California climbers train for Mt. Everest from the comfort of their own beds Everest guide Adrian Ballinger is breaking with decades of tradition to create what he believes are better and more ethical ways to climb the world’s tallest mountain. 04/28/2024 - 11:00 pm | View Link
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering Newly digitized letters shed light on mountaineer George Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Mount Everest, leading up to the last days before he disappeared. 04/27/2024 - 10:03 am | View Link
The Khumbu Icefall is Open on Mt. Everest The route up the iconic Khumbu Icefall has been set, and climbers are clamoring to the upper reaches of Mt. Everest. What lies ahead? 04/23/2024 - 11:14 am | View Link
Everest: Icefall Open but Climbers Advised to Hurry Through It The route through the Khumbu Icefall has finally opened. With this, dozens of heavily laden workers are heading up to build Camps 1 and 2. Yet the route through the Icefall is more treacherous than ... 04/18/2024 - 1:41 am | View Link
China Opens Mount Everest: Climbers Welcome After Three-Year Hiatus China is set to allow foreign climbers to ascend Mount Everest for the first time in nearly three years since the outbreak of COVID-19. Mount Everest According to foreign media such as CNN, the China ... 04/15/2024 - 10:58 pm | View Link
Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf resigned on Monday ahead of a vote of no confidence on Wednesday that appeared he would lose.
His resignation comes little more than a year after he took up the post, becoming the first non-white and first Muslim leader of Scotland.
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Read More: Meet the New Face of Scotland
“I cannot tell you what an honour it is being the first minister of the country I love, the country I’m raising my family in and the only country I will ever call home,” Yousaf said from Bute House, the official residence of the First Minister.
NAIROBI, Kenya — A dam collapsed in western Kenya early Monday, killing at least 40 people after a wall of water swept through houses and cut off a major road, police said.
The Old Kijabe Dam, located in the Mai Mahiu area of the Great Rift Valley region that is prone to flash floods, collapsed and water spilled downstream, police official Stephen Kirui told The Associated Press.
Ongoing rains in Kenya have caused flooding that has already killed nearly 100 people and caused the opening of schools to be postponed.
Heavy rains have been pounding the country since mid-March and the Meteorology Department has warned of more rainfall.
The East African region is experiencing flooding due to the heavy rains, and 155 people have reportedly died in Tanzania while more than 200,000 people are affected in neighboring Burundi.
Kenya’s main airport was flooded on Saturday, forcing some flights to be diverted, as videos of a flooded runway, terminals and cargo section were shared online.
More than 200,000 people across Kenya the country have been affected by the floods, with houses in flood-prone areas submerged and people seeking refuge in schools.
President William Ruto had instructed the National Youth Service to provide land for use as a temporary camp for those affected.
PARIS — French media are reporting that police have summoned actor Gérard Depardieu for questioning about allegations made by two women that he sexually assaulted them on movie sets.
Broadcaster BFMTV and the daily Le Parisien both reported that the 75-year-old actor was called in for police questioning in Paris on Monday.
The Paris police, the Paris prosecutor’s office, Depardieu’s lawyers and a lawyer for one of the alleged victims did not immediately respond to Associated Press emails seeking comment.
BFMTV and Le Parisien reported that the police summons relates to accusations of sexual assault filed by two women who accuse him of groping during filming — one in 2014, the other in 2021.
Depardieu has also been accused by more than a dozen other women of harassing, groping or sexually assaulting them.
HONG KONG — A Hong Kong transgender activist on Monday received a new ID card reflecting his gender change, after a yearslong legal battle to change the document, and he vowed to continue working for equality for the LGBTQ+ community.
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Henry Tse won his appeal over the government’s refusal to change the gender on his ID card in February 2023.
WASHINGTON — U. S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely didn’t order the death of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny in February, according to an official familiar with the determination.
While U. S. officials believe Putin was ultimately responsible for the death of Navalny, who endured brutal conditions during his confinement, the intelligence community has found “no smoking gun” that Putin was aware of the timing of Navalny’s death—which came soon before the Russian president’s reelection—or directly ordered it, according to the official.
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Read More: From Beyond the Grave, Russian Dissident Alexei Navalny Challenges Vladimir Putin at the Polls
The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.
Soon after Navalny’s death, U.
Scotland First Minister Humza Yousaf is preparing to quit on Monday after he decided he wouldn’t survive a confidence vote, The Sunday Times reported.
Senior Scottish National Party members were informed of Yousaf’s decision, made over the weekend, the newspaper said. John Swinney has been approached to become interim first minister in the event of Yousaf’s departure, though the former SNP leader is reluctant to step up because of personal reasons, the Times said.
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Yousaf’s position had become increasingly tenuous after he decided to end his party’s power-sharing deal with the Greens last Thursday, saying the cooperation agreement reached after the SNP fell one seat short of a majority in the 2021 election had “served its purpose.”
Read More: Exclusive: Meet the New Face of Scotland
While Yousaf made clear he intends to continue to run Scotland as a minority government, the opposition Conservatives lodged a vote of no-confidence in him that was set to take place this week.