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☆ Ex-British Gurkha hopes Everest climb will change disability perceptions
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KATHMANDU, May 21 (Reuters) - Hari Budha Magar, the first above the knee double amputee to scale Mount Everest, said on Sunday that his ascent would raise awareness about disability. “Gurkha veteran, Hari Budha Magar creates history … as the first ever double above-knee amputee to scale Mt Everest,” the Gurkha Brigade said in a twitter post. “I hope my climb will help change the perception of persons with disabilities,” Magar told Reuters from the base camp by phone. Mount Everest has been climbed by more than 11,000 people, including those with disabilities – like blindness and below the knee amputees. Nepal has issued 478 permits to climb Everest during the current season that ends this month.

☆ Britain’s record holding climber says Everest is 'dry, more rocky'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The 49-year-old Cool, who climbed the 8,849-metre (29,032 foot) peak for the first time in 2004, said the giant mountain appears to be drying now. "A general trend of the mountain is to be more rocky and less snow ... Cool said he had never seen the types of rock falls he saw on the Lhotse Face, along the route to the Everest summit, before. Also this week, a 53-year-old Nepali guide, Kami Rita Sherpa, improved his own record of most summits after scaling Everest for the 27th time. Cool said his 17th ascent might not be the last and he would return to the mountain next year.

☆ UK climber Kenton Cool sets record for most Mount Everest summits by a non-Nepali
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Lilit Marcus | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Kathmandu CNN —British mountaineer Kenton Cool has set a record for the most Mount Everest summits by a non-Nepali after reaching the top of the world’s highest mountain for the 17th time. According to a post on Cool’s Instagram account, the trio reached the top of Everest at 1:30 am British Summer Time, which is 6:15 am Nepal time. On Monday, 46-year-old Pasang Dawa Sherpa reached the mountain’s apex for the 26th time, tying his countryman Kami Rita Sherpa for the number of all-time ascents. “Unfortunately, when accidents do happen on the mountain, more often than not the tragedy tends to strike the Nepalese workers who are there supporting foreign climbers,” Ballinger told CNN. All we can do is fight and advocate for the increased regulation of the mountaineering industry in Nepal.”

☆ Kami Rita Sherpa breaks record with 27th Mount Everest summit
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Lilit Marcus | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —A Nepali Sherpa has reached the top of Everest for the 27th time, breaking the world record for total number of summits of the world’s tallest, and one of its deadliest, mountains. Kami Rita Sherpa, a 53, completed his latest ascent early on May 17, Nepal Department of Tourism official Bigyan Koirala told CNN. Kami — most Sherpas go by their first names — is a senior guide at Kathmandu expedition company Seven Summit Treks. “We are very happy to know that this morning at 8:30 a.m., Kami Rita successfully summitted Mount Everest along with a foreign climber,” said Mingwa Sherpa, chairman of Seven Summit Treks. He added: “Currently Kami Rita is descending.

☆ Spanish mountaineer, 84, injured just short of goal to become world's oldest climber
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A Sherpa fell on Carlos Soria, injuring his tibia, a message posted on his behalf on his Twitter and Facebook accounts said. The climber, who was on his 15th attempt on Mt Dhaulagiri, was preparing to make a push for the summit when the incident occurred, the Himalayan Times newspaper said. Sherpa guides were bringing him down to base camp, for him to be evacuated to Kathmandu by helicopter, Guragai added. Soria has successfully climbed 12 of the world's 8,000-metre peaks and had the Dhaulagiri and Tibet's Shishapangma left to become the oldest climber to reach the summits of the planet's 14-highest peaks. Writing by Emma Pinedo; Editing by Aislinn Laing and Emelia Sithole-MatariseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Nepali sherpa sets Everest record with 27th ascent
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Nepali mountaineer Kami Rita Sherpa waves upon his arrival after climbing Mount Everest for the 24th time in 2019, setting a record for the most summits of the world's highest mountain, in... Read moreKATHMANDU, May 17 (Reuters) - A Nepali sherpa scaled Mount Everest for a record 27th time on Wednesday, beating his own record, a government official and his hiking company said. Kami Rita Sherpa, 53, scaled the 8,849 metre (29,032-foot) mountain early in the morning along the traditional southeast ridge route, guiding a foreign climber. "Yes, Kami Rita climbed Sagarmatha for the 27th time," said Department of Tourism official Bigyan Koirala, referring to the mountain by its Nepali name. For now it's 100% confirmed that Kami Rita scaled for the 27th time,” Guragai said. Climbing contributed $5.8 million to state coffers this year, $5 million of it from Mount Everest, according to government data.

