Growing Incidence of Teen Depression Coinciding With Increased Social Media Use

"There has been ongoing debate about whether social media contributes to depression or simply reflects underlying depressive symptoms."

"These findings provide evidence that social media may be contributing to the development of depressive symptoms."

"As a father of two young kids, I know that simply telling children to 'get off your phone' doesn't really work."

"Parents can lead by example with open, non-judgmental questions about screen use. Setting screen-free times for the whole family, such as during meals or before bed, can help build healthier habits for everyone, including adults."

Dr. Jason Nagata, associate professor, University of California, San Francisco

 

"Obviously time is one thing but content is another. Texting or DMing [direct messaging] with friends or sharing memes -- some of that might actually be very pro-social and very positive and very connecting."

"Whereas doomscrolling and getting lost in social media rabbit holes might be more isolating and lead to more comparisons, which could lead to more depression."

Kyle Ganson, assistant professor, University of Toronto

Children on their phones. "Parents can lead by example," notes the lead author of a new study. Photo by stock photo /getty images

 

A recently published study that appeared in JAMA Network Open appears as a response to a bedevilling question among sociologists; whether more time spent on Tik-Tok, Snapchat or Instagram is responsible for depressing youth -- or is it likelier that children in distress tend to gravitate toward more time on social media. The study concludes in favour of kids' mental health deteriorating as a result of inordinate time spent on social media platforms. 

 

Researchers for this project made use of data on the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, a large longitudinal study spanning 21 sites, following young people over the span of multiple points of time -- focusing on adolescent health, brain and cognitive development in the United States. Children aged nine to ten were recruited from the period of October 2016 to October 2018 and continued to be followed through 2022, at 12 and 13 years of age. 

 

Parents were asked to complete a widely utilized questionnaire whose purpose was to detect behavioural and emotional problems in children and teens. Leading the research team to find that with an increase in time spent on social media, from year one to year two, and year two to year three, depression scores rose in tandem. "A rise in depressive symptoms didn't predict a later increase in social media use", the researchers concluded.  

 

The surgeon general's warning about social media comes as the rates of teenage depression, sadness and hopelessness have skyrocketed over the past decade.  Carol Yepes / Getty Images

 

 Following close to 12,000 children, researchers concluded that the greater amount of time children dedicated to social media at nine and ten years of age, the greater the depressive symptoms they expressed a year or two on. It was found during the research that use of social media rose on average from seven to 73 minutes daily over the three years that comprised the study period. Depressive symptoms rose by 35 percent according to the study, the first to track changes over time in each child individually.

 

While this is not the first study to conclude that lengthier periods of time spent on social media had its association with higher depression scores, the researchers did not explore what the kids were exploring online. And while the researchers found social media to be contributing to depressive symptom development, it was not clear to them why this should be so.

 

However, they wrote, adolescence can make for a "critical period of vulnerability during which social media exposure may have lasting implications for mental health", they wrote. A years' earlier report in the United States by Surgeon General Vivek Murthy gave public warning that social media use among teens was contributing to adverse mental health effects. 

"[Youth mental health is] The defining public health issue of our time."

 "At this point, we do not have enough evidence to say with confidence that social media is sufficiently safe for our kids. We have to now take action to make sure that we are protecting our kids."

"Policymakers need to step up and help ensure that we have strong safety standards, to help protect our kids from exposure to harmful content, and to also protect them from excessive use."

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy

 

"Teen depression started to rise around 2012, a time that coincides with the popularity of smartphones."

"[It was also a time that] 'likes' on posts became common, and the algorithms started to become more sophisticated to keep people on social media for longer. That's clearly not a coincidence." 

"Let's get some regulations in place now to help kids who are not yet on social media. Maybe we can save the next generation." 

Jean Twenge, a professor of psychology at San Diego State University  

University of California San Francisco

"Young People who are depressed might be more likely to spend more time on their phones or social media as a way to cope, or as a way to escape, because they're looking for feedback loops that reaffirm negative thoughts." 

