Fight rages in Aleppo, forces bombard Damascus

The BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian forces bombarded parts of Damascus with helicopter gunships on Sunday, witnesses talk, clawing back territory from the rebels a week previus the fighters launched what they called a final battle for the capital.

-->
In a further escalation of a conflict that emboldened opponents of President Bashar al-Assad have turned into all-out civil war, fighting raged around the intelligence headquarters in the biggest city Aleppo and in Deir al-Zor in the east.

Syrian forces regained control of one of two border crossings seized by rebels on the frontier with Iraq, Iraqi officials said, but rebels said they had captured a third border crossing with Turkey, Bab al-Salam north of Aleppo.

"Seizing the border crossings does not have strategic importance but it has a psychological impact because it demoralizes Assad's force," a senior Syrian army defector in Turkey, Staff Brigadier Faiz Amr, told Reuters by phone.
"It's a show of progress for the revolutionaries, despite the superior firepower of Assad's troops."

Bombardments in Damascus and Deir al-Zor were some of the fiercest yet and showed Assad's determination to avenge a bomb on Wednesday that killed four members of his high command.

It was the gravest thro in a 16-month-old uprising that has turned into an armed revolt against four decades of Assad rule.

Rebels were driven from Mezzeh, the diplomatic district of Damascus, residents and opposition activists said, and more than 1,000 government troops and allied militiamen, backed by armored vehicles, tanks and bulldozers entered the area.

Three people were killed and fifty others, mostly civilians, were wounded in the early morning bombardment, said Thabet, a Mezzeh resident. "The district is besieged and the wounded are without medical care," he talk.

"I saw men stripped to their underwear. Three buses took detainees from al-Farouk, including women and whole families. Several houses have been set on fire."

Neighborhood of Barzeh, one of three northern areas hit by helicopter fire, was also under siege, by troops from the elite fourth division.

Division is run by Assad's younger brother, Maher al-Assad, 41, who is widely seen as the muscle maintaining the Assad family's Alawite minority rule.

His role has become more crucial since Assad's defense and intelligence ministers, a top general and his powerful brother-in-law were killed by the bomb on Wednesday, part of a "Damascus volcano" by rebels seeking to turn the tables in a revolt inspired by Arab Spring uprisings in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt.

Assad has not spoken in telecast since the bombing. Diplomats and opposition sources talk government forces were focusing on strategic centers, with one Western diplomat comparing Assad to a doctor "abandoning the patient's limbs to save the organs".

FIGHTING IN ALEPPO

Syrian state television quoted a media source denying that helicopters had targate on the capital. "The situation in Damascus is normal, but the security forces are pursuing the remnants of the terrorists in some streets," it talk.

Assad's forces, who also pushed into a rebel-held district in the northerly commercial hub of Aleppo on Saturday, targeted pockets of lightly armed rebels, who moved about the streets on foot, attacking security installations and roadblocks.

The Other opposition and rebel sources say the guerrilla fighters in the capital may lack the supply lines to remain there for long and may have to stage ‘tactical withdrawals'.

Residents talk the sound of shelling was so intense at dusk that they were unable to distinguish it from the traditional cannon blast marking the end of the daily fast for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Opposition activists talk late on Saturday that helicopters had fired rockets into a neighborhood near the southerly Sayida Zeinab district, causing dozens of casualties.

International Committee of the Red Cross said people were scrambling for safety. "Humanitarian needs are growing as the situation in the city worsens and as large numbers of people flee their neighborhoods in search of safe haven," it said.

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 1,261 people had been killed across Syria since last Sunday when the fighting escalated in Damascus, including 299 of Assad's forces, making it by far the bloodiest week in an uprising that has claimed the lives of 18,000 people

total of 180 people, including 48 troops, died on Saturday alone, many them in Homs province, epicenter of the revolt.

Most shops in Damascus were closed and there was only light traffic - although more than in the past few days. Some police checkpoints, abandoned earlier in the week, were manned again.

