REFILE-PRESS DIGEST - China - Nov 9

(Corrects spelling in final entry for China Securities Journal to Shandong Iron from Shangdong Iron)

BEIJING/SHANGHAI, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Chinese newspapers available in Beijing and Shanghai carried the following stories on Monday. Reuters has not checked the stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

CHINA DAILY (www.chinadaily.com.cn)

-- The closure of four schools in Australia has affected at least 400 Chinese students, prompting China's consulate in Sydney to caution against studying in the country.

-- China and Japan signed 42 projects related to energy-savings and environmental protection ahead of the climate change summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, next month.

-- China has been badly affected by rising trade protectionism since the outbreak of the global financial crisis, a Ministry of Commerce official said over the weekend.

PEOPLE'S DAILY

-- Nearly 1 million people in Jiangxi are short of drinking water, and Guangdong has set limits on water for use by companies and residents in Zhuhai, as a severe drought hits the southern provinces of China.

-- Some 1,100 government officials were promoted in Sichuan for their contributions during last year's earthquake.

-- Instead of shutting down factories and taking cars off roads in the industrial cities in the Pearl River Delta, Guangdong will take other comprehensive measures aimed at improving the air quality for next year's Asian Games in Guangzhou.

CHINA SECURITIES JOURNAL

-- People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan was quoted by a media report as saying that international pressure for yuan appreciation was not very great and that China's asset bubble problem was not as serious as some economists have said.

-- China's October consumer price index is expected to fall 0.6 percent from a year earlier, while the producer price index may drop 6 percent, according to Guotai Junan Securities Co.

-- More than half of those surveyed by China's National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors expect the country's central bank to raise interest rates next year, while half think the government should smoothly exit its economic stimulus, which has proved effective.

-- Laiwu Steel Corp (600102.SS) and Jinan Iron and Steel Co (600022.SS), whose shares have been suspended from trading, may merge into a single company, part of consolidation efforts by their parent, Shandong Iron and Steel Group.

SHANGHAI SECURITIES NEWS

-- China should encourage further development of its futures and other derivatives markets to better serve economic growth, said Jiang Yang, assistant chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission. (Compiled by Beijing and Shanghai Newsrooms; Editing by Ken Wills and Edmund Klamann)