Gunmen abducted the president of Libya’s Olympic Committee in Tripoli on Sunday, just days before the committee was due to leave for London. Ahmed Nabil al-Taher al-Alam was driving through the city center when gunmen stopped his car, shoved him into a waiting vehicle, and sped off. Since the abduction, there has been no contact with the captors. Al-Alam was formerly the head of the Libyan Football Associated under Qaddafi and a known friend of his son, Mohammed. The International Olympi... Read More
A British mountain guide who wrote a book on how to avoid avalanches was among the climbers killed in Thursday's slide in France's Mont Blanc range, the United Kingdom's Home Office announced. Roger Payne, 55, was shepherding a group of climbers up Mont Maudit when the avalanche hit. Payne, who lived in Leysin, Switzerland, was a former general secretary of the British Mountaineering Council. In an interview with ITV, mountaineer Sir Chris Bonington said that there was no way Payne could have ... Read More
Officials in Papua New Guinea have arrested 29 members of a supposed cannibal cult for killing seven witch doctors, eating their raw brains, and using their penises to make soup, according to a Friday police report. The individuals, who appeared in court this week, are said to be part of a 1,000-strong coalition that hunts errant sorcerers who overcharge their customers. Belief in black magic is strong in PNG, where many seek the help of profiteering medicine men. Witch doctors in the region t... Read More
Chinese alpinist Yan Dongdong died in a crevasse fall on Monday while attempting to climb Quelebosi Peak, in China's Tianshan Mountains. "Yan fell into a hidden deep ice crack and got stuck inside, and his teammates tried many times to rescue him but failed," Ma Xinxiang, training director of the Chinese Mountaineering Association, wrote in a blog post. Among his other achievements, Dongdong, 28, was a 2012 recipient of the Mugs Stump Award grant, which he and partners Steve Su and Zhou Peng p... Read More
Nine climbers are dead and at least four are missing after an avalanche on a peak in the Mont Blanc range in France. The mountaineers were ascending Mount Maudit when a climber above them triggered a slab avalanche, sending a massive sheet of ice and snow sliding down the slope. Eleven additional climbers were hospitalized with injuries from the avalanche. "There was no weather bulletin giving any avalanche warning," Eric Fournier, the mayor of Chamonix, told The Guardian. Emergency crews sear... Read More
