Dunya TV

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• Shakib fined 75 percent of match fee
• Syrian rebels shoot down regime helicopter in east
• China hosting both Palestinian, Israeli leaders
• Kerry heading to Russia with full agenda for talks
• Bangladesh building collapse toll tops 640
• US gives dinosaur skeleton back to Mongolia
• Sharapova makes winning start in Madrid
• Tomic's father reportedly involved in assault
• O'Sullivan retains Snooker World Championship crown
• Ten-man Sunderland edge nearer safety
• Oil rises above $96 on US jobs growth
• Dollar firms after ECB's Draghi talks further easing
• New jobs and energy gains lift US economy
• Germany arrest 93-year old over Nazi crimes
• US determined to set foot on Mars by 2030

Shakib fined 75 percent of match fee Posted: DUBAI (AP) - Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has been fined 75 percent of his match fee for showing dissent during the second one-day international against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo on Sunday.The International Cricket Council says in a statement that Shakib pleaded guilty and accepted the sanction on Monday offered to him by match referee Chris Broad.Shakib nearly hit Zimbabwe wicketkeeper Brendan Taylor when he smashed his bat onto his pads after being given out lbw off the bowling of Prosper Utseya.Broad says such a reaction from the former Bangladesh captain was unacceptable and when the umpires finger goes up the batsman must leave the crease without showing his emotions.Zimbabwe won the match by six wickets to level the series 1-1.

Syrian rebels shoot down regime helicopter in east Posted: BEIRUT (AP) - Activists say Syrian rebels have shot down a military helicopter in the countrys east, killing eight government troops on board.The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Monday posted a video online showing several armed men standing in front of the wreckage.One of the fighters in the footage says its a helicopter that the rebels shot down late Sunday in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour, along Syrias border with Iraq.As the man speaks, the camera shifts to a pickup truck piled with bodies. The fighter is then heard saying that all of President Bashar Assads troops who were aboard the helicopter were killed in the downing.The Observatory, which relies on a network of activists on the ground, says eight troops were killed.

China hosting both Palestinian, Israeli leaders Posted: BEIJING (AP) - China is hosting the leaders of both Palestine and Israel this week in a sign of its desire for a larger role in the Middle East.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was welcomed by his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Monday as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu begins a visit to the eastern financial hub of Shanghai on the same day. Netanyahu is due in Beijing on Wednesday following Abbas departure a day earlier.China has traditionally had a low profile in Middle East diplomacy, but in recent years has tried to play a more active role in the region. It has sought stable relations with both sides in the Israel-Palestinian conflict, while strongly opposing international intervention in Syria.

Kerry heading to Russia with full agenda for talks Posted: WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Secretary of State John Kerry set off for Russia on his first visit since taking up the post on Monday, traveling with a diplomatic bag bulging with global problems, including the war in Syria.In a rare break with protocol he was to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, for what a senior State Department official called a fantastic opportunity for talks on the entire bilateral relationship.It is quite important that Secretary Kerry will have a substantial, full meeting with President Putin, the official said. A Secretary of State would normally meet his counterpart, Russias foreign minister.From Syria to the Boston bombings, missile defense, Iran and North Korea and rows over a ban on American adoptions of Russian children and the shuttering of US aid agencies, the plate will be full for the meetings.Syria is likely to top the agenda with the 26-month war threatening to spill across the region.Washington has long urged Moscow -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assads most powerful ally -- to use its sway to halt the bloodshed, accusing Russian leaders of continuing to arm the Syrian regime.Moscow has grown increasingly alarmed by the war, and at the weekend said it was especially concerned by Israeli strikes on Syrian targets, warning that the violence threatens neighboring Lebanon.There were also troubling reports that Syrian rebels had used the nerve agent sarin gas, which would mark a dangerous escalation in the fighting.We have no information to suggest that they have either the capability or the intent to deploy or use such weapons, a second State Department official said, adding Washington was trying to gather as many facts as possible.While both sides have already backed a political solution to the war in Syria, events have moved forward on the ground, he said.So this is a time to talk to the Russians to understand that from our side we remain committed, and if they are as well then we need to think about how to work operationally to make that happen, he said.I dont know if we will get an agreement or not, but we certainly think it is worth testing and trying to find some ways forward.Stepped up cooperation on counter-terrorism would also be high on the agenda for the talks, following the last months bombings of the Boston marathon blamed on two brothers of Chechen descent.Moscow and Washington were embarking on a new era on that front in the wake of the tragedy, the first official said, adding the two sides were looking for ways cooperate and boost their dialogue.Our counterparts here have made clear they are ready to engage on Syria, but they have many issues that they want to talk about, he added.While Kerry knows many Russian leaders from his days as a senator, this is his first trip to Moscow since taking up his post in February.After being famously re-set by Kerrys predecessor Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, ties have once again plunged to new lows following Putins return to the presidency last year.But analysts have cautioned little concrete progress is likely to emerge, with relations once again at a new low.If theres just a glimmer that they are in the mood, at least for now, to try to put things on a more cordial level, that in itself would be an achievement, said Russia expert Fiona Hill, director of the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution.Kerry will continue on to Rome on Wednesday, where he will meet with senior Italian government officials, the State Department said.He will also encounter Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh and Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni as part of his ongoing discussions on the path to peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Bangladesh building collapse toll tops 640 Posted: DHAKA (AP) - Bangladeshi police are investigating possible murder charges against the owner of a shoddily built factory that collapsed nearly two weeks ago after the wife of a garment worker crushed in the accident filed a complaint.The legal development comes as officials said Monday that the death toll from the countrys worst industrial disaster had reached 645.Sheuli Akter, the wife of Jahangir Alam, filed the complaint with Dhaka magistrate Wasim Sheikh, saying her husband and other workers were pushed toward death by building owner Mohammed Sohel Rana and two others.Alam was employed in New Wave Styles Ltd., one of the five garment factories housed in the eight-story Rana Plaza that collapsed April 24 as workers started their morning shift even though cracks had developed in the building.

