Profits earned by China's industrial companies rose 17.3 percent in December from a year earlier to 895.2 billion yuan ($143.91 billion), moderating from November's 22.8 percent increase, China's National Bureau of Statistics said on Sunday. Industrial profits totaled 5.56 trillion yuan in 2012, up 5.3 percent from a year earlier, the bureau said in a statement published on its website, www.stats.gov.cn (full story)