Chinese premier attends closing ceremony of 9th Asian Winter Games

China

Chinese premier attends closing ceremony of 9th Asian Winter Games

2025-02-14 20:19 Last Updated At：23:07

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.

Japan's core consumer prices rise 2.0 pct in January

Japan's core consumer prices in January rose 2 percent from a year earlier, hitting a two-year low and aligning with the Bank of Japan's inflation goal, government data showed Friday.

The core consumer price index (CPI) climbed to 112 in January, excluding volatile fresh food costs, extending its year-on-year rise to a 53rd consecutive month, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

The deceleration was largely due to the effect of fuel subsidies, the abolition of a provisional gasoline tax, and the base effect of last year's surge in food prices, the data showed.

Food prices, excluding fresh items, rose 6.2 percent in January, slowing from a 6.7 percent growth in the previous month, while energy costs fell 5.2 percent after a drop of 3.1 percent in December.

Meanwhile, specific commodity prices saw sharp increases, with coffee bean prices rose by 51.0 percent year on year, and ordinary rice prices rose by 27.9 percent year on year.