US gives dinosaur skeleton back to Mongolia Posted: NEW YORK (AFP) - The United States on Monday gave back to Mongolia the remains of a 70-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus skeleton stolen from the Gobi desert and sold at auction in New York.The nearly complete skeleton of the Tyrannosaurus bataar, a cousin of the fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex, had been put up for sale and went for $1.05 million last year before US authorities intervened at Mongolias request.Top New York federal prosecutor Preet Bharara said at a handing-over ceremony near the United Nations that the United States had stopped a criminal scheme and now, one year later, we are very pleased to have played a pivotal role in returning Mongolias million dollar baby.The bones will find a welcoming home on return.We never had dinosaurs museum before, so well set up for the first time a new museum called Central Dinosaur Museum of Mongolia. T bataar is going to be the first item, first exhibit of the museum, said the Mongolian minister of culture, sport and tourism, Oyungerel Tsedevdamba.She said it was the first cultural repatriation ever to Mongolia.Collector Eric Prokopi pleaded guilty last December to smuggling the bones. He faces up to 17 years in jail at sentencing on August 30, as well as a $250,000 fine.Prokopi, who has denied trafficking, spent a year restoring and remounting what had been a loose collection of bones to recreate the skeleton, according to Heritage Auctions, which had attempted to sell the dinosaur on his behalf.The Florida dealer was also accused of illegally importing from Mongolia a second, nearly complete Tyrannosaurus bataar skeleton, two Saurolophus skeletons and two Oviraptor skeletons.He was also accused of smuggling a Microraptor skeleton from China.US customs director John Morton said the case had resulted in something extraordinary.This dinosaur skeleton belongs in Mongolia, not on the black market, he said.