"[For youth], We can’t think of social media as benign. We’re not going to take it away — it’s impossible to take this away from young people. It’s less about taking it away and more about moderating it, making sure you’re finding ways to socialize with peers in person, through extra-curriculars, through sports, through groups, through art, through theatre, music — whatever it might be."

"Finding those activities that take you off of the screen, that make you feel good about yourself." 

Kyle Ganson 

 

Manitoba's Raging Wildfires

A wildfire burns near Sherridon on May 27. Several out-control blazes have forced the evacuation of thousands of people in northern Manitoba this week. (Government of Manitoba)

"We could see [the fire] very well throughout the night. The night before, the wind was in our favour ... but then we were told that the wind was going to change on Wednesday, and it did."

"We could see [the fire] perfectly. Red [skies] and lots of black smoke."

"Some of the residents, like my kids, live right off the perimeter, which is only one-and-a-half kilometres from the fire."

"[First responders] were going door to door, telling them to get out."

Rob Burroughs, resident of Flin Flon, Manitoba

 

"Pray for Flin Flon, pray for Pimicikamak, pray for Mathias Colomb, pray for Cross Lake, pray for everybody in Manitoba who's out of their homes right now."

"As we head into the weekend, pray for rain. We haven't seen rain in the forecast yet. That could really help — sustained rainfall, in particular."

"But in the absence of that, the past few days have been very challenging, and that may continue."

"We cannot thank other jurisdictions enough, [other provinces and territories — now also being bolstered by 100 more firefighters and 25 logistics managers from the U.S]."

"It really does just underline how serious this situation is." 

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew

 

"I hear … there's choppers now, that smoke has engulfed the airport." 

"We're getting desperate now. It's getting rougher. We're going to be heading for the lake … shortly if nothing turns out, if nothing puts the flame out."

Chief Gordie Bear, Pukatawagan Cree Nation 

Evacuees from Pukatawagan Cree Nation arrive at the Brandon Municipal Airport Thursday night. Thousands of residents were stranded in Pukatawagan, also known as Mathias Colomb, after the nearby fire shut down its airport at around 6:30 p.m. CT, the First Nation's chief said. (Chelsea Kemp/CBC)

 

Cars lined bumper to bumper with Flin Flon residents evacuating to Winnipeg for shelter from the wildfires threatening their homes were in for a long drive. From the highway, the frightening sight of the wildfires accompanied their journey as Winnipeg awaited the thousands of evacuees during Manitoba's province-wide state of emergency.

 

Flin Flon residents were informed they had to leave their homes and go south with their essentials, by Wednesday night. Even before the evacuation orders were disseminated, hospital patients had been sent out of the city where fires have forced 17,000 residents from their homes in remote communities and First Nations. Some 6,000 people were dispatched from Flin Flon alone. 

 

Advance emergency preparations had been made to house evacuees at a Winnipeg arena while others would be housed at larger facilities like recreation centres and soccer fields. According to Manitoba's premier, this is the province's largest exodus of this nature in living memory. The military has been called upon to assist evacuation flights to Winnipeg.  

 

A fire is currently closing in on the city boundaries of Flin Flon, a community of some 5,000 people  Government of Manitoba Handout

 

Nearby Creighton, Saskatchewan was involved in the Flin Flon fire on Monday when it crossed the boundary, then exploded in volume as crews struggled to contain it Tuesday. A drone in nearby flight kept water bombers grounded at a critical time in attempting to manage the runaway fire. Upward of 1,200 residents were informed they had to leave the town. Wildfire officials informed Creighton Mayor Bruce Fidler that flames could move in by Thursday, cutting off road access.

 

"We declared a state of emergency and put out a mandatory evacuation so that we can get as many people out of the area as possible, to be safe and before the roads become impassable", explained the Creighton mayor. Wildfires have forced thousands of residents from Manitoba to Alberta from their homes in the heated summer atmosphere prevailing. Advancing wildfires forced evacuation of residents from the town of Lynn Lake northwest of Winnipeg.

