July 25, 2013
Translated by Luo Shuqi and Pang Lei

The big story of today was the Xinhua News Agency report that was released at 10am announcing that prosecutors in Ji'nan brought formal charges against Bo Xilai, the former Communist Party chief of Chongqing. Bo is accused of accepting bribes, corruption and abuse of power and his case has been passed to Ji'nan City Intermediate People's Court. (Economic Observer)

In terms of international news, many major web portals are giving prominent placement to a story about Chinese military aircraft flying through international airspace close to the southern islands of Japan for the first time (Asahi Shimbun). The deadly train crash in Spain is also getting a lot of attention (NetEase).

Also many websites are linking to a report published in today's Beijing News that reveals more details about what brought down one of Sichuan Province's former vice governors.

Keep reading below for a translated digests of some of the other stories being reported by mainland Chinese media outlets today.

Business Tax and VAT Stopped for Small Enterprises from August 1
Southern Metropolis Daily
At an executive meeting of China's State Council yesterday, Li Keqiang announced his decision to temporarily stop imposing turnover tax (营业税) and value-added tax (增值税) on enterprises whose monthly sales do not exceed 20,000 yuan. Some experts estimate that the new move would benefit over six million small firms and equate to 30 billion yuan worth of tax savings. Others, however, say that the 20,000 yuan limit is too low and are urging for more effective policies to alleviate the tax burden on small enterprises. For more on the pressures facing SMEs, see this translation of an article in last week's Economic Observer.
Original article: [Chinese]

Questions Being Asked about Changsha's "Tallest Building in the World"
Beijing News
Since work began on Sky City (天空城市), which claims it will be the world's tallest building with a planned height of 838 meters, on July 20, there have been questions raised about the construction project. There are questions about whether Broad Group (远大科技集团), the company behind the high-profile project, is qualified to launch such a construction project. There are also reports that the company has not submitted an application for the project to Hunan's Provincial Housing and City Construction Bureau (湖南省住房和城市建设厅). It is illegal to start construction before getting an approval from the authority. Questions are also being raised about whether Broad Group will be able to complete the project in time and on budget. Professors at Hunan University (湖南大学) told the reporter that Broad Group probably did not conduct necessary anti-wind and anti-earthquake simulation tests for Sky City and the budget of 9 billion yuan would absolutely not suffice.
Original article: [Chinese]

23,000 Units of Public Housing Sitting Vacant in Yunnan
National Business Daily
A report released by the Yunnan Provincial Audit Office (云南省审计厅) reveals that there are violations of regulations in the distribution and utilization of social housing (保障房) in the province. Of the 225,000 units of social housing constructed in 2012, 23,000 houses are vacant due to their remote locations and insufficient surrounding infrastructure. Another 3,144 units were assigned to households that did not qualify for social housing benefits. Similar problems were reported to have occurred in Shaanxi and Henan, which respectively have 182,000 and 8,215 empty public housing units. Wang Juelin (王珏林), a housing expert, said that local governments lack good judgement when it comes to selecting locations for public housing developments and there are also usually many problems with the procedures for testing the eligibility of residents.
Original article: [Chinese]

Media Regulator Orders TV Stations to Stop Producing Reality Singing Competition Programs
Southern Metropolis Daily
The spokesperson of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), one arm of China's media and broadcasting industry regulator, announced more restrictions on popular TV shows yesterday. The new rules require television stations to stop producing new singing shows and avoid scheduling existing shows in the same time slot as other channels. The regulator said that there had been a noticeable increase in this type of program this summer, and that the decision is based on the demand from the general public for more diversified television.
Original article: [Chinese]