Coal stockpiles up amid slowdown

Chinese coal producers' stockpiles are surging as economic worries home and abroad dampen market demand, government data showed on Sunday.

The stockpiles have increased by 70 percent from a year ago to 98 million metric tons by the end of September, according to the National Development and Reform Commission. Coal stocks at major ports had risen by 53 percent year-on-year to 40.76 million tons by the end of September.

Light industry grows by 17.6%

China's light industry grew steadily in the first three quarters of 2012, with the output of major enterprises rising 17.6 percent year on year to 12.93 trillion yuan ($2.05 trillion), according to the China National Light Industry Council.

In September, the output in the light industry rose by 17 percent year-on-year to 1.64 trillion yuan, up 1.8 percentage points from August, according to a statement on the council's website.

Progress toward fingerprint system

Chinese police have moved a step closer to launching a system to register citizens' fingerprints in 2013, it was reported on Saturday.

The Ministry of Public Security on Thursday started to invite fingerprint reader manufacturers to bid for a list of recommended equipment to be used in the upcoming collection, said a report in the Beijing Youth Daily.

Inflation rebound likely at year-end

Soon-to-be-released economic data will show China's inflation continued to ease in October on falling food prices, but rebounds might occur during the last two months of the year as the economy stabilizes, experts have forecast.

Both Lu Zhengwei, chief economist at the Industrial Bank, and Li Huiyong, chief economist at Shenyin Wanguo Securities, said the consumer price index, a major gauge of inflation, will be shown to have expanded by 1.8 percent year-on-year in October.

Shanghai

City tops China in headquarters

About 60 multinational corporations have set up their Asia-Pacific or Asian headquarters in Shanghai, more than in any other city on the Chinese mainland, according to data revealed on Sunday.

The statistics from the city's commerce commission also showed that 32.6 percent of the multinational corporations with regional headquarters in Shanghai are enterprises from the United States. European enterprises account for 25.4 percent, and those from Japan for 23.7 percent.

Inner Mongolia

6 confirmed dead in mine blast

Rescuers have retrieved the bodies of all six people trapped underground by a gas explosion in a coal mine in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region on Thursday, local authorities announced on Sunday.

By 11 am on Sunday, rescue work had ended after all six trapped miners were found dead in the Yanggeleng mining area in Baotou city, said the rescue headquarters. The explosion occurred around 2 am on Thursday in the illegal mine.

Large uranium mine found

China has discovered a large leaching sandstone-type uranium deposit in the country's northern region, the Ministry of Land and Resources said on Sunday.

The mine, the country's largest leaching sandstone-type uranium deposit so far, was found in Daying areas in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, the ministry said.

Liaoning

Freighter crew rescued off Dalian

All 16 Filipino crewmen from a freighter that ran into trouble in the sea near Dalian, Northeast China's Liaoning province, were plucked to safety early on Sunday morning, rescuers said.

At 2:25 am on Sunday, the Liaoning maritime rescue center reported a Panama-registered freighter in trouble in waters about 5 nautical miles (9.25 km) off Dalian, according to the Beihai rescue bureau of the Ministry of Transport.

China Daily-Xinhua