Paris, France |A French travel publisher presented  its first guide book for North Korea, offering 190 pages of tips for getting the most out of a trip to experience the "survival of a totalitarian communist state".

"The guide wasn't conceived to defend the current regime or to cast judgment, but to show the genuine touristic interest of the country," Jean-Paul Labourdette, a co-founder of the "Petit Fute" guides, said in Paris.

He said 4,000 copies had been printed -- more than enough for the estimated 400 French tourists which head each year to the pariah state, which has been isolated from the international community for decades.

North Korea has endured harsh UN sanctions to pursue its nuclear weapons programme under the Kim dynasty, which implemented a dictatorship that has been accused of provoking widespread hunger and human rights abuses.

The French foreign ministry strongly discourages tourists from visiting, while the US State Department only rarely grants exceptional permits for Americans hoping to travel to North Korea.

But Labourdette said "there are no security issues" for travellers, though he admitted "very restrictive" conditions, not least tight surveillance that limits foreigners to just a handful of hotels and restaurants.

And while tourist visas are readily granted, the guide warns that missteps are costly: "The punishments can be severe... as was the case for the American student Otto Warmbier."

Warmbier, an Ohio native who studied at the University of Virginia, was pulled away from his tour group at the Pyongyang airport in 2016 and charged with crimes against the state for allegedly taking down a propaganda poster in his hotel.

He was sentenced to 15 years of hard labour. 

After lengthy negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang, Warmbier was released in a vegetative state in 2017 but died a few days later on American soil.

- 'Don't take pictures' -

Mainstream travel guides have steered clear of the repressive nation, with English-language stalwarts like "Lonely Planet" limiting their coverage to a few chapters in their Korea books.

"Don't take any pictures of airports, road, bridges or train stations," the "Petit Fute" warns, and make sure you don't throw away or even fold any newspaper with a picture of former or current leaders.

"Roll it up instead," the guide advises.

The book comes as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump are holding halting talks on ending the country's nuclear weapons efforts.

"We launched this project four years ago, we didn't wait for Donald and Kim to start their little friendship," Labourdette said. "But it took quite a while to find qualified French writers." 

"Petit Fute" aims to publish guides on all the world's countries, or 204 instead of the 175 it covers now.

"We still don't have Iraq, Saudi Arabia or Liberia," Labourdette said.

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Paris, France |The legendary treasure of ancient Egypt's boy pharaoh Tutankhamun, some of which is touring the world for the first time, is shrouded in richness and mystery.

Here are some facts: 

- Hoard uncovered intact -

The tomb of Tutankhamun, who died aged 19 in 1324 BC after nine years on the throne, was discovered by British archaeologist Howard Carter in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor in November 1922.

The hoard of more than 4,500 objects laid out across five rooms included thrones, statues, jewels, furniture and weapons.

It is pharaonic Egypt's only mausoleum found so far with its burial artefacts intact.

Many other resting places of pharaohs and dignitaries had been pillaged by tomb robbers down the centuries.

- Golden treasures -

Among the discovered artefacts are a gilded bed featuring posts made of carved lion heads, a chariot, and a gold-handled dagger that experts say was forged from the iron of meteorites.

The walls of the chamber in which Tutankhamun was laid to rest were covered in gold; his coffin is a three-piece sarcophagus, the innermost 110 kilogrammes (240 pounds) of solid gold.

His funeral mask, now one of the world's most instantly recognisable Egyptian artefacts, is made of gold inlaid with lapis lazuli and with eyes of obsidian and quartz.

The mask was damaged in 2014 when its beard, symbol of the pharaohs, was knocked off during maintenance in the Cairo Museum. It was stuck back on with epoxy glue and took a team of German experts two months of restoration work to fix the botched repair.

- Enigma -

Tests have established that Tutankhamun's father was the pharaoh Akhenaten, who ruled between 1351 and 1334 BC.

Akhenaten was the husband of the legendary beauty Queen Nefertiti.

Another mummy has been confirmed as Tutankhamun's mother, whose name is not known. That discovery ended the theory that Tutankhamun was the son of Nefertiti.

The mother was a sister of Akhenaten, with genetic analyses showing incest between the parents.

It was at the age of nine, towards 1333 BC, that Tutankhamun is believed to have acceded to the throne of Upper and Lower Egypt, although his exact age and dates vary from one expert to another.

- Reign -

Tutankhamun's reign coincided with a troubled time in Egyptian history known as the Amarna period, during which Akhenaten tried to radically transform religion to focus on just one god, Aton.

