July 11, 2013
Translated by Luo Shuqi and Pang Lei
Top stories in Thursday's papers include coverage of the deadly floods sweeping areas of the country included regions of Sichuan Province that were devastated by the Wenchuan Earthquake in 2008.
Web portals are also paying plenty of attention to developments in a case of alleged gang rape involving the son of a well-known military singer.
In terms of international news, most websites are also giving considerable coverage to the start of the Strategic and Economic Dialogue between the U.S. and China.
This afternoon stories also includes coverage of the 3.2 percent jump in the Shanghai stock index, the largest daily percentage point jump this year.
There's also shocking video of a new born baby falling from a third story window and being run over by a passing car.
Keep reading below for a translated digests of some of the other stories being reported by mainland Chinese media outlets today.
China's Efforts at Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction Face Difficulties at Local Level
Beijing News
According to The Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction Analysis for the First Half of 2013 (2013年上半年節(jié)能減排形勢分析) released by National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), in the first six months of 2013 a few local governments have slackened their efforts in reducing energy consumption and pollutant emissions, leading to the possible failure of achieving targets laid out in the "12th Five-year Plan". The analysis demonstrates that statistics submitted by local governments do not correspond to the national data. For example, ten resource-dependent regions such as Hebei, Shanxi and Guangdong report an apparent decrease in energy consumption for per unit of industrial value-added (工業(yè)增加值能耗), this doesn't tally with national data which instead reveals an increase in energy use.
Original article: [Chinese]
General Office of the State Council Demanding Further Steps on Information Disclosure of Government Spending
Beijing News
Yesterday the General Office of the State Council (國務(wù)院辦公室) issued a timetable and suggested further steps for disclosing information on what governments at various levels spend on receptions, vehicles and overseas trips - the so called "three publics" (三公消費). The document demands that central bureaus provide more detail about spending and offer explanations for any increase in their spending on such items. Provincial governments have been told to start making information about spending on these areas public this year. Municipal and county governments have until 2015 to disclose their annual spending on the "three publics". In terms of the official vehicle spending, the document requires that governments sub-divides the expenditure into "purchase" and "maintenance," so that the amount of money spent on buying cars and maintaining the official car fleet will be clearer.
Original article: [Chinese]
President of Guangzhou Automobile Group Reportedly Under Investigation
Tencent Financial News
Zhang Fangyou (), the President of Guangzhou Automobile Group (廣汽集團), is said to have been taken away from Guangzhou to assist with an ongoing investigation. Zhang has been absent from his office for at least two weeks. A PR manager denied the news and told the reporter that Zhang Fangyou is merely taking a few days off for personal matters.
Original article: [Chinese]
Auto Sales and Production Growing by Over 12%
China National Radio
China Association of Automobile Manufactures (CAAM 中國汽車工業(yè)協(xié)會) published a report on the July 10 revealing that the growth rates of both automobile production and sales exceed 12 percent in the first half of 2013.
Original article: [Chinese]