North Face co-founder

    DOUGLAS TOMPKINS, the co-founder of The North Face and Esprit clothing companies who bought up large swaths of land in South America’s Patagonia region to keep them pristine, has died from severe hypothermia in a kayaking accident in Chile.

    The well-known conservationist was 72. The Aysen health service said the wealthy businessman was boating with five other foreigners Tuesday when their kayaks capsized in a lake in near freezing waters in the Patagonia region of southern Chile.

    Abe’s website crash

    A HACKING group said Thursday it has crashed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s official website to protest Japan’s plans to hunt whales.

    Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters that one of Abe’s websites became inaccessible early Thursday and police were investigating. The site was restored by the evening.