Tutankhamum is believed to have married his half-sister Ankhesenpaaten, with marriage between brother and sister commonplace in the Egypt of the pharaohs.

He sired two children, both girls, but they died in the womb, according to experts.

- Death -

The death of Tutankhamun, which ended the 18th dynasty under the period of Egyptian history known as the New Kingdom, had been a mystery.

It was blamed variously on a chariot accident, illness or murder.

In 2010 a study of DNA tests and CT scans concluded that he suffered from an often-fatal form of malaria and a club foot that caused him to walk with a cane.

-  'Curse' of King Tut -

Several months after the fabulous discovery, Britain's Lord Carnarvon, who financed the research, died in April 1923 of septicaemia following an infected cut. 

His death fuelled speculation that the fabled "curse of the pharaohs" had struck one of those responsible for violating the tomb of "King Tut".

Archaeologist Carter himself died in 1939 without ever achieving the publication of his findings.

One explanation put forward for the deaths is the existence of poisonous fungi found on black spots within the tomb.

British crime queen Agatha Christie based one of her famous short stories, "The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb", on King Tut's curse.

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Knyazhitsy, Belarus | 

Since he was a child, Alexei Usikov liked to make things. 

His latest invention is what he proudly calls a "horse-mobile" -- a dilapidated red car pulled by a horse that he rides through the Belarusian countryside.

"It's more reliable than a car, it won't let you down," the 31-year-old farmer told AFP, flashing a toothless smile.

Usikov lives in the tiny village of Knyazhitsy in Belarus's eastern Mogilev region.

When a neighbour offered him the remains of his old Audi 80, Usikov cut up the car's frame and removed its engine.

He made holes where the steering wheel was and slid reins through plastic tubes to attach them to his horse. 

"Now it's an Audi 40, as half of it is missing," he joked.

The young farmer uses his invention to get to the collective farm where he works, looking after livestock for around 200 euros a month.

He also uses it for working in the field, including for ploughing and seeding.

"My colleagues could not believe it when I first arrived at work in a horse car," Usikov said.

"They were surprised because you can play music in the car, the horn works and everything is well equipped."

Usikov outfitted his car with a small coal stove. It is linked to a pipe on the roof that blows out smoke and keeps him warm in winter.

The "horse-mobile" has made Usikov famous among villagers.

"There are not many young people today who can do that,"  said a local saleswoman.

"It's the 21st century when there are computers and phones, but he's trying to keep up the traditions of the old days."

At first traffic police were not sure how to respond. Once a bewildered policeman stopped the vehicle and called his boss.

His chief praised Usikov's creative spirit.

"Well done," he said. "Wish him a safe trip."

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Miami Beach, United States |Spring Break is a US holiday known for excessive partying, but in Miami Beach, one of the centers of festivities, residents have had enough.

Every March, the bar-lined ocean-front area fills up with students from across the country, drinking, partying and stripping down to the bare essentials.

The drunken revelry has reached such chaotic heights this year -- with drunken brawls on the beachfront and a tourist falling to her death out of a car window -- that the authorities have decided to call time on the wild festivities.

Riot police have begun patrolling the waterfront, with police vans parked nearby to detain party people who go too far.

The authorities have said they will no longer ignore people consuming alcohol or lighting up joints on the beach.

"We are here just to have fun," said 18-year-old student Jack Rogers from Towson University in Maryland. "It's spring break." 

"Obviously, people are getting a little out of hand," he said, sitting on a seafront wall with friends.  

As night falls, the crowds move towards Ocean Drive, the road running along the beachfront and filled with bars and restaurants offering happy hour discounts on monster-sized cocktails.

In the mornings, as the tropical heat rises, the streets reek of urine.

Partygoers have been filming their antics and sharing them on social media. One posted video of a driver serving drinks to another passing vehicle on a major causeway, while a separate clip shows people brawling in the street with a woman knocked out by a man who punches her in the face.

The clips shed some light on the atmosphere in which Mariah Michelle Logan, a tourist from Chicago, met her end around daybreak last Sunday.

The 23-year-old fell out the window of a speeding car on the road to the airport as she leaned out to yell, "Bye Miami!" She was then hit by another car and killed. 

The tragedy, combined with images of stampedes and 20-year-olds drinking alcohol through plastic funnels, forced the authorities to come up with an emergency plan on Tuesday to establish order next week, the last stretch of the holiday.

