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Nepal’s Mountaineering Community Celebrates 72nd Anniversary of Mount Everest Conquest 

Nepali people take part in a procession to mark the 18th International Everest Day and the 72nd anniversary of the first ascent of Mount Everest in Kathmandu on May 29, 2025. (AFP)
Nepali people take part in a procession to mark the 18th International Everest Day and the 72nd anniversary of the first ascent of Mount Everest in Kathmandu on May 29, 2025. (AFP)
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Nepal’s Mountaineering Community Celebrates 72nd Anniversary of Mount Everest Conquest 

Nepali people take part in a procession to mark the 18th International Everest Day and the 72nd anniversary of the first ascent of Mount Everest in Kathmandu on May 29, 2025. (AFP)
Nepali people take part in a procession to mark the 18th International Everest Day and the 72nd anniversary of the first ascent of Mount Everest in Kathmandu on May 29, 2025. (AFP)

Nepal's mountaineering community celebrated the conquest of the world's highest mountain with a rally of climbers, guides and others who gathered for International Everest Day.

The event Thursday marked the 72nd anniversary of the first summit climb of Mount Everest on May 29, 1953, by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay.

Nepal's minister for culture and tourism led the celebration in the capital, Kathmandu, that included a walk around the city and a gathering at the old palace.

“We are celebrating May 29 as the international Sagarmatha (Everest) day because the world needs to continue to recognize the achievement and contribution of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay,” said Ang Tshering, who runs Kathmandu-based Asian Trekking.

The event was not just a celebration for the mountaineering community but also a festival for Nepal and the world, said Tshering, who has helped hundreds of clients scale the Himalayan peaks.

Nepal contains eight of the highest peaks in the world and every year hundreds of foreign climbers fly to the country in South Asia to tackle the mountains. The climbers hire thousands of people in Nepal to assist their climbs by carrying gear, cooking food and generally taking care of them as they spend weeks in the mountains.

Nepal's government collects money from the climbers through permit fees.

The end of May also marks the end of the popular spring mountaineering season, when climbers finish their adventures and retreat from the peaks before the monsoon season brings foul weather.

“This day is celebrated also to mark the end of the climbing season where we gather climbers and the community,” Jiban Ghimire of Shangri-La Nepal Trek said.

According to Nepal’s Department of Mountaineering, 468 foreign climbers from 57 countries received permits to climb Everest by the end of May, along with a roughly equal number of Nepalese mountain guides.

Many were able to scale the peak, but officials were still working to verify how many reached the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) summit. Climbers must report to the department with proof they reached the summit and cleared their garbage before they are issued the official certificate.

Famed Sherpa guide Kami Rita reached the Everest summit for the 31st time Tuesday, breaking his own record for the most climbs to the top of the famed mountain.

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New York Seeks Rights for Beloved but Illegal ‘Bodega Cats’

Guest Dan Rimada, founder of Bodega Cats of New York holds a cat named Ashley in a bodega corner store on December 17, 2025 in New York City. (AFP)
Guest Dan Rimada, founder of Bodega Cats of New York holds a cat named Ashley in a bodega corner store on December 17, 2025 in New York City. (AFP)
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New York Seeks Rights for Beloved but Illegal ‘Bodega Cats’

Guest Dan Rimada, founder of Bodega Cats of New York holds a cat named Ashley in a bodega corner store on December 17, 2025 in New York City. (AFP)
Guest Dan Rimada, founder of Bodega Cats of New York holds a cat named Ashley in a bodega corner store on December 17, 2025 in New York City. (AFP)

Simba, a large cat with thick ginger and white fur, is one of thousands of felines that live in New York's corner shops known as "bodegas" -- even if their presence is illegal.

Praised for warding off pests, so-called bodega cats are also a cultural fixture for New Yorkers, some of whom are now pushing to enshrine legal rights for the little store helpers.

"Simba is very important to us because he keeps the shop clean of the mice," Austin Moreno, a shopkeeper in Manhattan, told AFP from behind his till.

The fluffy inhabitant also helps to entice customers.

"People, very often, they come to visit to ask, what is his name? The other day, some girls saw him for the first time and now they come every day," said Moreno.

Around a third of the city's roughly 10,000 bodegas are thought to have a resident cat despite being liable to fines of $200-$350 for keeping animals in a store selling food, according to Dan Rimada, founder of Bodega Cats of New York.

