Entertainment
China’s Xi slams ‘bullying’ behaviour in world order as SCO nations gather
- PM Shehbaz, Russia’s Putin, Indian PM Modi and other leaders attend session.
- Xi speaks about constructive participation in int’l affairs, opposes hegemonism.
- SCO has set a model for a new type of international relations: President Xi.
Chinese President Xi Jinping criticised on Monday “bullying behaviour” in the world order as he gathered regional leaders for a summit.
He called on the leaders — including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and India’s Narendra Modi — to “adhere to fairness and justice… oppose Cold War mentality, camp confrontation, and bullying behaviour”, in a speech in the northern city of Tianjin.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, which is gathering for a two-day summit, comprises China, Pakistan, India, Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus — with 16 more countries affiliated as observers or “dialogue partners”.
China and Russia have sometimes touted the SCO as an alternative to the NATO military alliance.
“The current international situation is becoming chaotic and intertwined,” Xi told the leaders.
“The security and development tasks facing member states have become even more challenging,” he added.
“Looking back, despite tumultuous times, we have achieved success by practicing the Shanghai spirit,” he said, referring to the name of the group.
“Looking to the future, with the world undergoing turbulence and transformation, we must continue to follow the Shanghai spirit, keep our feet on the ground, forge ahead, and better perform the functions of the organisation.”
Xi said China will work with all parties in the SCO to take the regional security forum to a new level, as he unveiled his ambition for a new global security order that poses a challenge to the United States.
The SCO has set a model for a new type of international relations, Xi said in opening remarks at the summit, adding that the forum unequivocally opposed external interference.
Xi spoke also about constructive participation in international affairs, opposing hegemonism and power politics, as well as promoting multilateralism in his remarks.
The security-focused bloc, which began as a group of six Eurasian nations, has expanded to 10 permanent members and 16 dialogue and observer countries in recent years.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said China played a “fundamental” role in upholding global multilateralism on Sunday.
Analysts say China will use this year’s largest-ever summit to demonstrate an alternative vision of global governance to the American-led international order at a time of erratic policymaking, a U.S. retreat from multilateral organisations and geopolitical flux.
Beijing has also used the summit as an opportunity to mend ties with New Delhi.
Modi, who is in China on his first visit in seven years, and Xi both agreed on Sunday their countries are development partners, not rivals, and discussed ways to improve trade ties amid the global tariff uncertainty.
Eddie Murphy is having quite the year for new arrivals.
The comedy legend has revealed he has welcomed not one but two grandchildren in the space of a fortnight, a grandson and a granddaughter, and he could not be happier about it.
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight at the American Film Institute Achievement Award Ceremony on Saturday, 18 April, Murphy, 65, shared the news with characteristic warmth.
“I just had my first grandson two months ago,” he said, referring to the baby boy born to his daughter Bria, 36, and her husband Michael Xavier, who married in July 2022.
Bria had offered a glimpse of her pregnancy at the November premiere of her father’s documentary Being Eddie.
He also confirmed the birth of his third granddaughter, just two weeks ago, to his son Eric and Jasmin Lawrence, daughter of comedian Martin Lawrence.
The couple married last May and announced they were expecting in February. Murphy revealed the baby girl’s name to E! News: Ari Skye.
“So all this stuff is happening,” Murphy said, grinning. “I’m like it’s raining blessings on me. Raining blessings.”
When asked whether he had been dispensing parenting wisdom to the new arrivals, Murphy was direct.
“Oh, you don’t give advice like that. You know, your kids don’t go by your advice. Your kids go by the example you set. They watch you. The stuff you be saying, they don’t even pay that s— no mind. They watch and see what you do. So, I don’t give a lot of advice.”
Murphy is father to ten children across several relationships, including sons Eric, 36, Christian, 35, Myles, 33, and Max, 7, and daughters Bria, Shayne, 31, Zola, 26, Bella, 24, Angel, 19, and Izzy, 9.
Christina Applegate has broken her silence following reports of a recent hospitalisation, reassuring fans that she is on the mend and determined as ever.
“Thank you for the outpouring of love and well wishes,” the actress wrote on Instagram on Monday.
“Health issues are a constant for me, but I’m a strong chick and I’m getting stronger and better every day. I’m taking a moment to focus on my health, but I’ll be back with more to say soon enough.”
The post comes after reports began circulating that Applegate had been hospitalised in late March, with outlets reporting that those close to her had been deeply concerned.
The 54-year-old did not specify the nature of the latest health episode, but her MS diagnosis, which she made public in August 2021, has been an ongoing part of her life in the years since.
Applegate has been notably open about her journey with multiple sclerosis, both through her 2026 memoir You with the Sad Eyes and the podcast she co-hosts with Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who also has MS.
Her final acting role was in the comedic thriller series Dead to Me, a job she finished while her diagnosis was still new territory.
Season three was already in production when she found out, and she has spoken candidly about how difficult that period was.
She used a wheelchair to get to set, was “sleeping all the time,” and had to call the cast and crew to tell them what she was dealing with.
“I had to call everybody and be like, ‘I have multiple sclerosis guys. Like, what the fuck!'” she told Variety in 2022.
Best known for her long-running role in Married… with Children, which ran on Fox for 11 seasons from 1987 to 1997, Applegate has since retired from acting.
Her message on Monday was short but carried the same directness that has defined how she has handled her illness throughout, no sugarcoating, and no backing down either.
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