A record 274 climbers reached the summit of Mount Everest in a single day this week, as critics warn the world’s tallest peak is becoming dangerously overcrowded with thrill-seekers willing to pay $15,000 for a shot at the top.

The surge shattered the previous Nepali record of 223 climbers set in 2019, Rishi Bhandari, secretary general of the Expedition Operators Association of Nepal, told Reuters on Thursday.

«This is the highest number of climbers in a single day so far,» Bhandari said, adding that the final summit total could rise even further as some climbers had not yet officially reported their successful ascents.

Nepal has already issued 494 Everest climbing permits this season, each costing climbers $15,000.

EXTREME TRAVEL DESTINATION TO RESTRICT POPULAR MOUNTAIN ACCESS

Climbers this year are ascending only from the Nepal side of Everest because China reportedly did not issue permits for expeditions from the Tibetan side.

Mount Everest is shown in Nepal. On Monday, seven people died at the base camp on Mount Yalung Ri, also in Nepal. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

Mountaineering experts have long criticized Nepal for allowing large numbers of climbers on Everest, warning that overcrowding can create life-threatening bottlenecks high on the mountain in Everest’s deadly «death zone,» where oxygen levels plunge to dangerously low levels.

LEGENDARY MOUNTAINEER JIM WHITTAKER, FIRST AMERICAN TO SUMMIT EVEREST, DEAD AT 97

Mountaineers line up as they climb a slope during their ascent to the summit of Mount Everest in Nepal on May 31, 2021. (Lakpa Sherpa/AFP)

Nepal has attempted to respond to safety concerns in recent years by tightening rules and increasing fees for climbers, though some expedition leaders have defended the high number of climbers.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

«If teams carry enough oxygen it is not a big problem,» expedition organizer Lukas Furtenbach of the Austria-based Furtenbach Adventures told the outlet. «We have mountains in the Alps like the Zugspitze where we have 4,000 persons on top per day. So 274 is actually not a big number, considering this mountain is 10 times bigger.»

FIRST ON FOX: The discovery of 10,000 «phantom employees» exploiting a federal work program has helped spur Republicans to tackle the financial incentives behind a foreign worker pipeline costing Americans hundreds of thousands of jobs per year.

Under current federal law, hundreds of thousands of foreign students and employers participating in the Optional Practical Training (OPT) extension program are exempt from paying Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes, which companies are required to pay for domestic workers. This has led to the creation of a «significant financial incentive» for employers to hire foreign OPT workers over Americans.

Republican Rep. Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin introduced a bill Thursday, titled the «OPT Fair Tax Act,» that eliminates that incentive by requiring employers to pay the same Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes paid for American workers. By closing the loophole, Grothman believes the bill «helps create a more level playing field for American graduates entering the workforce.»

The congressman told Fox News Digital that «Americans should not be put at a disadvantage because Washington created a loophole that favors hiring foreign workers over qualified U.S. citizens.» He added that «too many young Americans graduating from our colleges and universities are forced to compete against a system that tilts the playing field against them.»

DOJ CALLS FOR TIPS ON EMPLOYERS FAVORING FOREIGN WORKERS IN HIRING PRACTICES

Grothman’s bill is the House companion to a Senate bill introduced by Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., in September.

Though Cotton’s bill has not passed, OPT has faced increased scrutiny after Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons announced federal investigators uncovered more than 10,000 foreign students connected to «suspect employers» as part of a massive fraud scheme involving the program.

Lyons said that OPT, which lets international students on F-1 visas work temporarily in the country in jobs related to their field of study, had «ballooned into an uncontrolled guest worker pipeline with hundreds of thousands of foreign students working in the United States.»

He said that «as the program size exploded, so has the fraud.»

 «Today, we are announcing we have identified over 10,000 foreign students who claim to be working for highly suspect employers, and that’s just among the top 25 OPT employers. This is only the tip of the iceberg,» he said.

The ICE director also said investigators uncovered what he referred to as «phantom employees,» who he said are foreign students who obtained work authorization through OPT but never actually showed up for work at the sites they claimed to work out of.

TRUMP-BACKED HOUSING BILL CLEARS HOUSE AFTER GOP DEFIES SENATE PRESSURE CAMPAIGN

Todd Lyons, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, arrives for the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on oversight of ICE, Customs and Border Protection, and Citizenship and Immigration Services in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 12, 2026. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)

Grothman told Fox News Digital that these findings «point to serious vulnerabilities within the OPT program.»

He said that «reports that thousands of foreign students in the OPT program were tied to phantom employees and suspicious employers should alarm every American,» adding, «Right now, the federal government has created a financial incentive to hire foreign workers over Americans.»

Grothman said the scale of the tax preference has been significant. He pointed to data gathered by the technology and industry think tank Institute for Progress, which found that between fiscal years 2017 and 2022, an average of approximately 330,000 students participated in OPT annually. The think tank also estimated that eliminating the tax exemption would increase federal revenue by between $27 billion and $36 billion over a 10-year period.