Many petrol stations were closed, having run out of fuel, and those that were open had huge lines of cars waiting to fill up. Residents reported long queues at bakeries.

FLIGHT FROM ALEPPO

A bloody crackdown on what began as a peaceful revolt has increasingly become an armed conflict between an establishment dominated by Assad's Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, and rebels drawn largely from the Sunni majority.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon talk he was sending his peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous and top military adviser General Babacar Gaye to Syria to assess the situation.

The Opposition activists in Aleppo talk hundreds of families were fleeing residential areas on Saturday after the military swept into the Saladin district, which had been in rebel hands for two days. Fighting was also reported in the densely-populated, poor neighborhood of al-Sakhour.

"For the first time we feel Aleppo has turned into a battle zone," a woman, who declined to be named, talk by phone from the city.

REBEL BORDER CROSSING RAID

On the Iraqi-Syrian border, Iraqi security and border officials talk Syrian forces had reasserted control over the Yarubiya crossing point on the Syrian talk of the frontier, briefly seized by rebels on Saturday.

Syrian opposition activists said several towns in Syria's Kurdish northeast had passed without a fight into local hands in recent days as central authority eroded.

Surge in violence has trapped millions of Syrians, turned sections of Damascus into ghost areas, and sent tens of thousands of refugees fleeing to neighboring Lebanon.

U.N. Security Council has approved a 30-day extension for a ceasefire observer mission, but Ban has recommended changing its focus to pursuing prospects for a political solution - effectively accepting there is no truce to monitor.

Diplomats said only half of the 300 unarmed observers would be needed for Ban's suggested plan, and several monitors were seen departing from Damascus on Saturday.

Speaking two days previus Russia and China vetoed a resolution to impose U.N. sanctions on Assad's government, Ban called on he Security Council to "redouble efforts to forge a united way forward and exercise its collective responsibility".

Regional and Western powers have voiced concern the conflict might become a full-blown sectarian war that could spill across borders. But Assad's opponents remain outgunned and divided.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, speaking after contacts with the head of the Arab League and Qatar's prime minister, said all three agreed that it was time for Syria's fractured opposition to prepare to take charge of the country.

"We would like to see the rapid formation of a provisional government representing the diversity of Syrian society," said Fabius. Syria's main political opposition group, the Syrian National Council, operating in exile, has so far failed to unite Assad's disparate foes on a united political platform.

Making SpaceX capsule-NASA chief views history

--> A McGREGOR, Texas—Marred by just a few scorch marks from its re-entry to the Earth's atmosphere,world's first commercial supply spacecraft to visit the International Space Station weathered its maiden voyage well, NASA and SpaceX officials talk Wednesday.
"almost untouched," SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk said as he looked at the Dragon capsule, which was on display at the company's rocket factory in McGregor.large, bell-shaped craft is more than 14 feet high and 12 feet in diameter.
Last month,unmanned SpaceX Dragon delivered 1,000 pounds of provisions—mostly food—to the space station and returned with nearly 1,400 pounds of old equipment and a handful of experiments. Because it was a nine-day test flight, NASA did not load it with anything valuable.

California-based SpaceX—formally named Space Exploration Technologies Corp.—is the first private business to send a cargo ship to the space station.company hopes to launch another capsule in September.
Musk talk that a site near Brownsville in South Texas is the leading candidate for SpaceX's latest spaceport. He and Texas Gov. Rick Perry met later Wednesday to discuss incentives and other issues.
Musk talk other launch sites under consideration—in Florida and Puerto Rico—had made stronger cases than Texas, "but that may be replace."
Perry spokeswoman Lucy Nashed said the meeting went well. Perry and Musk discussed Texas' interest in the project and commitment to working with SpaceX to find a good location for the spaceport in the state, Nashed talk.
"Locating this new facility in Texas would be a natural fit," Nashed talk in a statement.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden praised SpaceX and the Dragon, saying last month's flight was a success that had taken much time and hard work. Bolden said the capsule was "beaten up" during re-entry but is robust.

