CCTV FOLLIES 7.24 Things heating up!

-Rushed NPC meet set for 7.25 may reveal Qin's fate -Xi to set off for distant Chengdu for sports meet and "diplomatic duties" -Drones over Moscow -Iran military drill -US sweltering and ablaze

The first half of the news was grim and glum, mostly meetings and readouts from meetings. Zhao Leji, pictured above, announces a hastily-called meeting for the standing committee of the National Peoples Congress.

The top story was a meeting of the Politburo in Zhongnanhai. Between the two blue frames below, (first and last) there was a dreary five minutes of text-only presentation on economic matters. This is not as unusual as the fact that the read-out of the politburo meeting on economic matters eclipsed the usual fawning photos of Xi Jinping in various noble poses. It was all business without a single nod to the personality cult that’s been building around Xi.

“The Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee on Monday held a meeting to analyze the current economic situation and make arrangements for economic work in the second half of the year.” (The report takes five minutes to read on air.)

And now it’s over to the sanctum sanctorum of central power in Zhongn…