The last days of Mt Everest’s spring window for 2019 witnessed the deaths of 11 climbers. Images of hundreds of mountaineers queuing to reach the summit and reports of climbers stepping over dead bodies dismayed people around the world, many wondering how human beings had got it so wrong.

After the conquest of Annapurna and Everest in the 1950s, mountaineering became popular among the more privileged. But in the past two decades, mountaineering has taken on a increasingly commercial angle with disastrous results.

Experts report that aside from a very short weather window to climb Everest this season, a new generation of guides offering cheap expedition rates attracted a rash of novice mountaineers, which contributed to the high number of deaths. Those inexperienced climbers, some of whom had only climbed Mont Blanc (4,810m) and Aconagua (6,962m), should not have been there.

Modern climbing

Until the beginning of the 21st century, mountaineering was an exclusive activity accessible only to a few. Twenty years later, despite being a high-risk activity that requires a high level of specialised skill, its popularity among recreational climbers has drastically increased. Climbing legend Reinhold Messner once said that for a fee, “almost anyone could brave a top-class peak” – meaning regardless of skill, ability or experience.

Many modern mountaineers are attracted by the Seven Summits Challenge, introduced by Messner in the 1980s, with the aim of climbing the highest peak on every continent. Cashed-up adventure tourists lured by the challenge face expensive mountain expedition packages – from £3,000 for Aconcagua and £30,000 for Everest.

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Inadequate fruit and vegetable consumptionmay account for millions of deaths from heart disease and strokes each year across the globe, a study has found.

The study estimated that roughly one in seven cardiovascular deaths could be attributed to not eating enough fruit and one in 12 cardiovascular deaths could be attributed to not eating enough vegetables.

Low fruit intake resulted in nearly 1.8 million cardiovascular deaths in 2010, while low vegetable intake resulted in one million deaths, researchers said.

Overall, the toll of suboptimal fruit intake was almost double that of vegetables. The impacts were most acute in countries with the lowest average intakes of fruits and vegetables.

“Fruits and vegetables are a modifiable component of diet that can impact preventable deaths globally,” said Victoria Miller, a postdoctoral researcher at Tufts University in the US. Readmore

Salman Khanand Katrina Kaif starrer ‘Bharat’ is managing to hold a strong position at the box office. The film, which created history as Salman’s highest opener ever, has now achieved another feat by crossing the Rs. 50 crore mark in just two days of its run.

The film has managed to rack in Rs. 73.30 crore in just two days. Indian film critic and trade analyst Taran Adarsh shared the box office collection of the film on his Twitter handle.

Adarsh noted that multiplexes saw a normal decline, while the film’s evening and night shows witnessed a high occupancy, especially in single screen cinemas.

The film saw a bumper opening and minted Rs. 42.30 crore on its first day. The numbers showed a slight dip owing to a working weekday. The movie minted Rs. 31 crore on its second day, thus taking its grand total to Rs. 73.30 crore and paving its way to the Rs. 50 crore club.

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Five policemen, including an SHO, have been suspended for alleged negligence, five days after the mutilated body of a three-year-old girl was found in a garbage dump in Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh, triggering a huge public outcry over the brutality of the murder.

The policemen were suspended for alleged delay in registering the case after the girl was reported missing, and also for delaying the probe which eventually led to the discovery of her body on June 2, officials said.

Tappal police station officials registered the case on May 31, a day after she had gone missing. Two suspects have been arrested and police say the case is a fallout of a monetary dispute.

The accused Zahid and Aslam have confessed to killing the girl after her father failed to return Rs 12,000 he had borrowed from them, police sources said.

Asked about the suspension of police officials, Senior Superintendent of Police Akash Kulhari told PTI that it was done on Thursday on the basis of the inquiry conducted by circle officer Pankaj Srivastva.

The girl’s father, Banwarilal Sharma, had threatened to fast unto death, demanding the arrest of the accused’s family members who, he said, “colluded” in the crime. The SSP met him and persuaded him against sitting on fast.

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