London, United Kingdom |Despite her tiny stature, Sinead Burke has become a force to be reckoned with in the world of fashion, pushing for designs to become accessible for all.

The 29-year-old Irishwoman, just 1.05 metres (three feet and five inches) tall, has not gone unnoticed at London Fashion Week.

Burke was in the front row at the Victoria Beckham and Roksanda catwalk shows, sitting just a few places away from Anna Wintour, the high priestess of fashion.

She cuts a surprising figure amidst the models, movie actors and pop stars -- yet she too sports luxurious outfits.

Before the Beckham show, Burke was wearing some of the former Spice Girls singer's creations, donning a canary yellow blouse decorated with a black flower, and a straight brown skirt.

But there is plenty more in her wardrobe that she could have chosen from.

"There is some Gucci, some Prada, some Dior, some Balenciaga, some Victoria Beckham, some Christopher Kane, some Burberry," she told AFP.

How did the school teacher from Dublin end up on the cover of Britain's Vogue magazine?

The journey started in March 2017 with a TED Talk -- the online ideas conferences -- and a speech entitled "Why design should include everyone".

Her talk went over the obstacles she faced in daily life in the designed world, from the height of locks on toilet doors to the available range of shoe sizes.

The video, which has been viewed 1.4 million times, seems to have triggered some changes.

"That seemed to be a moment when people were listening to design and accessibility and thinking about this industry in a different way for the first time, so there has been progress," said Burke.

- Vogue cover star -

Burke did not leave it at that. At London Fashion Week in February 2018, she introduced herself to British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enniful, tugging on his sleeve at a Burberry show.

Then she ended up on the cover of the magazine's September 2019 issue, chosen by guest editor Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex as one of 15 female "forces for change".

Top designers have created custom-made outfits for her -- something she considers a "huge privilege and an honour" -- but that was never her goal.

"What I want is just that people understand disability as customisation, which the fashion industry already is familiar with, and make that a tool that is available for everybody," she said.

More than just the symbolism of disabled people on catwalks, she wants long-term systemic change so that "an 18-year-old who is at university, who studies marketing, who is a little person like me, can understand that he can work for Victoria Beckham or for Gucci".

Burke hosts a podcast where she conducts interviews on the theme of identity and difference.

She has also collaborated with the Open Style Lab, an organisation which works on creating wearable clothes for people with disabilities without compromising on style or comfort.

"The idea of this is not necessarily that that collection would be marketable and commercial," she said.

More so that the young designers would learn from working with "different types of bodies" and take that forward into the companies they go on to work for.

"Change has to happen at the most senior level with the chief executive and creative directors but also with the new generation" of designers, said Burke.

Little by little, representation and visibility of people with disabilities was improving, she said, citing the example of 18-year-old Aaron Philip -- the first transsexual, black, disabled model to have joined the books of a large modelling agency, Elite.

There is still a long way to go to transform "the most exclusive industry in the world", she said, though she remains optimistic.

"I thought I would be a teacher for ever and here we are, in London Fashion Week!"

pau/rjm/lc

© Agence France-Presse

London, United Kingdom |Freddie Mercury, Yves Saint Laurent and George Lucas were all seduced by the charms of the kimono, whose evolution from medieval times in Japan will be on show at a major exhibition in London.

The kimono has been worn by Jedi knights in Lucas's "Star Wars" movie saga, and David Bowie in his futuristic alter ego Ziggy Stardust.

"It's very fluidity is, I think, what makes it such an iconic inspiration," said Anna Jackson, curator of the "Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk" exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, which opens on Saturday.

V and A director Tristram Hunt said: "When we think about fashion, the kimono might not be the first item that comes to mind."

The exhibition, which runs to June 21, "challenges this perception".

- Elegance and show -

A triptych consisting of a garment from 1800, a modern one by Japanese designer Jotaro Saito and a third from 2007 by Britain's John Galliano for Dior "shows how the fashion of the kimono has been translated beyond cultural and geographic boundaries", said Hunt.

The kimono influence has even reached space, with the plain robes worn by Alec Guinness as "Star Wars" Jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi forming part of the exhibition.

More than 100 items show off the contrasting variations on what was once a simple robe.

The oldest, dating from around 1660 to 1680, has sober maple leaves embroidered on water motifs.

