Castro meets China's senior party official in Havana 
China's new central leadership is willing to work together with the Cuban side to enhance bilateral friendly cooperation in the political, economic, international and multilateral sectors to push forward the Sino-Cuban friendly ties and usher in a bright future, a senior Chinese party leader said in Havana Monday. 

Li Changchun, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, who is here on an official good-will visit, made the remarks in a meeting Monday with Fidel Castro, Cuba's president of the Council of State and Council of Ministers. 

In a cordial and friendly manner, both sides had an in-depth exchange of views on relations between the two parties and the two countries, as well as international and regional issues of common concern. 

Li said he, entrusted by the new leadership of the CPC led by General Secretary Hu Jintao, was here to see the remarkable achievements made by the Cuban people led the Cuban Communist Party. 

China felt happy about and admired these achievements, Li said. 

Speaking highly of the relations between the two parties and the two countries, Li said Castro, in his successful visit to China in February this year, had extensive contacts and in-depth discussions with Chinese leaders and reached important consensus, giving new impetus to the Sino-Cuban ties. 

Castro said the Cuban Communist Party and government highly valued China's great achievements in its socialist construction, especially those in the social development. 

Cuba also thanked the Chinese Communist Party, the government and people for their long-term understanding and support for the Cuban people in their revolution and construction, he said, adding that Cuba treasures the deep friendship between the two peoples. 

He stressed that the current international situation is becoming increasingly complicated, and many unprecedented new circumstances and problems have appeared, noting that human beingsare facing many severe challenges and difficulties. 

Under these circumstances, he hoped both Cuba and China continued to make great efforts to further strengthen their exchanges and cooperation in various fields. 

Mexican government efficient amid sluggish world economy 
The Mexican government led by President Vicente Fox has been efficient although it suffered the most adverse economic conditions in the country's history, Fox's top economic adviser Eduardo Sojo says. 

In an interview with Spanish daily El Pais, published on Monday,Sojo said Fox had taken measures to keep fiscal discipline, maintaining low interest rates, containing inflation and reducing poverty. 

The measures maintained Mexico's qualifications in international markets, the head of Fox's economic group said. 

Mexico's gross domestic product in the first half of this year was estimated to grow by 2.3 percent, Sojo said. 

The World Bank (WB) has estimated Mexico's economic growth at 2.2 percent to 2.4 percent this year, lower than the government's target of three percent. 

Sojo attributed the country's economic stagnation to "adverse international economic conditions." 

Sluggish economic growth in the United States, the destination of 80 percent of Mexico's exports, had a direct impact on Mexico'seconomic development. 

Compared with other countries in the region, Mexico was better positioned, once the world economy started to recover, because it had addressed its macroeconomic imbalances, Ernesto May, the WB'sdirector of economic and poverty analysis for Latin America and the Caribbean, said last month. 

Launch of US second Mars rover successful 
Opportunity, the second of US twin Mars rovers seeking to better understand the history of water on the red planet, was launched successfully Monday night. 

A Delta II Heavy rocket carrying the robot explorer lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, at 23:18 EDT (0318GMT Tuesday), showed live TV coverage by US space agency NASA. 

The launch of Opportunity, originally set on June 25, had been postponed more than half a dozen times due to bad weather and technical glitches. 

Opportunity and its identical twin, dubbed Spirit and launched on June 10, will land on separate sites on Mars next January. The missions of the two rovers together cost 800 million US dollars. 

They will join the European Space Agency's Mars Express and Japan's Mars probe Nozomi (the Japanese word for Hope), both already on their way and scheduled to reach Mars as early as December 2003, and other two US spacecraft now orbiting Mars, in what NASA officials called "one of the most intensive explorationsof another planet in history." 

Recent observations indicated that there was water on Mars in the past, but scientists hope to find out how long water existed there and whether it could sustain the existence of life. 

The designated landing site for the rover Opportunity is Meridiani Planum, which has a large deposit of gray hematite, a mineral that usually forms in a wet environment. Spirit will visitGusev Crater, a place appearing to have been an ancient lake. 

At a height of about 1.5 meters, each rover carries five scientific instruments and can work as a robot field geologist forat least 90 days, self-driving across the Martian surface, navigating itself around obstacles and examining rocks and soil for clues to water and life.