 

According to the Wednesday count, 22 active wildfires were ablaze in Manitoba where 102 fires this year have marked the province's growing vulnerability to more extreme weather conditions where the 20-year annual average has been 77. Firefighters from New Brunswick, Alberta, British Columbia and Prince Edward Island were relocated to give assistance in Manitoba. Three First Nations in northern Saskatchewan declared a joint state of emergency where thousands have been forced from their communities amidst escalating wildfires. 

 

Smoke rises from wildfires in Manitoba, Canada   Copernicus Sentinel-2/Reuters

 

They report that there are "critical shortages" of firefighting resources, personnel and air support, a joint statement by the Lac La Ronge Indian Band, Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation and Montreal Cree Nation and Montreal Lake Cree Nation advised. 1,300 residents of Swan Hills, north-central Alberta, were ordered on Monday to leave ahead of an advancing fire whipped by raging winds.  

 

Premier Wab Kinew updates on wildfires.

"Everyone who is working on your behalf is working together, and ... we are making important progress to move Manitobans to safety, to push back the wildfires and to ensure that people will be able to return to their homes and the lives that we're so proud of here in this province."

"I think the most important thing for Manitobans to understand is that we need to be calm. The situation can be very concerning, can be very emotional."

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew

 

(Photo Credit: Facebook.com/lacdubonnetemergencymanagement)

 

Anti-Military Protests Now Embrace the Anti-Israel, Pro-Palestinian Movement

"Freedom of expression has reasonable limits to protect citizens, property and businesses from disruptive or unlawful [events]."

"Identity-concealing clothing and masks [and] dumping paint on the roadway, [while demonstrators were also] observed filling disposable water bottles with paint, which they reportedly were to be used to target police officers [cannot be countenanced]."

"At this time, 12 people have been arrested for mischief and assaulting police. There have been no injuries reported."

"People are still being processed, and the incidents are being looked into. This will take some time. As of now, a woman is being charged with assaulting police and disguise with intent. She is being held in custody and will appear in court tomorrow."

Ottawa Police Service statement

 

"People are aware that the weapons companies that are arming the genocide are at the EY Centre, so there is definitely the motivation to come out and protest."

"[Some of the arms manufacturers exhibiting supply weapons to Israel for its Gaza operations]."

'Shut Down CANSEC' co-organizer, Brent Patterson

 

"We’re here because this is Canada’s biggest weapons fair and we know the companies in this building, the military representatives in this building are responsible for some of the worst war crimes on the planet." 

"We have a vision for Canada that is not based on dropping bombs around the world, that is not based on partnering with Israel and its attacks on Palestine."

"We’re demanding a foreign policy from Canada that, yes, is separate from the U.S., but is also separate from U.S. warmaking and from its allies’ wars."

Rachel Small, with World Beyond War

 

"These arrests had taken place after numerous hours of negotiations through our police liaison team with their representatives and with those individuals themselves to move back onto the sidewalk, as opposed to on the roadway."

"Our east investigation detectives are currently working on that file [assault on trade show attendee] right now."

Ottawa police Duty Insp. Scott Pettis 

A protester holds a baby doll covered in fake blood at an attendee arriving at the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries annual defence industry trade show CANSEC, in Ottawa, on Wednesday, May 28, 2025. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)

After the Ottawa Police Service's liaison team "made numerous attempts to have the protesters co-operate", demonstrators were cleared outside the CANSEC military trade show in Ottawa. A dozen protesters were arrested and charged with "mischief and assaulting police". Outside Ottawa Police Service headquarters, another demonstrator was arrested later, for "causing a disturbance". 

Nice to see Ottawa Police in action, upholding lawful assembly, but moving in to remove those individuals whose actions went beyond mere civil disobedience. This event was treated somewhat differently than myriad similar protests that have taken place in Ottawa over the past 18 months, focused solely on castigating Israel as a war-mongering 'genocidal' state for responding to the Palestinian terrorist assault on southern Israel on 7 October 2023.

