Word: everests
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...audience with Blair. Bono says that Blair was "the first head of state with whom we didn't have to argue that debt cancellation was not about charity, but justice." (Campbell remembers the meeting a little differently. Blair, he writes in his diaries, said debt relief was like Mount Everest. Bono replied, "When you see Everest, Tony, you don't look at it, you f___ing climb it.") I had breakfast with Blair in his hotel room the next morning, anxious to know how the talks on Kosovo had gone. In hindsight, I'd missed the key point...
...intangible. It may become something akin to a rite of passage - the choice of a romantic, affluent minority. In fact, some already see it that way. When his patients choose to give birth naturally, even to the extent of refusing painkillers, "it's like they're climbing Everest without oxygen," says Dr. Paul Tseng, a gynecologist at Singapore's Thomson Medical Center. "They feel very powerful." And so they should - even if the real climb begins after the baby is born, naturally...
...boosted its leverage on the world stage. Many nations, especially neighbors, are now reluctant to cross Beijing. India, which once welcomed Tibetan exiles, including the Dalai Lama himself, now restrains Tibetan protesters. Nepal has done the same, sometimes brutally, and has indicated that it will clear and secure the Everest route for the Olympic torch - thereby possibly pre-empting anti-China protests. Twenty years ago, when China was weaker, a boycott might have been possible, since other countries could ignore Beijing. Today, the world needs China, with all its warts, to help solve diplomatic crises from North Korea to Sudan...
There are other examples. Tourism officials and mountain-climbing companies in Nepal said last week that Beijing has asked Nepal to shut down access to southern climbing routes up Mt. Everest. This year's Olympic torch relay includes a visit to the summit of the world's highest mountain; Chinese authorities recently announced that they are closing their side of Everest - the northern slopes - because of overcrowding and environmental concerns. Most climbers believe the real reason is that China wants to prevent any demonstrations that would mar the event. Last year, climbers unfurled a banner at Everest base camp playing...
...early May, when the torch would be making its ascent. This time period is the high season for climbing in the Himalayas. After originally indicating Nepal was considering China's request, Nepalese officials have since denied receiving it - although an official told a Nepalese newspaper that climbing on Everest may still be curtailed because of complications due to Nepal's upcoming elections. Ang Tsering from the Nepal Mountaineering Association says "no official word has been given by the government." But he estimated a two-week ban would cost Nepal about $1.5 million in climbing fees-peanuts compared with the tens...