Extra, extra: Travel news roundup

In what will come as a surprise to travelers planning to climb Mount Everest this spring, the Nepali government has decided to close the south face of the mountain to trekkers from May 1-10 when the Olympic torch is to be carried to the summit. China already banned climbing on the north face of Mount Everest until after May 10. The mountain lies on the border between Nepal and Tibet, the region of western China where ethnic Tibetans have rioted this week against the Chinese government. The New York Times reported today (Friday) that Nepal’s tourism minister said the Chinese government had urged Nepal to close the mountain to help prevent political disturbances during the Olympic torch ceremony. The Olympics are scheduled to take place in Beijing from Aug. 8-24. It’s not clear whether official word of the mountain closure has trickled down to tour companies in Nepal. Dawa Sherpa, head of Asian Trekking, told the Times that he was trying to reorganize treks set for the spring on the Tibetan side of the mountain to the Nepali side. The news of the closure of the Nepali side came as a shock to him. Sherpa says some of the trekkers preparing for climbs this spring are already in Nepal and now their trips are in limbo. EARLIER: Budget Travel story on trekking in Nepal BudgetTravel.com's coverage of the Summer Olympics in China: www.budgettravel.com/beijing2008

Several readers complained about a story in our March issue about the new Sky Train from Beijing, China, to Lhasa, Tibet. They say we shouldn't have written about it, because the train can be seen as one more way China is subjugating Tibet. The truth is, we thought about noting somewhere the ethical issues with Tibet, but we didn't because we thought that it's the traveler's decision whether or not to go there--and if we include the ethical considerations every time we mention a place with a dicey human-rights record (China, Egypt, Jamaica, even the U.S.), there wouldn't be a lot of room for much actual travel info. But as the situation in Tibet heats up, I wonder if we were wrong. Any opinions out there?

Today, Queen Elizabeth opened T5, the new airport terminal at London's Heathrow airport. It cost $9 billion to build. British Airways is the main tenant. T5 opens for flights on March 27. It's expected to serve about 30 million passengers a year. Hopefully, the fancy new terminal will resolve the problems with lost-luggage and flight delays that plagued Heathrow last year. See the airport and the Queen's tour, here: