Foreign
King Charlse to give up lease on Welsh country estate
King Charles is giving up the lease on his Welsh estate.
Llwynywermod estate, near Llandovery in Carmarthenshire, was purchased for the then-Prince Charles by The Duchy of Cornwall, external in 2007 for £1.2m
The three-bedroom property, a former coach house, is set in the grounds of a ruined mansion and overlooks an 18th Century country park including 40 acres of woodland.
Buckingham Palace confirmed the King had given notice to the Duchy earlier this year that he planned to give up the lease when it ends this summer.
Llwynywermod has served as the home of the King and Queen Camilla during visits to Wales, including while on annual summer tours of the nation.
Following renovations in 2008, old agricultural buildings centred on a courtyard were converted into self-catering units.
According to the Telegraph, external, the King has been paying rent on Llwynywermod since the Duchy of Cornwall was passed to Prince William after his father’s coronation.
Quoting royal sources, the newspaper said the King remained “passionate” about Wales but had decided to give up the property because it was “unlikely” he would be able to use it in the same way as when he was Prince of Wales.
Prior to taking the throne, the King was regularly seen walking in the area, with he and the Queen described as “active patrons” in the village.
The original owner of Llwynywermod estate, in the 13th or 14th Century, was William Williams who was related to Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII and the mother of Elizabeth I.
The old house and its disintegrating concrete and corrugated iron farm buildings were restored by Welsh craftsmen using traditional methods and materials from the area
The then-Prince Charles planted climbers including Albertine roses, jasmine and honeysuckle up the walls.
Six of the English field maples which formed the avenue of trees at William and Kate’s 2011 wedding were later rehomed at the Welsh retreat.
The idea was the King’s and, with William and Kate’s approval, he set them in the soil at the front of the house, along a rustic wooden fence.
Foreign
Putin Registers As Candidate For Russia’s Next Presidential Election
Russia on Monday officially recognised Vladimir Putin as a candidate for the presidential elections in March, a vote that he is all but certain to win.
The 71-year-old has led Russia since the turn of the century, winning four presidential ballots and briefly serving as prime minister in a system where opposition has become virtually non-existent.
The Central Election Commission said it had registered Putin, who nominated himself, as well as right-wing firebrand and Putin-loyalist Leonid Slutsky as candidates for the vote.
The election will be held over a three-day period from March 15 to 17, a move that Kremlin critics have argued makes guaranteeing transparency more difficult.
Following a controversial constitutional reform in 2020, Putin could stay in power until at least 2036.
Rights groups say that previous elections have been marred by irregularities and that independent observers are likely to be barred from monitoring the vote.
While Putin is not expected to face any real competition, liberal challenger Boris Nadezhdin has passed the threshold of signatures to be registered as a candidate.
However, it is still unclear if he will be allowed to run, and the Kremlin has said it does not consider him to be a serious rival.
Foreign
Hong Kong court grants Chinese real estate giant reorganisation postponement
Hong Kong’s Supreme Court has once again granted the highly indebted Chinese real estate giant Evergrande a postponement for its reorganisation plan.
Judge Linda Chan surprisingly postponed the decision until Jan. 29, the South China Morning Post reported on Monday.
The property developer, which has liabilities estimated at more than 300 billion dollars, is threatened with liquidation.
However, creditors from abroad had taken the company to court because of its missing several payments.
Chan had already said at the previous hearing that this would be the last postponement and that she would very likely agree to liquidation if China Evergrande did not find a plan for restructuring with its creditors.
According to reports, however, the lawyers of the Hong Kong-listed group had now held out the prospect of being able to reach an agreement with the lenders in the coming weeks.
In the case of liquidation, an insolvency administrator would monetise the company and pay out the creditors.
Meanwhile, some experts were of the opinion that liquidation would return less money to creditors than a reorganisation, China Evergrande argued the same in court, according to reports.
The group had been trying to submit a restructuring plan since 2022, without success. Its founder and once China’s richest man, Hui Ka Yan, is being investigated by the Chinese authorities.
Like many other property groups, the company had been in a serious crisis for some time because it is earning significantly less on the slumping property market.
The company is finding it more difficult to obtain state support and is no longer able to service its loans.
“The Evergrande case also shows that the era of large private property developers in China is coming to an end,’’ says Max Zenglein from the Merics China Institute in Berlin.
If Chan decides to wind up China Evergrande, this could also have an impact on other companies.
“One challenge for the government will be to prevent domino effects in the economy caused by major bankruptcies,’’ says Zenglein.
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