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Every weekend, Asia Pacific Daily will provide you with a run-down of the latest hot news.
This week, the following hot news you should know:
**Top 1 |**Xi Jinping and Peng Liyuan host welcoming banquet for world dignitaries
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan on Saturday hosted a welcoming banquet at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing for distinguished guests from around the world present at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics opening ceremony.
More than 30 world leaders and heads of international organizations gathered in the Chinese capital for the Olympic opening ceremony on Friday night at the National Stadium - an iconic venue from the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.
Having successfully hosted the Summer Olympics 14 years ago, Beijing is the first-ever city to stage both summer and winter editions of the global sporting gala.
**Top 2 |**Beijing 2022: Team China win first gold in short-track speed skating
China claimed its first gold at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games from the 2,000m mixed relay of short-track speed skating on Saturday.
China, consisting of Fan Kexin, Qu Chunyu, Ren Ziwei and Wu Dajing, won the gold in 2 minutes and 37.348 seconds.
Italy and Hungary took the silver and bronze medals respectively.
**Top 3 |**Norway's Therese Johaug wins first gold of Winter Games
Norwegian cross-country skier Therese Johaug powered to victory in the women's skiathlon race to take the first gold medal of the Beijing Winter Olympics on Saturday.
The 14-time world champion obliterated the field after the switch from classic style to freestyle, winning by a margin of 30.2 seconds to claim the first individual Olympic gold of her glittering career.
"It's a dream come true. I've been training a lot for this for many, many years. And it's been a special week for us, we just came here two days ago," emotional Johaug said.
Natalia Nepryaeva, representing the Russian Olympic Committee, took silver while Austria's Teresa Stadlober snagged the bronze medal, but the day belonged to Johaug.
**Top 4 |**China's Gu Ailing wins women's freeski big air gold at Beijing 2022
China's Gu Ailing kicked off her Olympic debut campaign with a gold medal in the freestyle skiing women's freeski big air event at Beijing Winter Olympics on Tuesday.
Gu, 18, achieved a total of 188.25 points from her two best attempts out of three.
France's Tess Ledeux won the silver medal with 187.50 points, while Switzerland's Mathilde Gremaud took the bronze with 182.50.
Gu stormed to 93.75 points in her first attempt, easily accomplishing what contributed to her World Cup success in Steamboat in 2021, double cork 1440.
She scored 88.50 points in her second attempt and surprised everyone with the biggest turn of the event in her third attempt.
**Top 5 |**China says multilateral mechanism should be conducive to enhancing trust
China said on Wednesday that any multilateral mechanism should conform to the trend of the times, which is peace and development, and be conducive to enhancing mutual trust and cooperation between countries.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian made the remarks at a regular press briefing ahead of the Quad foreign ministers' meeting in Australia.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Australia on Wednesday to attend the meeting with top diplomats of Australia, Japan and India. Daniel Kritenbrink, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said in a phone briefing last Friday that the meeting will address the "challenges that China poses" to democratic values and the international order.
**Top 6 |**NATO mulls longer-term military posture in eastern Europe, Stoltenberg says
NATO is considering a longer-term military posture in eastern Europe to strengthen its defenses, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday, as tensions remained high over Russia's military build-up near Ukraine.
"We are considering more longer-term adjustments to our posture, our presence in the eastern part of the alliance. No final decision has been made on that but there is a process now going on within NATO", Stoltenberg said.
Western governments have urged Moscow to withdraw troops from Ukraine's borders, especially if Russia wants to see fewer deployments in eastern NATO allied states.
**Top 7 |**China, Ecuador officially launch free trade agreement negotiations
China and Ecuador have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on launching negotiations toward a free trade agreement, China's Ministry of Commerce said Sunday.
The two sides have had growing trade in recent years. In 2021, the bilateral trade volume jumped 44.5 percent year on year to $10.95 billion and China has been Ecuador's second-largest trade partner for two consecutive years, according to the statement.
The negotiation of the free trade agreement will help to further tap the potential of bilateral trade between China and Ecuador, and promote the sustainable, stable and diversified development of bilateral trade, the statement said.
**Top 8 |**China urges U.S. to revoke plan of $100-million arms sale to Taiwan region
China on Tuesday urged the United States to revoke a plan of arms sale worth $100 million to China's Taiwan region, and vowed to resolutely safeguard its sovereignty and security interests.
Zhao Lijian, spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, urged the U.S. to immediately stop arms sales to Taiwan and cease military contacts with the island.
Zhao made the remarks at a regular press briefing after the Pentagon said Monday that Washington had approved a possible $100-million sale of equipment and services to Taiwan to "sustain, maintain, and improve" its Patriot missile defense system.
Top 9 | U.S. says Iran nuclear deal 'in sight' but urgent need to finalize
The United States said a deal was possible with Iran on its nuclear program but that an agreement had to be completed urgently as Tehran advances its capabilities.
"A deal that addresses all sides' core concerns is in sight, but if it is not reached in the coming weeks, Iran's ongoing nuclear advances will make it impossible for us to return to the JCPOA," a U.S. State Department spokesperson said on Monday, referring to the 2015 framework agreement.
The eighth round of talks on reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal will resume on Tuesday in Vienna.
**Top 10 |**Global COVID-19 cases surpass 400 million: Johns Hopkins University
Global COVID-19 cases surpassed 400 million on Tuesday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The university's global case count was 400,244,031, with 5,761,208 deaths worldwide, as of 5:21 p.m. local time (2221 GMT).
The United States has reported 77,025,027 cases and 908,262 deaths, both the highest counts around the world, accounting for more than 19 percent of the global cases and more than 15 percent of the global deaths.
India recorded the world's second largest caseload of 42,339,611, followed by Brazil with 26,776,692 cases as well as the world's second largest death toll of 634,057.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
