Chinese premier attends closing ceremony of 9th Asian Winter Games

Chinese Premier Li Qiang attended the closing ceremony of the 9th Asian Winter Games on Friday evening in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

Among the distinguished guests attending the ceremony were Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown and Mongolian Prime Minister Luvsannamsrai Oyun-Erdene.

Timothy Fok Tsun-ting, vice president of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), was also present at the Harbin International Conference, Exhibition and Sports Center.

Running from Feb 7 to 14, the Harbin Games has gathered a record 1,222 athletes from 34 nations and regions, marking the country's third time hosting the AWG, following Harbin 1996 and Changchun 2007.

The Games featured six sports, 11 disciplines and 64 events. China sits atop the medal tally with 32 gold, 27 silver, and 26 bronze medals, its best record in the history of the Games, followed by South Korea and Japan in second and third place with 16 and 10 golds respectively.

Chinese premier attends closing ceremony of 9th Asian Winter Games

Chinese premier attends closing ceremony of 9th Asian Winter Games

Chinese premier attends closing ceremony of 9th Asian Winter Games

Five Palestinians, including three children, were killed on Wednesday evening in an Israeli strike on the town of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian security and medical sources said.

A relative of one of the deceased children said a group of young people and children were sitting on the ground when the strike occurred, adding that a drone targeted them for no reason at all.

"A group of young people were sitting on the ground as usual, while Israel conducted a reconnaissance operation. Suddenly, they were targeted in a drone strike without any reason. Most of them were children. There were about five children. They were just sitting there peacefully," he said.

The health authorities in Gaza said that since the latest round of large-scale conflict between Palestine and Israel began on Oct. 7, 2023, Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip have killed 72,562 people and injured 172,320 others. And since the announcement of a ceasefire on Oct. 10, 2025, 786 Palestinians have been killed and 2,217 others injured by Israeli attacks.

Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza kills several children