Beijing, Nov. 15 : China has expressed resolute opposition to a meeting between the Dalai Lama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Poland planned for next month.

Sarkozy, whose country holds the EU''s six-month-rotating presidency, will meet the Dalai Lama on December 6 while attending activities to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to former Polish President Lech Walesa.

Beijing - Pirates off the coast of Somalia have seized a Chinese fishing boat and 24 crew including Vietnamese, Philippine and Japanese citizens, Chinese state media reported on Friday.

The Chinese vessel was held off the coast of the southern Somali port of Kismanyu late Thursday, the government's official Xinhua news agency reported from Mogadishu, the Somali capital.

The agency quoted an unidentified pirate leader as saying on the local Shabelle radio station in Mogadishu that the 24 crew were all "fine."

Beijing - Shares on China's two stock markets gained more than 3 per cent for a second successive day on Friday, amid continuing expectation that the government plans more measures to bolster the economy.

The key Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks shares traded in foreign and local currencies, surged by 3.05 per cent to close at 1,986.44 points, up 58.82 points.

The smaller Shenzhen Composite Index jumped by 4.4 per cent, or 22.76 points, to end the day at 545.34.

The Shanghai index took its total gains this week to nearly 14 per cent, buoyed on Friday by the overnight surge on Wall Street.

Beijing - A Chinese legal activist on Thursday said he had been freed from police custody after being held for nearly two weeks to prevent him from advising candidates and voters in local elections.

Yao Lifa said police in the central province of Hubei released him on Wednesday night because his wife had become seriously ill during his what he called his "illegal detention".

Beijing - Vast "brown clouds" of pollution are making Asian cities darker, melting Himalayan glaciers and intensifying regional monsoons, a UN report said on Thursday.

A team of scientists highlighted the three effects after studying a "more than 3-kilometre-thick layer of soot and other manmade particles that stretches from the Arabian Peninsula to China and the western Pacific Ocean," the United Nations Environment Programme said.

Beijing - Shares on China's two stock markets jumped about 4 per cent Thursday, spurred by government economic measures and bucking the downward trend of other Asian markets.

The key Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks shares traded in foreign and local currencies, gained 3.68 per cent to end the day at 1,927.61, up 68.5 points.