A group of Japanese mountaineers claim to have photographed footprints of the legendary Yeti that they believe could prove the long-rumoured existence of a giant ape living in the Himalayan peaks.

A bus veered off a mountain road and plummeted hundreds of feet into a river in northern Nepal today, killing at least 22 passengers and injuring several more, police said.

NEPAL’S embattled king last night reinstated the lower house of parliament that was dissolved in 2002, meeting a key demand of the seven-party alliance leading weeks of pro-democracy protests that have pushed the Himalayan country to the brink of chaos.