Friday,
May 30, 2003, Chandigarh, India
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Nepal
honours Hillary, other Everest conquerors
Woman who
dared to climb Everest
USA must
wait for UN verdict on Iran: Russia It’s for
India, Pak to strengthen ties: Rice
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B’desh
cops given orders to shoot on sight Miss
Universe faces rain, protests, catfights
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Nepal honours Hillary, other Everest conquerors Kathmandu, May 29 Junko Tabei, the first woman to reach the top of Everest in 1975, Reinhold Messner and others, who have climbed Mount Everest in the past 50 years, were also honoured today. Nepal is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the conquest of the Everest by Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and Sir Hillary, who reached the world’s highest peak on May 29, 1953. Sir Hillary was the focus of attraction of a function held to commemorate the 50th year of Hillary-Tenzing duo’s successful expedition to the top of Mount Everest. Sir Hillary was today conferred the honorary citizenship of Nepal during the golden jubilee celebrations of the conquest. On behalf of King Gyanendra, Nepalese Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand conferred on him the Nepali citizenship here, for being the first person to conquer Mount Everest and for making valuable contributions in fields of health and society of Nepal. Expressing concern about the future of the world’s highest mountain, Sir Hillary said, “The fact that there are more than 1000 people setting up 500 tents at the base camp and knocking down beer, before making an assault on the mountain is disheartening.” “That simply belittles the charm of mountaineering.” The Crown Prince also opened a symposium on mountaineering and development by planting an ice-axe on a three dimensional model of Everest. He affixed a cancellation mark of the first day cover of a Rs 25 denomination commemorative stamp depicting Everest. Nepal hopes to attract tourists to boost the fragile economy of the country. The tourist arrival has decreased drastically due to hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane from Kathmandu in 1999, royal palace massacre in June 2001 and terrorist threat around the world. WELLINGTON: New Zealand marked Thursday’s 50th anniversary of Sir Edmund Hillary’s conquest of Mount Everest by announcing a major annual grant for charity work in Nepal. Prime Minister Helen Clark said her government would give $ 144,000 a year to Sir Hillary’s Himalayan Trust for humanitarian work in Nepal, in addition to the $ 23,000 a year already provided. Sir Hillary is regarded as a hero in his native New Zealand. The grant was in recognition of Sir Hillary’s work with Nepal’s climbing Sherpas and “to ensure that the work of the Himalayan Trust can continue,” she said. For the past 40 years Sir Hillary, now 83 years old, has dedicated his life to fund-raising for development work in Nepal’s mountainous Solu Khumbu region. He has estimated that 100,000 persons have benefited from the schools, hospitals, medical clinics, water supply, roads, airfields and other amenities the trust has built. “He has generously given vast amounts of his time helping to improve the lives of the Nepalese and is clearly a national treasure,” Mr Bill English, leader of the opposition National Party, said in a statement of the adventurer who has been the trust’s main fund-raiser for the past 40 years. Sir Hillary said earlier this year the fund, now controlled by a Nepalese council, needs about $ 500,000 a year. Across New Zealand, some 40 communities and sports groups staged hill climbs, mass walks, galas and exhibitions to mark the anniversary.
Agencies |
Woman who dared to climb Everest
Kathmandu, May 29 Today, the 63-year-old mother of two is still climbing mountains and as the first woman to reach the top of the Everest, in 1975, is one of the key guests in Nepal’s celebrations marking today’s 50th anniversary of the first ascent. “Some people really tried to stop me,’’ she said yesterday, her voice hoarse from too many official functions and interviews. “But I knew I could do it. “In the 1970s in Japanese culture, the status of women was much lower than it is now. Usually, people think a woman should be at home looking after the children.’’ The diminutive Tabei is still fit and trim and roams the world each year climbing, often travelling to Nepal where she is also heavily involved in environmental work for the Sherpa communities near Mount Everest. In 1992, Tabei also became the first woman to achieve mountaineering’s other holy grail, climbing the seven highest peaks on the seven continents. “I like meeting unknown challenges,’’ she said. “When I meet an unknown challenge, I really feel alive. “Life in the city is very very easy. When you are in the mountains you have nothing. You can look at what life really is. I like to take time to think about my life.’’ Like Sir Edmund Hillary, who along with Nepali Sherpa Tenzing Norgay was the first to reach the Everest summit on the morning of May 29, 1953, Tabei is scathing about the commercial climbing that dominates the mountain today. Every climbing season now, companies lay ladders across the deep crevasses of the Khumbu icefall and rig ropes along the heights for clients who pay up to $ 65,000 for a shot at the summit at 8,850 metres (29,035 feet). “When we climbed, everything had to be done by our own team,’’ she said. “Nowadays, they just follow other people’s trails — it’s like a toll way. I don’t call that real climbing.’’ Tabei and Hillary, now stooped and 83, are among about 450 Everest summiteers in Nepal for elaborate festivities that the country hopes will help revive a vital tourism industry.