GOP BILL TARGETS BLUE STATE FOR BILLIONS IN COVID-ERA UNEMPLOYMENT DEBT DUMPED ON BUSINESSES

A general view of the U.S. Capitol Building from the top of the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., on May 2, 2026. (Ken Cedeno/Reuters)

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

«Congress should be focused on opening doors for young Americans, helping U.S. graduates find good-paying jobs and ensuring employers are encouraged to hire Americans first. Not creating incentives for companies to bypass American talent,» he emphasized.

«The American people deserve to know how so many questionable employers were able to operate within the system for so long,» he continued. «Congress should be prioritizing American workers and restoring integrity to programs that have become increasingly vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.»

En una estrategia de mayor presión que por ahora parece dejar de lado una salida violenta, el gobierno de Donald Trump puso en la mira a la poderosa ala militar de la Revolución cubana.

“No habrá una escalada, no hace falta. Se está cayendo a pedazos. Realmente perdieron el control de Cuba”, dijo el miércoles el presidente estadounidense. Poco antes, el Departamento de Justicia imputó al exmandatario Raúl Castro por asesinato en una causa que investiga el derribo de dos avionetas de una asociación del exilio ocurrido en 1996 en aguas cubanas.

Castro, de 94 años, corre el riesgo de ser condenado a pena de muerte, según la senadora republicana y exfiscal de Florida, Ashley Moody. Pero no será tan fácil llevar al hermano de Fidel Castro a la justicia, salvo que se repita una acción como la que acabó con la captura de Nicolás Maduro el 3 de enero en Venezuela.

Trump quiere golpear donde más le duele a La Habana

En la última lista de sanciones estadounidenses impuestas el 1 de mayo, siete de las 12 personas mencionadas son militares y cuatro de las cinco entidades afectadas por la medida pertenecen orgánicamente al ejército cubano o están dirigidas por importantes oficiales de las fuerzas armadas.

La presión es evidente. El sector castrense no solo posee el poder de las armas en Cuba. También ostenta un enorme peso político. De hecho, cinco de los militares sancionados son diputados y una cifra similar forma parte del Comité Central del Partido Comunista (PCC), único en la isla.

Pero hay más: hay cuatro generales entre los 13 miembros del buró político del partido y un total de cinco militares integran el Consejo de Ministros.

Más allá del poder político y miliitar, hay un dato revelador: las Fuerzas Armadas también manejan millonarios negocios desparramados en distintos sectores a lo largo de la isla.

El miércoles, el secretario de Estado norteamericano, Marco Rubio, en un mensaje en español dirigido al pueblo cubano, apuntó directamente contra el conglomerado militar Grupo de Administración Empresarial SA. (GAESA), un verdadero emporio que maneja hasta el 40% del PBI nacional.

Se trata de un verdadero Estado paralelo dentro de la Revolución.

“Es un poder dentro de otro poder”, resumió a TN el economista cubano Omar Everleny Pérez.

Qué es GAESA

Los números que maneja GAESA son impresionantes.

Una investigación reciente publicada por la Universidad de Columbia reveló que este emporio económico “domina los sectores más estratégicos y rentables del país”.

“A través de (la empresa) Gaviota, controla buena parte del turismo; mediante CIMEX y TRD Caribe, el comercio minorista y mayorista; y por intermedio de RAFIN S.A. y el Banco Financiero Internacional (BFI), el sistema financiero», indicó el reporte. También tiene el monopolio de las comunicaciones.

Leé también: Crisis en Bolivia: ¿el narcotráfico está detrás de las protestas que jaquean al gobierno de Rodrigo Paz?

Pero su poder económico no termina ahí.

“También gestiona negocios de remesas, logística y almacenamiento —incluido el puerto del Mariel—, además de participar en la construcción, el transporte y el comercio exterior. En la práctica, administra los principales flujos de divisas del país, convirtiéndose en el actor económico más influyente de Cuba», señaló el informe.

Según la investigación llevada a cabo por el proyecto cubano de esa casa de estudios, “las utilidades brutas sobre ventas de GAESA representan cerca del 37% del PIB cubano».

«Los ingresos totales de GAESA son 3,2 veces superiores a los que recibe anualmente el presupuesto del Estado. El conglomerado empresarial dirigido por instituciones militares declara reservas líquidas en dólares por 14.500 millones, lo que confirma la magnitud de los recursos financieros que controla», reseñó.

Para Everleny Pérez, el poder de GAESA se recuesta en su control de las “principales actividades de divisas”.

“No es toda la economía, porque GAESA no está en la producción de cemento, ni de electricidad ni de alimentos, pero sí está en las gasolineras, en las remesas, en todas las tiendas en dólares. También tiene el puerto de Mariel y están en el turismo, donde es el mayor operador”, indicó,

En el sector turístico, clave para la economía nacional, GAESA construyó a través de Gaviota todas las nuevas construcciones hoteleras en los últimos años.

“Ellos tienen su propia casa financiera, su propio dinero se queda ahí y como es un programa de seguridad nacional nunca se sabe cuánto ingresan o cuánto le dan al Estado, a la vía civil. No se sabe. Entonces no se publica el presupuesto que ellos gastan, pero sí uno conoce las actividades en las cuales están”, indicó el economista.