☆ Nepali sherpa becomes world’s second person to scale Everest 26 times
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KATHMANDU, May 14 (Reuters) - A Nepali sherpa guide climbed Mount Everest for the 26th time on Sunday, hiking officials said, becoming the world’s second person to achieve the feat. Pasang Dawa Sherpa, 46, stood atop the 8,849-m (29,032-ft) peak, sharing the record number of summits with Kami Rita Sherpa, said Bigyan Koirala, a government tourism official. Kami Rita, who is also climbing on Everest now, could set another record if he makes it to the top. "They are descending from the top now and are in good shape," the official, Dawa Futi Sherpa, told Reuters. Kiani, a 37-year-old banker based in Dubai, had climbed four of the world's 14 highest mountains before Everest, the Himalayan Times newspaper said.

☆ From Rap Star to Engineer to Young Mayor Demolishing Swaths of Kathmandu
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Emily Schmall | Bhadra Sharma | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

KATHMANDU, Nepal — Before he aspired to Kathmandu’s highest office, Balendra Shah appeared on the city’s rooftops, a singer facing off in rap battles or filming music videos. His songs, which focused on poverty, underdevelopment and the rot he saw at the root of Nepal’s entrenched political culture, drew an avid following among the country’s youth. One song, “Balidan,” meaning “sacrifice” in Nepali, has drawn seven million views on YouTube. People supposed to protect the country are idiotsLeaders are all thieves looting the country“There’s a diss culture in hip-hop music,” he said in a recent interview. Balen, as he is known in Nepal, made an unlikely bid for mayor of Kathmandu, the Himalayan country’s capital, last May.

☆ Human genome reboot better reflects global population
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The new genome rundown may help clarify the contribution of genetic variation to health and disease, improve genetic testing, and guide drug discovery. "A pangenome is not just one reference genome, but a whole collection of diverse genomes. Researchers in 2003 unveiled what was billed as the complete sequence of the human genome, though about 8% of it had not been fully deciphered. That reference genome was a mosaic drawn from about 20 people, including 70% from one individual of mixed European and African ancestry. The first complete human genome, based on a single European individual, was published last year after scientists filled in the gaps.

☆ 'Death zone' queues feared on Everest as Nepal grants record climbing permits
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] A general view of the Everest base camp taken from a drone, in Nepal April 24, 2023. So far, Nepal has handed out a record 463 permits to climb Everest between March and May, beating 2021's 409. Climbing is a key earner for the poor country, where about 500,000 people are employed in tourism, including climbing, and the number of permits has been rising steadily. So far this year, Nepal has granted permits to 1,046 climbers for 24 peaks, earning the government $5.6 million, of which $5 million came from Everest alone. He said the government was considering introducing a requirement for climbers to scale at least one 6,000-metre peak in Nepal before attempting Everest.

☆ One Climber Dies and Another Is Missing on Himalayan Mountain
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Bhadra Sharma | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

An experienced alpinist from Northern Ireland was found dead and another climber from India went missing on the same mountain in central Nepal on Tuesday. The Northern Irish climber, Noel Hanna, who had scaled Mount Everest 10 times, was found dead inside his tent at Camp 4 of Annapurna after scaling the 26,545-foot-tall mountain without supplemental oxygen on Monday, officials said. Yubaraj Khatiwada, a tourism official in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, said the cause of Mr. Hanna’s death was unclear. The climber had just descended from Annapurna, the world’s 10th-highest peak, according to his expedition agency, Seven Summit Treks. Mr. Khatiwada also said that two Indian mountaineers went missing on Monday after losing radio contact with the base.

☆ Ten-time Everest climber dies after scaling Annapurna peak in Nepal
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Noel Hanna, who had climbed Mount Everest 10 times, scaled the 8,091 metres (26,545 feet) Annapurna peak in west Nepal on Monday and died overnight in Camp IV after descending from the peak. He said an Indian climber, who fell into a crevasse on the lower reaches of Annapurna, has been missing since Monday. Two other Indian mountaineers, who were caught up in bad weather while climbing Annapurna, were being rescued, hiking company officials said. Annapurna peak in west Nepal, first climbed by Maurice Herzog of France in the early 1950s, is considered dangerous because of the risk of frequent avalanches. At least 365 people have climbed Annapurna and more than 72 have died on the mountain, according to hiking officials.

