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BEIJING/MOSCOW – Chinas President Xi Jinping will travel to Russia on a state visit next week, his first trip to Russia since it invaded Ukraine.

Mr Xi will exchange opinions on major international and regional issues with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit from March 20 to 22, Chinas Foreign Ministry said on Friday. It will be his first overseas trip since he won a third term as president earlier this month.

The Kremlin said Mr Putin would have a one-to-one meeting with Mr Xi in Moscow on Monday. They will hold further negotiations on Tuesday, followed by a statement to the press.

During the talks, they will discuss topical issues of further development of comprehensive partnership relations and strategic cooperation between Russia and China, the Kremlin said.

A number of important bilateral documents will be signed, it added.

The objective of the visit is to further deepen bilateral trust, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular news briefing. He added that Mr Xis visit was in part to promote peace, although he made no explicit mention of the Ukraine war.

During the trip, Mr Xi is expected to discuss Chinas recently released 12-point blueprint for ending the war in Ukraine, a document dismissed by most Western governments.

The criticism of the plan was more muted from Ukraine, which has tried to avoid alienating Beijing since the start of the war on 24 February 2022.

Ukraine took issue with Chinas proposals for not stating that Russia should withdraw behind borders in place since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, though it later said it was open to parts of the plan.

Chinas offer to broker peace in Ukraine has been met with scepticism in the West, given Beijings diplomatic support for Russia.

Mr Xi will hold a telephone call with Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky following his Russia visit, according to some media reports. Beijing has not confirmed the call.

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang spoke on Thursday with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba about bilateral ties and the invasion.

A possible call between Mr Xi and President Joe Biden is also on the cards.

Mr Xi last visited Russia in mid-2019, while Mr Putin visited Beijing in 2022 to attend the opening of the Winter Olympics on Feb 4. At that meeting, the two leaders agreed to a no limits friendship and signed a series of long-term energy supply deals.

The two then met in September at the Shanghai Cooperation Forum, where Mr Putin said he understands Beijings questions and concerns about his invasion of Ukraine, a rare admission of tensions between the diplomatic allies.

The two sides have since continued to reaffirm the strength of their ties. Trade between the two countries has soared since the invasion, and China is Russias biggest buyer of oil, a key source of revenue for Moscow. BLOOMBERG, REUTERS More On This Topic Chinas Xi plans to talk to Zelensky, meet Putin next week China says Russia ties solid as rock amid Ukraine peace push

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Entertainment

Dances With Wolves and The Green Mile actor Graham Greene dies aged 73

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Dances With Wolves and The Green Mile actor Graham Greene dies aged 73

Graham Greene, the Canadian First Nations actor best known for his performance in Dancing With Wolves, has died aged 73.

The star died peacefully after a long illness.

His agent Michael Greene (not a relation) said he loved everything the actor “did for his people and for all the world” in a statement sent to Sky News.

“He was a great man of morals, ethics and character and will be eternally missed…God bless his beautiful soul.”

Greene was a “trailblazer” who opened doors for indigenous actors in Hollywood, US entertainment outlet Deadline reported.

He made his screen debut in an episode of the Canadian drama series The Great Detective in 1979, and his first film, Running Brave, followed in 1983.

But his breakthrough came when he was cast as Kicking Bird (Zintka Nagwaka) in Kevin Costner‘s Dances With Wolves, released in 1990.

Greene was nominated for best supporting actor, one of 12 nods for the film, which took home seven, including best picture.

He went on to appear in Maverick alongside Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster in 1994, Die Hard With A Vengeance with Bruce Willis and Samuel L Jackson in 1995, The Green Mile with Tom Hanks and Michael Clarke Duncan in 1999, The Twilight Saga: New Moon with Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson in 2009, and Wind River alongside Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen in 2017.

His TV credits included Wolf Lake, Defiance and Marvel’s Echo, as well as Tulsa King and The Last Of Us more recently.

Greene also had several projects in the works, according to movie database IMDB.

He is survived by his wife, Hilary Blackmore, his daughter Lilly Lazard-Greene and her son, Talo.

