Winter Olympics begin, Putin and Xi meet, Jens Stoltenberg appointed Norwary central bank governor

Yahoo Finance's Akiko Fujita highlights top world news as the Winter Olympics kicked off with an opening ceremony in Beijing, President Putin and President Xi met in Beijing, and Jens Stoltenberg is appointed as Norway's central bank governor.

Video Transcript

AKIKO FUJITA: In our worldview today, the Winter Olympic games are officially underway in Beijing, with the opening ceremony kicking off this morning that two-week event. Fireworks lit up the sky as President Xi Jinping declared the games open. Spectators and Western leaders were largely absent from the event, with a handful of countries, including the US, announcing a diplomatic boycott to protest China's human rights abuses.

Beijing is now the first city to host the Winter and Summer Games, but it comes amid a cloud of controversy over its strict COVID policies and its crackdowns on Uyghur Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang region, as well as its crackdown in Hong Kong. Competition began earlier this week with curling and women's hockey kicking things off.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with President Xi in Beijing ahead of that opening ceremony. The two leaders put on a united front, with China backing the Kremlin's call to halt further NATO expansion into Eastern Europe. Putin also announced a 30-year contract for a new pipeline to supply gas to China. The meeting followed a warning from the US that Moscow planned to stage a fake attack by Ukrainian forces to justify an invasion. This marked Xi's first face-to-face meeting with a foreign leader since the pandemic began.

And from NATO's Secretary General to central bank governor, Jens Stoltenberg is preparing to take on a new role after he was appointed to lead Norway's central bank. Stoltenberg is expected to serve out the rest of his term at NATO and won't officially take over at Norges Bank until December. But he's already facing criticism from those who say he will weaken the bank's independence because of his friendship with Norway's current leader. Stoltenberg previously led the ruling Labor Party and served two separate terms as the country's prime minister.