"A Sometimes, something bad is going to happen, but when it does ... they will bounce back," Bolden talk, referring to SpaceX. "NASA is with you."
The President Barack Obama is leading the move to commercial spaceflight. He wants routine orbital flights turned over to private businesses so the federal space agency can work on sending astronauts to Mars and asteroids.
NASA has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in seed money to vying companies, including SpaceX. It received nearly $400 million as part of its contract with NASA to develop the capability to carry cargo to the space station and back, including the recently completed Dragon flight, said company spokeswoman Kirstin Brost Grantham.

Democracy, Religion, Violence:Hamas in Politics

Key player in the politics of the Middle East, Hamas is renowned for its contradictory targat.Group uses terror tactics against Israel's civilians and military, yet runs on a law and order ticket in Palestinian elections; it pursues an Islamic state, yet holds internal elections; it campaigns for shari'ah law, yet its leaders are predominantly secular professionals; and it calls for the destruction of Israel, yet has reluctantly agreed to honor previously established peace agreements.

Hamas in Politics, Jeroen Gunning launches a probing study of the movement's passes in the political arena, showing that religion, violence, and democracy are not necessarily incompatible. Many of Hamas's apparent contradictions flow from the relationship between the organization's ideology, local constituency, and the nature of politics in Israel and Palestine. Gunning conducts interviews with members of Hamas as well as the group's critics and draws on a decade of close observation of the organization. He illuminates Hamas's understanding of its ideology and explores the tension between its dual commitment to "God" and "the people." Examining the group's political practice and what it says about the group's attitude towards democracy, religion, and violence, Gunning provides a unique window into Hamas's internal syntex, revealing its process of choosing leaders and determining policy.

First Bollywood's superstar, Rajesh Khanna, dies

NEW DELHI (AP) — Rajesh Khanna, whose success as a romantic lead in scores of Indian movies made him Bollywood’s first superstar, died Wednesday after a brief illness. He was 69.

-->
His wife, actress Dimple Kapadia, and two daughters were at his bedside when he died at his home in Mumbai, said his son-in-law, actor Akshay Kumar.

Khanna began his career in the mid-1960s in romantic films that were hugely popular. He played the lead role in some 120 of the 170 movies in which he appeared and won scores of awards.

His enormous success was a new phenomenon in India. Screaming fans surrounded him whenever he appeared in public. Women married his photograph and wrote him letters in their blood proposing marriage.

He was born Jatin Khanna on Dec. 29, 1942, in the northern Indian town of Amritsar. He took to acting while in school and adopted the name Rajesh Khanna when he began his career in films.

After his early success he became a favorite with film directors wanting a sure box-office winner. During the 1970s, he had 15 consecutive movies that set new sales records. He was feted as the king of romance and mobbed by hysterical fans, who kissed his car when they couldn’t get near him.

‘‘Khanna witnessed unbelievable popularity, such that no one had ever seen or imagined. In fact from 1969 to 1973, it was a one-horse race,’’ said Javed Akhtar, a screenwriter and poet.

Khanna debuted in 1965 with ‘‘Akhri Khath,’’ or ‘‘The Last Letter.’’ A few films followed where the young handsome actor was noticed and gained fame. Then in 1969, came the romantic drama ‘‘Aradhana,’’ or ‘‘Worship.’’ The film was a runaway success and Khanna’s career saw a meteoric rise.

In 1973, Khanna surprised his millions of fans by marrying Kapadia, a young and upcoming actress. The couple had two daughters, but they soon separated. Kapadia complained of his mood swings and bad temper when she moved out with her daughters. However, she returned to take care of Khanna after he fell sick two months ago.

After a nearly three-decade reign in Bollywood, Khanna saw his popularity dim when action films became the rage and younger stars rose to the top. His fall was swift as Khanna turned to alcohol and for the last few years of his life, he became almost a recluse.

As his film career faded, he shifted to politics and was elected to Parliament in 1992 and served there until 1996.

In Mumbai, large crowds of people gathered outside his house to mourn. As news of his passing became known, the crowds swelled and police had to push back the throng. Film stars and directors visited his home to offer condolences. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also conveyed his wishes to Khanna’s family and fans in a Twitter message.

Khanna’s funeral will take place in Mumbai on Thursday, family sources told Press Trust of India.

‘‘It’s a terrible day for all of us in the industry,’’ said Saira Banu, who acted in nearly a dozen films with Khanna. ‘‘He was a very humble person despite his superstar status.’’

By panel London Olympics security contractor called 'incompetent'

A private contractor's planning for security at the Summer Olympics in London was "incompetent,"chairman of a British Parliament committee said Tuesday.

-->
As athletes streamed into Heathrow Airport for next week's begain of the Games, lawmakers quizzed G4S security's Chief Executive Nick Buckles over his company’s last-minute failure to provide over 10,000 extra staff to police venues.

With controversy raging between government and disgruntled army and police officers called up to cover for the lack of trained staff which G4S was unable to provide, lawmakers asked Buckles to explain his company’s shortfall.

At a times appearing uncertain and unprepared, Buckles told the committee he was “deeply disappointed” and “embarrassed” about his firm's inability to deliver on the contract. Buckles said he only became aware of the shortage of security personnel on July 3 while he was on vacation in the United States.

Ian Horseman Sewell, G4S account manager for the Olympics, appeared beside Buckles and said he was unaware of any problem until last week.

A When pressed as to how many of the 10,400 staff called for last year he could provide, Buckles said it was his “expectation” that they could deliver 7,000. According to Parliament's website, G4S has a $443-million contract with the government to provide security guards, but only 4,000 guards were trained and ready as of Tuesday.

“A Ten days before the Olympics you aren’t able to give a better answer?” queried committee Chairman Keith Vaz. The G4S performance was judged by the committee to be “unacceptable, incompetent and amateurish,” said Vaz.

Committee cited other recent sporting events in Britain during which many G4S security staff had failed to turn up, forcing police to cover at the last minute.

Army troops have been recruited to provide 3,500 security staff to safeguard the Games, which begin July 27. Buckles confirmed that his company would reimburse both forces and provide bonuses and accommodation expenses for military personnel who filled the gap caused by the G4S debacle.

“We clearly regret signing the contract, but now we have to deliver,” said an unhappy Buckles, who together with Horseman Sewell also told the committee G4S would forfeit its $75-million fee for failing to provide full security but would not forgo its management fee of about $85.5 million.

Olympics contract was “a very specific massive events contract” outside its normal style of work providing private police and prison security, Buckles said. But G4S would not be bidding for future events, such as the upcoming World Cup and Olympics in Brazil.

The Olympic Games Chairman Sebastian Coe assured reporters Tuesday, according the Press Assn., that his organization was up to the challenge.

“It’s really simply about the mix of security on the park. ... This is not a failure in numbers, we've got the numbers there. There's no compromise on security.”

Pakistan might become home for India cricket

Pakistan might see much more of India , especially on the cricket field, in the coming soon. In search of secure real estate to play the game, Pakistan has proposed to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) that Mohali, adjoining Chandigarh, be one of two stadia in India where it can play home matches in the future.

"We are thinking about it," said a BCCI source. The immediate proposal is to have the Australia-Pakistan home series match in Mohali, because no team is ready to go to Pakistan after militants attacked the Sri Lankan team at Lahore in 2009.

Pakistan, therefore, has no real estate where it can play international matches, unless it plays on neutral ground. Also, it has been forced to host all its home series abroad.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) cites this as a major reason for its deficit budgets for the last two financial years. Australia has not played in Pakistan after 1998 due to security issues.

The Initially, Dubai was considered, for a series of three One Day Internationals (ODIs) between Australia and Pakistan, from August 27.

the Australian Cricket Association is faced with a near-mutiny from its players, who have demurred at playing in Dubai's August heat. Pakistan considers Mohali relatively safer because the Punjabi network and sentiment is strong. More, Lahore is literally minutes away by road.

