Nepal to police Everest’s climbers – Numbers of climbers on Mount Everest have reached such high levels that nine Nepali officials are to be posted at the mountain’s base camp throughout the spring climbing season to police the visitors.
One initiative being considered to regulate congestion on the world’s highest peak is to have separate fixed ropes for ascending and descending the final section before the summit. Another issue that needs to be tackled is the waste that climbers leave behind on the mountain’s slopes. More than 4,000 people have reached the summit since the first successful attempt in 1953. But hundreds of others have died trying.
Independence fever seizes Scottish Isles – In the run-up to the referendum on Scotland’s independence from the UK, three groups of Scottish islands are bidding for independence in their own right – from the UK and Scotland. The Orkney Islands, Shetland Islands and Western Isles are petitioning the Scottish parliament for their own vote on independence.
One scenario could see them independent from Scotland, but remain part of the UK. If their bid was successful, the island nations would be among the smallest countries in the world – each group of islands has a population of between 20,000 and 30,000.
Falklands conundrum – Argentina has been wooing Caribbean countries with promises of co-operation, aid and the prospect of opening embassies on the bigger islands, in return for support for its bid to govern the Falkland Islands, currently under British rule. However, Caribbean Commonwealth countries are wary of being caught up in a dispute between two much larger nations – one a geographical neighbour and the other a Commonwealth partner. Grenada has given its tacit support to Argentina’s Falklands claim, while the Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines has spoken of a need to solve the issue through UN mechanisms.
