EVEREST -- On May 29, 1953, New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay made the first successful ascent of Mount Everest. Since then, more than 3,000 climbers have reached the summit of the world’s highest mountain.
One of the great unanswered questions following their historic conquest was who summited first: Hillary or Tenzing? For decades, both men maintained a diplomatic silence until it eventually emerged it was Hillary.
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LONDON -- Home video game consoles can be divided into eight generations of evolution. Microsoft and Sony will release new models later this year – with Microsoft due to unveil their next-gen Xbox 720-Infinity system on May 21.
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NEW YORK -- Russia has sent sophisticated anti-ship missiles to Syria, U.S. media report. The Yakhont is a radar-guided, supersonic anti-shipping missile designed for coastal defence, with a range of between 120 and 300 km (75-186 miles).
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ATLANTIC OCEAN -- The U.S. Navy has made aviation history by launching an X-47B prototype drone off an aircraft carrier for the first time. The production version of the robot jet will be able to choose and fire upon targets with no human intervention.
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SCAMPTON -- On the night of May 16-17, 1943, Lancaster bombers of the RAF’s 617 Squadron carried out an attack on the Möhne, Eder and Sorpe dams in Germany’s industrial heartland, using the famous “bouncing bomb” designed by Barnes Wallis.
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LONDON -- Football superstar David Beckham is to retire at the end of this season at age 38. On top of an enviable haul of silverware, Beckham is also one of the world’s richest sportsmen with a fortune of £175m.
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LONDON -- Two health workers in Saudi Arabia have become infected with the potentially fatal nCoV virus after catching it from patients in their care. Britain and France have also reported transmission within a hospital.
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COPENHAGEN -- Denmark is set to start work on one of Europe’s largest ever infrastructure projects. The construction of an 18km-long undersea Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link to Germany will be the world’s longest combined road and rail tunnel.
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RIO DE JANEIRO -- Granite boulders dredged from the seafloor off the coast of South America two years ago could be remnants of a long-vanished continent, according to Roberto Ventura Santos, the director of Brazil's Geology Service.
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