Rimada photographs the felines for his social media followers and last year launched a petition to legalize bodega cats, which drew nearly 14,000 signatures.

"These cats are woven into the fabric of New York City, and that's an important story to tell," he said.

- Pressure point -

Inspired by Rimada's petition, New York City council member Keith Powers has proposed a measure to shield the owners of bodega cats from penalties.

His legislation would also provide free vaccinations and spay or neuter services to the felines.

But animal shelters and rights groups say this wouldn't go far enough.

While Simba can nap in the corner of his shop with kibble within paw's reach, many of his fellow cats are locked in basements, deprived of food or proper care, and abandoned when they grow old or fall ill.

Becky Wisdom, who rescues cats in New York, warned that lifting the threat of fines could remove "leverage" to encourage bodega owners to better care for the animals.

She also opposes public funds being given to business owners rather than low-income families who want their cats spayed or neutered.

The latter is a big issue in New York, where the stray cat population is estimated at around half a million.

- Radical overhaul -

Regardless of what the city decides, it is the state of New York that has authority over business rules, said Allie Taylor, president of Voters for Animal Rights.

Taylor said she backs another initiative proposed by state assembly member Linda Rosenthal, a prominent animal welfare advocate, who proposes allowing cats in bodegas under certain conditions.

These would include vet visits, mandatory spaying or neutering, and ensuring the cats have sufficient food, water and a safe place to sleep.

Beyond the specific case of bodega cats, Taylor is pushing for a more radical overhaul of animal protection in New York.

"Instead of focusing on one subset of cats, we need the city to make serious investments, meaning tens of millions of dollars per year into free or low cost spay, neuter and veterinary care," she said.

Varieties

Warming Climate Threatens Greenland’s Ancestral Way of Life

Musher Nukaaraq Lennert Olsen offers some dry food to his dogs after a ride near the "dog town" ofSisimiut, Greenland on January 31, 2026. (AFP)
Musher Nukaaraq Lennert Olsen offers some dry food to his dogs after a ride near the "dog town" ofSisimiut, Greenland on January 31, 2026. (AFP)
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Warming Climate Threatens Greenland’s Ancestral Way of Life

Musher Nukaaraq Lennert Olsen offers some dry food to his dogs after a ride near the "dog town" ofSisimiut, Greenland on January 31, 2026. (AFP)
Musher Nukaaraq Lennert Olsen offers some dry food to his dogs after a ride near the "dog town" ofSisimiut, Greenland on January 31, 2026. (AFP)

Standing in his boat with binoculars in hand, hunter Malik Kleist scans the horizon for seals. But this February, the sea ice in southwestern Greenland has yet to freeze, threatening traditional livelihoods like his.

"Normally the seals are on the ice or in the more calm waters. But today we had to sail all the way into the fjords to find them," the 37-year-old tells AFP.

The Arctic region is on the frontline of global warming, heating up four times faster than the rest of the planet since 1979, according to a 2022 study in scientific journal Nature, causing the sea ice to retreat.

Seals rely on pack ice to give birth, to rest and for protection.

Hunters increasingly have to sail farther along the jagged coast of Sisimiut, navigating into the fjords for several hours to find them.

Traditionally, hunters' boats would head straight out to sea, slowly pushing through the ice and creating holes that attract seals coming up for air.

But without any ice, "it's too windy and the waves are too big," Kleist says.

Last year was exceptionally warm in the vast autonomous territory, with several temperature records beaten, according to the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI).

In December, the Summit Station, located at the height of Greenland's ice sheet, recorded an average temperature of -30.9 degrees C (-23.6 Fahrenheit), 8.1C higher than the December average during the period 1991-2020.

"It affects everything we do. Because normally around November, December the ice comes. And this year there's no ice, so it affects our living a lot," Kleist says.

- Financial woes -

For the same reason, the government has also had to postpone the annual winter musk ox hunt that was due to start on January 31.

There wasn't enough snow and ice to transport the massive animals that roam the Arctic tundra back from Kangerlussuaq where they are predominantly found, around 165 kilometers (103 miles) away. Greenland has no roads connecting its towns.

That has left some Sisimiut hunters with less income than usual.

