was the second original on Netflix from India, is a horror web series set up in a military detention center where a young interrogator Nida Rahim investigates the truth. However, as she goes on, a lot of secrets unfold — exposing her, not the prisoner. <br /><br /><strong>State of Siege: 26/11 — ZEE5<br /><br />  <div type="Youtube" id="3htJTPZusl8" title="State of Siege: 26/11 | Official Trailer | A ZEE5 Original | Streaming Now on ZEE5" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3htJTPZusl8/mqdefault.jpg"></div></strong><br /><strong>IMDb rating:</strong> 7.8/10<br /><strong>Director: </strong>Matthew Leutwyler<br /><strong>Cast:</strong> Arjan Bajwa, Mukul Dev, Vivek Dahiya, Tara Alisha Berry, Arjun Bijlani<br /><br />State Of Siege: 26/11, as the name suggests, is a web series on the Mumbai terror attack that terrified the nation in 2008. The story reveals how lack of internal communication with the task force and protocols control and complicate things. <br /><br /><strong>SHE — Netflix<br /></strong><br />  <div type="Youtube" id="WPlXILGpOFk" title="She Official Trailer | A Netflix Original Series | Aditi Pohankar, Vijay Varma | March 20" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/WPlXILGpOFk/mqdefault.jpg"></div><br /><strong>IMDb rating:</strong> 6.7/10<br /><strong>Creator:</strong> Imtiaz Ali<br /><strong>Cast: </strong>Aaditi Pohankar, Vijay Varma, Vishwas Kini<br /><br />SHE is a psychological dark thriller. The story is about an undercover mission of the Mumbai police to crack down on a drug chain. Meanwhile, a constable of the police force takes the road to empowerment and realises her sexual potential. <br />

Watch these Indian original shows on Netflix, Amazon Prime and Zee5

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Ethan Miller/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">Comcast CEO Brian Roberts</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/cmcsa-stock">Comcast</a> beat on both the top and bottom lines.</li><li>The company added 363,000 internet subscribers, well ahead of expectations.</li><li><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/cmcsa-stock">Watch Comcast trade live here</a>.</li></ul><p>(Reuters) - Comcast Corp's quarterly profit and revenue topped Wall Street estimates on Thursday as it attracted more customers to its high-speed internet connections, offsetting a drop in cable TV subscribers that was also less severe than expected.</p><p>The show of continued momentum in the third quarter comes after the media conglomerate beat Rupert Murdoch's Twenty-First Century Fox to buy satellite TV broadcaster Sky for $40 billion in a sealed-bid auction in September.</p><p>Executives are expected to take a victory lap and spend an extra half hour on Thursday morning to introduce Sky Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Darroch to Wall Street analysts on a conference call.</p><p>Revenue from high-speed internet rose 9.6 percent to $4.32 billion in the quarter as the company added 363,000 internet subscribers, beating an average estimate of 294,000, according to research firm FactSet. The company said it was the best performance for the division in ten years.</p><p>Comcast also said in October its fastest-speed gigabit internet service reached more homes than any other provider in the United States after it completed a rollout to nearly all of the 58 million homes and businesses it serves.</p><p>The biggest U.S. cable provider said it lost 106,000 video customers, down from the 125,000 customers it lost in the same quarter last year, as some TV viewers dropped pricey cable bills for cheaper streaming options like AT&amp;T Inc's newly-launched WatchTV or Netflix.</p><p>Wall Street had expected a steeper decline of 152,000, according to FactSet. Revenue from its video segment fell nearly 3 percent to $5.59 billion.</p><p>Net income attributable to Comcast rose 9.2 percent to $2.89 billion, or 62 cents per share, from $2.64 billion, or 55 cents per share, a year earlier.</p><p>Excluding items, the company earned 65 cents. Analysts were expecting the company to earn 61 cents per share, according to Refinitiv data.</p><p>Philadelphia-based Comcast's revenue grew 5 percent to $22.14 billion, above the average estimate of $21.82 billion.</p><p>The company's total capital expenditures were down about 2 percent to $2.38 billion.</p><p>Revenue from the company's NBCUniversal segment rose 8.1 percent to $8.63 billion.</p><p>However, revenue from theme parks fell 1.4 percent to $1.53 billion due to weather-related disruptions.</p><p> </p><p>(Reporting by Akanksha Rana in Bengaluru; editing by Patrick Graham)</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-this-watch-costs-over-450000-dollars-bovet-2018-10">Why this Bovet watch costs over $450,000</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Comcast beats, adds more internet subscribers than expected

