Mainland still miles away from a mission to Mars
China is light years away from launching Mars exploration programmes, but preparation for investigating the Red Planet will be accelerated, according to senior space scientists. 'We do not have a timetable for a Mars probe programme at the moment, but such a project will surely benefit from our ongoing efforts to embark on a maiden, unmanned lunar mission,' said Liu Zhenxing, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in a report by China Daily.
Manufacturer to supply US military with 45,000 TVs
A Chinese manufacturer in Xiamen, Fujian province, is to supply 5,000 high-definition televisions as the first batch under a contract it signed with the US military, according to the Xiamen Daily. Xiamen Overseas Chinese Electronics was appointed a long-term supplier by the Army and Air Force Exchange Service, a US government department in charge of purchasing for the military. According to the contract, signed between the two sides, 45,000 TV sets are to be delivered to the US military within a year. Xinhua
Court puts brakes on driver's Mitsubishi suit
A mainland court yesterday rejected a compensation claim filed against Mitsubishi Motors Corporation by the family of a person who died in a traffic accident involving a locally assembled version of the sport utility vehicle Pajero. In an online report, Xinhua said the court in Changsha, Hunan province, ruled that the driver of the vehicle, and not the carmaker, was responsible for compensating the victim. The accident took place in Hunan in 2000. The Pajero was sold by a mainland carmaker which assembled the vehicle from imported parts. The victim's family sued Mitsubishi and the driver after the Japanese carmaker issued a recall of 4,300 imported Pajeros in August 2001 to repair faulty brakes. Kyodo
