NASA scientists are plotting the next move for their Mars rover which has reached the edge of a deep crater after a marathon 21month trek across the red planet.

The six-wheel robot Opportunity spent its first week at Victoria crater taking pictures of the halfmile-wide jagged crevasse filled with dramatic cliffs which hold clues about the Martian past. The crater's exposed rock layers promise to shed light on whether Mars could have been hospitable to life.

Opportunity and its twin, Spirit, both uncovered geologic evidence of past water activity on the planet since their landings in 2004.

Prodi 'rap' storm in Italy

ITALIAN politicians are arguing whether a pseudorap video starring prime minister Romano Prodi . . .without his consent . . . is defamation or satire.

An anonymous DJ has strung together snippets from Prodi's most awkward moments during an embattled speech in parliament last week.

At first broadcast only on the internet, it has now been taken up by TV stations like the state-run RAI. In the video, Prodi is edited to make him appear to stutter nervously.

Lion mayhem in China

A LION escaped from a Chineses circus last Friday causing chaos and tragedy.

The animal cleared a twometre high barrier between it and the audience, and made off into the night.

The panicked lion sparked a series of tragedies. Landing in the audience after jumping out of the ring, one woman was so frightened she suffered a miscarriage, three other spectators were injured and the lion was eventually shot dead after attempts to recapture it using nets and anaesthetic dart guns failed.

A spokesman for the small travelling circus in eastern China later blamed the fact the animal was only rented and its tamer had not yet won its confidence.

Taxi driver fined over dog refusal

UK DISABILITY campaigners have welcomed a fine for a taxi driver who claimed that he refused to carry a woman's guide dog because he was a Muslim.

Abdul Rasheed Majekodunmi (43), from west London, was fined £200 and ordered to pay just over £1,200 in costs by a court for refusing to take Jane Vernon in his cab.

When he arrived to collect her at a pre-arranged place and time, she was refused entry because of her six-year-old black Labrador-retriever cross Innis, an offence under Britain's Disability Discrimination Act.