Sharapova makes winning start in Madrid Posted: MADRID (AFP) - Maria Sharapova survived a sticky start to move into the second round of the WTA Madrid Open on Monday with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania.The Russian, who won the French Open on clay last year, brought a 16-match winning streak on the surface into Madrid and was strongly favoured to coast past a player who has been dogged by knee injuries.But she struggled at times in the first set before finding her range in the second.It had all been about adjusting to the dirt surface and the particular demands of playing in Madrid, Sharapova said.I feel like in the last week Ive really had to adjust to the different circumstances and the environment a bit, she said.When I got here it was really cold and the ball and the court were really heavy.A few days have passed and its like a whole nother tournament.For me, its just been about adjusting when you play indoors for over a week and you get back here and see the sun for the first time. Its a bit of an adjustment.The altitude as well. So I think there are a lot of things that come into playing when youre playing here.The stakes are high for Sharapova in Spain as she could regain the world number one spot from Serena Williams if the results go her way.Williams won through in straight sets on Sunday and the two could face off in the championship match at the end of the week.Another former world number one Victoria Azarenka of Belarus had a tough battle but the third-seeded Belarus player came through in two tie-breaks 7-6 (10/8), 7-6 (7/3) against the in-form Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who won the Portuguese Open on Saturday.Azarenka, who opened the Grand Slam season with a repeat victory in the Australian Open, said that it had been the perfect match to return to after being away with a right ankle injury she suffered in late February at the Indian Wells tournament.Well, yeah, it was a tough match, said the 23-year-old.Honestly, I dont think I could have asked for a better match to start after a break.There was everything there. A lot of up and downs and a lot of fighting.Obviously shes (her opponent) playing really good now. She won a tournament. Its a great test for me for the first match.Im really happy the way I pulled it off. Its a great platform to start improving and getting the preparation, more and more preparation for the next tournaments as well.If Azarenka, Sharapova and Williams safely won through to the second round, the same could not be said of some of the other seeds.Both Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark and Chinas Li Na crashed out on Sunday and Monday saw the end for Australias Samnatha Stosur as she lost 7-6 (9/7), 6-2 to home hope Carla Suarez Navarro.The 2011 US Open champion was competitive in the first set, but, once she lost that on a tie-break, her game unravelled and she was outplayed by the Spaniard, who lost the final of the WTA tournament in Portugal on Saturday to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia.Polands fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska also bowed out, beaten comprehensively 6-3, 6-1 in the second round by fast rising 19-year-old Briton Laura Robson.Robson will play either another former world number one Ana Ivanovic or South African qualifier Chanelle Scheepers in the third round.Sixth seeded German Angelique Kerber came safely through with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Alize Cornet of France, while former world number one Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, seeded third, was scheduled to play later against Pavlyuchenkova.In early action in the mens tournament, Japans 14th seed Kei Nishikori was too good for Jurgen Melzer of Austria winning at a canter 6-3, 6-2.

Tomic's father reportedly involved in assault Posted: MELBOURNE (AP) - Tennis Australia says it is investigating claims that Bernard Tomics father John has been involved in an incident with his sons hitting partner in Madrid.John Tomic, who is Bernard Tomics coach, was reported in the Australian media as being arrested for assaulting Thomas Drouet and will face a Madrid court on Monday.Todd Woodbridge, the head of mens tennis for Tennis Australia, told a Melbourne radio station Monday were still trying to ascertain if or what charges have been laid.Tennis Australia later issued a statement that obviously media reports regarding an incident in Madrid are very concerning ... we are working closely with ATP officials who are investigating the incident.Tomic lost in the first round of the Madrid Masters last week.

O'Sullivan retains Snooker World Championship crown Posted: SHEFFIELD (AFP) - Ronnie OSullivan retained snookers World Championship title with an 18-12 win over Barry Hawkins at Sheffields Crucible Theatre on Monday.OSullivans victory saw him become the first player to mount a successful title defence since Stephen Hendry in 1996 and gave the 37-year-old his fifth world championship in total.His latest World Championship was all the more impressive as OSullivan had effectively taken a year out from the sport since his 2012 Crucible triumph.Fans favourite OSullivan said during this years edition that he was only playing to pay his sons overdue school fees and, not for the first time, threatened to retire from snooker.The Rocket started Mondays final session 15-10 ahead, needing just three more frames for victory and having already compiled six century breaks -- a record for a Crucible final.But maiden finalist Hawkins kept his fellow Englishman waiting by taking the first two frames of the evening session before a trio of 50-plus breaks saw OSullivan, widely regarded as snookers most naturally talented player, to the title.

Ten-man Sunderland edge nearer safety Posted: SUNDERLAND, United Kingdom, May 06, 2013 (AFP) - Ten-man Sunderland took a small tep towards Premier League survival after coming from behind to draw 1-1 at home to Stoke on Monday.Former Manchester United defender John OShea rescued a point for Paolo di Canios side, already a man down after Craig Gardner was sent off, when he struck from close range in the 63rd minute following a corner.Jon Walters gave Stoke a ninth minute lead, reacting first to fire home after his header from Charlie Adams cross was blocked.Then, for the second match in a row, Sunderland found themselves down to 10 men after Gardner was shown a straight red card by referee Lee Mason for an over the ball one-footed challenge on Adam.The draw left Sunderland as one of three teams on 38 points (above Norwich and Newcastle on goal difference) and three points clear with two games to play of Wigan, who currently occupy the third and final relegation place.However, FA Cup finalists Wigan will also move to 38 points with two league games left, and intensify a manic battle to avoid demotion to the second-tier Championship, if they win at home to manager Roberto Martinezs former club Swansea on Tuesday.Sunderland next play Southampton, with the south coast side themselves not out of drop danger on 39 points, with di Canio glad he was able to inspire his team at half-time.What can you say at half-time? I tried to motivate my players and told them that we were playing at home, the Italian told Sky Sports. If you dont concede a second goal you can stay in the game.The players were amazing to react in the way they did. This point in my opinion will be crucial at the end of the season. I will not cry or make an excuse. We have players missing and I will only focus on those players I can select.We have to handle our aggression. It is a Champions League final for us against Southampton at the weekend. I will not watch Wigan tomorrow (Tuesday) as last time I watched them they won.Stoke manager Tony Pulis, frustrated by the outcome, praised Sunderlands resilience by saying: It was a hard-earned point, we knew it would be hard.You have to give Sunderland a lot of credit, they played with a lot of spirit and we are pleased to get a point to get to 41 points. Its one of those funny seasons when everything is not sorted out yet.Were disappointed not to take the three points which would have made us safe but we are 11th in the Premier League with two games to go. We can still finish in the top half.Bottom of the table Queens Park Rangers and Reading have already been relegated.

Oil rises above $96 on US jobs growth Posted: BANGKOK (AP) - Oil prices rose sharply again Monday as euphoria over a U.S. jobs report continued to push prices higher.Benchmark oil for June delivery was up 87 cents to $96.48 per barrel at midday Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.The contract jumped $1.62 to finish at $95.61 on Friday after U.S. employers added a surprisingly solid 165,000 jobs in April. That drove down the unemployment rate to a four-year low of 7.5 percent and suggested the U.S. economic recovery may be gathering pace.Demand for oil also tends to increase when the economy picks up, as factories produce more, people drive more and businesses use more fuel to ship goods.Rising oil prices are just a matter of improving sentiment around global growth, said Stan Shamu, market strategist at IG in Melbourne.Brent crude, which is used to set prices of oil from the North Sea used by many U.S. refiners, was up 60 cents to $104.79 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

Dollar firms after ECB's Draghi talks further easing Posted: NEW YORK (AFP) - The dollar Monday strengthened against the euro and other major currencies, boosted by fresh comments from Europes top central banker and last weeks strong US jobs report.At 2100 GMT, the euro bought $1.3074, down from $1.3116 late Friday.The dollar traded at 99.31 yen, up from 99.00. The euro also gained on the yen, buying 129.87, up from 129.80.The dollar continued to benefit from the surprisingly strong US jobs report for April on Friday, in the absence of new US economic indicators.The optimism from Fridays non-farm payrolls report continued to affect currency and equity flows as US stocks climbed to fresh record highs and the dollar extended its gains against the yen, said Kathy Lien of BK Asset Management.The US jobs report suggests further Federal Reserve easing efforts are less likely, said Omer Esiner of Commonwealth Foreign Exchange.While the pace of economic growth is not yet strong enough to fuel meaningful talk of the Fed scaling back its asset purchases, it does not appear to be weak enough to warrant further monetary easing, Esiner said.In Rome, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi reaffirmed that the ECB could implement additional easing actions if economic conditions do not improve.The ECB last week cut its benchmark interest rate to boost growth in the recession-riddled eurozone.The euro tumbled after Draghi reiterated that the ECB is ready to act again if needed which suggests the possibility of a further reduction in rates, said Eric Viloria of Forex.com.A leading European indicator of business activity, the Markit purchasing managers index, showed continued contraction in the eurozone in April, with powerhouse Germany registering its first decline since November.The British pound traded at $1.5539, down from Fridays level of $1.5572.The dollar bought 0.9382 Swiss franc, up from 0.9348.