 

Those demonstrations, where protesters increasingly made it plain they were supporting the Hamas terror group, proscribed in Canada, but obviously supported and even venerated as a freedom group, bent on 'liberating' Palestinians from Israeli occupation, while denying the Palestinian groups like Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the PLFP and Fatah are terrorist groups guilty of indiscriminate slaughter and grisly savagery in their hatred of Jews 'occupying' their very own ancestral lands the Palestinians identify as theirs alone. 

While there is a police presence at these demonstrations where masked and keffiyed participants scream invective at Jewish Canadians, shout 'globalize the Intifada', and 'From the river to the sea' with its implied message of destroying Israel and extinguishing Jewish lives in another 'Final Solution', there has been no restraining or protective police action, even when mobs of Muslims squat on the streets and intersections in mass prayer sessions.

 

Police closed Uplands Drive near Ottawa's EY Centre for more than two hours Wednesday as demonstrators protested the annual weapons fair. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)

War protesters representing various anti-war groups are accustomed to protesting at events such as the annual conference of military and government personnel, diplomats and weapons-manufacturing representatives. Adding slanderous accusations against the Jewish State as a war-mongering country with an agenda to wipe out neighbouring Palestinians is a newish twist, as is the presence of masked, keffiyeh-clad anti-Israel groups intent on smearing Israel by attributing to it the kinds of lethal savagery that Palestinian terrorist groups have perfected against Israel, causing the state to respond to a declaration of war.

 

Canada's new government has pledged a commitment to rebuilding the wan and feeble Canadian military, at the ongoing demands of NATO and in particular of U.S. President Donald Trump, that it step up its military preparedness in an increasingly hostile world where China, Russia, North Korea and Iran present singly and as a conspiratorial quartet, threats against the democratic world order. Over12,000 people were expected to appear at the CANSEC conference with its 285 exhibitors highlighting the latest  technological advances in military hardware. 

A rally was previously held on May 1 at the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries offices calling for CANSEC to be cancelled. A conference attendee was assaulted in the area around the conference, coming away with minor injuries and treated on scene by paramedics. 

Speaking before the CANSEC audience of military contractors, Canada's Defence Minister David McGuinty informed gathered contractors that globally countries are swiftly adjusting to a fast-moving, global threat environment. He discussed the new government of Canada's plan to join ReArm Europe, a major European defence procurement pact to rearm and build up domestic defence industries. 

"The lessons that we're seeing that through the brutal war in Ukraine and the loss of countless lives unnecessarily by the illegal invasion of Russia ... show us that we need to be prepared for potential future threats."

"ReArm Europe is one of those ways of diversifying portfolios, and I think it'll probably be good for Canadian business."

Royal Canadian Airforce Commander Lt.-Gen.Eric Kenny

Police keep watch as protesters yell and gesture toward attendees arriving at the annual CANSEC trade show at Ottawa's EY Centre on Wednesday. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)

 

 

Inappropriately Patterning Young Minds

"I sat down with the parents, and they proceeded to show me files with multiple examples of what I would describe as being incredibly inappropriate passages."

"I was completely shocked and taken aback. [Most concerning were] extremely inappropriate [graphic images that display sexual acts]."

"I cannot think of any rationale or reason why they should be available in a school for a child."

"Given what we've discovered here, we will have to put some more guardrails in place." 

 Demetrios Nicolaides, Alberta Minister of Education and Childcare

Alberta Education and Childcare Minister announces plan for library material coming for 2025/26 school year. KAIDEN BRAYSHAW / FOR LIVEWIRE CALGARY

"Extremely graphic and age-inappropriate" content was discovered to be present at some kindergarten to Grade 9 schools and high schools at both the Edmonton Public School Board and the Calgary Board of Education, prompting the provincial government to launch a crackdown on materials in school libraries hosting child-inappropriate themes. Concerned parents raised the alarm, contacting the provincial minister of education and childcare.

 

A media release named four graphic novels: Gender Queer, by Maia Kobabe; Fun Home by Alison Bechdel; Blankets, by Craig Thompson; and Flamer, by Mike Curato. They were not the only questionable-value books on offer at a large number of primary-grade schools, but among the most objectionable. Books whose content focused on sexual activities, molestation, profanity, suicidal commentary, alcohol, drugs, derogatory language, violence and self-harm. Which doesn't leave out too much of concern to parents trusting the public schools to educate their children, not abuse them.

 

The books were located in a total of 57 schools across Calgary and Edmonton. How long the books might have found a comfortable home in those schools is as yet unknown. A big question is why would a librarian in a grade school setting choose to shelve such reading material for the young minds curious about the world around them and seeking information that might explain that world -- but surely not the demi monde world of the sexual underground? 

Individual school boards are free to make their own decisions over housing age-appropriate books in their school libraries, although the province does provide a level of voluntary guidelines for school libraries. The discovery of the presence of this type of reading material in children's hands, placed there at the discriminatory discretion of a trusted school employee, however, has led the province to advance a new set of policies before the start of the new fall school year.

 

Consultations to flesh out the new standards are open in an effort to craft a new policy, and the guidelines will likely be completed as early as "late spring, 2025", reflecting the urgency of the matter. Among the books found wanting was an autobiographical graphic novel, Gender Queer, by Maia Kobabe, banned from some 56 American school districts. The book with contents sufficiently graphic that an adult in Florida was removed from a school board meeting when he made his point of concern by reading aloud a few pages for the meeting's records. 

This was a publication promoting gender ideology -- gender spectrum detached from biological sex -- containing graphic depictions of sex and masturbation. It also covers porn, masturbation -- vibrators and dildos under discussion -- and kinks. Some pages in the 200-page book contain graphic sexual content to the extent that the author herself feels it inappropriate for children.

 

In response to the provincial Ministry of Education's move to restrict such reading material from school libraries, the Alberta Teachers' Association implied that the province has set out to target LGBT books in view that the announcement "specifically singled out 2SLGBTQIA+ materials", they claimed. The ministry's explicit purpose is actually to clear out overt, explicit, graphic sexual content, clearly pornographic in nature.

 

The announcement of the Ministry's intention has had a clear effect, in that schools in Calgary and Edmonton have now of their own accord removed the books the minister highlighted, from their shelves. 

Which is, at the very least, a good start on a determined solution, to teach, not corrupt, young minds.

"I would show these images to all of you here and to the media, but they are too graphic for a live-streamed media event."

"Some of the authors of these particular titles that we've identified have even suggested themselves that these are not appropriate for children."

"Many of our school divisions have publicly accessible digital catalogs of all the books that they have available in their school libraries and whether they're on the shelf and/or checked out. So, we were also able to look through that information."

"We want to ensure transparency for parents, so that they know what is available in their school library and to have a process for complaints and concerns about book materials and other library materials."

Alberta Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides

Calgary Herald

Dredging the Ocean Floor and Capturing all that Swims

A bottom trawler scours the ocean floor. In his new documentary, Ocean with David Attenborough, the famed broadcaster looks at the vast but fragile underwater world. (Silverback Films and Open Planet Studios)

"Over three-quarters of a trawler's catch may be thrown away. It's hard to imagine a more wasteful way to catch fish."

"[The seas are] the last great wilderness ... our final frontier."

"No one alive today has known the abundance of a truly wild ocean. We have drained the life from our ocean[s]."

"Now we are almost out of time."

David Attenborough, Ocean documentary 

"[The documentary has failed to incorporate anything] about aggregate dredging; about subsea cables; about seabed mining [or about wind turbines and the damage they do to the seabed."

"Bottom trawling is a relatively small, but important part of [the industry] in the U.K. today."

National Federation of Fishermen's Organization

Not only does plastic pollution in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch pose risks for the safety and health of marine animals, but there are health and economic implications for humans as well. The Ocean Cleanup

Conservationist, 99-year-old David Attenborough grows apoplectic at footage of net dredging the ocean floor by commercial trawlers. He has produced another -- the latest -- documentary, Ocean, now being featured in some theatres on May24, with a wider audience beginning June 7 when it is set to be streamed on National Geographic, Disney+ and Hulu. Mr. Attenborough's passionate appeal against environmental degradation has inevitably turned more political in its nature.

