Features

KATHMANDU — Nepal's "icefall doctors" were preparing on Wednesday to set off for Everest ahead of the hoped-for return of climbers after the pandemic wiped out last year's season on the world's highest peak.

These highly skilled Nepali mountaineers are the first men on the peak every season, using ropes and ladders to build a route across plunging crevasses and constantly shifting ice, including the treacherous Khumbu icefall.

"A team of eight including two support staff have reached the Everest base camp and are preparing," Nishan Shrestha of Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, which manages the route setting, told AFP.

"They will begin work next week on a day deemed auspicious."

The pandemic hit right before the beginning of the busiest mountaineering season last year, forcing Nepal to shut its borders.

This was a devastating blow to the many thousands of people in Nepal from guides to hoteliers who depend on the climbing industry for their livelihoods.

Nepal has re-opened its borders to foreigners, although mountaineers must quarantine for seven days and present a negative test before heading out on their expedition.

"It is much more positive now. I think in Everest we might not see as many climbers as in 2019, but it will be close," said Mira Acharya, an official at the tourism department, which issues mountaineering permits.

The Tibet side of Everest continues to be closed to foreigners this year, possibly adding more climbers on the Nepal side.

'We all suffered' 

Mountaineering is a huge revenue earner for the Himalayan nation, home to eight of the world's 14 peaks over 8,000 metres.

In Kathmandu, expedition operators are busy preparing for their clients, checking mountaineering equipment and packing bags of food for mountaineers.

"Everything was cancelled at the last minute [last year]," said mountain guide Temba Bhote, who is hoping to make his seventh Everest summit this season.

"We all suffered, companies as well as workers. But the environment is different this year. There are more people coming than we thought. So many are getting work."

But some international expedition operators have cancelled their packages because of virus uncertainties.

"I feel this situation is no different to going onto a mountain when there is a high likelihood of an avalanche involvement," Guy Cotter of New Zealand-based Adventure Consultants said in a statement.

"You might get away with it, you might not, but on the balance of information, it does not seem like the right thing to do right now."

Before the pandemic, Nepal was struggling to cope with the large number of people summiting Everest, with sometimes deadly consequences.

In 2018, the traffic-clogged spring climbing season saw a record 885 people climb the peak, 644 of them from the south and 241 from the northern flank in Tibet.

The season ended with 11 deaths on the mountain, with at least four blamed on overcrowding.

In response, Nepal recommended raising the cost of climbing permits and requiring climbers scale another mountain in the region of at least 6,500 metres before being permitted to attempt Everest.

The government has also banned single-use plastics in the Everest region in an effort to reduce the large amounts of rubbish left by climbers.

LONDON — Britain's royal family has begun a fight back against explosive racism claims made by Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, indicating the couple's comments will not go unchallenged as the country divides into partisan camps.

A keenly awaited statement from Queen Elizabeth II issued on Tuesday was conciliatory towards her grandson and his mixed-race spouse after they had an interview with US chat show host Oprah Winfrey.

But it also stressed that "some recollections may vary", as the Buckingham Palace vowed to look into the couple's assertion that an unidentified royal had asked how dark their unborn son Archie's skin would be.

The row is being watched worldwide, in the United States where the couple now live and across the multiracial Commonwealth, which the queen heads, dragging Britain's most famous family further into a debate about racism and the country's colonial past.

The UK government is refusing to get involved in the family's biggest crisis since the very public collapse of the marriage of Harry's parents, other than to praise Elizabeth's stewardship of the country and the 54-nation Commonwealth.

But pointedly, Downing Street has declined to disown remarks by Junior Foreign Minister Zac Goldsmith, who accused former army captain Harry of "blowing up his family".

"What Meghan wants, Meghan gets," added the Conservative politician, who is a close ally of Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Senior minister Jacob Rees-Mogg denied there were any wider ramifications for the 94-year-old queen, who has reigned over Britain and 15 Commonwealth realms, including Australia and Canada, since 1952.

"She has done her duty. I think she is loved across her realms for that," Rees-Mogg said.

"And I don't think interviews with chat show hosts in the United States makes a great deal of difference to that."

However, former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said the allegations should pave the way towards his country holding another referendum on abolishing the monarchy.

"The bottom line is that in Australia the scandals, the personalities, the dramas of the royal family are not really the issue," the former head of the Australian Republic Movement told Britain's ITV, which aired the Winfrey interview on Monday to an audience of more than 11 million.

