The US space agency Nasa has launched its most advanced robotic

rover

to Mars. An Atlas rocket

took off

from Cape Canaveral in Florida. It's equipped with a suite of sophisticated instruments and tools to investigate whether life ever existed on the red planet. Our science correspondent Jonathan Amos watched the launch.

"Three, two, one, main engine start, zero and lift-off of the Atlas V with Curiosity."

A clean getaway for Nasa's biggest mission to Mars yet - a one-tonne rover nicknamed Curiosity. A radio message confirming the vehicle was safely on its way was received an hour later. But this was the easy part for Curiosity. Next August it must try to land on what one senior space agency official this week called the "death planet". Getting down onto Mars surface in one piece is notoriously difficult, and most efforts have failed. The Americans, though, have a good recent record and they believe a new rocket-powered descent system will be able to place the rover in one of the most exciting locations on the planet.

Police in the Democratic Republic of Congo have banned all political campaign rallies as tensions rise ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections on Monday. Police fired tear gas to disperse opposition supporters after clashes broke out in the capital Kinshasa. One man is said to have been killed as rocks were hurled back and forth.

BBC World News

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