Reuters |
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USA must wait for UN verdict
on Iran: Russia Moscow, May 29 The IAEA Board of Governors would hold a meeting at its headquarters in Vienna on June 16-17 at which its chief Mohamed El Baradei would report on Iran’s nuclear activities. The IAEA inspectors had been visiting nuclear sites that Washington had said might be hiding a nuclear weapons programme. “We note that there has been unofficial information about a military aspect to the Iranian nuclear programme,” said a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mr Alexander Yakovenko. “Russia’s position is that only the IAEA, as a specially mandated international body, can judge Teheran’s observation of its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,” he added in a statement. The Russian Foreign Minister, Mr Igor Ivanov, yesterday brushed off objections by the United States of America over its nuclear cooperation with Iran. Russia was building Iran’s first nuclear power station at Bushehr.
AFP |
It’s for India, Pak to strengthen ties: Rice
Washington, May 29 Asked by reporters yesterday about Mr Bush’s recent meetings with officials from the two countries, Ms Rice said: “We are, in fact, encouraged by recent trends in the relationship between India and Pakistan. I think that everybody in the G-8 is encouraged by those recent trends. I do believe that the core here, the key here, is that India and Pakistan themselves move the relationship forward.” “It is not something that can be moved forth by the will of the G-8. But, but I know that members of the G-8 are welcoming what is happening with the Indians and the Pakistanis,” she said. Mr Vajpayee will also have meetings with various Heads of State and the government present there but Ms Rice made it clear that there would be no “bilaterals” between Mr Bush and Mr Vajpayee. She said Mr Bush was “very involved” with Indo-Pak ties and repeatedly talked to Mr Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf over telephone.
PTI |
B’desh cops given orders to
shoot on sight Dhaka, May 29 An earlier crackdown launched in October with Army troops significantly lowered the crime rates, but the troops were pulled out after nearly 40 persons died in Army custody and following protests by civil and human rights groups. “The shoot on sight in self defence has been part of Bangladesh criminal law but it is hardly used,” one senior police officer told Reuters. Legal experts said use of the provision could lead to excesses and abuses by the police. “Crime on the streets all over the country has increased... since the Army was withdrawn,” a Dhaka police officer said.
Reuters |
Miss Universe faces rain, protests, catfights
Panama City, May 29 The contestants have been preparing here for a week to replace reigning Miss Panama — who was crowned in September after Miss Russia relinquished the title amid a swirl of reports about a secret marriage and pregnancy. The contestants’ every move has been shadowed by the tabloids, one of which reported that Miss Spain (Eva Maria Gonzalez) and her roommate Miss Colombia (Diana Lucia Mantilla) got into a fistfight over Gonzalez’s smoking habit. The two girls were all smiles later when they publicly denied the report. Mantilla also drew some attention when she gave fellow contestants copies of her rendition of the song, “I am Colombian...” Despite the almost constant downpours since they arrived, the contestants’ grueling daily schedule remains on track: banquets, fashion shows by local designers, charity auctions and a candlelight vigil for AIDS victims. And all of the “misses” are trailed by the paparazzi’s erupting flashes wherever they go. However, the beauty queens had to cancel some public event yesterday, when hundreds of angry students took to the streets to protest tax reforms and the Miss Universe pageant itself. The Miss Universe pageant got an unexpected shock early on when it was announced that money problems could force Miss Venezuela out of the competition.
AFP |
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