Foreign news riveted on the Middle East -CCTV watching US moves closely -American F16 crashes off S. Korea -Serving the motherland -Tough crackdown on Sino-Burma border -CCP is savior of quake victims
Jan 31, 2024
The top foreign news story today is about the US base where 3 US soldiers were killed and dozens wounded. The base is wedged in the strategic corner where three countries—Syria, Jordan, Iraq—meet.
A rare photo of President Biden, and smiling, too. He usually doesn’t rate pictorial coverage on the evening news unless he’s meeting with Xi and Xi is in the shot.
The White House has determined its response to the deadly drone attack.
Iran says they have nothing to do with it but maintain a tough stance anyway.
The segment closes with a beautiful picture of Tehran.
This report on the crash of an American F-16 fighter jet off the coast of Korea is illustrated with file footage.
The IDF and Hamas hammer away at each other in intense door-to-door fighting.
Six views of IDF footage followed by three shots of Hamas footage below.
CCTV generic scenes of Palestinian suffering are touching and well-composed.
Russia is still blasting Ukraine from the skies above as hot shot pilot fighters are shown pulling the trigger on targets unknown.
Ukraine fights back.
British trains in the news, and not in a good way. At first glance it looks like CCTV might be weighing in on “piano-gate” incident which saw Chinese flag-waving nationalists in confrontation with a local piano player at St. Pancras station in London, but this is Waterloo and it’s about the latest British transport strike.
(Bringing all traffic to a halt is one way to reduce cultural clashes at the public piano)
(for more on “piano-gate” this updated essay examines the roots of conflict)
The German economy is in the news, and not in a good way.
It’s said a picture’s worth a thousand words, and today there’s proof of that in the top domestic news report. There are no pictures of Xi, but his words infiltrate, permeate and abound, probably running in the thousands. (about seven minutes of rolling text)
Here’s just a teaser:“The meeting was about the Party's theoretical study program concerning Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, a guideline for building on the gains in the theoretical study program and Communist Party of China regulations on disciplinary inspection. Attendees of the meeting fully recognized the work of the leading Party members groups of the NPC Standing Committee, the State Council, the CPPCC National Committee, the SPC and the SPP as well as the work of the Secretariat of the party Central Committee and approved their work plans for 2024…”
A profile in patriotism: Army high-tech expert Bai Xiaoying steadfastly adheres to the spirit of the motherland and dedicates herself to studying strategy for the military.
A big crackdown on telecom scams. No pretty pictures here, but there’s some pathos in the distressed faces of suspects with placards around their necks being frog-marched to face justice.
Sweeping arrests along the Sino-Burmese border followed by forced air transport to detention in China. A mix of Han and Burmese names and pseudonyms can be seen on the English-language placards. Two armed police per suspect during transport.
It goes against CCTV’s “good news from China all the time” editorial policy to put too much focus on negative things like crackdowns, so there is this balancing segment of unadulterated happiness and joy as earthquake victims in Gansu sing praise of the party for being their savior and even put on a little dance to show their appreciation.
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