August 16, 2013
Translated by Luo Shuqi and Pang Lei

Most news websites this afternoon were leading with the story of a major spike in the Shanghai Stock Exchange index during the latter stages of morning trading. The index jumped over 5 percent in very short period of time, though it now appears that a glitch in the trading system used by Everbright Securities Co Ltd, one of China's major brokerage firms, may have been responsible for the sudden surge (Reuters and WSJ).

Some websites also linking to news about allegations about the acting chief justice of Shanghai's scandal-plagued high court. Former subordinates of Cui Yadong (崔亚东) have accused him of corruption during his stint as the provincial public security bureau director in Guizhou. Some may remember the public security official's role in helping the village of Goushi (dog shit) get a new name in early 2012.

In international news, coverage of the death toll in Egypt is also appearing in prominent positions on major web portals (China Internet Information Center).

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

NDRC to Take on More Anti-Monopoly Cases - Targets Will Include Major SOEs
China Business News
Xu Kunlin (许昆林), the official in charge of anti-monopoly investigations with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said that the next targets of anti-monopoly actions will be those industries closely related to people's livelihood such as petroleum, telecommunication, automobile and banks. Since the beginning of this year, NDRC has intensified its efforts to investigate and penalize monopolistic behaviour. Experts have been asking whether the anti-monopoly action will ever target a central state-owned enterprise. An official from the NDRC says that the aim of anti-monopoly law is to protect and regulate the market, and thus there will be an equal treatment in relation to foreign, private and state-owned enterprises.
Original article: [Chinese]

China's "21 Development Index" Falls in July
21st Century Business Herald
In July China's "21 Development Index" (21发展指数) is 6.57 percent, which is the lowest level recorded in the past two years. The index is calculated using total freight traffic, total industrial consumption of electricity, total investment in newly-commenced projects, and broad measure of money supply (M2). The four components each have a weight of 25, 20, 25, and 30 percent. The most disappointing figure would be the total investment in new projects, which was only 2.78 trillion yuan in July. This number represents an 8.3 percent decrease compared to the same month last year and represents a drop of over 50 percent when compared to the figure for June 2013.
Original article: [Chinese]

China to Release Major Air Pollution Reduction Plan this Month
Southern Weekly
A source close to Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) says that a long-expected "Plan of Action for Prevention and Control of Atmospheric Pollution" will be published later this month. The plan is said to be include tough measures aimed at combatting air pollution. It will require governments to spend 1.7 trillion yuan and determine the quality of the air that Chinese people breathe in five years time. Although the plan has not been published yet, multiple sources told the reporter that the plan asks Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei to decrease PM 2.5 concentration by 25 percent before 2017. This triples the target set in the 12th Five-year Plan (which cover the period from 2011-2015), which requires a 7 percent decrease by 2015. Officials and experts consider this plan a "very very difficult" objective that requests "extreme efforts" in order to be properly implemented. However, even if the targets are met, after five years of efforts, levels of PM2.5 concentration in Beijing in 2017 are still expected to be higher than the current readings in Guangzhou.
Original article: [Chinese]