I have Xinhua on my favorites. They filter a lot of the world's news and present a unique version of the USA and Europe.

It's the US equivalent of ABC News in the 70s prior to Disney ownership. Big, powerful and controls the way tens of millions of Chinese with web access view the world. With a smattering of Japanese-Sino-Pan Asian coverage its a quick stop to keep up with news in that section of the world.

It's content almost always contain a few stories buried over here by News affiliates owned by entertainment monoliths, especially the Paparazzi and Euro news type stories.

Yes, there are also lots of photo gallerys, girls and irreverent stuff too.

Hope that answers the why.