"I think we need to eliminate this Spring Break phenomenon as soon as possible," said John Elizabeth Aleman, city commissioner for Miami Beach.

"I think we need to make it a lot less fun to be here, unfortunately, for that type of tourism," she said.

- 'You will be arrested' -

"You can't stop people from having fun," said Marta Ramirez, a 70-year-old resident of Miami Beach. "But they should try to show a little more respect. Let them dance and have fun, but with order." 

The police slogan for those heading to Miami for Spring Break this year was: "Come on vacation, don't leave on probation." 

Clearly, the message has not got through, even though last November police chief Daniel Oates sent his own message to fraternities and sororities of colleges across the country: "If you come to Miami Beach for Spring Break, you must obey our laws. If you do not, you will be arrested." 

At the emergency council meeting there was even talk of imposing a curfew. 

In the end, city commissioners decided not to go that far, but they did pledge special measures, including extra police and patrols on quad bikes confiscating alcohol on the beach.

Residential areas of the island will be closed off with barricades for the last weekend of the break season, and there will be license plate checks and plainclothes police officers mingling with the crowds.

"This is not a place where everything goes, and if that is their reason for coming here, they should go elsewhere," said Mayor Dan Gelber. 

Paris, France | France became the first country to ban a type of breast implant that has been linked to a rare form of cancer.

The ban covers certain types of implants with a textured surface or polyurethane coating.

The National Agency for Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) said the ban was a "precautionary measure" taken in light of the "rare but serious danger" posed by the implants, which have been linked to anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (BIA- ALCL), a rare type of cancer that attacks the immune system.

But it did not recommend that the some 70,000 women believed to have received the implants -- of an estimated 400,000-500,000 French implant wearers -- undergo surgery to have them removed.

Silicone implants are used in breast enhancements, or for reconstructive purposes after a mastectomy for breast cancer. They can either be smooth, textured or coated in polyurethane. 

Textured implants, which are designed to stick to the breast tissue to avoid slipping out of position, are the most popular in France.

The Food and Drug Administration in the United States, where the smooth models are more popular, held two days of public hearings last month on the risks posed by implants.

The agency, which wrote to healthcare providers in February warning them of the link between implants and BIA-ALCL, told AFP it would announce a decision "in the coming weeks". 

The ANSM said it had noted a "significant increase in cases of anaplastic large-cell lymphoma linked to the wearing of breast implants since 2011."

It said it had recorded 59 cases of the cancer among French implant wearers, of whom three had died.

"The more the implant is textured and rough the greater the risk of BIA-ALCL," it said.

"We have no scientific explanation for the development of ALCL, all we have are observations," Thierry Thomas, the agency's deputy director for health devices, told a press conference.

Of the 457 cases of BIA-ALCL recorded in implant wearers worldwide as of September 30, 2018, at least 310 were found in wearers of textured implants, according to the FDA.

Canada, which has 22 confirmed and a further 22 suspected cases of BIA-ALCL, is also reviewing their safety while in European Union, several national health authorities have formed a working group to exchange information.

- Man in implant scandal dies -

Some studies suggest that inflammation caused by the textured implants rubbing against breast tissue could cause BIA-ALCL.

The ban covers several models from US manufacturer Allergan that had already been withdrawn from sale in December as well as similar models from France's Arion and Sebbin, Britain's Nagor and Eurosilicone and German's Polytech.

Several implant wearers have already launched legal action against Allergan, accusing it of "deliberately endangering the lives of others".

The president of the French Society for Plastic and Aesthetic Surgery, Sebastien Garson, said the move would "complicate things" for medical practitioners, who would have fewer implant models to offer patients.

France was at the centre of a major scandal involving implants in 2010 after it emerged that the maker of a popular brand of implants had been filling them with a cheap industrial-grade silicone gel, which was more dangerous for wearers than medical-grade silicone.

The French government recommended that women have the implants removed.

Jean-Claude Mas, the founder of Poly Implant Prothese (PIP), died on Thursday aged 79, his lawyer said.

He was sentenced to four years in prison for fraud but never served jail time after spending eight months in pre-trial detention in 2012. 

PIP was shut down.

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© Agence France

Washington, United States |US Senator Bernie Sanders unveiled his updated "Medicare for all" plan Wednesday with several rival Democratic presidential hopefuls jumping onboard, spotlighting his 2020 campaign call for a national health insurance program.

The idealistic legislation has little to no chance of passage in a divided Congress and in the run-up to next year's election. But Sanders, a frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, is laying down a prominent policy marker at the outset of the race.

