Highway construction to the Mount Everest on hold

Environmental experts must conduct a study and give their approval before workers can build a planned paved road up to the Mount Everest base camp, a Tibet government official said Saturday. The new highway was to be a major route for tourists and mountaineers, and officials have praised it as a way to make life easier for locals.In April, organizers for the Beijing Summer Olympics announced ambitious plans for the longest torch relay in Olympic history — an 85,000-mile, 130-day route that would cross five continents and reach the 29,035-foot summit of Everest, the world's highest peak.