The most recent is a skateboarder-style long, hooded coat made in 2019 by the young designer Milligan Beaumont.

"The very simplicity of (the) kimono's shape means that it can be taken apart and reconstructed in a myriad of ways," Jackson told AFP, explaining the enduring fascination with kimonos across the centuries and continents.

"For many people it's the sense of the drape from the shoulders. For others, it's the sash in the middle.

"For others, it's about the sumptuous surfaces, the amazing patterns and how they're combined in unusual ways."

- 'Genderless garment' -

The kimono, worn by both men and women, began to appear in Europe thanks to the Dutch East India Company, which was allowed to trade with Japan despite the isolationist policy of its Edo period (1615-1868) that restricted contact with foreigners.

In the 19th century, Japan began making kimonos with French silk, and Europe began making kimonos from Japanese fabrics.

Since then, it has not stopped influencing international fashion.

Over time, the traditional embroidery depicting reeds, cherry trees, water lilies, birds or dragons became sophisticated geometric or even psychedelic patterns.

French designer Jean Paul Gaultier shortened the robes to Bermuda shorts length in a fiery red 1998 creation for pop star Madonna.

Alexander McQueen widened the neck and shortened the sleeves in 1997 for Bjork -- a look as experimental and avant-garde as the Icelandic singer herself.

In 1958, Saint Laurent transformed it into a cocktail dress with a voluminous skirt and a bolero jacket.

And in 2005 Yohji Yamamoto reinterpreted it in silk crepe to capture the garment's gender ambiguity, as Queen frontman Mercury did in the 1970s, wearing kimonos on stage during the British rock band's tours of Japan.

"It is a genderless garment. Fundamentally, that shape doesn't change whether you are a man or a woman," said Jackson.

"It seems very elegant and has that sense of performance.

"All fashion is performance in some way, but somehow, in a kimono, it's very easy to do it elegantly."

acc/rjm/zak/bsp/amj

© Agence France-Presse

Paris, France | Stella McCartney pledged  to try to change the world's biggest luxury fashion group from within after LVMH took a stake in her label, one of the most sustainable in the world.

The British designer made a spirited defence of her decision to become "personal sustainability adviser" to LVMH owner Bernard Arnault, who regularly swaps places with Amazon boss Jeff Bezos at the top of the list of the world's richest men.

"My mum (the late animal rights activist Linda McCartney) used to say infiltrate from within," McCartney told AFP hours before her Paris fashion week show, which featured lots of vegan leather and a menagerie of furry-costumed animals who skins are used in fashion.

And she batted away fears that Arnault was using her for window dressing after he dismissed teenage Swedish activist Greta Thunberg as not "offering anything other than criticism".

"Call me stupid. I hope I am right," McCartney said, after inviting Christiana Figueres, the former UN climate chief who was engineered the Paris agreement, to meet a group of fashion movers and shakers on the eve of her show. 

"I choose to believe that I can make change, that I can show them a great example of a different way of doing business," McCartney said.

- 'I won't let it go' -

"If my business is healthy -- which I need it to be to shout to them that this can be the future of fashion -- then I believe they are not going to sit back and ignore me," she added.

LVMH "saw the quality of products I was making and they compared it to the quality being made by all the other brands that are killing millions of animals and the environment, and they said, 'Hey this looks the same,'" McCartney said.

But the designer -- the daughter of Beatle Paul McCartney -- did not defend LVHM's decision not to sign the "Fashion Pact" on fighting climate change at the G7 summit in France last year, which was championed by its main rival, Kering. 

LVMH, whose huge stable of labels includes Dior, Louis Vuitton and Givenchy, is seen as lagging behind Kering, which owned half of McCartney's brand until she bought them out last year.

"I think it sends out a huge positive message that Mr Arnault has invested in a house that is this sustainable and has this kind of conversation the night before its show. 

"He is not here telling me I can't do this. He is fully behind it," McCartney insisted.

"I am his personal adviser on sustainability... and I am hugely passionate about it. I am not going to let it go. We will see what I can do, but my intention is to do something.

- 'Let's make change' -

"Fuck it, let's make change," she declared.

Asked if getting into bed with Arnault -- once dubbed "the wolf in a cashmere coat" -- wasn't risky for her brand, McCartney hit back that she "might have a few fleas myself -- but they are good ones that I am taking into another dog house.