"The American people want -- and we are going to deliver -- a Medicare for all, single-payer system," Sanders said at a Capitol Hill press conference.

His plan would convert public and private insurers into a government-run system which the senator said would hit back at the "greed and profiteering" of health providers and the insurance industry.

"Together we are going to end the international embarrassment of the United States of America, our great country, being the only major nation on earth not to guarantee health care to all as a right," he said.

"This is a struggle for the heart and soul of who we are as American people."

Sanders said the plan could save $500 billion annually by eliminating the wasteful bureaucracy of thousands of health care plans.

But critics, including some Democrats, warn it could end up costing trillions of dollars over the coming decade.

Sanders was reintroducing a version of legislation he put forward in 2017, with support from several fellow senators who are now in the presidential race.

The current bill's co-sponsors include White House hopefuls Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren.

"It's what our country needs," Gillibrand said of universal health care. "This has to become the next social safety net."

The messaging comes as President Donald Trump seeks to dismantle the Affordable Care Act that became law under predecessor Barack Obama, and as the number of uninsured Americans soared by seven million people since 2017, to roughly 34 million.

Obamacare opponents argue that costs have risen for millions of enrollees, but supporters say that has occurred largely because of Republican and Trump administration efforts to chip away at the law's provisions.

The White House said Americans deserve relief from the "empty promises" of Obamacare, but also knocked the Sanders plan.

"Self-proclaimed socialist Senator Bernie Sanders is proposing a total government takeover of healthcare that would actually hurt seniors, eliminate private health insurance for 180 million Americans, and cripple our economy and future generations with unprecedented debt," said White House press secretary Sarah Sanders.

The Medicare For All Act faces an uphill battle in Congress, where the top Democrat, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has voiced skepticism about associated costs.

"I'm agnostic. Show me how you think you can get there," she told The Washington Post last week.

"Right now it's a $30 trillion price tag," she added. "What do people get for that in terms of care, and what do they pay for that along the way?"

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San Francisco, United States | As console-quality video games head into the internet cloud, contenders are stepping up to win fans with Netflix-style on-demand services for play.

Hosting blockbuster titles at datacenters and letting people play them on an array of internet-linked devices will allow game makers to add rich new features and broaden their audiences in what is already a $135 billion global video game industry.

- Stadia -

Internet giant Google will launch its video game streaming service Stadia in 14 countries starting in November.

Google will sell its "founders edition bundle" hardware pack for $129, with a monthly subscription price of $9.99. In Europe, the price will be 129 euros and 9.99 euros per month.

Subscribers will have access to free games and will be able to purchase titles as well.

The first free title will be the shooter game Destiny 2 from developer Bungie.

Users may also purchase hit titles such as Assassin's Creed Odyssey and Ghost Recon Breakpoint from game giant Ubisoft.

Google chief executive Sundar Pichai has said the initiative is "to build a game platform for everyone."

As it produces its own games, Google is also courting studios to move to its cloud-based model.

- xCloud -

US technology veteran Microsoft recently began letting employees home test its Project xCloud game-streaming technology.

Microsoft has described a vision to let people play Xbox games "with the people you want, on the devices you want."

Microsoft said it has updated Azure datacenters in regions including Asia, Europe and North America, to synchronize with xCloud.

There are currently more than 1,900 games in development for Xbox One, all of which could run on Project xCloud along with games already released, according to Microsoft.

Details on pricing or availability of xCloud have not been revealed, but might be disclosed at a press event Sunday ahead of the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles.

- PlayStation Now -

Sony launched its PlayStation Now game service five years ago, allowing titles to be streamed to its current-generation consoles or Windows-powered computers.

The subscription service also allows for downloading games to PlayStation 4 consoles. 

PlayStation Now was priced at $20 monthly, or $99 for a year but the annual rate was discounted temporarily ahead of E3.

Longtime video game console rivals Microsoft and Sony recently announced an alliance to improve their platforms for streaming entertainment from the internet cloud.

Microsoft's Azure cloud computing platform will be used by the two companies to support game and digital content streaming services, according to a statement from the companies.

Sony chief executive Kenichiro Yoshida said that Sony's mission is to evolve the PlayStation platform into one that uses the internet cloud to provide players top-quality entertainment experiences any time, at any place.

- Apple Arcade -

Apple has announced plans to launch a new game subscription service called Apple Arcade later this year with at least 100 titles available at its debut.

"Apple Arcade will introduce an innovative way to access a collection of brand new games that will not be available on any other mobile platform or in any other subscription service," Apple said in a statement.

The game service will be available in 150 countries, with pricing yet to be announced.

Arcade subscriptions will allow unlimited play across iPhones, iPads, Mac computers and Apple TV, according to a website devoted to the service.

It said advertisers would not be able to track the activity of subscribers to the new service and that Arcade would have no ads.

Apple is working with game makers to create titles for Arcade.

- Project Atlas -

Video game titan Electronic Arts (EA) has laid out a vision of streaming video games enhanced with artificial intelligence to create "living, breathing worlds that constantly evolve."

EA, maker of the popular Battlefield and FIFA game franchises, is working on a platform to harness the power of cloud computing and artificial intelligence in a game service hosted on the California-based company's servers, according to an online post by chief technology officer Ken Moss.

The effort is called "Project Atlas."

Yerevan, Armenia | In a sleek classroom in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, one of the poorest post-Soviet republics, 14-year-old Nazeli Ter-Petrosyan peers at the screen of her Apple Mac.

During a computer programming course offered at the high-tech Tumo school, Ter-Petrosyan and her classmates learn how to digitise medieval texts.

"I'm developing a programme to enable artificial intelligence to read old manuscripts," said the teen. 

Her computer screen features a page from a 15th century Bible held at Armenia's famed repository of ancient writings, the Matenadaran.

Armenia, which is known for its rich history and troubled past, has grappled with poverty, unemployment and a brain drain since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991.

But despite a stagnant economy, Armenia's tech sector has been booming over the past decade, boosting hopes that one day the resource-poor country can become a global IT powerhouse.

Tumo is a cutting edge, after-school learning centre, where around 7,000 Armenians aged 12 to 18, from all walks of life, study for free.

Packed with hundreds of computers with industry standard software, 3D printers, video cameras and an animation studio, Tumo gives youngsters an opportunity to study web design, robotics, animation, music, digital media and more.

The project has been so successful that there is already a Tumo school in Paris and plans for others in Europe and the United States are under way.

In one of the centre's workshops, students are buzzing with excitement as they learn how to build robots from Lego kits and programme them to perform tasks like collecting rubbish or making a salad.

"We are working on projects that we will be able to later use in our everyday life," said Davit Harutyunyan, 14, as he showed off a half-assembled robot.

- One third in poverty -

The South Caucasus country of three million people boasts a vibrant startup scene and its tech workers have been a driving force behind a wave of peaceful protests that ousted the old elite from power in 2018.

Tumo aims to raise the next generation of tech professionals and play a role in creating a knowledge-based economy in a country where 30 percent of the population live in poverty.

"We've got very ambitious plans," chief development officer Pegor Papazian told AFP.

"We want to become one of the world's most competitive labour markets," added Papazian, who holds a master's degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States. 

The non-profit centre was founded in 2011 by Sam and Sylva Simonian, a US-based couple who are part of the influential Armenian diaspora formed largely as a result of World War I massacres by the Ottoman forces.

The school occupies two floors of a six-storey pink tufa stone building, located on the outskirts of Yerevan in the shadow of Mount Ararat which stands just across the border in Turkey.

The Simonians provided the initial investment of $60 million to set up the project but it is now largely self-sustaining, with the centre renting out several floors to tech companies.

The school's gleaming facade and huge windows contrast with dilapidated Soviet-era residential buildings nearby.

Inside the futuristic, open-plan premises, mobile computer workstations allow students to move around freely.

"In Armenia what Tumo offers is extraordinary," Julian Sefton-Green, a professor of new media education at Deakin University, in the Australian city of Melbourne, told AFP in emailed comments.

Tumo offers "a particular vision of a techno future," said Sefton-Green, who visited the school and studied its educational model.

- From Merkel to Kanye West - 

On average, students spend two to three years at the centre. 

They create their own learning plans and are assisted by instructors, many of whom come from companies such as Google and Pixar. 

There are no grades and, at the end of their studies, students receive digital portfolios showcasing their work. 

Tumo has established three satellites across the country and Azerbaijan's breakaway region of Nagorny Karabakh.

Plans are under way to open more than 20 centres over the next 10 years.

Papazian said the staff had been struck by the poverty in which some of their students live. "We are helping them discover a new world," he added.

The authorities have embraced the initiative and it has become a ritual for foreign dignitaries and other top guests to visit the school.

Grammy-award winning rapper Kanye West, whose wife Kim Kardashian is of Armenian descent, toured the premises in 2015. 

Last year, the school also earned rave reviews from German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"This Tumo is not for Armenia only. It's international. It's a philosophy," she said in August during the first visit to Armenia by a German chancellor.

In some ways, the Tumo project could be viewed as being ahead of its time for Armenia, which still lacks the rule of law and a stable economy, among other things.

Sefton-Green said that only time would tell if the pioneering school would help reshape the country.

"Unless there is structural economic response to the kind of investment Tumo has offered, it is possible that benefits will not be felt," he said.

"However the country itself is in a good place to be able to rise to these kinds of challenges."

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Kresevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina | 

To be worthy of the title of master, a blacksmith in Kresevo in central Bosnia had to perform a delicate task -- shoe an egg without breaking it. 

It's an Easter tradition requiring a blacksmith to decorate an egg shell by nailing on it a miniature iron horseshoe.

Now Stjepan Biletic wants to have this ancient know-how recognised by UNESCO as part of the world's cultural heritage.

"That is the most beautiful gift one can offer to a friend, a neighbour, a girlfriend or wife," the 71-year-old craftsman said.

As the Easter holiday approaches, people flock to his small workshop in this village -- population around 5,300 --  almost 80 percent of whom are Catholic Croats.

But Biletic works all year long. His shod eggs, which sell for 3.0 to 7.5 euros ($3.30 to $8.40) per piece, help him make ends meet as a retired teacher. But more than money, he wants to maintain a tradition he believes should be preserved.

Started in the 18th century, the practice was designed to test and show the virtuosity of blacksmith apprentices.

"The shod egg was at the time analysed by the masters. If it was intact, if the shell was not damaged, they would extend the hand to the apprentice to congratulate him," and thereby welcome him into the fellowship, said Biletic.

"That was his diploma, he became a 'doctor' of his profession'," he added.

The shoeing of eggs was originally done with iron. But today Biletic uses lead, a more flexible metal.

It is this traditional craftsmanship that Bosnia would like the UN cultural agency to include on the UNESCO list of  the world's intangible cultural heritage.

Biletic and a few other enthusiasts in his village are preparing the case, based on historical sources, that the world's first shod egg was made in Kresevo.

Centuries on, shoppers still  visit Biletic's workshop to buy his decorated eggs, even in the colours of their favourite football club, Croats for Hajduk Split or Sarajevans for Zeljeznicar.

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© Agence France-Press

New Delhi, India | Pictures of a "Yeti footprint" the Indian Army posted on social media triggered a barrage of jokes 

"For the first time, an #IndianArmy Moutaineering Expedition Team has sited Mysterious Footprints of mythical beast 'Yeti'," an apparently serious -- though misspelled -- tweet on the army's official account said Monday, alongside three images of prints in the snow.

It added the "elusive snowman has only been sighted at Makalu-Barun National Park in the past", referring to footprints reported by British explorer Eric Shipton in 1951 on the west side of Mount Everest.

According to folklore, the abominable snowman lives in the Himalayas but no proof of the enormous creature has ever been produced.

Social media users were quick to jump on the Indian military for its tweet.

"With all due respect, institutions such as yours should be more responsible and careful before going ahead and declaring the sighting of any footprints as 'Yeti's'!", said Kushal Prajapati. 

"There's been lots of research done on Bigfoot/Yeti (including sighting/footprints) with none proving its existence," he added.

"Seriously disappointing to see Army propagating such foolish myths into reality. Expected better from you guys," said another comment.

Several Twitter observers asked why there was only one footprint when the beast would probably have had two feet.

Others, were more forgiving, though still tongue-in-cheek.

"Congratulations, we are always proud of you. salutes to the #IndianArmy Mountaineering Expedition Team," wrote Tarun Vijay, a leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

But Vijay said the snowman should not be referred to as "a beast".

The army said the footprints measured 32 inches by 15 inches (81 centimetres by 38) and were spotted by a team on April 9 close to the Makalu Base Camp, an isolated area on the Nepal-China frontier.

An army official told AFP that pictures were released to "excite a bit of a scientific temper".

"We will share whatever we get with the domain experts to analyse. We will be contacting the team on the satphone in the evening for more details about it. The idea is to find out more, to look for an answer," the official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. 

The yeti is traditionally described as an ape-like creature, taller than a human, that lives in the Himalayas, Siberia, and parts of Central and East Asia.

Most scientists have written the creature off as a centuries-old myth originating in Tibet. 

Forensic results of previous samples have proved to be from prehistoric bears. 

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