 

He rages against the fishing industry, specifically its trawling technique impacting the sea bottom. Fishing boats drag iron nets along the sea floor, in bottom trawling. Every animal in the path of the iron nets is caught, while the seabed itself becomes damaged as a result of the net-dragging. The Ocean documentary producers managed to obtain footage of an unprecedented nature that eluded Greenpeace itself. Attaching a camera to a commercial trawler's net resulted in a sharp focus on what transpires at the ocean bottom with that kind of trawling.

 

The beast that opens its maw to swallow everything is a bottom trawler, grinding the sea floor indiscriminately for fish.

According to one of the directors of Ocean, some of the most affecting images -- "terrible shots of all these spider crabs being crunched up because the dredge has these teeth" -- failed to make an appearance in the final version of the documentary, because it didn't make it past the cutting floor, with the realization that the plight of the creatures would be too "upsetting" for most viewers, at the release of the documentary.

 

Sustainable fishing practices merit no complaints from the documentary. According to You-Gov., David Attenborough is the most popular individual in the United Kingdom, resulting from his revelatory documentation of fishing industry practices inimical to the environment and to the creatures sharing the ocean as a home. Fishing nets and allied fishing gear account for much of the accumulated ocean plastic; between 75 and 86 percent of the  plastic waste that accumulates in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

 

Conservation organizations and campaigners urge a ban on all dredging in marine protected areas, covering less than half of Britain's waters. Of Britain's marine protected areas, bottom trawling is banned in only five percent. The pushback from the U.K. fishing industry argues that the Ocean documentary is "indiscriminate" in its charges of  environmental degradation.

 

What the documentary sets out to accomplish is for promises made by countries to protect 30 percent of the oceans, to be actualized rather than remaining a promissory note acknowledging their responsibilities yet failing to act upon them.  

 

A sea turtle entangled in a ghost net. Photo credits: Francis Perez

 

 

Russia in Clear Violation of the Geneva Peace Protocols

 

"This cannot be ignored. America's silence, and the silence of others in the world, only encourages Putin."

"[Russia's] brutality cannot be stopped [without] strong pressure on the Russian leadership."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

 

"This is Kyiv. The indiscriminate killing of women and children at night in their homes is a clear violation of the 1977 Geneva Peace Protocols designed to protect innocents."

"These attacks are shameful. Stop the killing. Ceasefire now."

Keith Kellogg, Trump's special envoy for Ukraine

 

"I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY!”"

"[Putin is] needlessly killing a lot of people [by firing missiles and drones into Ukrainian cities] for no reason whatsoever."

U.S. President Donald Trump

 Kyiv strike: icheck.BBCi.co.uk

As Kiev celebrated its annual Kiev Day holiday on Sunday, 13 regions were hit by Russian strikes: Kyiv and the capital's wider region, as well as the regions of Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, Ternopil, Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Sumy and Poltava. Concurrently, the Russian defence ministry announced that 110 Ukrainian drones were destroyed and intercepted over 12 Russian regions and the Crimea peninsula between midnight and 07:00 local time.

 

Early Saturday saw the Ukrainian capital under a large-scale Russian drone and missile attack. Explosions and machine-gun fire were heard throughout the city where many Kyiv residents were forced to take shelter in underground subway stations. The attack was timed to take place, peculiarly enough, mere hours after Russia and Ukraine were involved in a major prisoner exchange. Hundreds of soldiers and civilians from both sides were involved, marking the initial phase of an exchange the two sides agreed upon last week at a meeting in Istanbul.

 

That agreement marked a rare moment of co-operation, where efforts to reach a ceasefire in the three-year-old-war have failed. At least four city districts in Kyiv saw intercepted missile debris and drones fall with major devastating effect, flattening and  hollowing out buildings. According to the acting head of the Kyiv military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, medical care was provided to the injured following the attack, while two fires were sparked in Kyiv's Solomianskyi district. 