"I also showed them a business model that was healthy and was making change and that was accepted and that was beautiful," she added.

The British creator has built up a formidable reputation for producing classy and wearable clothes that are ethically produced, pioneering recycled wool and new vegan materials to replace leather and fur.

The climate message has been omnipresent in Paris fashion week LVMH brand Dior festooning its show with neon slogans such as "Patriarchy = CO2" and "Patriarchy = climate emergency" that might make uncomfortable reading for its owner.

fg/txw

© Agence France-Presse

Dior designer Maria Grazia Chiuri raided her teenage diaries for a sometimes touching Paris fashion week show on Tuesday that made the personal political.

The Italian -- the first women to lead the mythic French fashion house -- dived back into the 1970s when the women's liberation movement was shaking the world and fashion with it.

The day after Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein was finally found guilty of rape by a US court, Chiuri sent her models out under three traffic light-coloured neon signs flashing with the word "Consent".

Several other neon signs hammered home the designer's well-known feminist and environmental beliefs, including "Women's Love is Unpaid Labour", "When Women Strike, the World Stops" and "Patriarchy = CO2". 

Others like "Women are the Moon that Moves the Tides" were quietly poetic but just as powerful.

- Bandana scarves -

Chiuri said her clothes were a contemporary take on the decade that revolutionised relations between the sexes.

And the counterculture references were there from the start, with most of her models wearing bandana scarves on their heads.

Poncho coats, charm chains and shearling-lined suede boots and typical 1970s checks and argyle patterns ran cheek by jowl with more restrained black Dior classics.

There were also glimpses of Chiuri's schoolgirl past in a handful of looks where she teamed big very un-Dior work boots with clothes that had echoes of customised school uniforms.

She also sent out a run of looks pairing lace knee-high socks with Mary Jane shoes.

Chiuri told AFP that she was transported back to the period reading her teenage diary, which contained quite a few surprises.

"I had not realised that all my references began to form during my adolescence. The 1970s had a big influence on what made me," the 57-year-old said.

"Looking back now, I didn't realise I was living through a real historic moment.

"What influenced me most was how women began asserting themselves, to show that they were not only mothers, wives and daughters but that they had several aspects to themselves," the designer added.

"I remember the women who would come to my mother's dressmaking shop and who were defining themselves through their clothes and their way of being."

With Hollywood stars including Demi Moore, Sigourney Weaver and Rachel Brosnahan in the front row, the show was also a tribute to the Italian feminist thinker and art critic Carla Lonzi.

- Facing down Freud -

Lonzi's famous slogan "We are all Clitoridean Women" was also turned into a blazing red neon by the art collective Claire Fontaine for the show.

The line is a cheeky riposte to Freud, who Chiuri said considered the clitoral orgasm as "immature in relation to the vaginal one" and which traditionally needed male intervention.

Chiuri has had a big effect on street fashion since she took the reins at Dior three years ago, bringing the beret back into fashion in her first two shows.

As well as the bandana/gypsy scarves, her schoolgirl take on the 1970s is likely to be widely copied, with ties under leather jackets, as well as her vintage checks and argyles.

Watch out too for the new leather hybrid hat created by Dior's British hatter Stephen Jones, who crossed the beret with the gavroche cap. 

fg/dl

© Agence France-Presse

Lumajang, Indonesia |Workers snap the miniature rocket's wings into place as Indonesia's little-known space agency readies its latest launch on barren scrubland in East Java.

With a 3,2,1 blast off, the two-metre-long projectile belches a trail of fire and then soars a few hundred metres before crashing in a heap -- earning a thumbs up from scientists who declared the test a success.

It's a very long way from a Mission Control in Houston, but the Southeast Asian archipelago's answer to NASA has big hopes and is now planning to build its first spaceport on a tropical island off the coast of easternmost Papua.

"We've got a dream to put our own satellite-launching rocket 200 or 300 kilometres into space within five years," said Lilis Mariani, head of the Rocket Technology Centre at the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space, known as Lapan.

Some experts question how realistic that timeline is, and officials acknowledge much will depend on whether Jakarta stumps up the necessary funds. 

There is resurgent international interest in space travel and colonisation, with NASA planning to send two astronauts to the moon by 2024, some 55 years after their last mission there. The Trump administration has pledged to increase funding for the project and is also making plans for travel to Mars. 

SpaceX, a private US firm launched by Tesla chief Elon Musk, has said its first crewed flight will launch in the first half of this year, while Virgin Galactic plans a series of missions in the next three years. 

- A giant leap -

Indonesia's space agency is a relative minnow, dwarfed in Asia by counterparts in Japan, China and India.

Lapan has had some success with developing research satellite technology, but it wants to make its mark in space flight by sending a homegrown rocket into orbit.

Back at the launch site on East Java, Lapan's scientists were gauging the tiny test rocket's speed, movement and other specifications.

"It was stable on take off and moved well," said Sri Kilawati, head of the Centre's rocket control programme.

"The objective was to study rocket control. They travel at a very high rate of speed so you've got to observe their behaviour," she added.

Achieving a real life launch in five years requires a giant leap, conceded Lavi Zuhal, head of aerospace engineering at Indonesia's Bandung Institute of Technology.

"Lapan is still far behind in terms of launch technology, although it has been quite successful in developing satellites,"  he explained, adding: "The engineers at Lapan haven't fully mastered rocket technology yet."

Kilawati acknowledged that reaching Indonesia's ambitions for a state-of-the-art launch centre isn't just about technological prowess.

"Funding comes from state coffers so it depends a lot on the government's priorities," she said.

Still, the East Java rocket test underlined Indonesia was pushing toward the orbital launch goal, even if a five-year timeline was ambitious, said Leena Pivovarova, an analyst at US-based Northern Sky Research. 

"In the grand scheme of rocket development you can think of this as a step in the right direction," she said. 

"This is toward a larger purpose of achieving orbital launch capability." 

- Inspiring the next generation -

Indonesia's space aspirations began in the early sixties with the creation of Lapan and it was one of the first developing nations to have communications satellites launched into space by the United States, where they were made.

It planned to send an astronaut into space with NASA, but the bid was shelved in the wake of the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger crash and no other opportunities have come to pass. 

But now Lapan is now talking to its Russia counterpart about sending one of its astronauts on a future mission -- though there are few concrete details so far.

Indonesia has cooperated on technology with counterparts in the US, Germany, Japan and the Ukraine among others over the years. 

Two of its homegrown satellites -- used in research to mitigate natural disasters -- were launched into orbit by India in 2015.

But the lack of infrastructure remains a serious problem. 

In November, Indonesia finally confirmed plans to construct its first spaceport off the coast of Papua, acknowledging that its existing launch site is too risky for large rocket launches because it is too small and in a densely populated area.

The new location on the equator is also ideal as it cuts fuel costs and could potentially draw interest from other countries keen to launch satellites, experts said. 

Getting one of its own citizens into orbit would bolster the nation's space record.

"An Indonesian astronaut could boost (its) space profile internationally," said Phil Smith, an analyst at US-based Bryce Space and Technology.

He added: "But it would more significantly inspire Indonesian citizens." 

bur-str-pb/lto

Washington, United States | Wall Street has tanked, some factories in China have shuttered and businesses and investors fear the new coronavirus could damage the global economy and maybe even cause a recession.

The US Federal Reserve says it's ready to take action. What can it do, and will it actually benefit the economy?

- Statement to reassure markets -

In its worst week since the 2008 global financial crisis, Wall Street lost about 12 percent last week, and $3.5 trillion in equity value evaporated into the virus-infected air. 

As the death toll climbs, investors seem particularly worried about the spread of the virus to more countries, with the hit to the economy coming at a moment when growth was already fragile.

The Federal Reserve is supposed to focus on the domestic economy, not worry about day-to-day stock movements. But in a crisis, markets look to the central bank for reassurance. 

Fed Chair Jerome Powell responded Friday with a statement to calm the situation.

He acknowledged the coronavirus "poses evolving risks to economic activity," and said the Fed is "closely monitoring developments."

And the kicker: "We will use our tools and act as appropriate to support the economy."

Investors read that as a promise to cut the benchmark interest rate, and stocks rallied Monday.

"The Fed is trying to show the nation that it's awake ... and it will provide support for the economy as need be," Alan Blinder, former vice chair of the central bank, said on CNBC.

- Cut rates at scheduled meeting -

The Fed's traditional and most powerful tool to affect the economy is the federal funds rate, the benchmark used to determine the cost of all forms of lending from credit cards to home mortgages.