New jobs and energy gains lift US economy Posted: WASHINGTON (AP) - A stronger-than-expected April rebound in job creation and recent dramatic discoveries of vast U.S. oil and gas reserves are helping to lift the American economy out its long funk.The economic good news is also drawing attention to the importance of private-sector innovation rather than government policy in fostering growth.The Labor Departments report that payrolls expanded by 165,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate declined to a four-year low of 7.5 percent does not represent explosive job growth by any measure.Yet the report offered a big sigh of relief to President Barack Obama and his Democratic allies in Congress.It also may help blunt Republican criticism of Obamas policies and make it easier for him to give more attention to other issues on his agenda, including immigration, gun control and global warming.At the same time, it provided the Republican Party with more support for their call for a smaller government and fewer regulations on business.The recent jobs improvements were mostly driven by private-sector gains independent of action by the president and Congress.Most legislative fiscal stimulus programs, begun in 2008 under President George W. Bush and expanded under Obama, have run their course. The Federal Reserve, however, continues to stimulate the economy by holding down interest rates and effectively printing money to buy government and mortgage-related bonds.In fact, the report showed employer confidence about the economic outlook even in the face of new federal budget cuts. Economists widely agree that job gains would have been bigger were it not for the automatic across-the-board cuts that are beginning to take an $85 billion bite out of government spending.The energy sector plays a major role in global economic growth and recovery.Recent discoveries have put the United States on track to become the worlds largest producer of oil and natural gas in a few years. At the same time, oil imports have fallen to a 17-year low.The energy breakthroughs have come despite Obamas heavy emphasis on promoting renewable clean-energy sources, such as wind and solar power, for the future.In the months and years ahead, domestic energy production is going to be a real driver of economic growth, said economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office and chief economic adviser to Sen. John McCains 2008 presidential campaign.These energy gains, while not that big yet, will be reflected in more jobs at drilling and other energy work sites, reduced manufacturing costs and improvements in the nations balance of trade, said Holtz-Eakin, now head of the American Action Forum, a conservative public policy institute.Theres a lot of things in this jobs report one could like. But its also something that leaves you with a long way to go. Its hard to appreciate when youre in the grips of one, but recessions always come to an end. Recoveries always eventually follow, obeying the physics of business cycles.But this recovery has been agonizingly shallow, given that the recession officially ended way back in mid-2009. Even at 7.5 percent, the jobless rate hovers well above pre-recession levels.Even at the improved pace of job creation over the past six months, it will still take until early 2018, five more years, to get back to the more normal unemployment rate of 5 percent or less that prevailed before the recession began in late 2007, said economist Heidi Shierholz of the labor-oriented Economic Policy Institute.This is one of those reports that is totally context driven. In good times, the 165,000 new jobs would be fine, but nothing to write home about, she said.Its not bad. But we should have added over 6 million jobs since December 2007. Instead, were down 2.6 million jobs, she said. Theres a big disconnect between people who are just happy that job growth was better than their expectations and what the report really says about where the labor market is.Even so, stocks soared on cue, with the Dow industrials on Friday briefly rising above 15,000 for the first time before falling back a bit to close at 14,974, still a record close.The jobs report also reflected a recovering housing industry. But not all sectors were up. Manufacturing, for instance, was flat.While most energy-related sectors may be on the rise and new technological developments are promising, the benefits to manufacturers will be muted because U.S. manufacturing has become so much less energy intensive overall in recent years, said Alan Tonelson of the U.S. Business and Industry Council, which represents close to 2,000 mainly family-owned manufacturing companies.Tonelson worries about foreign trade barriers, continued high levels of government spending despite recent cutbacks, and the Feds continuing efforts to stimulate growth by printing money.Debt-led growth never ends well, he said. Still, the latest jobs report gave the administration a big dose of good news, even as officials agreed there was still far to go.The economy has now added private-sector jobs every month for 38 straight months, and a total of 6.8 million jobs, said Alan Krueger, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.It is critical that we remain focused on pursuing policies to speed job creation and expand the middle class as we continue to dig our way out.