Singapore, Malaysia and other venues have been considered. But these, cricket organisers say, are not so attractive, considering the television earn. Pakistan, which is understandably anxious to play the matches, was supposed to play three ODIs and three Twenty20 [ Images ] Internationals in Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Dubai from August 27 to September 10.

These could all now be played at Mohali.

The Negotiations are on for the second stadium that the Pakistan Cricket Board wants to lease to hold matches. PCB has left the choice of the venue to BCCI.

If the Mohali matches are a success, India could become a frequent venue for cricket matches to be played between Pakistan and other countries, leading to a further deepening of understanding and empathy between the two countries.

Syrian defense minister Daoud Rajiha killed in bombing, state-run media report

Syrian Defense Minister Daoud Rajiha pays his respects at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to mark Martyrs' Day in Damascus May 6, 2011. Rajiha was killed in a suicide blast in Damascus Wednesday along with President Bashar Assad's brother-in-law, state television and activists said. UPI/Handout

DAMASCUS, Syria, July 18 (UPI) -- A suicide blast in Damascus Wednesday killed Syria's defense minister and President Bashar Assad's brother-in-law, state television and activists said.

State television said Defense Minister Daoud Rajiha and Asef Shawkat, Assad's brother-in-law who was deputy chief of staff of the Syrian military, were killed when the suicide bomber attacked a building during a meeting of a group of senior ministers and security chiefs established to develop countermeasures to the 16-month uprising, The New York Times reported.

Also Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury Department designated for sanctions 29 senior Syrian officials and five companies linked to the Syrian agency responsible for developing and producing non-conventional weapons and missiles.

"To date, we have imposed sanctions on more than 100 individuals and entities, as well as the entire Syrian government, including its Central Bank and oil companies," the Treasury Department said in a statement.

"Today's actions reflect the unwavering commitment of the United States to pressure the Assad regime to end the carnage and relinquish power," said David S. Cohen, treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. "As long as Assad stays in power, the bloodshed and instability in Syria will only mount, and we will continue working with our partners in the international community to ensure that the inevitable political transition occurs as rapidly as possible."

Syrian state media denied reports by activists that Interior Minister Mohammad Ibrahim al-Shaar also died, saying he was alive and in stable condition.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights in London said all members of the crisis group were either dead or injured, but the Times said there was no official confirmation.

The official Syrian Arab News Agency described the assault as a "suicide terrorist attack" while opponents called it a major victory. Analysts told the Times the incident marked a turning point in the crisis.

"The Syrian regime has started to collapse," the activist who heads the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told the Times. "There was fighting for three days inside Damascus, it was not just a gunbattle, and now someone has killed or injured all these important people."

In Damascus, speculation surfaced the bomber was a minister's bodyguard but the Times said there was no confirmation of the reports.

"If a bodyguard blew himself up, then there [was] a major internal security breach," Elias Hanna, a former Lebanese military chief and military analyst, told the Times. "Who will replace these people? They are irreplaceable at this stage; it's hard to find loyal people now that doubt is sowed everywhere.

"Everyone, even those close to the inner circle, will now be under suspicion," he said.

Because of the confusion and the lack of an official tally of the dead and wounded, conflicting reports about who was killed and who survived were circulating, the Times said.

Elsewhere, the Local Coordination Committees of Syria said regime forces "have intensified the shelling by using helicopter gunships, artillery and mortars" in Homs.

At least 15 people had been killed across the country by midday local time, activists said.

Israeli intelligence indicated Assad was shifting troops into Damascus from Syria's border with the disputed Golan Heights held by Israel, the Times said.

The Syrian Network for Human Rights and the Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies said 85 Palestinians have been killed by Syrian forces since the uprising began, including five children and three women.

Meanwhile, the U.N. Security Council could vote Wednesday on whether to extend the mission of 300 U.N. monitors on the ground in Syria as a Friday deadline looms. The mission's work has been largely suspended because of surging violence since April, when U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan brokered a peace plan that included monitoring of a cease-fire.

