Quotable

"During the last number of years, Mandela played a very limited role both in the party politics and national situations. The political situation has developed without his direct involvement and therefore his absence will not have a major impact on the direction of political developments."

Dirk Kotze, professor of the department of Political Sciences of the University of South Africa, tells Xinhua News Agency that Mandela's presence as an elder statesman was appreciated by all, but it had more of a symbolic value than any direct impact on the direction of events.

"Filing a lawsuit is just a way of getting attention. It's not for money, but to push the textbook compilers to improve their work and get mistakes corrected."

Peng Banghuai, who works for a training organization, sued People's Education Press for six mistakes in a Chinese textbook used by millions of students.

"Our lunar exploration project has plans for up to 2020, and we are pushing ahead to carry out the plans."

Wu Zhijian, spokesman for the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, the Chang'e-5 probe and a following probe will bring back samples from the moon by 2020, he said.

(China Daily Africa Weekly 12/20/2013 page3)