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Dinosaur Fossils Found in Antarctica

Visitors look at a 67 million year-old skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaur in Paris. (Reuters)
Visitors look at a 67 million year-old skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaur in Paris. (Reuters)
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Dinosaur Fossils Found in Antarctica

Visitors look at a 67 million year-old skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaur in Paris. (Reuters)
Visitors look at a 67 million year-old skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaur in Paris. (Reuters)

In an Antarctic expedition, researchers have discovered a fossilized dinosaur footprint approximately 200 million years old.

It is about the hand-sized trace of an animal from the group of archosaurs, said the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) in Hanover.

According to the German news agency, the researchers found the trail finder in January 2016 in the Helliwell Hills in northern Victoria Land, but their findings were recently published in the journal "Polar Research".

BGR expedition leader Andreas Läufer revealed that dinosaur bones were already discovered in the southern Viktorialand, in the north, however, not even a tooth.

"That was something we had not expected at all," he said.

In addition, scientists found fossilized remnants of forests around 1700 kilometers from the South Pole.

"This is an indication that Antarctica was not the icy continent, as we know it today, about 200 million years ago," said Räufer.

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China to Offer Childcare Subsidies in Bid to Boost Birth Rate 

People push baby strollers along a business street in Beijing on July 13, 2021. (AFP)
People push baby strollers along a business street in Beijing on July 13, 2021. (AFP)
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China to Offer Childcare Subsidies in Bid to Boost Birth Rate 

People push baby strollers along a business street in Beijing on July 13, 2021. (AFP)
People push baby strollers along a business street in Beijing on July 13, 2021. (AFP)

China's government will offer subsidies to parents to the tune of $500 per child under the age of three per year, Beijing's state media said Monday, as the world's second most populous nation faces a looming demographic crisis.

The country's population has declined for three consecutive years, with United Nations demography models predicting it could fall from 1.4 billion today to 800 million by 2100.

The nationwide subsidies apply retroactively from January 1, Beijing's state broadcaster CCTV said, citing a decision by the ruling Communist Party and the State Council, China's cabinet.

"This is a major nationwide policy aimed at improving public wellbeing," CCTV said.

"It provides direct cash subsidies to families across the country, helping to reduce the burden of raising children," it added.

There were just 9.54 million births in China last year, half the number than in 2016, the year it ended its one-child policy, which was in place for more than three decades.

The population declined by 1.39 million last year, and China lost its crown as the world's most populous country to India in 2023.

Marriage rates are also at record low levels, in a country where many young couples have been put off having children by high child-rearing costs and career concerns.

Many local governments have already rolled out subsidies to encourage childbirth.

In March, Hohhot, the capital of China's northern Inner Mongolia region, began offering residents up to 100,000 yuan ($14,000) per newborn for couples with three or more children, while first and second children will be eligible for 10,000 and 50,000 yuan subsidies.

In Shenyang, in northeastern Liaoning province, local authorities give families who have a third child 500 yuan per month until the child turns three.

Hangzhou, in eastern Zhejiang province, offers a one-time payment of 25,000 yuan to couples who have a third child.

More than 20 provincial-level administrations in the country now offer childcare subsidies, according to official data.

Premier Li Qiang vowed to provide childcare subsidies during the government's annual work report in March.

The country's shrinking population is also ageing fast, which has sparked worries about the future of the country's pension system.

There were nearly 310 million aged 60 and over in 2024.