<p><div class="image-container float_right" style="width:480px"><div class="image"><p class="source"><keyword id="76338" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Reuters">Reuters</keyword> Tv/Reuters</p></div></div>LONDON (Reuters) - There is no evidence at this stage that a <keyword id="28762" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="fire">fire</keyword> that broke out on a <keyword id="815080" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Boeing-Dreamliner">Boeing Dreamliner</keyword> at London's <keyword id="131249" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Heathrow-Airport">Heathrow Airport</keyword> on Friday was linked to the aircraft's batteries, Britain's Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) said on Saturday.</p>
<p>"There has been extensive heat damage in the upper portion of the rear fuselage, a complex part of the aircraft, and the initial investigation is likely to take several days," the AAIB said in a statement.</p>
<p>"However, it is clear that this heat damage is remote from the area in which the aircraft main and APU (Auxiliary Power Unit) batteries are located, and, at this stage, there is no evidence of a direct causal relationship."</p>
<p>(Reporting by Estelle Shirbon; editing by Patrick Graham)</p>
<div class="nc_footer">
<p>Copyright (2013) Thomson Reuters. <a href="http://thomsonreuters.com/products_services/media/brand_guidelines/legal_notice/">Click for restrictions</a></p>
</div>
<p></p>

Boeing Dreamliner Fire Not Linked To Batteries 

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Sanger">Wikipedia</a></p></div><p></p></div></div>LONDON (Reuters) - Fred Sanger, a double Nobel Prize-winning British biochemist whose work pioneered research into the human genome, has died at the age of 95, the University of Cambridge said on Wednesday.</p>
<p>Sanger, who once described himself as "just a chap who messed about in his lab", worked with colleagues to develop a rapid method of DNA sequencing - a way to "read DNA" - which became the forerunner for the work on mapping the human genome.</p>
<p>He won his first Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1958 for work on determining the structure of insulin, and the same Nobel 22 years later for his work on DNA, the material that carries all the information about how living things look and function.</p>
<p>Colin Blakemore, a Cambridge professor of neuro<keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword> and philosophy said Sanger was "a real hero of twentieth-century British science", adding it was "impossible to exaggerate" the impact of his work on modern biomedical science.</p>
<p>"His invention of the two critical technical advances - for sequencing proteins and nucleic acids - opened up the fields of molecular biology, genetics and genomics," he said in a statement responding to news of Sanger's <keyword id="6355784" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="death">death</keyword>.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Kate Kelland; editing by Patrick Graham)</p>

Double Nobel Prize Winning Biochemist Fred Sanger Has Died At 95

<p><div class="image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><p class="source">REUTERS/Mohamed al-Sayaghi </p><p class="caption">Security personnel gather as firefighting trucks (R) drive to the Defence Ministry's compound after an attack in Sanaa December 5, 2013. At least 20 people were killed and dozens wounded on Thursday in a bomb attack and gun battles at <keyword id="44789" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Yemen">Yemen</keyword>'s Defence Ministry compound in Sanaa, a military source told Reuters. </p></div></div></div>SANAA (Reuters) - An al Qaeda-linked group has claimed responsibility for Thursday's attack on <a class="cite">Yemen</a>'s defense ministry that killed at least 52 people, the country's worst militant assault in 18 months.</p>
<p>"As part of the policy of targeting the operation rooms of pilotless planes, the mujahideen (holy fighters) have heavily struck one of these rooms in the Ministry of <a class="cite">Defence headquarters</a>," Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law) said in a Twitter message posted early on Friday.</p>
<p>The group is an offshoot of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).</p>
<p>"Such joint military locations which participate with the Americans in their war against this Muslim nation are a legitimate target for our operations," another tweet said.</p>
<p>Thursday's attack, in which 167 people were wounded, was carried out by a suicide bomber and gunmen wearing army uniforms. Some of the dead were foreign medics, including German, Vietnamese, Indian, Filipino nationals.</p>
<p>The U.S. military raised its alert status in the region after the coordinated strikes on <a class="cite">Yemen</a>, which is also home to what Washington has called the most active arm of al Qaeda.</p>
<p>The security threat is an international concern. The impoverished country shares a long border with <a class="cite">Saudi Arabia</a>, the world's top oil exporter, and sits close to key shipping lanes.</p>
<p>Violence is common in <a class="cite">Yemen</a>, where an interim government is fighting southern secessionists and northern Houthi rebels in addition to al Qaeda-linked militants, who are seeking to overthrow the government and impose their version of Islamic law.</p>
<p>The country is also facing severe economic problems inherited from former president <a class="cite">Ali Abdullah Saleh</a> who was forced out of office by a popular uprising in 2011.</p>
<p>Islamist insurgents took advantage of the chaos triggered by Saleh's overthrow to seize several southern cities, but were driven out in 2012 in a government offensive aided by U.S. drone strikes.</p>
<p>Al Qaeda militants have since killed hundreds of Yemeni soldiers and members of the security forces in a series of attacks, particularly in the southern provinces of the country.</p>
<p>In July last year, a suicide bomber wearing a <a class="cite">Yemeni army</a> uniform killed more than 90 people rehearsing for a military parade in the capital. Al Qaeda later claimed responsibility.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari, Writing by Mahmoud Habboush; editing by Patrick Graham)</p>