"This time of year there is not much to hunt. So we rely on musk ox meat and skin," Kleist says.

"Many of my fellow hunters are struggling with money right now."

Every part of the animal, from the fur to the meat, is either used or sold.

The summer hunting season has therefore gained importance, enabling Greenlanders to fill their freezers to get them through the winter months, he tells AFP over a steaming bowl of fish stew.

The shorter winter season has also impacted another key activity in Greenland, one that has become increasingly important to the tourism sector: dogsled tours.

In the Sisimiut neighborhood where the dogs are kept, their thunderous barking mounts as Nukaaraq Olsen, a 21-year-old musher, attaches them to the sled.

Raring to get going, his 18 dogs are hard to hold back. Twenty minutes later, the group bounds off.

But the road is bumpy, and several times Olsen has to get up to manually push the sled, stuck on the tundra's rocks in patches where there is no ice.

"This year we had a lot of hot, warm days, even though it's December or January," he says.

Other parts of the route are no longer safe to use, due to repeated melting and freezing of snowfall which causes uneven layers, he explains.

- Dehydrated dogs -

The dogs' health is also affected by the changing climate.

They are used to quenching their thirst with snow, but with little or no snowfall, they can easily get dehydrated. Mushers have to take that into account when caring for their animals.

Many have even had to get rid of their dogs, the business of maintaining them no longer profitable with the dogsled season shrinking to just two months, says Emilie Andersen-Ranberg, a researcher at the University of Copenhagen who runs a dog clinic in Sisimiut.
Others, such as 72-year-old Johanne Bech, are finding novel ways to adapt.

She plans to put wheels on her sled to continue running dogsled tours during the summer period.

That solution is growing in popularity, as "the window with snow is getting more and more narrow," the veterinarian says.

Over the past 20 years, the number of sleddogs has been halved from 25,000 to 13,000, according to a 2024 article from the University of Greenland in 2024.

Yet Johanne Bech remains optimistic about the future.

"I hope this is just for a short time, so we can go back to a little more stable snow or more ice in the future."

Varieties

January Was Fifth Hottest on Record despite Cold Snap

This handout photo taken on February 7, 2026 and received on February 10 from Japan's Ministry of Defense shows members of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force's 5th Infantry Regiment, stationed in Aomori Prefecture, carrying out snow removal work in a town within Aomori Prefecture. (Photo by Handout / Japan's Ministry of Defense / AFP)
This handout photo taken on February 7, 2026 and received on February 10 from Japan's Ministry of Defense shows members of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force's 5th Infantry Regiment, stationed in Aomori Prefecture, carrying out snow removal work in a town within Aomori Prefecture. (Photo by Handout / Japan's Ministry of Defense / AFP)
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January Was Fifth Hottest on Record despite Cold Snap

This handout photo taken on February 7, 2026 and received on February 10 from Japan's Ministry of Defense shows members of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force's 5th Infantry Regiment, stationed in Aomori Prefecture, carrying out snow removal work in a town within Aomori Prefecture. (Photo by Handout / Japan's Ministry of Defense / AFP)
This handout photo taken on February 7, 2026 and received on February 10 from Japan's Ministry of Defense shows members of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force's 5th Infantry Regiment, stationed in Aomori Prefecture, carrying out snow removal work in a town within Aomori Prefecture. (Photo by Handout / Japan's Ministry of Defense / AFP)

The planet experienced its fifth-hottest January on record despite a cold snap that swept across the United States and Europe, the EU's climate monitor said Tuesday.

The Northern Hemisphere was hit by severe cold waves in the final weeks of January as a polar jet stream blew icy air into Europe and North America, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service.

But monthly temperatures were above average over much of the globe, including in large parts of the Arctic and western North America, according to Copernicus.

"January 2026 delivered a stark reminder that the climate system can sometimes simultaneously deliver very cold weather in one region, and extreme heat in another," said Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF).

The average global temperature in January was 1.47C above preindustrial times.

Europe endured its coldest January since 2010, with an average temperature of 2.34C, the service said.

The United States, meanwhile, was hit by a monster winter storm that dumped snow and crippling ice from New Mexico to Maine. It was linked to more than 100 deaths.

The planet remains in an extended run of human-driven warming, with 2024 setting a record high, 2023 ranking second 2025 now third warmest.