☆ Nepal’s Dahal set to face parliamentary confidence vote
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KATHMANDU, March 20 (Reuters) - Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal was set to face a vote of confidence in parliament on Monday after his old coalition allies pulled out of the government over the choice of a new president, one of his aides said. Paudel has since been elected as the third president of the republic of 30 million people nestled between China and India. It is mandatory for the prime minister to face a vote of confidence in parliament after any ally withdraws support. Manahari Timilsina, an aide to Dahal, said the leader had the support of 10 groups and was expected to win the vote in the 275-member parliament. Nepal has had 11 governments since it abolished its 239-year-old monarchy in 2008 and became a republic.

☆ Nepal seeks easier trade access to Chinese markets
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Beijing accounts for 14% of Nepal's international trade while India holds nearly two-thirds of it, trade officials said. Beijing will also help Nepal construct a trans-Himalayan railway network linking Kathmandu with the Tibet region of China. He had requested China to give access to "some 512 tradable Nepali products" to the country's duty-free and quota-free market, he said. "Trade is the engine of growth and our future prosperity lies in our capacity to produce and trade more," Dahal added. China allows duty and quota free entry to 8,030 items from least-developed countries including Nepal, officials said.

☆ Communist rift plunges Nepal's ruling coalition into crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

KATHMANDU, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Splits within Nepal's communist-dominated ruling coalition plunged the Himalayan nation into crisis on Monday as a Marxist-Leninist party said it would withdraw support after the Maoist prime minister backed an opposition candidate for the presidency. Current prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, a former Maoist guerrilla leader in the mountainous nation sandwiched between China and India, has held the post three times. Last week, Prachanda infuriated the UML by pledging support for the opposition Nepali Congress party's presidential candidate, Ram Chandra Paudel. Prachanda had earlier agreed to support a UML candidate for the presidency, according to politicians in the coalition. Four ministers, including a deputy prime minister from another party, also quit the government over the weekend due to the same issue.

☆ Nepal's ruling coalition in turmoil as deputy PM and 3 other ministers quit
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KATHMANDU, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Nepal's ruling coalition was in turmoil on Saturday after the prime minister said he planned to support a presidential candidate from an opposition party, a decision that prompted the deputy prime minister and three other ministers to resign. But they said the turmoil could lead a new coalition being formed. He did not give a reason for his decision, though the Nepali Congress party is a former ally of Prachanda's Maoist Centre party. On Saturday, Rajendra Lingden, the deputy prime minister who was also minister for energy, water resources and irrigation, resigned in protest, along with the ministers for urban development and legal matters, while a junior minister assisting Lingden also quit. Prachanda's office confirmed the four ministers had resigned but did not say whether the resignations had been accepted.

☆ Pilot of crashed Nepal plane reported no power in engines -preliminary report
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KATHMANDU, Feb 15 (Reuters) - The pilot of a Yeti Airlines plane which crashed in Nepal killing 71 people said before the crash there was no power from the aircraft's engines, a preliminary investigation report said on Wednesday. The plane crashed just before landing in the tourist city of Pokhra on Jan. 15 in one of Nepal's worst airplane accidents in 30 years. There were 72 passengers on the twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft operated by Nepal's Yeti Airlines, including two infants, four crew members and 10 foreign nationals. The report said the pilot flying the aircraft handed over the control to the pilot monitoring before it crashed. The information in the preliminary report may change as the investigation progresses, it said.

☆ Nepal deputy PM loses job after top court rules his ID invalid
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KATHMANDU, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Nepal's Supreme Court ruled on Friday that deputy prime minister Rabi Lamichhane had stood for election with invalid citizenship papers, annulling his status as a lawmaker and effectively removing him from office. Lamichhane became deputy prime minister for home affairs - heading the ministry that oversees identity cards - in a seven-party alliance that took power last month. In its ruling on Friday, a five-member constitutional bench of the top court said the 48-year-old had contested November elections on an invalid citizenship certificate after abandoning his U.S. citizenship. "He loses his ministerial position and there will be a by-election in his constituency," Lamichhane’s lawyer Sunil Pokhrel told Reuters. Pokhrel said Lamichhane will now seek to get a regular citizenship card and contest the by-election from the same constituency in south Nepal.

