Entertainment
Putin to join President Xi and world leaders at SCO meeting in China
TIANJIN: Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to arrive in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin on Sunday, where he will join President Xi Jinping and around 20 other world leaders for a major regional summit.
The gathering, organised under the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), will run until Monday and comes just days before a huge military parade in Beijing marking 80 years since the end of World War II.
The SCO comprises China, India, Russia, Pakistan, 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.
In an interview published on China’s Xinhua news agency on Saturday, Putin said the upcoming summit will “strengthen the SCO’s capacity to respond to contemporary challenges and threats, and consolidate solidarity across the shared Eurasian space”.
“All this will help shape a fairer multipolar world order,” Putin said, Xinhua reported.
As China’s claim over Taiwan and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have seen them clash with the United States and Europe, experts say Beijing and Moscow are eager to use platforms like the SCO to curry influence.
“China has long sought to present the SCO as a non-Western-led power bloc that promotes a new type of international relations, which, it claims, is more democratic,” said Dylan Loh, an assistant professor at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.
“In short, it offers a Chinese-inflected multilateral order that is distinct from the western-dominated ones in international politics,” Loh told AFP.
More than 20 leaders including Iranian and Turkish presidents Masoud Pezeshkian and Recep Tayyip Erdogan will attend the bloc’s largest meeting since its founding in 2001.
“The large-scale participation indicates China’s growing influence and the SCO’s appeal as a platform for non-Western countries,” Loh added.
Beijing, through the SCO, will try to “project influence and signal that Eurasia has its own institutions and rules of the game”, said Lizzi Lee from the Asia Society Policy Institute.
“It is framed as something different, built around sovereignty, non-interference, and multipolarity, which the Chinese tout as a model,” Lee told AFP.
Talks on the sidelines
Chinese President Xi met leaders including Egyptian Premier Moustafa Madbouly and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet in Tianjin on Saturday.
Other bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit will be organised.
Putin is expected to hold talks on Monday with Turkey’s Erdogan and Iran’s Pezeshkian about the Ukraine conflict and Tehran’s nuclear programme respectively.
Putin needs “all the benefits of SCO as a player on the world stage and also the support of the second largest economy in the world”, said Lim Tai Wei, a professor and East Asia expert at Japan’s Soka University.
“Russia is also keen to win over India, and India’s trade frictions with the United States present this opportunity,” Lim told AFP.
The summit comes days after India was hit by a sharp bump up in US tariffs on its goods as punishment for New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Tianjin on Saturday evening after a trip to Japan, marking the start of his first visit to China since 2018.
The two most populous nations are intense rivals competing for influence across South Asia and fought a deadly border clash in 2020.
A thaw began last October when Modi met with Xi for the first time in five years at a summit in Russia.
Modi was not on a list of attendees for the Beijing parade published by Chinese state media on Thursday that included Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un.
Entertainment
Anna Cathcart teases big changes in ‘XO, Kitty’ season 3
Kitty Song Covey is entering her senior year – and apparently, she still hasn’t discovered the concept of “chill.”
Anna Cathcart is back as everyone’s favourite chaos queen in season 3 of XO, Kitty, premiering on Netflix this spring. And according to the 22-year-old star, Kitty may want to consider a yoga class. Or three.
“She just needs to calm down a little bit,” Anna told People magazine. “I feel like Kitty has the most chaos [sic] of anyone I know, and that’s what we love about her.”
“But also, girl, you need to sit down sometimes,” she continued. “Take a deep breath, it’s okay. She kind of always has been [that way], but in a controlled way, I guess. She handles it well.”
Season 3 picks up after that cliffhanger (you know the one), and for the first time, fans will see a summer episode – yes, summer at KISS is officially unlocked.
“I’m finally allowed to talk about that because it’s been a secret forever,” Anna shared. “So very excited and I think they’re going to be surprised, but also super happy. So I can’t wait.”
And it’s not just poolside vibes. “[Kitty’s] making some big decisions in her life and it’s senior year, all of that, so I’m very excited for them to see,” she added.
