17 February 2017 – It should be winter on the Arctic pole &#8211 the northern most point in the world &#8211 but the equivalent of heatwaves have passed over the region this season melting the sea ice volume to a record low in January, the United Nations meteorological agency said.

&#8220Temperatures in the Arctic are quite remarkable and very alarming,&#8221 said David Carlson, Director of the World Climate Research Programme which is co-sponsored by the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the International Council for Science.

Sea ice extent was the lowest on the 38-year-old satellite record for the month of January, both at the Arctic and Antarctic, according to data cited WMO from both the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) and Germany’s Sea ice Portal operated by the Alfred-Wegener-Institut.

The Arctic sea ice extent averaged 13.38 million square kilometres in January, according to NSIDC. This is 260,000 square kilometers below the level in January 2016 &#8211 an area bigger than the size of the United Kingdom.

&#8220The recovery period for Arctic sea ice is normally in the winter, when it gains both in volume and extent. The recovery this winter has been fragile, at best, and there were some days in January when temperatures were actually above melting point,&#8221 said Mr. Carlson.

&#8220This will have serious implications for Arctic sea ice extent in summer as well as for the global climate system. What happens at the Poles does not stay at the Poles.&#8221

In addition, the ice levels at the Antarctic are also at record lows, even thinner than expected for the summer season there.

The the archaeological site of the capital of the Xia Dynasty (c. 21st century-16th century BC) in Erlitou in Henan Province in central China.  [lyrb.com]

A museum and a park will be built on the ruins of the capital of the Xia Dynasty (c. 21st century-16th century BC), China’s earliest dynasty, local cultural heritage authorities said on Thursday.

“Construction of the project will start in the first half of the year near the village of Erlitou in the city of Luoyang where more than 40,000 square meters of the ruins have been excavated since 1959,” said Yu Jie, head of the city’s cultural heritage bureau.

Citing a plan passed by the provincial government, Yu said that the museum, with a planned building area of 30,000 square meters, will showcase about 40,000 items, such as excavated antiques, text and graphic documents related to the early dynasties, including the Xia and Shang (c. 16th century-11th century BC).

The most famous piece unearthed there is a 70-centimeter-long dragon formed from more than 2,000 pieces of turquoise. Chinese archaeologists dubbed the artifact the “Dragon of China”, saying it was the earliest evidence of Chinese infatuation with dragons.

A cultural ruins park covering 41 hectares will also be built. It will protect and display the sites of the ancient city walls, palace and roads, as well as handicraft workshops of bronze casting and turquoise, and the sacrifice venue of the ruins.

“The park will also simulate scenes from more than 3,000 years ago by landscaping and building workshops based on the discoveries,” Yu said.

China will continue to be open and active in its technological cooperation on the world stage, the Ministry of Science and Technology said on Thursday.

In June, Beijing will host the Eighth Clean Energy Ministerial, followed by the Fifth BRICS Science and Innovation Ministerial in July, said Ye Dongbai, the ministry’s director of international cooperation.

In addition, dialogue on innovation and technology will be held with Russia, Germany, France, Italy, Israel and other countries this year to facilitate practical cooperation, Ye said.

“International cooperation in science and technology can increase China’s global influence, promote breakthroughs in scientific and industrial bottlenecks, and create a friendly environment to facilitate economic reform,” he said.

Beijing has established cooperative ties in science and technology with 158 countries and regions, inking 111 intergovernmental agreements, he added.

It has also joined more than 200 intergovernmental organizations dedicated to boosting such cooperation, as well as sending 146 technology diplomats to 71 Chinese embassies and consulates abroad.

China has become a major global research and development player, accounting for 20.4 percent of the world’s total R&D spending last year, according to the Industrial Research Institute, a US nonprofit think tank for industrial management and innovation.

Last year, the country broke into the world’s top-25 innovative economies, becoming the first middle-income country to do so, according to a report by the United Nation’s World Intellectual Property Organization, INSEAD Business School and Cornell University.

“China should actively propose new ideas, new initiatives and new plans on the world stage, so that we can play a leading role in facilitating cooperation in global production and equipment manufacturing,” Ye said.

A private zoo on Thursday dismissed allegations that a tiger shown in a video that went viral was abused.

Videos showing a keeper pulling a tiger’s tail and sitting on him at an animal park in Xiuwen county, about 30 kilometers from the provincial capital of Guiyang, Guizhou province, have been reposted by media outlets and individuals on Sina Weibo and WeChat.

One of the videos starts with a keeper pulling a tiger’s tail. The keeper then walks behind the animal several times around a small artificial hill. The keeper was also shown sitting on the tiger’s back and pulling its ears.

A red line on the body of one tiger later aroused suspicion that the tiger was injured by the keeper. Some netizens also said they saw no teeth in the tiger’s mouth.

“The video is clipped from a live-streaming video done three months ago. They were in a training session,” said Wang Shulin, manager of the zoo. “It didn’t receive much attention when the live streaming was being done. I don’t know why it suddenly went viral.”

The zoo, which was established in 2006, has 30 tigers.

Yao Shiming, the keeper seen in the video, has been with the 2-year-old tiger since it was a cub and “it’s common that they play in that way”, Wang said, adding that they “didn’t interfere with the live streaming” done by employees.

“I spent at least one hour and, at most, four hours a day with the tiger for more than two years. It sometimes bites me for fun, but never injures me,” Yao said. “It just considers me a tiger and we have a very good relationship.

“I asked my colleague to take the video and I only wanted to share that in my WeChat. Others are afraid of the animal, but I can play with it.”

Ren Yuewu, director of Xiuwen’s ecological civilization department, said an investigation by police found no evidence that the keeper had abused the animal.

“The red line on the tiger was not blood, but red paint, and there is no problem with the tiger’s teeth,” Ren said.

However, supervision of the zoo will be strengthened, while keepers’ behavior will be regulated to avoid future misunderstandings, he added.