‘I could fall to my death’

– Tightrope walker Nik Wallenda fears the worst outcome as he prepares for his latest high wire act – trekking across a live volcano in Nicaragua on Wednesday. “I could fall to my death.”

But the 41-year-old member of the seven-generation family of daredevils, The Flying Wallendas, is taking it in his stride.

“It is just the reality of what I do,” he said, ahead of his live, televised walk 548-metres across the Masaya volcano with churning lava below.

According to Dick Clark Productions, it will be the highest and longest walk he has ever attempted.

“I will tell you that my first step will be a step of faith,” he said. “It’s not as though I’m fearless. It is more about me overcoming that fear.”

Wallenda, who has made successful walks across Niagara Falls and above Times Square, said he has been training with an oxygen depravation mask to mirror the conditions above the volcano.

He will be wearing goggles, a mask and possibly even oxygen tanks for the walk. – Reuters

Managua

Los Angeles

Left-leaning California has thrust itself back into the heart of the fight for the presidency in 2020, casting a potentially decisive vote on Tuesday in the Democratic nominee to face Donald Trump.

The most populous state in the US had little say in 2016’s race for the party’s nominee, organising its Democratic primary as late as June, when the game was already up for Hillary Clinton’s rival Bernie Sanders.

This time, California has brought its vote forward to 3 March, marking a return to “Super Tuesday” in which 14 states will participate.