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Father Ted co-creator Graham Linehan ‘arrested at Heathrow over posts on X’

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Father Ted co-creator Graham Linehan 'arrested at Heathrow over posts on X'

Father Ted co-creator Graham Linehan has said he was arrested at Heathrow Airport, over social media posts sharing his views on trans rights.

Writing on Substack, the 57-year-old said that after flying into the UK from Arizona, he was detained by five armed officers and put in a cell before being questioned over posts published on X in April.

During questioning, he said a nurse checked on him and found his blood pressure had reached “stroke territory”, so he was taken to A&E.

A Met Police spokeswoman confirmed an arrest was made at Heathrow on Monday but did not identify Linehan.

In a statement, the force said: “On Monday 1 September at 1pm officers arrested a man at Heathrow Airport after he arrived on an inbound American Airlines flight.

“The man in his 50s was arrested on suspicion of inciting violence. This is in relation to posts on X.

“After being taken to police custody, officers became concerned for his health and he was taken to hospital. His condition is neither life-threatening nor life-changing.

“He has now been bailed pending further investigation.”

The arrest was made by officers from the force’s Aviation Unit, the Met spokeswoman said, adding that it is routine for officers policing airports to carry firearms.

“These were not drawn or used at any point during the arrest,” she said.

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Business

Pound drops as 30-year gilt yields at highest level this century

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Pound drops as 30-year gilt yields at highest level this century

The value of the pound has sunk – as the cost of 30-year government borrowing reached a high last seen in 1998.

The so-called spot rate saw one pound buy $1.336 on Tuesday, a low last seen in early August, and down from $1.353 earlier in the day.

Despite the dip, it’s still higher than the vast majority of the past year: in early September 2024, a pound bought $1.31.

Money blog: ‘She didn’t get me a wedding gift – even though I spent thousands on her’

The decline, however, means sterling is on course for the biggest one-day drop since April, when Donald Trump’s announcement of country-specific tariffs spooked markets.

The drop was similarly steep against the euro, with a pound momentarily buying €1.1486, a low not seen since November 2023, nearly two years ago. It’s also a fall from €1.1586 earlier in the trading session.

Before the so-called liberation day announcement, £1 equalled nearly €1.19.

It comes as the yield – the interest rate demanded by investors – on 30-year government bonds – loans taken by the state – hit 5.72%, the highest rate this century.

Why?

Yields are rising across the globe in the face of weak economic growth and the US trade war.

Investors are also concerned about UK government finances as Chancellor Rachel Reeves battles to stick to her fiscal rules to bring down debt and balance the budget.

High inflation and increased public debt from the pandemic have left a deficit between state spending and income.

There have been high-profile government U-turns on winter fuel payments and welfare spending cuts that have meant the chancellor has to look elsewhere to meet her self-imposed fiscal rules.

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More expensive interest payments from rising bond yields have meant the country is stuck in a cycle of rising debt.

Today’s rises to the cost of government borrowing could not have come at a worse time for the public finances.

While a £14bn sale of new 10-year government debt – a record sum – was completed, it was achieved at the highest yield since 2008.

Lale Akoner, global market analyst at investment platform eToro, said of the auction: “For the government, this creates a paradox – market confidence in UK debt is robust, but financing that debt is increasingly expensive, constraining budget flexibility and raising the stakes for fiscal discipline ahead of the autumn budget.”

The yield on 10-year gilts, as they are known in the UK, later rose to its highest since January at 4.825%, up on the day but in line with their transatlantic equivalent, US Treasuries.

The global bond sell-off was also being reflected on stock markets.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and tech-focused Nasdaq were both down by more than 1% at the open on Wall St.

In Europe, Germany’s DAX was 2% lower while the FTSE 100 was just 0.6% down as it is less exposed to declines in technology stocks which have accounted for much of the value growth seen over the summer.

The flight from risk also saw the spot price of gold, traditionally a safe haven for investors in times of uncertainty, briefly climb to a new record high of $3,578.40 per ounce.

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