"The issue is that Australia's head of state should be an Australian citizen chosen by Australians, not the king or queen of the UK."

US network CBS, which first broadcast Winfrey's interview on Sunday, said close to 50 million people had watched worldwide, and the figure would rise as more territories air it.

Winfrey said the racist remark did not come from either the queen or her 99-year-old husband Prince Philip, who is in hospital with a heart condition.

The queen's statement said the charge of racism was "concerning" and would be "taken very seriously", but added that it would be "addressed by the family privately".

"Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much loved family members," Elizabeth stressed.

But The Daily Telegraph newspaper said that in noting that people's memories may diverge, the palace statement suggested that the person behind the remark about Archie's skin tone may already have been identified.

It said the public were unlikely to learn more, as this was "expected to be Her Majesty's final word on the matter".

The Sun newspaper, however, said the queen was to investigate further through "private conversations" with senior royals including Harry's father Prince Charles, her oldest son and heir, and Harry's elder brother William.

'Too little, too late'

Former royal correspondent Peter Hunt said the 61-word statement was "the bare minimum", at a time when the royals find themselves in an "enormous hole".

"In my judgement, it was too little and it was too late," he told BBC radio.

Charles has yet to comment, but on Tuesday was filmed touring a Nigerian Christian church in London whose pastors are promoting a drive to vaccinate more black people against the coronavirus.

One of Meghan's complaints was that she had suicidal thoughts during her time in Britain, but received no support, provoking fresh debate about the royal family's ability to connect with ordinary people.

A YouGov poll of 4,656 people after the interview aired in Britain indicated almost a third (32 per cent) felt the couple was unfairly treated, the same proportion as those who thought the opposite.

Opinions diverged on lines of party affiliation and age, mirroring the fissures that have opened up in Britain since its 2016 vote to leave the European Union.

Younger people and opposition Labour supporters were more favourable to Harry and Meghan. Older respondents and Conservatives took the royal family's side.

By Thomas Urbain
Agence France-Presse

NEW YORK — New Yorkers are taking advantage of the absence of tourists during the pandemic to visit iconic sites in the Big Apple that they would normally avoid.

At 10:00am (15:00 GMT) on a recent Friday, barely ten people were on Liberty Island's roughly 200 metre promenade, staring up at the Statue of Liberty.

In normal times, even although it is not peak season, hundreds of tourists would be posing for selfies in front of the copper icon of freedom.

Alexander Lumbres, a student at City University of New York, has been to the island 20 times before, but never been able to enjoy a crowd-free view of the statue.

"It was really hard for me to take pictures. Usually, we would go around the backside, just to get like a proper picture with the family and everything," he said.

Roughly 67 million tourists visited New York City in 2019. In 2020, visitor numbers were a third of that, and most came before the pandemic began ravaging the city in the spring.

Today, 90 per cent of visitors to the Metropolitan Museum of Art come from the local area, according to a spokesperson. Ordinarily, locals make up fewer than half.

NYC & Company, which markets the Big Apple around the world and which cut its workforce by almost a half because of coronavirus, launched the "All in NYC" campaign to encourage New Yorkers to visit their own city.

Getting New York back on its feet is "going to start with New Yorkers" said Executive Vice President Christopher Heywood.

"When you live here, you take it for granted," said Darlene Vann, who's in the military and stationed in New York for a year. She was visiting the Statue of Liberty for the first time.

Jerry Willis, of the National Park Service, the government agency that manages national parks and sites, said "New Yorkers are famous" for not visiting renowned sites on their doorstep.

Darlene's husband, Jay Vann, prefers outdoor venues over closed spaces because officials are "limiting capacity" at indoor venues, which also come with the threat of some patrons not complying with strict health protocols.

In the fourth quarter of 2020, the Empire State Building Observation Deck recorded a 94 per cent drop in visitors compared to the same period the year before, despite being open for the full three months.

At the 9/11 Memorial, only a few dozen people tend to walk amid the former home of the World Trade Centre's Twin Towers.

Broadway the catalyst 

Many New Yorkers avoided the memorial during its first few years, either out of trauma or because it was too crowded, to the point that organisers launched a specific marketing campaign in 2016 entitled "Our City. Our Story".