☆ At least 4 U.S. residents among those killed in Nepal plane crash
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Chantal Da Silva | Chantal Da Silva Is A Breaking News Editor For Nbc News Digital Based In London. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

Two Americans and two permanent residents living in the United States were among the 72 people killed after a plane crashed in Nepal over the weekend, the State Department said. Price did not identify or provide any further details on the two U.S. citizens and permanent residents killed in the crash. On Wednesday, the French Embassy in Nepal said France had dispatched a team of aviation experts to assist the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal at the site of the crash. Sunday's crash was the deadliest Nepal has seen since 1992, when all 167 people on board a Pakistan International Airlines plane were killed when the aircraft struck a hill as it tried to land in Kathmandu. Since 2000, nearly 350 people have died in plane or helicopter crashes in Nepal.

☆ No hope of any survivors in Nepal's deadliest crash in 30 years, officials say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Family members mourn the death of a victim of the plane crash of a Yeti Airlines operated aircraft, in Pokhara, Nepal January 17, 2023. REUTERS/Rohit GiriKATHMANDU, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Officials in Nepal said on Wednesday there was no chance of finding any survivors of the country's deadliest plane crash in 30 years, but workers will continue to search for the remains of the last missing passenger. The search for the last one will continue," Tek Bahadur K.C., a top district official in Pokhara, said on Wednesday. "Until the hospital tests show all 72 bodies, we’ll continue to search for the last person," Ajay K.C said. Search teams found 68 bodies on the day of the crash, and two more were recovered on Monday before the search was called off.

☆ In Nepal Crash, Black Box Is Recovered From Yeti Airlines Plane
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Krishna Pokharel | Stacy Meichtry | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Nepalese authorities have recovered flight recorders from a plane crash that killed 69 people, a key step in their probe into what brought down the Yeti Airlines flight. Gen. Krishna Prasad Bhandari, the spokesman for the Nepalese army, said search teams located the black box of flight YT-691 on Monday, a day after it crashed into the gorge of the Seti River as it was approaching the international airport at Pokhara, Nepal’s second-most-populous city after Kathmandu.

☆ Nepal plane crash searchers rappel, fly drones to find last passengers
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A member of Arm Police Force works at a crash site of a Yeti Airlines operated aircraft, in Pokhara, Nepal January 16, 2023. NO ARCHIVESKATHMANDU, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Searchers used drones and rappelled down a 200 metres (656 feet) deep gorge in west Nepal on Tuesday to search for two passengers still unaccounted for after the country's deadliest plane crash in 30 years, which killed at least 70 people. Searchers found two more bodies on Monday before the search was called off because of fading light. Reuters GraphicsUnder international aviation rules, the crash investigation agencies of the countries where the plane and engines were designed and built are automatically part of the inquiry. Reporting by Gopal Sharma, writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Jamie FreedOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Harrowing video has emerged of the plane that crashed in Nepal over the weekend, showing passengers’ excitement turn to terror and offering a rare glimpse into a flight's final moments. Authorities said Monday that they had retrieved the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the wreckage. The recovery of the black boxes could offer crucial insight into what caused the crash of the twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft Sunday. It was carrying 68 passengers on board, including six children, as well as four crew members. At least 41 bodies had been identified out of the 69 retrieved, Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement.

☆ Plane Crashes in Nepal With 72 People On Board, Killing at Least 69
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Plane Crashes in Nepal With 72 People On Board, Killing at Least 69 The Yeti Airlines flight from Kathmandu went down near its intended destination, the tourist town of PokharaBy Wall Street Journal Jan 15, 2023 10:20 am An aircraft carrying 72 people crashed in Nepal, killing dozens, according to authorities. Photos and TV footage showed black plumes of smoke and fire at the site, with rescue workers and crowds of people gathered around the wreckage. Photo: Reuters

☆ Search resumes for four people missing in Nepal after deadly air crash
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KATHMANDU, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Rescuers resumed searching on Monday in Nepal for four people still missing after the Himalayan nation’s deadliest plane crash in 30 years, officials said. "We will take out the five bodies from the gorge and search for the remaining four that are still missing,” he told Reuters. [1/2] People stand near the wreckage at the crash site of an aircraft carrying 72 people in Pokhara in western Nepal January 15, 2023. REUTERS/Bijay Neupane 1 2The other 63 bodies had been sent to a hospital, he said. Nepal has declared a day of national mourning on Monday and set up a panel to investigate the disaster and suggest measures to avoid such incidents in future.

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