2019年6月9日
Mount Everest is clogged with inexperienced climbers 珠穆朗玛峰被无经验的登山者堵塞
The founder of US-based Alpenglow Expeditions, a commercial climbing company, was making his way to Mount Everest’s summit with his team back in 2011. But the fixed ropes up ahead were choked with what he estimated to be around 70 climbers. Ballinger knew that the bottlenecking on the mountain’s southern, Nepali side could delay his group for hours. He also knew that his climbers and guides were strong and experienced.
As Ballinger’s group scaled up and away from the crowd, he heard an angry voice ring out: ‘There’s no cutting allowed!'”
Ballinger, who has since moved all his Everest expeditions over to the mountain’s northern, Tibetan side, added that the same crammed conditions and general lack of experience have persisted eight years later, during the mountain’s 2019 season. So why do concrete steps to address the problems on Everest remain elusive, even after the mountain claimed 11 lives so far this year?
In the climbing industry, safety on Everest isn’t just jeopardized by the fly-by-night climbing businesses and green adventurers that have increasingly made inroads on the world’s tallest mountain. Many specifically criticised Nepal’s government for its perceived inertia when it comes to withholding permits from unqualified operators and implementing better safety standards.
Preventable deaths on the mountain have never managed to freeze up the inflow of tourist dollars – the numbers continue to climb every year. Everest’s popularity has given rise to a new crop of local companies looking to capitalise on the growing market, with many offering significantly cheaper rates than foreign-based companiesNepal charges $US11,000 a pop for climbing permits, and Bloomberg reported that the country raked in $US643 million in tourism revenue in the 2017-2018 fiscal year.
There are typically eight to 10 days of optimal summit conditions on the south side of the mountain. This year a cyclone delayed climbers from reaching the peak and an early jet stream at the top of the mountain created a truncated “weather window” of just three days. Stealing oxygen was an issue this year. One operator on the Nepal side lost something like 50 oxygen bottles. If 50 oxygen bottles are stolen during a summit course, this puts at least 10 to 15 people at risk.
Here's how Trump reportedly spent $3.6 million on his 'convenient' two-day visit to Ireland 揭露特朗普如何花费360万美元用于他对爱尔兰进行为期两天的“方便”访问
President Donald Trump spent two nights in Ireland after a three-day state visit to the United Kingdom. The president’s hasty stop drew attention when he refused to visit Dublin, the country’s capital, insisting he would stay at his golf resort in Doonbeg.
A report released by the Government Accountability Office in February says four trips in 2017 to Trump’s private club Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida cost taxpayers $US13.6 million, or approximately $US3.4 million each.
Much of a president’s travel costs come from the dozens of White House staffers who accompany the trip, and that number multiplies for international trips. The president’s trips can cost taxpayers millions of dollars because of the use of Air Force One and the expenses of the Secret Service, the Air Force, local sheriff’s departments, the Coast Guard and other agencies.
The State Department had filed for contracts weeks ahead of Trump’s travel, including $US1,023,940 to rent cars and limos, $US10,866 to install temporary phone lines, and $US16,325 to rent golf carts for the Secret Service agents protecting Trump on the golf course. Though the costs were within the usual purchases for presidential travel measures, Trump’s insisting the trip to Doonbeg was because the resort was “convenient” was confusing because it added hundreds of miles to his travel.
In October 2016, the Government Accountability Office released a report that tracked a three-day golf and work trip taken by then-President Barack Obama to Chicago and Florida and found it cost $US3.6 million. Such trips act as lightning rods for lawmakers, usually from the other party, to criticise a president’s spending. Trump visited his golf clubs more than 150 times in his first official year in office, and at least 77 times in his second year in office.
China reportedly holds backdoor talks with tech companies ahead of G20 meeting with US 据报道在G20与美国会晤之前，中国与科技公司进行了后门谈判
The Chinese government met with several top American technology companies in an apparent effort to convince them to not cooperate with President Donald Trump’s ban on American technology sales to the country. The blacklist restricted the company from buying services and parts from US companies without approval, affecting access to a wide variety of American-made hardware and software by companies including Qualcomm and Google.
Since the blacklist, the two countries have imposed tit-for-tat trade tariffs against each other. The report of the meeting comes the same day US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was reported to be meeting with People’s Bank of China Governor Yi Gang in what would be the most recent high-level meeting between the countries.
Mnuchin played down the meeting to reporters saying it was “not a negotiating meeting,” and said the US would continue to press tariffs on China unless the country intends to “come back to the table and negotiate.”
China and the US have publicly traded barbs since before the blacklist, but a June deal between Russia’s largest network provider and Huawei to build 5G internet marked a significant escalation in the hostile dialog between the countries.
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