Janice Ryan lost a friend in the Al Qaeda attacks on September 11, 2001. She recently visited to find her friend's name on the engraved list of victims that surround the large pools of water installed where the north and south tower used to stand.

Today, she came to find her name in the list engraved along the two large pools installed where the 1 and 2 World Trade Centre were located.

"It was easier for me to come today because usually it's so crowded," she said.

"It's super emotional for me. I don't know anybody that could come down here and not feel as it is the day that it happened. I've stayed away because it's really hard," Ryan added.

Mark Robinson, a theatre director, often visits "Ground Zero" for some peaceful reflection.

"[Normally] I wouldn't be coming down here on a Friday. But the streets down here in the Wall Street area downtown are pretty deserted. So it just seemed like the right thing to do on such a beautiful day," he told AFP.

Despite enjoying New York's new-found quietness, locals are beginning to crave the manic old days.

"It's about time we get back to the normal hustle and bustle of the city. We enjoyed that when we were living here when we were younger," said Jay Vann.

With the partial reopening of cinemas and large arenas such as Madison Square Garden, NYC & Company's Heywood sees positive moves in the right direction.

"It's been gradual, but we are starting to make our way towards a recovery," he said.

But he says the real turning point will be when Broadway reopens, which may not be until September.

"Broadway will be that catalyst that we need to be able to signal to the world that New York City is absolutely open for business," he said.

LONDON — A Banksy painting inspired by the response to the coronavirus pandemic is to go on sale, potentially raising millions of pounds for UK health service staff.

"Game Changer" is a black and white depiction of a little boy playing with the doll of a nurse in a mask, near a bin with Batman and Superman toys.

It first appeared at Southampton General Hospital on England's south coast last May during the first wave of the global health crisis.

The elusive street artist penned a note to staff at the time: "Thanks for all you're doing. I hope this brightens up the place a bit, even if it's only in black and white."

Auction house Christie's said it will go on sale on March 23 and has a pre-sale estimate of between £2.5-3.5 million ($3.5-4.8 million, 2.9-4.1 million euros)

Katharine Arnold, Christie's co-head of post-war and contemporary art, called "Game Changer" a "universal tribute to all those fighting worldwide on the front line of this crisis".

She said it was a "beacon of light" for staff and patients at the hospital, and he wanted to auction it with proceeds going to National Health Service charities.

A reproduction of the work will stay at the hospital.

LONDON — Britain's royal family was under pressure on Tuesday to respond to Prince Harry and his wife Meghan's claims of racism, triggering a crisis for the institution not seen since the time of his late mother, Diana.

The couple set off a whirl of speculation about the identity of the senior royal who asked how dark their child's skin would be before he was born.

Meghan, whose mother is black and father is white, also spoke about how she had suicidal thoughts but failed to get any support during her time in the royal family.

The racism claims left interviewer Oprah Winfrey open-mouthed but have so far not led to any official response from Buckingham Palace, which newspapers reported had been left in turmoil.

The Daily Mail, which devoted 25 pages of coverage to the "toxic" claims, headlined its front page "What have they done?"

The Times newspaper said Harry's grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, wanted more time to consider her reply.

Prince Charles, Harry's father and the heir to the throne, meanwhile, visited a COVID-19 vaccination centre at a northwest London church on Tuesday, in his first public appearance since the row erupted.

One worker told him she was from Nigeria, which the prince said he had visited. "Lots of different ethnic groups," he said.

"Do give them my kind regards next time you speak to them."

But Charles did not respond to questions about what he thought about the interview.

'Blowing up his family' 

Harry and Meghan's claims have been likened to a bomb being dropped on Britain's most famous family and one of the country's most revered institutions.

Attempts have been made to draw in Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has himself been accused of racism during his time as a newspaper columnist.

But he refused to comment, even as political calls mounted for a full inquiry and prompted the White House and former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton to speak out.

Zac Goldsmith, a junior British foreign minister and close ally of Johnson, however, said former army captain Harry was "blowing up his family".

Asked whether Goldsmith was speaking for the government, Johnson's spokesman declined to comment.

The level of controversy about the royals has not been seen since the 1990s, during the very public collapse of the marriage of Harry's parents.

His mother, princess Diana, collaborated with the author Andrew Morton in a revealing 1992 biography and gave a bombshell BBC television interview in 1995.

In it, she said both she and Prince Charles had been unfaithful, how he was unfit to be king, and that she felt isolated, struggling with self-harm and bulimia.

