Erstellt am: 6. 8. 2013 - 13:20 Uhr

Exploring Mars Rocks

Reality Check: the next generation of Mars Rover; Hungary and Roma

Exploring Mars

EPA/NASA/JPL-Caltech

An artist's concept made available by NASA showing NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover, a mobile robot for investigating Mars' past or present ability to sustain microbial life.

It's exactly one year since a signal from Mars confirmed that the Curiosity Rover was safely on the Red Planet. It has since demonstrated that Mars could once have supported past life. It still has one year to go in its mission but NASA and scientists at Brown University are working on the next generation of Mars Rover. Jack Mustard, professor of geological sciences at Brown University, talks to us about the Mars 2020 mission:

Hungary

A court in Hungary has found four men guilty of killing Roma families in 2008 and 2009. Six Roma were killed and several wounded in a spree of attacks over more than a year that shocked the country and created a climate of fear in the Roma community. The Roma are Hungary’s largest ethnic minority, making up around 7 percent of the population. They often live in abject poverty and face widespread discrimination.

It’s the second headline in two days highlighting the plight of Roma in Hungary. On Monday, it emerged that several thousand Roma in the northern town of Ozd had had their water supplies cut off or reduced. Roma often depend on roadside water pumps because they can’t afford to pay for running water in their homes. The Ozd council said it cut off the water supply because residents were wasting water and it could no longer afford to operate pumps and wells.

Our Hungary correspondent Nick Thorpe reports: