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At the age of 48, Lhakpa Sherpa has just climbed Mount Everest for the 10th time but all her life she has been rising to challenges and meeting them, BBC reported.

Her 10-time achievement, reported by her brother and confirmed by a Nepalese official, makes her the first woman to do so.

The Nepalese single mother was born in a cave, had no formal education and worked as a janitor. 

She last made the 8,848.86m (29,031.69ft) ascent in 2018.

"I felt like I'd reached my dream when I reached Everest's summit for the first time," she told the BBC ahead of Thursday's climb.

"I thought to myself, 'No more just being a housewife!'

"I felt like I'd changed Sherpa culture, the status of Sherpa women and Nepali women. I enjoyed being outside of my home and I wanted to share that feeling with all women."

Lhakpa was chosen by the BBC as one its 100 most inspirational and influential women for 2016.

News of her 10th summit was broken by her brother Mingma Gelu Sherpa, who said she had reached the top at 06:15 (00:30 GMT). Nepali tourism official Bhishma Kumar Bhattarai confirmed the report for Reuters news agency.

Speaking from base camp earlier, her youngest daughter Shiny, 15, told the BBC she was excited and keenly watching her mother's progress, according to BBC.

"I look up to my mum," she said. "She has achieved so much even though she had nothing."

However, Lhakpa's hard work and achievements have yet to translate into wealth and recognition. 

She began life in a village more than 4,000m (13,000ft) above sea level in the Makalu region of eastern Nepal. She is a member of the Sherpa ethnic group, descended from nomadic Tibetans, who are used to living in hostile high altitudes. 

"I was born in a cave," she said, breaking into laughter. "I don't even know my date of birth. My passport says I am 48."

"I remember having to walk for hours, sometimes carrying my brothers to school, only to be turned away when I got there. At the time, girls were not allowed to go to school."

Agriculture was the mainstay for her village, which had no electricity. What it did have was a certain magical neighbour. 

"I grew up right next to Everest," she recalled. "I could see it from my home. Everest continues to inspire and excite me."

Since the first conquest of the mountain in 1953, more and more people have tried to scale the peak every year. Those who do so inevitably hire Sherpa guides and porters. But some Sherpas, like Lhakpa, set out to become mountaineers in their own right. 

It was not an easy transition. Lhakpa's parents didn't back her, BBC reported.

"My mum said I would never get married," she told the BBC. "She warned me that I would become too masculine and undesirable. The villagers told me that it's a man's job and I would die if I tried it."

She brushed aside those concerns and made it to Everest's highest ridge in 2000. In 2003, she became the first woman to scale Everest three times - and more records followed.

During her 2003 climb, she was joined by her brother and sister, becoming the first three siblings simultaneously on an 8,000-metre-high mountain. The Guinness Book of World Records recognised the feat.

She then married US-based Romanian-born climber George Dijmarescu, and scaled the peak with him five times. 

After getting married she moved to the US, but the relationship ended in acrimonious divorce in 2015.

Lhakpa now lives in the US state of Connecticut with their two daughters. She also has a son from a previous relationship.

During her initial expeditions she used to plant the Nepali flag at the summit. This time, she was carrying the US flag.

But her achievements failed to attract media attention and sponsors. For many years she was living unrecognised, and working for minimum wage.

"My jobs included taking care of the elderly, house cleaning and dish washing," she said.

I didn't make much money. I couldn't afford to buy clothes or pay for haircuts. I just had to focus on taking care of my children and then hope I had enough to return to Everest."

But she maintained a passion for climbing. She went up twice as a guide, and on some occasions friends and family helped support her trips, according to BBC.

Mountaineering was "not very rewarding compared with the risks involved", she said, but she believes it helped her escape what otherwise would have been a mundane life in the village.

Financially, things began to change after she learned to speak English well. She gave interviews, and spoke at events.

She got a sponsor for her ninth scale of the summit. But this time, her 10th, she raised the money through crowdfunding.

Lhakpa always starts her trek with a customary prayer. Safety is her biggest priority.

More than 300 people have died while trying to scale Mount Everest, so Lhakpa and her team have to pass bodies preserved by ice.

"The mountain decides the weather," she said. "During bad weather I would just wait. We can't wrestle a mountain."

"Past 8,000m, I feel like a zombie," she said. "You can't eat and everything is frozen. You have to climb at night so that you can descend from the summit in the daylight. It's scary."

Climbers get very little time at the top. For Lhakpa, it is only five to 10 minutes - just enough time to take pictures and reflect on all the people who support her climbs. 

She has no plans to retire after this season. She wants to scale K2, the world's second-highest peak. She is also thinking of climbing Everest in the future with her son and daughters, because "mountain climbing is my passion and this is what I want to do." 

"I've had a challenging life," she added. "Mountains made me happy and relaxed. I will never give up. I want young women not to give up."

North Korea has confirmed its first death from Covid-19, with state media adding that tens of thousands more are experiencing fever symptoms, BBC reported.

Six people died after suffering a fever with one testing positive for Omicron, state media reported on Friday.

It said 187,000 people with a fever were being "isolated and treated".

While experts believe the virus has been present in the country for some time, the authorities only announced the first cases on Thursday.

They said there had been an outbreak of the Omicron variant in the capital, Pyongyang, and announced lockdown measures. They did not give precise case numbers.

But in an update on Friday, the official KCNA news agency reported that the outbreak extended beyond the capital. "A fever whose cause couldn't be identified spread explosively nationwide from late April," it said.

Around 350,000 people had shown signs of that fever, it added, without specifying how many had tested positive for Covid, according to BBC.

Analysts suggest the latest figures from state media, including the acknowledgement that the unspecified fever had spread nationwide, may indicate the country is experiencing an outbreak unlike any it has seen so far.

Its population of 25 million is vulnerable due to the lack of a vaccination programme and poor healthcare, experts say.

North Korea rejected offers from the international community to supply millions of AstraZeneca and Chinese-made jabs last year. Instead, it claimed it had controlled Covid by sealing its borders early in January 2020.

The country shares land borders with South Korea and China, which have both battled outbreaks. China is now struggling to contain an Omicron wave with lockdowns in its biggest cities.

On Friday, KCNA reported that the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had visited a healthcare centre and "learned about the nationwide spread of Covid-19". 

It described the situation as an "immediate public health crisis". 

At a meeting outlining new Covid rules on Thursday, Mr Kim was seen wearing a face mask on television for what was believed to be the first time, BBC reported.

He ordered "maximum emergency" virus controls, which appeared to include orders for local lockdowns and gathering restrictions in workplaces.

There are fears a major outbreak could make it even more difficult for essential supplies to enter the country, leading to worsening food shortages and a faltering economy.

South Korea has said it offered humanitarian aid after Thursday's announcement, but Pyongyang is yet to respond.

Despite North Korea's earlier claims that it had "shining success" in keeping out Covid, there have been signs throughout the pandemic of its possible presence in the country including unconfirmed reports of cases and workers wearing hazmat suits, according to BBC.

Nepal reported four new Covid-19 cases on Thursday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 2, 463 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which four returned positive. Likewise, 354 people underwent antigen tests, of which no one were tested positive.

The Ministry said that no one died of the virus in the last 24 hours. The Ministry said that 18 infected people recovered from the disease.

As of today, there are 173 active cases in the country.

A large number of people have left the Kathmandu Valley for their hometowns in different parts of the country to take part in the local level elections taking place at all 753 units simultaneously tomorrow, Friday.

According to police, the Valley witnessed an exodus of 83 thousand people on Wednesday alone, two days before the voting day. Kathmandu Valley Traffic Police Office’s deputy superintendent of police Bal Narsingh Rana said over 550 thousand people left the Valley between May 4 and 11. Today too, a more number of passengers were seen home-bound in different places of the Valley than the number of those entering here.

Political parties have reportedly managed the travel of voters to their hometowns in this election and some have managed on their own.

People are observing public holidays for consecutive four days beginning from tomorrow as the government has announced a holiday on the voting day on Friday and it will be followed by a new provision of a two-day public weekend: Saturday and Sunday, a holiday for the Buddha Jayanti on Monday. It seems that people want to utilize the time to exercise their franchise to choose their representatives to the local government for the next five- year term.

The total number of voters for this election is 17 million 733 thousand 723 and a total number of voting stations is 10,756 followed by 21,955 polling booths. The government categorized 2,946 polling stations as highly sensitive, 4,423 as sensitive and 3,387 as less sensitive and the security arrangements are in place accordingly.

Following a large exodus of the people, roads in the Kathmandu Valley have sparse traffic than usual days. Thapathali, Singhadurbar, Tripureshwor, Maitighar, Koteshwor, Gaushala and Kalanki Chowk areas which used to see heavy traffic flow and traffic jam in usual days have sparse traffic.

Drivers say that they did not face a frequent traffic jam lately and a limited number of traffic police personnel have been mobilized to deal with the Valley traffic system.