Al Qaeda-Linked Group Claims Responsibility Yemen Ministry Attack That Killed 52 People

<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrow_(Israeli_missile)">Wikimedia Commons</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div></span>JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel successfully tested its upgraded Arrow ballistic missile interceptor for the second time on Friday, pushing forward work on a U.S.-backed defense against threats seen from Iran, Syria and Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas.</p>
<p>One of several elements of Israel's still-developing defense against missile attacks, Arrow III is designed to deploy kamikaze satellites - known as "kill vehicles" - that track and slam into ballistic missiles above the earth's atmosphere, high enough to safely disintegrate any chemical, biological or nuclear warheads.</p>
<p>Iran and Syria have long had such missiles, and Israel believes some are also now held by their ally Hezbollah, another knock-on effect of Syria's civil war.</p>
<p>Friday's launch of an Arrow III interceptor missile over the Mediterranean sea was the second flight of the system, but did not involve the interception of any target, Israeli defense officials said. Israel deployed the previous version, Arrow II, more than a decade ago and says it has scored around a 90 percent success rate in live trials.</p>
<p>"The Arrow III interceptor successfully launched and flew an exo-atmospheric trajectory through space," Israel's Defense Ministry said in a statement.</p>
<p>Yair Ramati, head of the ministry's Israel Missile Defence Organisation, told reporters that as part of the test, which was attended by U.S. officials, the interceptor jettisoned its booster and "the kill vehicle continued to fly in space (and) conducted various maneuvers ... for a couple of minutes".</p>
<p>Israel predicts Arrow III could be deployed by next year. The Pentagon and U.S. firm Boeing are partners in the project run by state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).</p>
<p>Arrow is the long-range segment in Israel's three-tier missile shield. This also includes the successfully deployed "Iron Dome", which targets short-range rockets and mortar bombs favored by Palestinian guerrillas in Gaza, and the mid-range "David's Sling", still under development. They can be deployed alongside U.S. counterpart systems like the Aegis.</p>
<h3>PROLIFERATING THREATS</h3>
<p>The United States and Israel have been developing Arrow jointly since 1988. Washington says helping Israel develop the capability to shoot down missiles will help prevent escalatory wars - or preemptive Israeli strikes - in the Middle East.</p>
<p>Israel is assumed to have the region's sole atomic arsenal, as well as delivery systems including long-range missiles, and is bolstering defenses as potential threats proliferate.</p>
<p>It worries about Iranian ballistic missiles, whose number it estimates at around 400, especially given the possibility Tehran could eventually produce nuclear warheads for them. Iran, which denies seeking the bomb, is in talks with world powers about curbing its disputed nuclear program.</p>
<p>The civil war in Syria has raised questions about President Bashar al-Assad's control over his own ballistic Scud missiles. Israel says Damascus has used around half of these against Syrian rebels. Separately, Assad is decommissioning chemical weapons with which Syria's missiles might have been tipped.</p>
<p>Hezbollah guerrillas are helping Assad battle the insurgency and Israel believed they have obtained advanced Syrian weaponry including long-range missiles.</p>
<p>Briefing Reuters, a senior Israeli official estimated that Hezbollah now has between 60,000 and 70,000 rockets and missiles deployed throughout Lebanon, including a few dozen Syrian-supplied Scud Ds with ranges of 700 km (440 miles).</p>
<p>"It's the most significant threat facing Israel today," the official said of the Hezbollah missiles.</p>
<p>The Lebanese guerrillas fought Israeli forces to a standstill in a 2006 border war, firing some 4,000 rockets into the Jewish state.</p>
<p>The official, who declined to be identified by name given the sensitivity of the issue, was circumspect on how Israel's three-tier shield would function in a major missile exchange.</p>
<p>Single-interception trials had limited use for predicting Arrow's performance against potential missile salvoes.</p>
<p>"You need to pass this test - of a few dozen of them landing, in real time - to be able to speak about it with more certainty," the official said.</p>
<p>(Writing by Dan Williams; Additional reporting by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Patrick Graham)</p>

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