Germany arrest 93-year old over Nazi crimes Posted: BERLIN (AFP) - German authorities arrested a 93-year-old alleged former guard at the Nazi death camp Auschwitz on Monday on charges of complicity in the mass murder of prisoners.Prosecutors in the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg said the man was believed to have worked at the camp between autumn 1941 and its closure in 1945.The man, who was detained at his home, appeared before a judge and was taken into custody, the prosecutors office in the state capital Stuttgart said in a statement. The indictment against him is currently being prepared.Authorities declined to release the suspects name but media reports indicated it was Hans Lipschis, who figures among the Simon Wiesenthal Centers most-wanted Nazis.Stuttgart prosecutors confirmed to AFP last month that they were working on a probe launched late last year against a suspect who had worked at Auschwitz.Lipschis has been living in the Baden-Wuerttemberg town of Aalen and reportedly told authorities that he worked as a cook, not a guard, in the camp in occupied Poland.Lithuanian-born Lipschis was granted ethnic German status by the Nazis. He moved to the United States in 1956 but was deported to Germany in 1983, Welt am Sonntag newspaper reported.The Simon Wiesenthal Center, in its 2013 report, lists him as its fourth most-wanted Nazi, saying he served in the SS-Totenkopf Sturmbann (Deaths Head Battalion) from 1941 until 1945 at Auschwitz and participated in the mass murder and persecution of innocent civilians, primarily Jews.More than one million people, mostly European Jews, perished at Auschwitz-Birkenau, operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland from 1940 until it was liberated by the Soviet Red Army on January 27, 1945.Germany has broadened the scope of its pursuit of Nazi war criminals since the 2011 conviction of Ukraine-born John Demjanjuk, a former guard at the Sobibor death camp in Poland.In that case, the court ruled that any role at a death camp amounted to accessory to murder, widening culpability from those found to have personally ordered or committed murders and atrocities.Demjanjuk was sentenced to five years prison for complicity in some 28,000 murders. He died at a nursing home last year while free awaiting an appeal.Lipschis is among 50 surviving Auschwitz staff who are being investigated in Germany under the broadened culpability rules.

US determined to set foot on Mars by 2030 Posted: WASHINGTON (AFP) - Setting foot on Mars by the 2030s is human destiny and a US priority, and every dollar available must be spent on bridging gaps in knowledge on how to get there, NASAs chief said Monday.Addressing a conference of space experts at George Washington University, NASA administrator Charles Bolden said that despite hard economic times the United States is committed to breaking new boundaries in space exploration.A human mission to Mars is today the ultimate destination in our solar system for humanity, and it is a priority for NASA. Our entire exploration program is aligned to support this goal, Bolden said.President Barack Obama has proposed a $17.7 billion dollar budget for NASA in 2014, and he supports a vibrant and coordinated strategy for Mars exploration, Bolden said.Among the first steps to sending astronauts to Mars are NASAs plans to capture and relocate an asteroid by 2025, a process that should inform future efforts to send humans into deep space, the former astronaut said.Also, US astronaut Scott Kelly has volunteered to spend one year at the International Space Station in 2015 to allow doctors to assess how long-duration zero gravity exposure affects bone density, muscle mass and vision.Currently, a rotating cast of global astronauts each spend a maximum of six months aboard the orbiting outpost.But despite increasing interest in landing on Mars, and a newly diverse space race that involves many countries instead just of old Cold War foes the United States and Russia, there is plenty that experts just do not know about how to reach Mars.For instance, there is no existing space vehicle to carry people on the seven-month or longer journey there, not to mention no plan for returning people to Earth.Medical experts are unsure what the physical ramifications would be for people who attempt to travel in high-radiation environments for such extended periods. And just how people would survive, breathe, eat and drink on the dry, red planet are significant obstacles that have yet to be overcome.The US has demonstrated that we know how to get to the Moon, Bolden said. What we have not demonstrated and what I think everyone in this room -- well most people in this room will concede, is that there are technological gaps to sending humans to an asteroid and to Mars, he added.And so every single moment of our time and every single dollar of our assets must be dedicated to developing those technologies that allow us to go beyond low Earth orbit, beyond the Moon.The United States is the only nation that has successfully sent robotic explorers to land on Mars, the most recent being the Curiosity rover which touched down in August 2012. The first-of-its-kind landing demonstrated that humans have figured out how to send a one-tonne package of machinery to Mars.But many experts believe that the size of the package needed to maintain a human habitat on Mars would weigh more like 40 tonnes. There also needs to be a suitable flight vehicle, and a type of fuel potent enough to get it there quickly.Perhaps a precursor to a human landing on Mars would be another rover that would land at an established site, drill down and hopefully find fresh water, said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for the science mission directorate.That would also be the beacon that allows subsequent missions to navigate to a very precise landing, said Grunsfeld.

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