Sir Ranulph Fiennes was today forced to abandon his bid to conquer Mount Everest after succumbing to exhaustion. The multi-million pound charity climb was the adventurer's second unsuccessful attempt at scaling the mountain - he suffered a heart attack just 300m from the top in 2005.

EXPLORER Sir Ranulph Fiennes was due to reach the summit of Mount Everest in the early hours of this morning, marking the success of his expedition in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care.

SIR RANULPH Fiennes and his team have now reached Everest base camp - the first step in their journey to conquer the world's highest mountain in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care. They aim to spend the next few days acclimatising before continuing onwards and upwards.

MORE and more people in the region want the right to die at home, a new survey conducted for the Yorkshire Post shows.

SIR RANULPH Fiennes' ascent of Everest is to go ahead, it was announced yesterday, despite restrictions imposed by the Chinese and Nepalese governments after recent protests about the occupation of neighbouring Tibet.