In one of the more bizarre power plays we've heard of in a while, China's Great Wall Motors is accusing Italian car designer Fiat of stealing their business secrets. If you're thinking "wait, isn't it usually the other way around?", you might be interested to know that Fiat had sued GWM two years ago for copying the design of a previous car, suspiciously named the "Panda" (we know, national heritage). The Chinese manufacturer claims that after their faux-Panda was banned in Italy, Fiat illegally infiltrated their engineering center with the purpose of stealing GWM's secrets. Although the attorney for GWM has deigned to specify exactly what secrets were stolen, we have a funny feeling they were more knock offs. After all, they're only asking for 100,000 RMB in reparations, which is suspicious in itself. more ›

A Chinese businessman is trying to sue hurdling champion Liu Xiang after injuring himself while driving a luxury car the Olympian had endorsed. The Jiangxi resident had collided with a truck and banged his nose on the windscreen when the car's airbags failed to activate. His doctor's bill amounted to almost 1000 RMB. Since he had bought the car because of an advert featuring Liu, the hurdler was obviously responsible. In that vein, we're thinking of suing this guy's mother for offending our sensibilities by producing such a dickwad... it makes about as much sense. Source: Reuters more ›

A summary of some of the Shanghai public-transportation-related stories making the news lately:
• An intelligent, wireless signaling and control system already successfully implemented on Lines 6, 8 and 9 will be used for all new lines built between now and the World Expo in 2010, theoretically cutting the lowest time between trains to 90 seconds.
• According to news reports, the new 3G cellphone network being rolled out in Shanghai has complete coverage on all metro lines and at the city's airports.
• The airport authority and police have printed up brochures explaining in Chinese and English what is allowed and not allowed to be brought onto airplanes under the new rules limiting gels and liquids in unchecked baggage.