Nepali sherpa Kami Rita, also known as “Everest Man”, has scaled Mount Everest for the 31st time, breaking his own record for the most climbs up the world’s tallest peak.

The 55-year-old, who was guiding a group of Indian army officials up the mountain, reached its 8,849m summit at 04:00 local time on Tuesday (23:15 GMT Monday).

“Kami Rita Sherpa needs no introduction. He is not just a national climbing hero, but a global symbol of Everest itself,” expedition organiser Seven Summit Treks said in a statement.

Kami Rita first summited Everest in 1994 guiding a commercial expedition and has made the peak almost ever year since.

He scaled it twice some years, like in 2023 and 2024.

His closest competitor for the Everest record is fellow Nepali sherpa Pasang Dawa, who scaled the peak 29 times – the latest attempt made last week.

Kami Rita has previously told media how his climbs are just work.

“I am glad for the record, but records are eventually broken,” he told AFP in May last year. “I am more happy that my climbs help Nepal be recognised in the world.”

Earlier this month, Kami Rita posted snippets of life on Everest, including one of the Puja ceremony, a Tibetan Buddhist ritual done before Everest expeditions to pray for a safe and successful climb.

Kami Rita’s feat comes one week after British mountaineer Kenton Cool summited Everest for the 19th time, also breaking his own record for the most climbs for a non-sherpa.

More than 500 people and their guides have climbed Everest successfully this climbing season, which is coming to an end.

Nepal issued more than 1,000 climbing permits this season – including for Everest and other peaks – according to its tourism department.

The number of Everest summit attempts has soared in recent years. However this has led to concerns around overcrowding and environmental impact.

Last year, authorities introduced a rule requiring climbers to clear up their own poo and bring it back to base camp to be disposed of.

(BBC News)

A Canadian man has been sentenced to almost two years in prison for stealing a famous photograph of Sir Winston Churchill known as “The Roaring Lion”.

Jeffrey Wood had pleaded guilty to stealing the original print from Ottawa’s Château Laurier hotel between Christmas 2021 and early January 2022. He also admitted committing forgery.

The photo of Britain’s war-time prime minister, taken by Yousuf Karsh in 1941, features on the UK £5 note.

Ottawa Police said it was found last year in Genoa, Italy in the possession of a private buyer, who was unaware it was stolen.

The image depicts a frowning Churchill, who was 67 at the time, shortly after he delivered a speech to the Canadian parliament.

It wasn’t until August 2022 that a hotel staff member realised the original photo had been replaced with a fake.

According to Canadian media, Wood said he took the photo to find money for his brother, who was suffering from mental health problems.

During sentencing, Justice Robert Wadden said: “It is a point of national pride that a portrait taken by a Canadian photographer would have achieved such fame.”

“There is an element of trust in our society that allows such properties to be displayed, to be enjoyed by all Canadians. To steal, damage and traffic in such property is to breach that trust,” he added.

“We’re very happy to see that Canadian history is recognised,” said Geneviève Dumas, the general manager of the Château Laurier hotel, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Wood was sentenced to “two years less a day”, a distinction which means he will serve his sentence in a provincial institution instead of a federal prison.

The lawyer representing Wood said the sentence was “unnecessarily harsh” given that he was a first-time offender.

(BBC News)

Authorities in India’s southern Kerala state have issued an alert after a ship carrying oil and hazardous cargo leaked and sank off the state’s coast in the Arabian Sea.

The spill occurred in a Liberian-flagged vessel that capsized near Kochi city on Sunday. The coastal stretch is rich in biodiversity and is also an important tourist destination.

All 24 crew members on board the ship have been rescued but some of the ship’s 640 containers have reportedly been drifting towards the shore, prompting evacuations in the area.

Authorities fear that oil, fuel and other harmful substances that have leaked from the ship and its cargo could endanger the health of residents and marine life.

Watch: Containers wash up on Kochi shore in India after ship carrying hazardous cargo capsizes

“As the oil slick can reach anywhere along the Kerala coast, an alert has been sounded across the coastal belt,” a statement from the chief minister’s office said.

Authorities have advised residents living near the sea to not touch any containers or the oil that might wash up to the shore, while fishermen have been asked to avoid venturing too close to the sunken ship.

On Monday, officials said they had intensified pollution control measures to contain the spill.

The Indian Coast Guard has deployed a ship carrying pollution control equipment to the site.

It has also sent one of its aircraft which has an oil spill detection system to survey the area.

The vessel – MSC ELSA 3 – which was travelling from Vizhinjam port to Kochi, began to tilt dangerously when it was about 38 nautical miles from the coast of Kochi.

It capsized into the Arabian Sea in the early hours of Sunday due to flooding in one of its compartments.

The Indian Coast Guard said that the ship was carrying 13 containers of hazardous cargo and 12 with calcium carbide – a chemical that reacts with seawater to release a flammable gas.

“Additionally, [the] ship had 84.44 metric tonnes of diesel and 367.1 metric tonnes of furnace oil in its tanks,” it said.

The crew members were rescued by Indian navy personnel after an hours-long operation.

(BBC News)