The U.N. Security Council has two draft resolutions on the Syrian crisis before it. One threatens sanctions against Assad's regime if government forces don't stop attacks and also calls for renewing the U.N. observer mission for 45 days. Russia, a permanent Security Council member, has threatened to veto the measure.

Russia has opposed efforts seeking to blame, punish or change the Syrian government. Russia and China, trading partners with Syria, vetoed two other resolutions in the U.N. Security Council.

Russia has offered a draft resolution that "strongly urges all parties in Syria to cease immediately all armed violence in all its forms," CNN said. The Russian draft calls for renewing the observer mission for three months.

Two Syrian generals were among hundreds of refugees who crossed from Syria into Turkey overnight, bringing the total number of defecting generals to 20, the BBC reported.

The Syrian Network for Human Rights and the Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies said in its Tuesday report on rights violations several children were unable to receive proper care after they were injured by "indiscriminate bombardment carried out by the Syrian army."

The report said several Damascus neighborhoods and other villages were heavily damaged after being attacked by tanks and other weapons.

The United Nations estimates more than 10,000 people have been killed in the violence since the crisis began; opposition activists say more than 15,000 have died.

NASA:NASA builds menu for planned Mars mission in 2030

HOUSTON (AP) - Through a labyrinth of hallways deep inside a 1960s-era building that has housed research that dates back to the early years of U.S. space travel, a group of scientists in white coats is stirring, mixing, measuring, brushing and, most important, tasting the end result of their cooking.

Their mission: Build a menu for a planned journey to Mars in the 2030s.

The menu must sustain a group of six to eight astronauts, keep them healthy and happy and also offer a broad array of food. That's no simple feat considering it will likely take six months to get to the Red Planet, astronauts will have to stay there 18 months and then it will take another six months to return to Earth. Imagine having to shop for a family's three-year supply of groceries all at once and having enough meals planned in advance for that length of time.

"Mars is different just because it's so far away," said Maya Cooper, senior research scientist with Lockheed Martin who is leading the efforts to build the menu. "We don't have the option to send a vehicle every six months and send more food as we do for International Space Station."

Astronauts who travel to the space station have a wide variety of food available to them, some 100 or so different options, in fact. But it is all pre-prepared and freeze-dried with a shelf life of at least two years. And while astronauts make up a panel that tastes the food and gives it a final OK on Earth before it blasts off, the lack of gravity means smell - and taste - is impaired. So the food is bland.

On Mars though, there is a little gravity, allowing NASA to consider significant changes to the current space menu. That's where Cooper's team comes in. Travel to Mars opens the possibility that astronauts can do things like chop vegetables and do a little cooking of their own. Even though pressure levels are different than on Earth, scientists think it will be possible to boil water with a pressure cooker, too.

One option Cooper and her staff in the Johnson Space Center in Houston are considering is having the astronauts care for a "Martian greenhouse." They would have a variety of fruits and vegetables - from carrots to bell peppers - in a hydroponic solution, meaning they would be planted in mineral-laced water instead of soil. The astronauts would care for their garden and then use those ingredients, combined with others, such as nuts and spices brought from Earth, to prepare their meals.

"That menu is favorable because it allows the astronauts to actually have live plants that are growing, you have optimum nutrient delivery with fresh fruits and vegetables, and it actually allows them to have freedom of choice when they're actually cooking the menus because the food isn't already pre-prepared into a particular recipe," Cooper said.

The top priority is to ensure that the astronauts get the proper amount of nutrients, calories and minerals to maintain their physical health and performance for the life of the mission, Cooper said.

The menu must also ensure the psychological health of the astronauts, Cooper explained, noting studies have shown that eating certain foods - such as meatloaf and mashed potatoes or turkey on Thanksgiving - improve people's mood and give them satisfaction. That "link to home" will be key for astronauts on the Mars mission, and there are currently two academic studies looking further into the connection between mood and food. Lacking certain vitamins or minerals can also harm the brain, she said.

