30/05/2025

FRIDAY | MAY 30, 2025

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Everest record breaker

N EPALI Sherpa guide Kami Rita scaled Mount Everest for the 31st time on Tuesday, breaking the record he set last year. The 55-year-old reached the 8,849m peak – the highest in the world – by the traditional southeast ridge route while guiding a 22-member Indian army team, officials said, adding that 27 other Sherpas also accompanied the group. “He is a very passionate climber,” said Pasang Phurba, director of the Seven Summit Treks company for which Kami Rita works, adding that Kami Rita was currently descending to lower camps. Kami Rita, who uses only his first name, first climbed Everest in 1994 and has done so every year except for three years when authorities o Nepali Sherpa aged 55 scales iconic mountain for 31st time

Kami Rita is a Nepali Sherpa guide. – REUTERSPIC

the world’s 14 highest peaks and is heavily reliant on climbing, trekking and tourism for foreign exchange. Guiding foreign climbers to Everest and other peaks provides crucial family income to many Sherpas. Authorities have issued 468 permits to climbers for Everest this March-May climbing season, and more than 300 climbers and Sherpas have already scaled the peak, officials said. Two climbers are known to have died on the mountain this month and there have also been unconfirmed reports of other deaths. – Reuters

closed the mountain to climbers for various reasons. More than 8,000 people have climbed Mount Everest since it was first scaled by New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953. After Kami Rita, another Sherpa, Pasang Dawa, has ascended Everest the most with 29 climbs. Among non-Sherpa climbers, the record is held by British guide Kenton Cool, who has accomplished the feat 19 times, followed by American climbers Dave Hahn and Garrett Madison with 15 times each. One of the poorest countries in the world, Nepal is home to eight of

Nauryz, a traditional New Year festival celebrated in Kazakhstan.

Oppo, Discovery Channel highlight culture in Venice, Kazakhstan, Brazil LAUNCHED last year, Oppo’s

festival is sharing traditional meals such as kumys (fermented horse milk) and nauryz-kozhe , a symbolic seven-ingredient dish. Beyond traditional festivals, some forms of celebration are woven into everyday life. In Brazil, the spotlight turns to a different kind of festivity – football. More than just a sport, football is a national celebration and cultural ritual of Brazil, embraced by people of all ages and backgrounds. The story of 19-year-old player Mario Cesar Conceicao Faria Junior illustrates how football serves as a cultural heartbeat in Brazilian society and how the younger generation continues to chase dreams through it. From backstreets to stadiums, football is a shared rhythm that ignites communities, inspires youth and unites the nation in collective joy. Weaving tapestry of heritage stories Beyond the professional photography captured by the smartphone maker and the Discovery Channel, Oppo also encourages its communities worldwide to document and share their own cultural identities. In Malaysia, Oppo has been running the initiative #OppoMalaysiaThroughTheLens since last year, supported by the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry and the Malaysian National Commission for Unesco. This year, the initiative featured the Thaipusam festival, a vibrant Malaysian Hindu tradition, highlighting how cultural practices are passed down through generations. More than a visual archive, Culture in a Shot is about participation – amplifying grassroots voices and encouraging people everywhere to take pride in their heritage.

partnership with Discovery Channel via the Culture in a Shot initiative enters its second year, having documented cultures in 15 countries. Under this year’s theme “Celebrate the Moment”, Oppo and Discovery Channel explores iconic festivals and celebrations across the globe – from the mystery of the Venice Carnival in Italy and the traditions of Nauryz in Kazakhstan, to the vibrant, festive Brazilian football culture. Through the lens of smartphones, the initiative captures the stories behind these celebrations and how younger generations are keeping traditions alive in new ways. Universal joy of celebration Across the globe, festivals unite people through shared moments of joy, tradition, and togetherness. More than just vibrant spectacles, these cultural events are the heartbeat of communities – powerful expressions of history, identity and human connection. The journey this year begins in Italy with the legendary Venice Carnival, a celebration where history and fantasy merge. Once rooted in aristocratic traditions, it has transformed into a global cultural event that invites people from all walks of life to participate. With its vibrant masks, timeless architecture and joyful spirit, Venice is filled with life. Travelling to Kazakhstan, the focus turns to Nauryz, the traditional New Year festival that symbolises renewal, prosperity and unity. Deeply rooted in ancient customs, Nauryz transforms cities into open-air stages filled with music, dance and elaborate costumes. A key part of the

Fusterlandia: Mosaic wonderland in Cuba IN 1994, Cuban artist Jose Fuster started plastering his home with colourful mosaic palms, animals and Picasso-esque figures. An oddity became a trend: today the entire town of Jaimanitas is a celebration of his ceramic art. paintings, sculptures and ceramics. “I had no idea I could create so much. It became a sort of contagion,” laughed Fuster, who gets around on an electric mobility scooter. village, there was no help or anything,” said Jorge Gonzalez, a 79-year-old who claimed he lives in a “work of art.” Fuster, he said, “took charge of this and everything emerged with a lot of joy, a lot of love.”

Fuster is a creator of so-called “naive” art, which entails an almost child-like use of basic shapes and bright colours. Sometimes dubbed the “Caribbean Picasso” or “Cuban Gaudi”, he said he was mainly inspired by the giant collection of outdoor works created by Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi in his home city of Targu Jiu. Fuster uses palm trees, roosters and rural people as prototypes for his artwork, interspersed with popular sayings and excerpts of poetry. There are many big, red hearts, pink elephants and repeated allusions to the Cuban Revolution of 1959. Jaimanitas “was a small, obscure

Gonzalez’s own house, formerly just a wooden structure, is now cemented and covered in mosaics. And a few years ago – during the brief diplomatic detente between the US and Cuba under former American president Barack Obama – the town was witness to stars such as Madonna and Sean Penn ambling down the streets of “Fusterlandia”. “I did not spend money on advertising. It happened on its own,” said Fuster of the attention the town has drawn. With his former home now a gallery and museum, he is building and decorating a new house for himself closer to the beach. – AFP

A thousand tourists a week, from as far afield as Europe, Russia and Mexico, visit the sleepy fishing spot transformed by Fuster into a theme park town with a fairy castle vibe – jokingly called “Fusterlandia” in a nod to its most famous resident. West of the capital Havana, Jaimanitas’s buildings, homes, walls and bus stops have all become displays for the 79-year-old’s artistic vision. “I found the formats of canvas, ceramics to be too small,” he said. Fuster said he pays for the mosaic materials from sales of his art, some of which he exhibits at his famous former house – now a gallery for his

The Venice Carnival sees vibrant masks and costumes.

Football is a national celebration and cultural ritual of Brazil.

A view of artwork by Fuster in the seaside village of Jaimanitas on the outskirts of Havana. – AFPPIC