Royal visit
Prince Harry has arrived in Jamaica’s capital Kingston for a four-day visit amid a push by the country’s new prime minister to sever ties with the British monarchy and turn the page on its colonial past.
The 27-year-old prince arrived on Monday by private jet at Kingston’s international airport, receiving a 21-gun salute from members of the Jamaica Defence Force.
Flops
India’s Congress party was trailing in fourth place as counting of votes got underway in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday, a stunning blow to Rahul Gandhi who had staked his political future on reviving his party’s fortunes in the populous northern state.
“It’s baffling if this is true,” Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, as partial results showed his party was likely to fall far short of the 120 seats it predicted it would win in the state’s 403-seat legislative assembly.
Explosion
International experts are fighting to prevent a fire in the Republic of Congo from reaching a second arms depot and exploding more munitions, a day after a blaze set off blasts so violent they flattened buildings, killing hundreds and trapping countless others under debris.
Small detonations continued to shake Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo, on Monday. Sunday’s blasts buckled numerous buildings, including two churches and a hospital and exploded windows nearly 10 kilometres away across the Congo River in the heart of Kinshasa, capital of the neighbouring Central African nation of Congo.
G8 Summit
The White House has abruptly announced it has scuttled plans to hold the coming G8 economic summit in Chicago and would instead host world leaders at the presidential retreat at Camp David in Maryland’s mountains north of Washington.
It was an unusually late location change for a large and highly scripted international summit and came with little explanation from the White House. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the former White House chief of staff who personally lobbied President Barack Obama to hold the summit in Chicago, was informed of the change only on Monday.
