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Enlarge / Apple CEO Tim Cook. (credit: Chris Foresman)

Apple CEO Tim Cook has again reiterated the company’s firm commitment to privacy and its resolve to fight a new court order issued last week. If the order stands up to legal challenges, Apple would be forced to create a new customized iOS firmware that would remove the passcode lockout on a seized iPhone as part of the ongoing San Bernardino terrorism investigation.

Early Monday morning, Cook released a letter sent to employees and published a Q&A on the issue.

In the letter, which Apple provided to Ars, the CEO wrote:

BARCELONA—Monday at MWC has been a weird one for Sony. Aside from announcing its Xperia Ear—a Bluetooth headset-cum-virtual assistant—alongside the likes of a wearable 360-degree camera, and a quirky laser-projecting robot, it also unveiled a new set of Xperia phones, dubbed Xperia X.

Not only do the Xperia XA, Xperia X, and Xperia Performance arrive just six months after the Xperia Z5 series was announced—a lightning quick product cycle I'd hoped Sony would have dropped by now—it's chucked arguably the most beautiful design features into the budget-focused Xperia XA, not its top-tier phones. Like I said, this has been a weird day for Sony.

Still, if you are on a budget and need a new phone, there's nothing else quite like the Xperia XA. It features a polycarbonate body and near edge-to-edge 5-inch display that looks absolutely gorgeous. Coupled with the symmetrical top and bottom sections and light Sony branding, the XA has an austere look that would be right at home on a top-tier handset. Plus, the edge-to-edge screen makes the XA far smaller than your typical 5-inch device. If anything, it's much closer to the feel of Apple's old iPhone 5, which only had a 4-inch screen. It's light, too, at 137 grams, making it effortless to use with one hand.

China's space agency displayed a mock-up of the proposed rover at the 2014 Zhuhai Air Show. (credit: defence.pk/cirr)

China appears to be moving forward with its Mars ambitions, as a key space official has confirmed that work is continuing toward launching an orbiter and lander by 2020 or 2022.

“We are aiming to use the launch window of 2020," Dr. Wu Ji, director-general of the National Space Science Center in Beijing, told the website gbtimes. “If we miss that window, it will be 2022. So it is quite urgent.”

There has been discussion about the mission for several years, but the new report provides some additional detail about science payloads for both the orbiter and lander, including a ground penetrating radar. China also appears to be interested in further investigating the possible presence of methane and its implications for extant life on Mars.