The world’s closest glacier to a city shrank quickly in the past year and may completely vanish in half a century, according to a Chinese scientist Saturday.

In the last 12 months, the east and west stretches of Glacier No. 1 in the Tianshan Mountains in northwest China, shrank by about 7.2 and 6.3 meters, respectively, according to a recent survey by researchers with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

Glacier No.1 is approximately 130 km from Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

“There has been a remarkable increase of polluting dust on Glacier No.1 in recent years,” said Li Zhongqin, head of CAS Tianshan Mountains Glacier Observation Station.

He said that the dust could come from mining, vehicles on a nearby national highway nearby or soil degradation due to overgrazing.

“Given climate change, if no measures are taken, the shrinking will accelerate and the glacier may disappear in 50 years,” he said. “If protection is strengthened, it could last for 70 to 90 years.”

Death toll from the car-bus collision in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has risen to 12, said local authorities on Sunday.

Three people who were seriously injured died in hospital on the early morning of Sunday, confirmed the regional administration of work safety.

The accident happened at about 5:20 p.m. when an unregistered car crashed with a bus on a section of a national road in Arun Banner, Hulun Buir City.

Nine people were found dead at the scene. Thirteen others were injured, including four in critical condition.

A team formed by the public security, transportation, health and civil affairs authorities is taking care of the relatives.

Cause of the accident is under investigation.

The formal statement from the EU 27 after their Brexit discussions this week had some sensible and positive points in it. They talk of their “wish to have  the UK as a close partner in the future”. They ask for a single financial settlement but  do not put any figures in it. They wish this to include sorting out the shareholdings we have in the European Investment Bank and the ECB which must be our credits. They say they are ready “to initiate an agreement on trade, to be finalised and concluded once the UK is no longer a member state”. They want agreements that go wider than trade, to include security. They seem to accept in principle reciprocal rights for EU citizens in the UK and UK citizens in the EU.

They make much of how unified the EU is and will be over their negotiating position. The UK is not trying to cause division, as we are well aware that it is easier if there is one negotiator for them and they will all sign up to anything the central team agree. They seem unsure that they can hold it together as single voice and view, so they tell the other member states that they are not to talk Brexit with the UK individually. This seems both petty and unenforceable. A willingness to talk to partners is important, but does not mean the EU position will automatically fall apart. It might just be better informed and better reflect its member states views.

There are still some less helpful statements from the EU point of view in the official words. We are told at the beginning “Citizens who have built their lives on the basis of rights flowing from the British membership of the EU face the prospect of losing their rights”. It is difficult to see how this can be true, as the UK has made clear it wishes to ensure full rights to stay and work in the UK for all EU citizens who have legally done so, as long as UK citizens get the same treatment. Further down the document it implies that will be the EU’s view. We are told a trade agreement cannot be discussed until the leaving agreement has been hammered out, yet they also say there can be talks about it in parallel to the second phase of the leaving Agreement. They also say nothing is agreed until all is agreed, so the UK could require preliminary agreement on trade or countries in the EU at risk of high farm tariffs might want the EU to sort that out. Clearly the EU wants to run the risk of damaging its exports to the UK by tariffs.

The language on Ireland, Cyprus and Gibraltar is not as  inflammatory as some reports or interested parties seem to suggest.

All in all it seems to me to be a working document that the UK can respond to. Both sides accept the UK will be leaving the EU, its internal market and customs union. Of course the UK should pay its bills on leaving, but no-one has set out any  bill with financial and legal credibility  that goes beyond our regular contributions up to withdrawal date.

China’s large amphibious aircraft AG600 on Saturday successfully conducted its first glide test in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai as it is preparing for its maiden flight.

Other tests and check-ups are under way, according to the China Aviation Industry General Aircraft Co., Ltd.

Designed to be the world’s largest amphibious aircraft, the 37-meter AG600, with a wingspan of 38.8 meters, has a maximum take-off weight of 53.5 tonnes. It can collect 12 tonnes of water in 20 seconds, and transport up to 370 tonnes of water on a single tank of fuel.

With excellent maneuverability and a relatively wide search scope range, the AG600 will be mainly used for maritime rescue, forest fire fighting, marine environment monitoring and protection.

Aviation Industry Corp. of China said in March that AG600 would embark on its maiden flight over land in late May and on water in the second half of 2017.

The aircraft developer has received orders for 17 AG600s.

Jiaolong, China’s manned submersible on Saturday retrieved a basalt sample from the Zhenbei Seamount in the South China Sea which scientists say could shed light on the formation and evolution of seamounts in the area.

Jiaolong stayed underwater for nine and a half hours in its third dive in the second stage of China’s 38th ocean scientific expedition, which will last until May 13.

The maximum depth of the dive was 2,930 meters beneath the sea surface.

Aside from the five-kilogram basalt sample, it also brought back samples of sediments and seawater near the seabed as well as biosamples, in addition to high-definition photos and video footages.

“It is not easy (to acquire such a basalt sample). This valuable ‘rock’ will lay the foundation for our study of formation and evolvement of seamounts in the South China Sea during the Cenozoic period,” said Shi Xuefa, a researcher with the State Oceanic Administration.

“It is very important for the study of the region’s structural evolution,” Shi said.

Jiaolong has already completed two dives in the South China Sea on Wednesday and Thursday. A fourth dive has been planned on Sunday. The 38th oceanic scientific expedition started on Feb. 6. Jiaolong completed a dive in the northwestern Indian Ocean earlier this year in the mission’s first stage. It will also conduct surveys in the Yap Trench and the Mariana Trench in the third stage.

Named after a mythical dragon, Jiaolong reached its deepest depth of 7,062 meters in the Mariana Trench in June 2012.