world

Ukrainian climbs Mount Everest with a blue and yellow flag

On the top of Mount Everest, Ukrainian Antonina Samoylowa has one appeal to the world for help directed. As the 33-year-old mountaineer reported to the AFP news agency on Wednesday, she scaled the highest mountain in the world with the flag of her home country in hand. When she spread them out on the summit, tears welled up in her eyes, Samoylova said. The 33-year-old’s father and brother are fighting Russian troops in their homeland.

“Stand with Ukraine” (Stands with Ukraine) read the blue and yellow flag that Samoylova held aloft on Mount Everest. Global attention to their country is dwindling, the 33-year-old told AFP following returning to Kathmandu. “It’s not good for us Ukrainians because we need more help. We need the whole world to help us.”

Samoylova was on the Pico de Orizaba, Mexico’s highest mountain, when she learned of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to her own statements, she received the first information regarding the war from her Sister who had taken shelter in an air raid shelter in Kyiv. Her father and brother volunteered for the Ukrainian army, says Samoylowa.

Before her ascent of Mount Everest, she had not had any contact with them for days. In the meantime, however, she has learned that it had recently been quiet in the region of the two. “I was like, ‘Phew, thank goodness!‘” says the mountaineer. Samojlowa has set herself the goal of climbing the highest mountains on each of the seven continents. Prior to Mount Everest, she has already scaled Kilimanjaro in Africa, Mount Elbrus in the Caucasus and Mount Vinson in Antarctica.

But before she continues her climbing tour, Samoylova wants to first travel to Croatia, where her sister and nephew have found refuge. Afterwards she wants to visit her father and brother in Ukraine. “I just want to hug her,” she said. (AFP)

(CNN Spanish) — Gustavo Petro leads, by far, the preferences for Colombian presidential election to be held on Sunday May 29, according to recent polls.

The Great Survey of May, carried out by the firm Yanhaas on behalf of RCN Radio, RCN Television and the newspaper La República, assigns 40% of voting intentions to Petro, the leftist candidate who is running with France Marquez as a running mate.

Petro, candidate of the Historical Pact, is also in the first place in the weighting of polls made by the local media La Silla Vacía, which brings together various queries and makes an average taking into account the assessment of each pollster, as explained here. In the most recent update, Petro has 38% of the support for the elections.

In second place in the Yanhaas query, which has a margin of error of 3.2%, is the right-wing candidate ‘Fico’ Gutierrezformer mayor of Medellín, with 21%.

The survey was conducted between April 30 and May 7, and showed that 13% would vote blank, then placing the candidates Rodolfo Hernandez with 12% and Sergio Fajardo with 7% support.

Meanwhile, in La Silla Vacía’s weight, Gutiérrez also occupies second place with 24% support.

Hernández is in third place with 12% and the blank vote is fourth in line with 10%. Fajardo’s support, meanwhile, is at 7%, the same percentage as Yanhaas’ most recent query.

Petro, leader in the polls in Colombia for months

Petro’s solid position as the favorite is not new: the La Silla weighting shows that since February it has led the preferences of Colombians, and in particular from the March cross-party consultationsalthough his support has increased compared to the figures for that month.

Gutierrez, meanwhile, has risen sharply since February, when he trailed Hernandez and Fajardo in the polls.

In addition to the aforementioned candidates, four other formulas with less support so far will participate in the election.

How a possible second round is shaping up

If in the first round none of the candidates obtains a simple majority (half plus one) of the valid votes, as the polls suggest, a second round will be held on June 19 with the two candidates with the most votes.

The current photo indicates that Petro and Gutiérrez would face each other in those elections.

This is the third attempt to reach the presidency by Petro, who defines himself as a leader of “progressive” left in a highly traditional and right-wing country.

piggyback the burden of having been a member of a guerrilla group that led to one of the worst tragedies in the country’s history, the taking of the Palace of Justice (despite not having participated directly), but at the same time being one of the most important political leaders in the recent history of the Latin American nation .

“Fico” Gutiérrez, meanwhile, positioned himself as the right-wing candidate following a victory among five pre-candidates from the Team for Colombia coalition. The former mayor of Medellín, who is the youngest candidate in these elections, has presented himself as the nemesis of Gustavo Petro. Gutiérrez obtained the support of the traditional Conservative and Liberal parties, as well as the Partido de la U and implicitly from the Democratic Center, the current government party: the pre-candidate of that group, Óscar Iván Zuluaga, resigned in March and decided to support Gutiérrez.

Gutiérrez’s speech has focused on “preserve democracy and freedoms“, as well as security, and has criticized Petro for considering that he has a “populist and authoritarian project”.

The winner of the elections – for which almost 39 million citizens are called – will be the successor of Iván Duque and will take office on August 7, 2022.