The Fed raises the rate when it wants to slow the economy and ward off inflation, and cuts when it wants to provide stimulus by making borrowing less expensive, boosting consumption and investment.

The Fed's policy committee meets eight times a year, and markets and most economists overwhelmingly expect US central bankers to vote to cut the key rate at their next meeting March 17-18.

The problem is the benchmark rate remains at a very low range of 1.5-1.75 percent, following three rate cuts last year.

Many economists warn another rate cut would be ineffective, since the virus is hitting supply rather than demand, and acting now will hamper the Fed's ability to react to a downturn driven by a contraction in consumption, which drives two-thirds of the US economy.

"A cut in two weeks would be somewhat of a panic move as well" and "does nothing to change the economy facing a health crisis," economist Joel Naroff told AFP. 

"Assuming that the epidemic passes... much if not most of the impediments to growth will pass as well, and the economy will be able to revive without any help."

- Unscheduled rate cut -

In dire circumstances, like at the height of the 2008 global financial crisis, policymakers will not wait for a scheduled meeting but hold a conference call to take emergency action.

That has the psychological effect of showing the Fed is responsive to events, but also can add fuel to inflamed fears.

And unlike in 2008, when the financial system seized up, the current epidemic has caused factories to be shuttered and transportation to grind to a halt.

So while a rate cut in this circumstance would be "modestly reassuring," David Wilcox, a former Fed research director now with the Peterson Institute for International Economics, cautioned that there are limits.

"The tools available to the Fed are extraordinarily ill-suited for addressing the near-term aspects of the problem," he told AFP. "No amount of rate cutting (and there isn't room for much) is going to persuade local officials not to close schools... or manufacturers to reopen their plants."

President Donald Trump has made it clear, even before the outbreak, that he wants lower interest rates to juice the economy.

Asked if the Fed should act quickly in reaction to coronavirus, Trump told reporters Monday, "I think they should have had a meeting already."

- Extreme measures & global response -

When the situation becomes extreme, such as in the 2008 global crisis, the Fed can inject liquidity into financial markets to ensure they continue to function. But that is unlikely to apply in this case.

Global central bankers and finance ministers also can join forces to coordinate their responses to make them more effective, through the G7 or G20.

The US Treasury said Monday the G7 will hold exactly such a call on Tuesday, led by Powell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

France's Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said of the call: "There will be coordinated action."

hs/cs

© Agence France-Presse

Paris, France | Say no to a handshake, refuse every peck on the cheek and definitely avoid hugging. Instead, try a direct gaze, or maybe a hand gesture.

Around the world people are changing their habits at work, home and in worship to reduce the risk of contracting the new coronavirus and prevent it from spreading any further.

AFP looks at changes in behaviour due to the coronavirus, which has killed more than 3,000 worldwide.

CHINA

In Beijing, the capital of the country where the outbreak began, red hoardings tell people not to shake hands but to join their own hands together in a sign of greeting.

Loudspeakers tell people to make the traditional gong shou gesture -- a fist in the opposite palm -- to say hello.

FRANCE

Newspapers have been filled with advice on how to replace kissing on the cheek -- an everyday greeting in France, even between people who have only just met -- and handshaking, a common formality at work.

Etiquette expert Philippe Lichtfus, who has been widely cited in the media, says handshakes are a relatively recent development that began in the Middle Ages.

He says simply looking into a person's eyes can suffice as a greeting.

BRAZIL

Brazil's health ministry has recommended that citizens not share metal straws used to consume the caffeine-rich South American drink mate, also known as chimarrao.

Meanwhile a kiss -- even if not on the mouth -- is totally advised against as a greeting.

GERMANY 

In a sign of the times, Germany's Interior Minister Horst Seehofer rebuffed Chancellor Angela Merkel's attempt to shake hands with him on Monday, smiling and keeping both his hands to himself.

They both laughed and Merkel threw her hand up in the air before taking a seat.

SPAIN

The outbreak could hit one of Spain's most cherished traditions -- the kissing of sculptures of the Virgin Mary in the week leading up to Easter.

With just a month to go before the week starts, the ritual could be banned. "It is one of the measures that is on the table," said national health official Fernando Simon.

During the holy week, the faithful queue up to kiss the hands or feet of sculptures of Mary and the saints, seeking their protection.

ROMANIA

Romania's Martisor festival marks the beginning of spring when talismanic strings and flowers are handed out, often from men to women.

But the government has passed on a message to people urging them to hand over the flowers and talismans without the accompanying kiss. "Let's give the flowers but not the kiss," said Nelu Tataru, state secretary at the health ministry.

POLAND

In Poland, one of Europe's most Catholic countries, the faithful are allowed to take "spiritual communion" instead of consuming the communal bread -- or it can be taken in the hands rather than the mouth.

The faithful have also been asked not to dip their hands in holy water when going in and out of the church and instead make the sign of the cross.

IRAN

Is the footshake the new handshake?

In Iran, where 66 people have been killed by the virus, a video has gone viral showing three friends meeting -- hands in their pockets, with two of them wearing masks -- tapping their feet against each other as a greeting.

A similar video in Lebanon shows singer Ragheb Alama and comedian Michel Abou Sleiman tapping their feet against each other while making kissing noises with their mouths.

NEW ZEALAND

Some educational institutions in New Zealand have temporarily abandoned the Maori greeting known as the hongi -- which involves two people pressing their noses together.

Wellington polytechnic WelTec said that instead of staff greeting new students with a hongi, its welcome ceremony would instead include a waiata, or Maori song.

AUSTRALIA

New South Wales Health Minister Brad Hazzard urged Australians to kiss with caution and suggested a pat on the back instead of a handshake.

"It's a very Australian thing to put your hand out to shake hands, for example. I would be suggesting to the community... it's time that Aussies actually gave each other a pat on the back for the time being -- no handshaking," he said.

"There are other things that can be done -- I'm not going to say don't kiss, but certainly you could be exercising a degree of care and caution with who you choose to kiss."

UAE

The United Arab Emirates, as well as Qatar, are advising citizens to stop the traditional "nose to nose" greeting.

The UAE also said that people shouldn't shake hands or kiss. Greet each other "by waving only", it said.

UNITED STATES

NBA stars have been given a series of recommendations including that players interacting with fans should bump fists rather than high-five and avoid taking items such as pens, balls and jerseys to autograph, ESPN reported.

Some players have already taken steps to limit their exposure to the virus. Portland Trail Blazers star C.J. McCollum said he was no longer signing autographs because of the outbreak.

"Make sure y'all washing y'all hands with soap for 20 or more seconds & covering ya mouths when you cough," McCollum wrote on Twitter.

bur-cf-sjw/gd/kaf/jah

Kathmandu, Nepal |A team of four Sherpas is setting off on Monday to attempt a record winter ascent of Mount Everest in just five days, which would also be the first winter climb of the peak in more than quarter of a century.

The last successful winter ascent was in 1993 by a Japanese team.

"A winter speed climbing expedition has not happened yet and so we are attempting a new record," team leader Tashi Lakpa Sherpa, who has summited Everest eight times, told reporters.

Sherpa, 34, will not be using supplemental oxygen. Only one climber has previously ascended the peak in winter without supplemental oxygen: a Nepali mountaineer in December 1987.

Sherpa will be joined by three other climbers -- Pasang Nurbu Sherpa, Ming Temba Sherpa and Halung Dorchi Sherpa -- who all have at least two Everest summits under their belt.

"I know the mountain ... We are fully prepared and we have acclimatised. The biggest preparation to minimise risk on the mountain is acclimatisation," Sherpa said.

The Nepali climbers will be joining two other teams at Everest Base Camp who have been waiting for the right weather conditions.

Spanish alpinist Alex Txikon and his team and German climber Jost Kobusch are also hoping to break the spell of unsuccessful winter expeditions on Everest.

Temperatures near the summit of Everest in winter regularly plunge below minus 40 degrees Celsius (minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit), while strong winds make it even riskier. 

In those conditions exposed skin freezes in less than five minutes, putting climbers in serious danger of frostbite.

Hundreds of climbers flock to Everest each year but most attempt the climb during a narrow window of calm weather between late April and May.

Last year's traffic-clogged spring climbing season saw a record 885 people summit Everest, 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. Autumn summits last year were thwarted by a serac -- a block of glacial ice -- hanging dangerously above the already treacherous Khumbu icefall that climbers have to cross to reach Camp 1.

Nepal is home to eight of the world's 14 highest peaks and foreign climbers who flock to its mountains are a major source of revenue for the country.

pm/mtp