World
Climber's body found on Peru's highest mountain after 22 years
Police in Peru said Tuesday they have found the body of an American mountaineer who was buried by an avalanche 22 years ago as he tried to climb one of the highest peaks in the Andes with two friends.
The body of William Stampfl was discovered on Friday near a camp 17,060 feet above sea level, police in the Ancash region told The Associated Press. The 58-year-old had been trying to scale Mount Huascaran when the avalanche struck, which presumably killed the three climbers.
Police said Stampfl’s body and clothing had been preserved by the ice and freezing temperatures. His driver’s license was also found inside a hip pouch that had also been preserved by the cold. It says he was a resident of Chino in California’s San Bernardino County.
BODIES OF 2 SKIERS BURIED IN UTAH AVALANCHE RECOVERED
The effort to retrieve Stampfl’s remains began last week, after an American climber came upon the frozen body while making his way to the Huascaran summit. The climber opened the pouch and read the name on the driver’s license. He called Stampfl’s relatives, who then got in touch with local mountain guides.
A team of 13 mountaineers participated in the recovery operation, including five officers from an elite police unit, and eight mountain guides who work for Grupo Alpamayo, a local tour operator that takes climbers to Huascaran and other peaks in the Andes.
Stampfl’s body was brought down over the weekend and taken to a morgue in the city of Yungay.
This photo distributed by the Peruvian National Police shows police carrying a body that they identify as U.S. mountain climber William Stampfl, on Huascaran mountain in Huaraz, Peru, July 5, 2024. Peruvian authorities announced on Tuesday, July 9, 2024, that they have found the mummified body of the American man who died 22 years ago, along with two other American climbers, after the three were trapped in an avalanche while trying to climb Peru’s highest mountain. (Peruvian National Police via AP)
Eric Raul Albino, the director of Grupo Alpamayo, said he was contacted and hired by Stampfl’s family to retrieve the body from the mountain.
“The climber (who first came across Stampfl’s body) opened the hip pouch and noticed there was a drivers license there with his name and address” Albino told The Associated Press. “So he contacted the family and then they contacted me.”
Lenin Alvardo, one of the police officers who participated in the recovery operation, said Stampfl’s clothes were still mostly intact, preserved by the cold. The hip pouch with his driving license also contained a pair of sunglasses, a camera, a voice recorder, and two decomposing $20 bills.
“I’ve never seen anything like that” Alvarado said.
Huascaran is Peru’s highest peak. Hundreds of climbers visit the mountain each year with local guides, and it typically takes them about a week to reach the summit.
However, climate change has affected Huascaran and the surrounding peaks higher than 5,000 meters, known as the Cordillera Blanca. According to official figures, the Cordillera Blanca has lost 27% of its ice sheet over the past five decades.
Stampfl was with friends Matthew Richardson and Steve Erskine when they attempted the ascent of Huascaran in 2002. They had travelled the world to climb challenging mountains and had summitted Kilimanjaro, Rainier, Shasta and Denali, according to a Los Angeles Times report at the time.
Erskine’s body was found shortly after the avalanche on Huascaran, but Richardson’s is still missing.
World
UN questions legality of Israeli forced evacuation orders in Lebanon
A UN spokesman says forced evacuation orders issued across southern and eastern Lebanon are nearly impossible to follow safely, and calls into question whether Israel is complying with international humanitarian law.
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World
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‘You’re destroying your countries’: Is Europe finally heeding Trump’s warning on illegal immigration?
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Earlier in June, the European Union appeared to finally react to concerns raised by President Donald Trump and many European voters over illegal immigration by introducing tougher border entry rules for the 27-nation bloc.
The EU agreed on new, stricter rules regarding migration and asylum. The laws are specifically designed to ensure that illegal/undocumented migrants who enter the bloc are processed and, where necessary, quickly sent to deportation centers in countries outside the EU.
People seeking asylum will be screened for identity, security, and their health before even entering any asylum system. The border officials will now track and record non-EU citizens entering and exiting the bloc. Plus, it will use biometric data such as fingerprints and facial recognition. And all member states must now help one another and share information.
The Associated Press reported that the provisional deal struck by the EU’s three main institutions is expected to go to EU lawmakers and governments, where approval is expected.
EUROPEAN NATIONS DEMAND POWER TO DEPORT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS WHO COMMIT CRIMES
Mostly illegal migrant men are gathered by Greek coast guard officers after disembarking from a cargo ship, in the port of Lavrio, south of Athens, on July 10, 2025. The migrants were rerouted from Crete, where more than 2,000 people have arrived from Libya in recent days, sparking anger among local authorities and tourism operators. (Aris Messinis/AFP via Getty Images)
Alan Mendoza, founder and executive director of the Henry Jackson Society, told Fox News Digital that “The EU’s demography is changing Europe’s culture. We are now having to deal with people who are not integrating with the local customs.”
While the U.K. is not part of the EU, he said, “Britain’s efforts are behind the new EU rules.” Noting the country has “not managed to have offshore migrant holding centers, which would make sure Britain is not seen as a soft touch.”
Illegal migrants try to board smugglers’ boats in an attempt to cross the English Channel off the beach of Gravelines, northern France on Sept. 27, 2025. (Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP via Getty Images)
Other experts say the longer countries take to fix the problem, the harder it will be to deal with. Some say it’s already too late.
While Europe’s workaday men and women have clearly seen the problems of illegal immigration for years, their leaders are only just getting the message.
President Donald Trump delivers remarks to the United Nations General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York City on Sept. 23, 2025. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images)
President Donald Trump told world leaders about the damage caused by a flood of undocumented migrants into Europe during his speech to the United Nations General Assembly last year. “You’re destroying your countries,” he said. “Europe is in serious trouble; they’ve been invaded by a force of illegal aliens like nobody’s ever seen before.”
JD VANCE’S WARNING ON EUROPE’S FUTURE SHINES SPOTLIGHT ON CONTINENT’S GROWING LIST OF PROBLEMS
Migrants from Tunisia and Libya arrive on an Italian Coast Guard boat at the Pelagie Island of Lampedusa, Italy, on Aug. 1, 2020. (Alberto Pizzoli/AFP via Getty Images)
Just last week, Vice President JD Vance commented on the stabbing death of the 18-year-old British man who was stabbed to death.
In part, Vance posted, “Henry Nowak died the same way a civilization dies: abandoned, handcuffed by authorities who neither trusted nor cared for him, and accused of hate crimes he did not commit. His murder is as tragic as it is enraging. He should still be alive today, and he would be if the last few generations of European elites had stood their ground against the politics of self-hatred and the mass invasion of migrants, many of whom despise the West and the people who love it.”
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth also made reference to the topic during a speech to commemorate D-Day in France on the weekend. “Sadly, today, different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies. Beaches in Spain and Italy and Greece and Bulgaria, boats and men arrive. When will European capitals do something about that invasion? Or is it too late? I pray not, and I believe not,” he said.
Elsewhere in the EU, Spain seems to have broken with the rest of the bloc on its new stance on undocumented immigration. The country decided to legalize half a million undocumented migrants.
A migrant walks by a makeshift settlement where migrants evicted from a former high school last week are camping outdoors in the middle of winter in Badalona, Spain, Dec. 26, 2025. (Bruna Casas / Reuters)
“When undocumented migrants arrive, they get papers, and they get social security,” Javier Negre, owner of the La Derecha Diario newspaper, told Fox News Digital. He says a lot of the push to house migrants has come via nongovernmental organizations. “NGOs had a big business, and they promoted illegal immigration,” he says.
Another problem is that many undocumented migrants don’t choose to integrate into their new domicile. “They don’t have the same values,” Negre said. “We import a lot of people, and some realize they can steal iPhones and wallets,” he said, commenting on the rise in crimes.
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Critics of the move mostly came from the European left and NGOs. Mélissa Camara, from the French Green party, said the deal was “a historic setback” for human rights in the bloc,” the Associated Press reported.
“The legalization of return hubs outside the European Union, the green light for the detention of minors, home visits inspired by ICE practices: the legal arsenal serving a xenophobic ideology is now complete,” she said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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