 

A drone explosion lights up the sky over Kyiv overnight. Pic: Reuters

 According to a statement by President Zelenskyy, the first phase of the prisoner exchange that took place on Friday involving the exchange of 1,000 prisoners from each side, successfully saw 390 Ukrainians brought home. Further releases were expected to take place over the weekend, in the  largest prisoner exchange of the war. A like number of Russian prisoners released from Ukraine went over to the Russian side, at the border with Belarus in northern Ukraine. On release, the Russian prisoners were moved to Belarus for medical treatment. 

 

Although agreement was reached between belligerent Russia and defending Ukraine, for a prisoner exchange,e there was no move made to effect any halt in the fighting. A ceasefire badly wanted by Ukraine, but put off indefinitely by Moscow which has no intention of breaking off at a point in the conflict where they feel confident they are steadily gaining advantages that would enable them to claim greater portions of Ukrainian territory at any such time that a ceasefire is agreed upon. 

Along the approximately 1,000-kilometre front line, hard-fought battles carried on, irrespective of the fact that tens of thousands of soldiers have lost their lives in the conflict -- neither side relenting in its deep strikes into the opposition's territory. Nonetheless, in the wake of the Istanbul meeting that accomplished nothing, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan interpreted the prisoner exchange as a "confidence-building measure", while  Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov remarked that the venue for a follow-up round of  talks has not yet been agreed upon.

 

An apartment building destroyed after a strike in Mykolaiv. Pic: State Emergency Service of Ukraine

"Another night of terror. Russia's targets are clear: homes, families, children."

"In Zhytomyr, three children were killed - 8, 12, and 17 years old."

"In Kyiv region, four more people were killed. Sixteen injured."

"In Khmelnytskyi, four dead, five wounded."

"In Mykolaiv, a Russian drone targeted a five-story apartment building, killing one and injuring five."

"Ukraine is standing. But we are asking -- not for sympathy, but for action. Air defense. Sanctions. Pressure. Now."

Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukraine's first deputy prime minister

 Kyiv city Mayor Vitali Klitschko alerted Kyiv residents that over 20 Russian strike drones were heading toward the city. As the attack commenced, the mayor described drone debris falling on a shopping mall and a residential building in Kyiv's Obolon district, while emergency services rushed to the site in response.

"Explosions in the city. Air defence forces are working. The capital is under attack by enemy UAVs. Do not neglect your safety! Stay in shelters!"

 

Explosions could be heard throughout the night in Kyiv. Pic: Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP

The 7-Day Mission Everest -- Oh, and the Sherpas

"The guys just rallied around and put in rescue techniques to be able to get me down the mountain very quickly. The team ethos of having a team of operators that have such incredible skills, but also leave no man behind, get it done, let's move quickly."

"Garth noticed my oxygen had run out. And Staz was putting rope systems in place to make sure I got down the  hill quickly."

"It wasn't that I'd become a liability yet, but it was mitigating the chance that I could become one. Those are the things that make these sorts of seven-day things possible because everybody's constantly awake and alert."

"You're only getting three hours' sleep a day and it's very cold, very windy, very bleak, and your body's degrading."

 "Back now in Kathmandu, we've still not processed what we've just experienced. It's a bit like soldiering. Often you find yourself in very kinetic environments and it takes a while to process because things are moving so quickly." 

Kevin Godlington, one of four British men to set a time-record mounting Mount Everest 

Traditionally climbers have spent weeks between base camp and higher camps before summiting Everest  Reuters

Special British Forces veterans Al Carns, Garth Miller, Kevin Godlington and Anthony (Staz) Stazicker left London on May15, and reached the summit of Mount Everest on Wednesday morning, May 20 -- with them five Sherpas and a cameraman. The usual climbing time clocks in from weeks to days following acclimatizing beyond the mountain's base camp, timing the climb up the mountain in gradual rests at camps set up along the way to the summit. The need to acclimatize in gradual steps as progress is made toward the final summit, is to  allow the human body to adjust itself to thinner air at higher points of the atmosphere, and in the process avoid a cerebral or pulmonary edema.