Translation? Expect romance, identity spirals, possibly tears – and definitely Kitty-level impulsive decision-making.
Entertainment
Holly Willoughby could be next big digital star after Gordon Ramsay
Holly Willoughby is preparing to make her TV comeback with her won Youtube channel, following reports of her solo project.
Since leaving This Morning, she briefly hosted ITV’s You Bet! and Netflix’s reality show Celebrity Bear Hunt.
It has now been reported that the 44-year-old is following other stars who have their own channels, including Ant and Dec, chef Gordon Ramsay and rapper KSI.
By comparison, Gordon Ramsay leads with 21.9 million Youtube subscribers, followed by KSI at 17.3 million.
A source close to Ms Willoughby previously told Daily Mail:
‘She is working with her husband Dan Baldwin’s production company Hungry Bear to develop a ‘multi-strand programme for digital platforms’ in a move she is said to be ‘thrilled and excited’ about.
She also has a production company on hand, Hungry Bear, which creates Gladiators and Michael McIntyre’s Big Show and is run by her husband Dan Baldwin.
A TV insider said: ‘This is a massive game-changer for Holly and the wider industry because this show and her channel will be a threat to the main broadcasters, particularly This Morning and ITV.
‘Advertisers are increasingly turning away from traditional terrestrial telly and looking for new opportunities and new ways to promote themselves online — and with a magazine show like this it’s the perfect vehicle.
‘And if any of the big-name retailers could cherry-pick a presenter who’s an ideal figure to front it, then it is surely Holly.’
Ms Willoughby has largely been off our screens since she left This Morning in October 2023, after she was told a former security guard had planned to kidnap, rape and murder her.
Entertainment
Ramadan, Eid remittances to keep rupee stable
- Interbank rate stays range-bound through the week.
- IMF review talks begin under EFF and RSF.
- Remittances rise year-on-year, dip month-on-month.
KARACHI: The Pakistani rupee is expected to stay stable and may strengthen slightly in the near term, supported by seasonal remittance inflows during Ramadan and ahead of Eid, The News reported, citing a report released on Saturday.
The currency traded in a tight band in the interbank market this week, closing at 279.55 to the dollar on Monday and at 279.47 on Friday.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) team began talks with Pakistani authorities on Wednesday for the third review under the $7 billion Extended Financing Facility (EFF) and the second review of the $1.1 billion Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF).
Upon successful completion, Pakistan would become eligible by the end of April for about $1 billion under the EFF and an additional $200 million under the RSF.
The geopolitical situation has worsened as the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran, plunging the region into a new conflict.
The rupee has appreciated by approximately 60 paisa since the beginning of the year, said Tresmark, a platform that provides live financial rates, in a client note. While this increase is modest on its own, it is more significant when considering the broader context, it said.
The rupee has strengthened despite several challenges, including rising geopolitical risks and US posturing in the region, escalating tensions along the western border, isolated internal security incidents, Brent crude prices trading above $72 a barrel, a steady decline in exports, a widening trade deficit, tariff pressures and a persistent inflation differential with the US.
“Seasonal remittance inflows around Ramadan and Eid are likely to keep the rupee well bid in the near term,” the Tresmark’s report said.
“That said, most economists argue that further appreciation offers limited structural benefit, which makes the recent firmness somewhat counterintuitive,” it added.
Pakistan’s remittances rose 15.4% year-on-year (YoY) in January to $3.5 billion. However, these flows dropped 4% on a month-on-month (MoM) basis. Remittances increased 11.3% to $23.2 billion in the first seven months of the fiscal year 2026.
“Premiums have marginally improved. If costing is tight, exporters should opt for forwards, as rupee outlook continues to look stable to slightly stronger,” it said.
According to the report, the rupee’s stability is not isolated. Several high-carry or reform-backed EM currencies have also held firm despite geopolitical noise, including the Egyptian pound, Thai baht, South African rand, Brazilian real, Mexican peso, and Indonesian rupiah.
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