Tshisekedi to visit China
DRC - The president of mineral-rich Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Felix Tshisekedi, will visit China from May 24 to 29 and is expected to meet President Xi Jinping to review and sign several key trade deals. A meeting would pave the way for the two countries to formally overhaul and seal a US$6 billion infrastructure-for-minerals deal with Chinese investors. The visit was announced by the Chinese foreign ministry on Monday. Tshisekedi instructed his government at a cabinet meeting on May 19, to move ahead with talks on the deal with Chinese counterparts after the DRC government and other stakeholders ‘‘consolidated their position,’’ a DRC government statement said.
Royal bride faints
GERMAN - One year after announcing their engagement, Prince Ludwig of Bavaria married Sophie Evekink on Saturday at the Theatiner Church in Munich. The couple concluded their big day with a reception hosted by Prince Ludwig’s cousin Duke Franz of Bavaria at Nymphenburg Palace – but not before a slight hiccup during their ceremony. A spokesperson confirmed the doctoral student ‘fainted’ during the church ceremony; per People magazine, it was as the couple read their vows. “After a drink she was fine again and the ceremony continued,” the publication quoted royal writer ChristinZ.
Putin’s destruction
UKRAINE - Horrifying images have shown the scale of destruction wrought by Vladimir Putin’s forces in Bakhmut as President Zelenskyy compared the scenes of devastation in the Ukrainian city to Hiroshima’s levelling by an atomic bomb. Pictures out of Bakhmut reveal how the 400-year-old city has been razed to the ground during the longest and bloodiest battle of the war, with tens of thousands killed and countless neighbourhoods destroyed. Zelenskyy described Bakhmut and Hiroshima which was destroyed in 1945 by the first weaponised nuclear bomb - as being ‘just the same, nothing alive left, all of the buildings have been ruined.’
LONDON - Prince Harry has lost his bid for a second legal challenge against the Home Office over his security arrangements when in the UK.
The Duke of Sussex (38), was seeking the go-ahead from the High Court to secure a judicial review over a decision that he should not be allowed to pay privately for his own protective security.
At a hearing earlier this month, a judge was asked by Harry’s legal team to allow the duke to bring a case over decisions taken by the Home Office and the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec) - which falls under the remit of the department - in December 2021 and February 2022.
The estranged Duke had wanted to maintain, when in Britain, the Royal and Specialist Protection command (RASP) armed squad who protected him when he was a working royal, before the acrimonious fall-out with his family.
When told he no longer qualified for its protection after leaving for America with wife Meghan Markle, his offer to pay for it was declined. It was that decision he decided to challenge in the courts, as he believed he should have been allowed to pay, in the same way football clubs do for officers to maintain order at matches.
But the Home Office, opposing Harry’s claim, said Ravec considered it was ‘not appropriate’ for wealthy people to ‘buy’ protective security, which might include armed officers, when it had decided that ‘the public interest does not warrant’ someone receiving such protection on a publicly funded basis.