 

The British team set out to eliminate that typical, gradual process of acclimatization, in a bid to mount the 29,032-foot summit through a more direct and expeditious trip. Their goal was to achieve the total enterprise, from their homes in Britain to a return, goal achieved, with the summit sandwiched between departure and arrival back home. And they succeeded. Their preparations consisted of challenging their bodies before even setting out, by sleeping in hypoxic tents for months prior to arriving in Nepal. As well, they were treated with xenon gas, under the direction of Lukas Furtenbach who has experimented for years with methodology to cut short time spent on Everest. 

 

Instagram

 

They put in a total of 50 hours of climbing and returning to base camp during their "door-to-door" success in achieving their goal whose itinerary mapped out two days of travel, three days ascending the mountain and two days descending. The first day of climbing saw them challenged by an avalanche, while the "meandering of the jet stream" around the mountain kicked up ferocious winds that threatened to force the team back down the mountain precipitously. Of their number only Godlington became ill, with vomiting and diarrhea.

 

The use of xenon gas was promoted by German physician Michael Fries who had persuaded Furtenbach it had the potential for neuro-protection. And with its use, according to Furtenbach, the expedition managed to succeed in their  enterprise to the extent that it "went better than expected". The four climbers inhaled the gas on May 5, its protective properties assessed to peak in synchronicity with their push to the summit of the mountain. 

Al Carns spoke of his impression of the climbing experience, comparing it to climbing "30 100-story buildings" over a three-day period. The men's military experience came into play as they focused themselves solely on the goal. In the process they committed to raising funds for veterans and military families. Their decision to make use of xenon to minimize physiological risks in their unheard-of attack on the mountain in mere days has raised charges of the use of unconventional new fixes verging on 'cheating' to achieve their goal. 

"When you sort of challenge the status quo, it does become something that people immediately start to defend against. For us, the use of the xenon gas has always been about the only two things that kill you in the mountain physiologically: a pulmonary edema or a cerebral edema", countered Godlington. Everest's 'death zone' -- above 26,000 feet -- is notorious for the very real risk of cerebral edema, which xenon offered protection against. There is an annual death count where climbers have not made it off the mountain alive.

 

The team's rapid ascent has drawn sharp scrutiny from Nepali authorities for the controversial use of xenon gas prior to their arrival.  PHOTO: AFP

There are bodies of those who were unable to complete their personal goals of a successful climb and a safe descent, that successive climbers are exposed to. Those corpses are left there on the mountain slopes simply because it is too difficult and dangerous to remove them, and they rest there in their eternal presence as testament to humanity's curiosity and search for challenges to surmount. Godlington pointed out that his team did not, as charged, use xenon "fundamentally to cheat, and it's never been about that".

 

And then, there is another kind of reality, one that has overlooked the role of Nepal's taken-for-granted guides, the Sherpas, five of whom accompanied the four British climbers, sharing with them the trials and difficulties encountered. Little fame attaches to their service to the British climbers who, without the attendance and assistance of the Sherpas likely would never have been able to make that enterprise a success. And while the British men made use of the protective gas, the Sherpas would not have.

 

In 2003, Lhakpa Gelu Sherpa climbed from base camp to the summit in 10 hours, 56 minutes after acclimatizing on Everest. In comparison, it took the four men four days and about 18 hours to go up and back, according to Furtenbach's estimate. 

 

The four British former soldiers aim to be back in London within the week  Photo: Sandro Gromen

 

"Immediately after taking the xenon, I didn't have noticeable physiological changes, so there's nothing really there to report." 

"We're very fatigued, but when we were on the mountain there were no headaches so it seems as if the neuroprotective properties and everything else must have been working."

"We felt great from that respect because over a long time at altitude your body just degrades so maybe we can attribute some of that to xenon."

"Climbing Everest is never just about reaching the summit. It's about pushing human boundaries safely, responsibly, and with integrity."

"The 7-Day Mission Everest was never a stunt ... it was a meticulously planned scientific and medical expedition designed o explore the future of high-altitude mountaineering."

"...Every step was calculated, every risk mitigated. Our goal? To improve mountain safety for everyone, not to glorify speed."

Lukas Furtenbach, climb director