Soldiers in full battle dress escorted nine schoolchildren to class

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Nine black children have finally been able to attend Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. But they had to be surrounded by more than 1,000 US paratroopers to protect them from segregationist whites.

On the orders of President Dwight D Eisenhower, the troops arrived last night in full battledress with fixed bayonets and rifles and took over from local police following three weeks of disturbances.

The children, six girls and three boys, had to walk through a cordon to get to the school building.

Outside about 1,500 whites demonstrated and at least seven were arrested.

Inside, students were warned by the commanding officer, General Walker, that anyone who disrupted the school day would be handed over to local police.

In 1954 the US Supreme Court ruled segregated schools were unconstitutional.

The decision was prompted by a case brought by the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People) on behalf of a black schoolgirl from Kansas forced to attend a blacks-only school.

But Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus refused to abide by the ruling.

Little Rock became of symbol of southern resistance to government attempts to desegregate American society.

On 2 September this year the governor ordered Arkansas state troops to stop the nine black children attending school. Three weeks later he was forced to withdraw them by a federal judge.

But a white mob took over the streets and the mayor of the city appealed to the president to help to control the situation.

The southern governors are meeting today to find a way of persuading the president to withdraw the troops.

After yesterday's disturbances, the city was calm.

But once the troops are gone it is feared the white mob may retaliate against the 30,000 black residents at Little Rock, especially leaders of the NAACP. 

The British team took a difficult direct route up the mountain's south-west face

The men arrived at the top of Mount Everest via the previously unclimbed south-west face, 33 days after establishing their base camp.

The team succeeded on a difficult direct route which has repulsed five other attempts and set a record for the fastest time up the peak.

Expedition leader Chris Bonington reported the pair had reached the 29,028 ft (8,848 m) summit safely and were now on their way down the mountain.

He also said they were ahead of schedule and hoped more of the 18-strong group would be able to reach the top.

The south-west face of Everest has been regarded as one of the most difficult challenges in mountaineering because of its length and exposure to high-level winds.

Mr Haston, who runs the International School of Mountaineering in Switzerland, and Mr Scott, a mountain lecturer from Nottingham, had failed twice to conquer the route.

The Queen sent a message to the team offering her warmest congratulations on a "magnificent achievement".

Jan Scott, who is planning to fly out to Nepal to meet her husband, said she was overjoyed by his success.

"It's wonderful - I knew Doug would do it one day," she said.

segregationist: someone who believes the races should be kept apart（隔離主義者）

retaliate: take revenge for a perceived wrong（報復）

repulse: force or drive back（使后退）