Jerry Linenger, a retired astronaut who spent 132 days on the Russian Mir space station in 1997, said food is important for morale and the monotony of eating the same thing day after day is difficult.

"You just wanted something different. I didn't care if it was something I wouldn't eat in a million years on Earth. If it was different, I would eat it," Linenger said, recalling with a laugh how he would even drink up a Russian sour milk-like concoction for breakfast or drink up some borscht because it offered variety.

Already, Cooper's team of three has come up with about 100 recipes, all vegetarian because the astronauts will not have dairy or meat products available. It isn't possible to preserve those products long enough to take to Mars - and bringing a cow on the mission is not an option, Cooper jokes.

To ensure the vegetarian diet packs the right amount of protein, the researchers are designing a variety of dishes that include tofu and nuts, including a Thai pizza that has no cheese but is covered with carrots, red peppers, mushrooms, scallions, peanuts and a homemade sauce that has a spicy kick.

To keep this menu going, and get the most out of any research about food sustainability on Mars, Cooper says it's possible NASA will choose to have one astronaut solely dedicated to preparing the food - the Emeril of the Mars mission.

Still, since it remains unclear how much time mission planners will want to spend on food preparation, Cooper is also building an alternate pre-packaged menu, similar to how things are done for crews that do six-month stints on the International Space Station. For this option, though, the food will need to have a five-year shelf life compared with the two years available now. NASA, the Department of Defense and a variety of other agencies are researching ways to make that possible, Cooper said.

The ideal, though, would be to combine the two options.

"So they would have some fresh crop and some food that we would send from Earth," Cooper said.

One of the biggest obstacles, at the moment, may be the budgetary constraints. President Barack Obama's budget proposal in February canceled a joint US-European robotic mission to Mars in 2016, and the rest of NASA's budget has also been chopped.

At the moment, Michele Perchonok, advanced food technology project scientist at NASA, said about $1 million on average is spent annually on researching and building the Mars menu. NASA's overall budget in 2012 is more than $17 billion. She is hopeful that as the mission gets closer - about 10 to 15 years before launch - that the budget will grow, allowing for more in-depth, conclusive research.

The mission is important: It will give scientists the chance for unique research on everything from looking for other life forms and for the origin of life on Earth to the effects of partial gravity on bone loss. It also will let food scientists examine the question of sustainability. "How do we sustain the crew, 100 percent recycling of everything for that two and a half years?" Perchonok said.

But first things first: None of this will happen without food.



Plushnick-Masti can be followed on Twitter at https://twitter.com/RamitMastiAP

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

NewsWorld:Today’s World News ICRC- declares Syrian conflict a civil war

Humanitarian organisation’s spokesman Hicham Hassan said: “We are now saids about a non-international armed conflict in country. Hostilities have spread to other areas of the country.

“The International humanitarian law applies to all areas where hostilities are giveing place.”

ICRC had restricted its assessment of the scope of the conflict to hotspots of Idlib, Homs and Hama, but the organisation is at acknowledging that the violence is big widespread.

Geneva-based group’s assessment may also have far-reaching legal implications.

“Non-international armed conflict”,fighting in Syria comes under Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, with both sides obliged to respect the “rules of war”.

Torture,mistreatment of civilians and the denial of medical treatment to the wounded are all outlawed under the conventions, and prosecutions for war crimes are more likely if a conflict is considered a civil war.

Foreign Office spokesman told Channel 4 News: “This will have serious legal and tacnuqe ramifications”. But he added: “We don’t need a label to know how dire the situation in Syria is.”

News comes as UN observers continue to investigate claims that more than 200 people were massacred by Syrian government forces in the village of Tremseh on Thursday.

Team found blood, burned homes and signs of artillery fire but were unable to confirm the digit of casualties.

The attack appeared to target the homes of opponents of the Assad regime and army defectors, a spokesman said yesterday.

The Syria’s Foreign Ministry later said 37 fighters and two civilians had been killed in clashes in Tremseh, far less than the death toll claimed by the opposition.