Morton said on Monday evening that Harry and Meghan's claims would "shudder down through the generations in the same way that Diana's did".

But Meghan's estranged father Thomas Markle defended the royals, saying he hoped the skin tone comment was "just a dumb question".

"It could just be that simple, it could be somebody asked a stupid question, rather than being a total racist," he told Britain's ITV.

Millions of views 

Just over 17 million viewers watched Winfrey's two-hour interview with Harry and Meghan on US broadcaster CBS on Sunday night.

More than 11 million people tuned in to watch it in full on ITV in Britain on Monday night, the channel said.

The couple dramatically quit royal life last year and now live in California with their young son, Archie, and are expecting their second child, a daughter, this summer.

Harry, 36, has admitted his mother's death in Paris in 1997 — in a high-speed car crash as she tried to flee paparazzi photographers — has affected his mental health and coloured his view of the media.

He and Meghan, 39, have accused newspapers of racial stereotyping, particularly set against coverage of Harry's sister-in-law, Kate, who is white.

But their comments about the suffocating strictures of royal life and claims of unwavering attitudes have wider implications for the monarchy itself — and what it represents.

Black Lives Matter protests in Britain last year prompted calls for a reassessment of the legacy of the British Empire headed by the queen and her ancestors.

Global impact? 

Neither the queen, now 94, and her 99-year-old husband, Prince Philip, made the racist comment, Winfrey told CBS.

But it could still be damaging, as the monarch is head of the Commonwealth, an organisation comprising 54 mainly former British colonies, many of them in Africa, and 2.4 billion people.

Britain has been transformed by mass immigration since the queen came to the throne in 1952, with a rising number of people who define themselves as British-Asian, black-British or of mixed race.

The historian and broadcaster David Olusoga wrote in The Guardian that Harry and Meghan's claims were "not just a crisis for the royal family — but for Britain itself".

Harry himself has faced accusations in the past of using a racist slur against a former military colleague and was once pictured wearing a Nazi soldier's uniform at a fancy-dress party.

But he has said meeting Meghan had made him confront the issue, and he is now championing projects to tackle racism.

A back-to-basics naturally-aspirated rear-drive sports car with restrained power and weight, the Subaru BRZ is an attainable sports car designed with a focus firmly on good old fashioned fun. With a clear emphasis on handling agility and driver engagement above most else when first launched in 2012, the BRZ was as much a departure from Subaru’s traditional turbocharged, four-wheel-drive playbook, as its Toyota 86 twin was a break for Toyota from the conventional, conformist and less than thrilling image it had then cultivated.

With a successor generation already announced and expected soon, the face-lifted first generation BRZ has perhaps never been as enticing and is still seemingly available in certain markets, as carmakers move towards much feted yet un-involving, non-visceral and ultimately un-exciting technologies. Engineered primarily by Subaru, with design and fuel injection courtesy of its Toyota shareholder, the BRZ is virtually unaltered since initial launch and through its face-lift, and is also virtually identical to its Toyota, and now defunct Scion sister models. 

Classic proportions

A light, balanced and involving drive built using a compactly packaged and low-mounted front “boxer” engine on a rear-drive platform, the BRZ is a handsomely sporty machine with classic rear-drive proportions, including a low and long hood, and low sloping roofline, tapering to a fastback-like (non-hatch) rear deck. Little different in styling to its Toyota sister bar a more upright and arguably better looking fascia, the BRZ was meanwhile little altered for 2016, with lightly re-styled bumpers and lighting elements being most prominent.

With a rearwards cabin and front-mid engine layout from profile, the BRZ features a low-slung hexagonal grille and slim swept-back headlights with a semi-circular outside kink, for a shark-like demeanor. Sporting details include an air splitter, rear spoiler, side ports and dual exhaust pipes set within a rear air diffuser lower element, while a predominantly red rear light cluster replaces its predecessor’s clear casing. Defined side haunches lend the BRZ presence and tone, but larger rear tyres and wheels would have better filled out its wheel arches and provided better rear grip 

Peaky and punchy

Powered by a naturally-aspirated horizontally-opposed 2-litre 4-cylinder engine driving the rear wheels in classic sports car configuration, the BRZ develops 197BHP at 7000rpm and 151lb/ft torque at 6400-6600rpm. A peaky, eager and high-rev engine with a low rev staccato rumble and more manic engine note higher up the dial, the BRZ’s “boxer” engine is not merely more rewarding near its redline, but is one practically begging to be revved with abandon, and allows for conservatively stated 7.6-second 0-100km/h acceleration and 226km/h top speed.

