BEIJING/SHANGHAI, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Chinese newspapers available in Beijing and Shanghai carried the following stories on Tuesday. Reuters has not checked the stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

-- An unnamed official with China's insurance regulator said Chinese insurers were encouraged to invest in the capital markets to help maintain market stability, as well as to buy central bank bills and corporate bonds that meet appropriate conditions.
-- China Life Insurance Co, the country's top life insurer, said its premium income in the first 10 months of the year was 264.8 billion yuan ($38.79 billion).

-- China Southern Airlines Co and China Eastern Airlines said in separate statements that their parent companies had applied for government aid but had not yet received any reply.
-- Haitong Securities Co's board has approved the start of margin-trading and short-selling operations, with the scale of those operations not to exceed 4 billion yuan during a trial period.
-- General Motor's car venture in China will roll out more than 20 new models in China between 2009 and 2011, its general manager Ding Lei said. Ding also told reporters on the sidelines of the Guangzhou auto show that GM would continue to increase its investment in China in the coming years despite financial troubles at home.

-- ZTE Corp said it had signed a 1.33 billion yuan contract to provide telecoms equipment and technical support to the parent of China Telecom.

-- Many Chinese airlines are delaying payments of airport levies due in part to a shortage of funds. Unpaid airport fees reported by 24 major Chinese airports come to 509 million yuan as of the end of October, data provided by the country's airport association showed.

-- The commerce ministry urged domestic exporters to prepare for potential risks to their business from the financial crisis and shrinking global demand.
-- Central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan, during a meeting with Luis Alberto Moreno, president of Inter-American Development Bank, said that China's membership in the bank will benefit both sides.

CHINA DAILY (www.chinadaily.com.cn)

-- Some 280 billion yuan ($41 billion) will be spent on sewage treatment in 90 percent of counties nationwide, benefiting 2,600 counties from the building or upgrading of facilities, as part of the central government's 4-trillion-yuan economic stimulus package, said Qiu Baoxing, vice-minister of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.
-- The US Food and Drug Administration will open three offices in China this week to help check the safety of exports headed to the United States.

PEOPLE'S DAILY
-- Premier Wen Jiabao said during a weekend visit to quake-hit areas of Sichuan province that the government would strengthen support to farmers to help them rebuild their homes within two years rather than the original plan of three years.

($1=6.826 Yuan)

(Compiled by Beijing and Shanghai Newsrooms; Editing by Ken Wills and Edmund Klamann) For Hong Kong and South China newspapers see..... For Taiwan newspapers see........................ Keywords: CHINA PRESS (reuters@public.bta.net.cn; +86 10 6586 5566 ext 202, fax +86 10 8527 5258; Shanghai newsroom, +86 21 6104-1688, fax +86 21 6104-1728, shanghai.newsroom@reuters.com)

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