KATHMANDU, Nepal - Attention climbers: please keep your clothes on while climbing Mount Everest.

Nepal's mountaineering authorities are calling for a ban on nudity and attempts to set obscene records on the world's highest mountain. Last year, a Nepali climber claimed the world's highest display of nudity when he disrobed for several minutes while standing on the 8,850-metre summit in temperatures about minus 10 degrees Celsius.

Other record-setting attempts that sparked controversy included a Dutchman who attempted to scale the peak wearing only shorts.

Ang Tshering, president of Nepal Mountaineering Association, says the people who live at the foot of Everest worship the mountain as a god and mountaineering authorities have asked the government to ban disrespectful stunts.

Mount Everest has always attracted record-setters, including the oldest climber (71 years old), the youngest climber (15 years old), the first climber with one foot and the first blind climber.

In 2005, a Nepali couple exchanged vows on the summit as the first couple to be married on Everest.

Since Mount Everest was first scaled in 1953 by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay, thousands of people have scaled the mountain.

TC, that was an interesting article; did'nt think people would be so BOLD!!

weird but True Pt. 2

Police in Bennington, Vt., are distributing free pint beer glasses embossed with the department logo to local bars and restaurants.

No, they're not endorsing hoisting a few.

The Ein-steins at police headquarters believe customers using the glasses will think twice before driving while drunk.



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Three teenagers out caroling in front of well-lit houses in Franklin, Wis., were stopped and frisked by a cop.

Seems the officer didn't believe they were out spreading holiday cheer; he was convinced they were out selling dope.

The boys, high-achieving students who belong to a band, came up clean - so they didn't end up singing "now we don our jail apparel."



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A second-division Romanian soccer team is offering to trade its star goalie - for a gas pipeline.

The mayor of Lupeni, who runs the Minerul team, said he'd give up his goalie if the wealthy owner of Jiul, a first-division team, invests $215,500 in a sorely needed pipeline for his town.

Such a deal would not be unusual in Romania, where players have been swapped for a half a pig, two sets of goalposts and a crate of wine.



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This British skydiver is berry, berry grateful.

Michael Holmes fell 15,000 feet when his parachute failed to open, but he survived - after landing in a brambly blackberry bush.

The 100-mph plunge at Taupo, on New Zealand's North Island, left him with a punctured lung, a broken ankle - and dreams of jumping again.



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Robots of the future may one day demand the same rights as humans, according to a study prepared for the British government.

And if the rights are granted, countries would be obliged to provide androids with housing and other social benefits, including health care.

That's one of the predictions offered in papers commissioned from "futures researchers" by the British Office of Science and Innovation