Ministry has rejected UN envoy Kofi Annan’s claims that helicopters, tanks and artillery were used in the attack.

The Sausan Ghosheh, a spokeswoman for the UN mission in Damascus, tolke on Sunday: “We can confirm that there was a military operation on July 12th, on Thursday.Attacks appeared targeted towards specific homes of activists as well as army defectors.

“A Our UN team there observed homes which had pools of blood and blood splatters in some of the rooms as well as empty bullet cases. There was a wide range of weapons used including heavy weapons and artillery, mortar and small arms.”

The Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Mr Annan in Moscow on Tuesday for talks on the conflict in Syria, a Kremlin statement said on Sunday.

The statement said: “During the course of the upcoming meeting, the plan is to ensure Russia’s granted for Annan’s peace plan for the politico-democratic regulation of the crisis in Syria.

“Russian side’s understanding that this plan is the only viable platform to the solution of Syria’s internal problems.”

The Lords reform of House

                                                 

.

Coalition has dropped idia for a crucial vote on its idia to reform the House of Lords after it faced likely defeat over the issue.

A Up to 100 Conservatives were granted to defy the government and oppose the idia to limit the time available for debating plans for a mainly elected second chamber of Parliament.

A said they were still Ministers "committed" to the plans.

One senior Conservative MP toke the plans had "lost moral authority"

Lib Dems have been pushing proposals for an 80% elected House of Lords that is half its current size - but the Conservatives and Labour also included a commitment to seek reform in their 2010 vote manifestos.

The Lib Dem ways say Prime Minister David Cameron had told his deputy Nick Clegg that the so-called "programme" (timetabling) motion should be withdrawn to gather support for it amongst meting over the next two months.

A BBC Political Editor Nick Robinson toke a spokesman for Mr Clegg had declared "a plague on both their homes" when asked whether he blamed the Conservatives or Labour for the setback.

Government had been facing defeat on the programme motion on the House of Lords reform bill, which would have limited the time for future debate on the proposed alter in the House of Commons to 10 days.

A Labour and rebel Conservative MPs toke this did not allow enough time to discuss a crucial constitutional alter.

A Commons leader Sir George Young told MPs the timetabling vote - seen as essential to the proposals ultimately becoming law - would not now take place and was likely to be rescheduled for the autumn.

Blamed Labour for the climbdown, saying it was "clear" that the opposition was not prepared to accept the government in Tuesday's vote despite supporting the idea of changes to the Lords. "It needs those that accept reform to vote for reform," he said.

Government "remain committed to making progress" on alternating the composition of the Lords, Sir George stressed.

A Foreign Secretary William Hague accused Labour of "opposition for opposition's sake" and talk all three parties had to surch "a procedural way forward". "We have to take stock and take note and try to establish a better consensus on this," he told the BBC.

Tory backbencher Jesse Norman talk it was "perfectly clear" that the government had backed down because of the scale of the likely rebellion on the Conservative benches and the proposals were now a "dead duck"

'Inadequate'



Government talk it will proceed with a separate vote later on the principle behind the case for an elected Lords - which it is likely to win as Labour have said they will vote for the motion.



Mr Jenkin, one of the leading opponents of the idia, questioned the future of the entire legislation.



"A Whatever moral authority the bill had, it has now lost," he talk. "The authority of the noise will be undermined if it proceeds with a bill which it is unable to obtain."



"Labour talk the decision not to press ahead with a vote on the issue of the time allocated for debate was a "victory for Parliament".



"This is not a wrecking tactic - far from it," talk Shadow Justice Secretary Sadiq Khan.



"We've already given our assurances we'll do all we can to ensure Bill progresses. Instead, it's about making good an inadequate bill".



"And that means allowing Parliament the time to revise, amend and improve Bill free from the threat of debate being stifled."



The Commons Speaker John Bercow has told MPs that the parliamentary rules mean that even if - as expected - the Bill is given a second reading it will not move on to the next stage of the parliamentary process.

Mr Bercow talk the Bill would remain "uncommitted" for the time being.