Lead: Launch of M5 rocket postponed due to bad weather
February 20, 2006The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency decided Tuesday to postpone the launch of an infrared ray astronomical satellite on an M5 rocket due to rainfall around Uchinoura Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture, it said. The rocket will be launched at 6:28 a.m. on Wednesday, it said.
NTT to conduct Japan-U.S. test on fetal telemedicine technology
February 20, 2006Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. said Monday it will test the feasibility of transmitting digitalized medical images of fetuses between Japan and the United States, using its ultrahigh-speed experimental network. Although prenatal treatment is increasingly significant, the number of fetal medicine specialists in Japan is still small, compared with European countries, the United States and Canada, and pregnant women with diseased fetuses are occasionally unable to receive adequate prenatal care and management, NTT said, explaining the background of the experiment.
Chemical spill cuts water supply for 20,000 in S.W. China
February 20, 2006A chemical spill in a southwestern Chinese river has halted the water supply to more than 20,000 people in Sichuan Province since last Wednesday, the state-run China Daily said Monday. The residents of the town of Guanyin have been relying on water shipped from another town following the pollution blamed on a power plant in the upper reaches of the Yuexi River, the paper said.