International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach on Tuesday lauded China Media Group (CMG) for its outstanding coverage and technological advancements during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paris 2024 Olympics, expressing expectations to deepen practical cooperation between the IOC and CMG.
Speaking at the 2024 IOC Digital Business and Market Development Commission meeting, Bach emphasized the quality of CMG's reporting, particularly its production of the international signal for table tennis, badminton, sport climbing, and gymnastics in Paris, which generated nearly 77 billion impressions.
"We are highly appreciative of the great work and commitment of CMG. The commitment CMG was showing in Beijing (2022 Beijing Winter Olympics) and in Paris (2024 Paris Olympics) is outstanding, with regard to the quantity and quality of the coverage. And then the coverage of the four sports which were allocated to you by OBS were a huge success and also showed the technological advancement of CMG in many respects. So you can be very very proud. And even in China where all the numbers are bigger than the rest of the world, seventy seven billion impressions, even for China, is a considerable number at least. So congratulations!" said Bach.
IOC Director of Digital Engagement and Marketing, Leandro Larrosa also expressed gratitude for CMG's longstanding support of the Olympic movement, noting that the inaugural Esports Olympics will be held in Saudi Arabia next year.
Larrosa emphasized the need to draw upon CMG's rich experience in digitalization, esports, and artificial intelligence for the successful presentation of related events, looking forward to continued close collaboration between both teams.
The IOC meeting revolved around discussions on the progress of the IOC's digitalization strategy, esports, artificial intelligence, and trends in digital business development.
In July of this year, CMG and the IOC signed a memorandum of cooperation on esports, aiming to further strengthen their deep collaboration in the esports field.
IOC president Bach lauds CMG's media-tech prowess, eyes deeper collaboration
The death toll from Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon since the beginning of the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict in last October had reached 3,050, with injuries rising to 13,658, the Lebanese Health Ministry said on Wednesday.
At least 57 people were killed and more than 50 injured on Wednesday in Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon, according to the National News Agency (NNA) and local media reports.
Al-Jadeed TV reported that over 55 people died and more than 50 were wounded in a series of 33 Israeli airstrikes targeting towns and villages in the Bekaa and Baalbek-Hermel regions in eastern Lebanon.
Governor of Baalbek-Hermel Governorate Bachir Khodr said on Wednesday the region had been subjected to 40 Israeli attacks on the day, resulting in 38 deaths and 54 injuries. Cleanup efforts of debris at multiple locations are still ongoing.
The strikes targete residential neighborhoods in Baalbek and the historic "Al-Manshiya" building, which was completely destroyed, according to Baalbek Mayor Mustafa al-Shal.
Baalbek was a significant religious center in the Roman Empire and is renowned for its temples dedicated to Jupiter and Bacchus, both listed as UNESCO World Heritage sites, along with several distinctive megaliths. The United Nations has expressed concern about the damage that Israeli airstrikes have inflicted on its valuable historic architecture.
In southern Lebanon, a separate airstrike killed one person in Ibl al-Saqi, while another civilian died in Bazourieh when a residential apartment was hit, the NNA said. Israeli forces also struck villages in Harouf, Beit Yahoun, Ansariyeh, Aadloun, Zrarieh, and Kunin in southern Lebanon.
In response, Hezbollah claimed to have launched attacks on Israel's Stella Maris naval base near Haifa, using precision missiles and assault drones. It also reported the attacks targeted Kiryat Shmona and Israeli forces at the Al-Marj site in Wadi Hunayn, close to Lebanon's Markaba and Maroun al-Ras villages.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) released a report on the same day, revealing that as of Nov. 4, nearly 873,000 people had been left homeless in Lebanon due to Israeli attacks, and over half of them are women. Moreover, there have been 78 attacks on medical facilities within Lebanon, resulting in the deaths of 130 health care workers and injuries to 111 others.
Since Sept. 23, the Israeli army has been launching a barrage of air attacks on Lebanon in a dangerous escalation with Hezbollah. In early October, Israel initiated a ground operation across its northern border into Lebanon.
The ongoing clashes between Israel and Hezbollah began on Oct. 8, 2023, when Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in support of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, prompting retaliatory fire and airstrikes by Israel in southeastern Lebanon.
Death toll from Israeli strikes on Lebanon rises to 3,050