A different proposition to Subaru’s muscularly meaty, surging, high-gripping and iconic turbocharged four-wheel-drive WRX STI, the BRZ is instead free-revving and progressive in delivery, with its best arriving at the top-end. Building power in linear fashion, it isn’t exactly a muscle car at lower revs, but the fun is in exploiting its eager rev nature and throttle control precision for inputting or dialing back power with crisp clarity. Meanwhile, its light, accurate short-throw gear shifts and delicate yet intuitive clutch are highly rewarding.

Crisp control

A happy medium between a hardcore lightweight Caterham Seven and a practical performance hot hatch, the Subaru BRZ weighs in at just 1,258kg and delivers brisk performance for affordable thrills, yet seems a tempting prospect for more power. That said, it is a light, perfectly balanced, un-fussed, sensible and pragmatic sports car for eager every day driving. Best enjoyed driven hard, the BRZ isn’t as tail-happy and drift-oriented as reports suggest its’ Toyota sister is, with rear suspension instead seemingly calibrated for better road-holding.

Engagingly exacting and able to cover ground at a quick pace, the BRZ nicely balances crisp handling, intuitiveness and decent rear grip. Quick and light steering is accurate and the front wheels bite hard on turn-in, while a low centre of gravity and taut suspension ensure good cornering body control.  With excellent throttle control and modest torque, one can meanwhile come back on throttle early without unexpected rear drift. That said, accurately progressive and intuitive tail slides can be initiated on a whim.

Clarity and character

An agile, connected and visceral drive, the BRZ is stable, settled and smooth, if on the firm side over jagged lumps and bumps. Sitting low and upright, the BRZ’s hunkered driving position is alert and well-adjustable, with supportive body-hugging sports seats and good visibility over its long, low bonnet. Cozy but not uncomfortable in front but limited in rear passenger space, the BRZ’s cabin is distinctly sporting, with small chunky steering wheel and stiff, stubby and precise short-throw gear lever falling nicely to hand.

With thin insulation enhancing its viscerality, one distinctly hears the BRZ’s throbbing “boxer” engine and gearbox linkages at work, while controls and instrumentation are clear and user-friendly. Styling is sporty but not over-stated or ostentatious, and keeps to its core characteristics. Easily maneuvered and placed, even with shoulder pressed to the door, the BRZ is however no stripped down racer, and is equipped with modern safety features and conveniences. Boot space is meanwhile adequate at 218-litres, but reduced by an optional above-floor spare tyre.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Engine: 2-litre, horizontally-opposed 4-cylinders
• Bore x stroke: 86 x 86mm
• Compression: 12.5:1
• Valve-train: 16-valve DOHC, direct-injection
• Gearbox: 6-speed manual, RWD, Torsen limited-slip rear-differential
• Gear ratios: 1st 3.626:1; 2nd 2.188:1; 3rd 1.541:1; 4th 1.213:1; 5th 1:1; 6th 0.767:1
• Reverse / final drive ratio: 3.437:1 / 4.1:1
• Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 200 (197) [147] @7,000rpm 
• Specific power: 98.6BHP/litre
• Power-to-weight: 156.6BHP/tonne
• Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 151 (205) @ 6,400-6,600rpm
• Specific torque: 102.6Nm/litre
• Torque-to-weight: 163Nm/tonne
• 0-100km/h: 7.6-seconds
• Top speed: 226km/h 
• Fuel consumption, urban / extra-urban / combined: 10.4-/6.3-/7.8-l/100km
• CO2 emissions, combined: 180g/km
• Fuel capacity: 50-litres
• Length: 4,240mm 
• Width: 1,775mm 
• Height: 1,320mm
• Wheelbase: 2,570mm
• Track, F/R: 1,520/1,540mm
• Ground clearance: 120mm
• Kerb weight: 1,258kg
• Boot capacity: 218-litres
• Suspension, F/R: MacPherson struts / double wishbones
• Steering: Electric assistance, rack & pinion
• Lock-to-lock: 2.48-turns
• Turning circle: 10.8-metres
• Brakes: Ventilated discs
• Tyres: 215/45R17