Siberian student scales birch tree for internet access as classes move online

Russian student Alexei Dudoladov has been forced to go to great lengths - or rather great heights - to attend classes online, having to climb a birch tree in his remote Siberian village every time he needs an internet connection. The 21-year-old, a popular blogger and a student at the Omsk Institute of Water Transport, located 2,225 kilometres (1,383 miles) east of Moscow, has got the authorities' attention by pleading for better internet coverage from the top of a snow-covered birch tree. In his plea - viewed 1.9 million times on TikTok and more than 56,000 times on Instagram since last week - Dudoladov tells regional governor Alexander Burkov that his home internet is not strong enough to connect to his online classes and that he has been forced to come up with a creative solution. Reuters