Beijing/Khartoum  - Nine Chinese oil workers have been kidnapped by an unknown group in Sudan, state media said on Monday.

The nine workers were seized at an oil field in Southern Kordofan State close to Sudan`s strife-torn Darfur region, the official Xinhua news agency quoted Chinese embassy officials as saying.

No group has claimed responsibility for kidnapping the workers, who were employees of the China National Petroleum Corporation, the agency reported from Khartoum.

Beijing/Khartoum - Nine Chinese oil workers have been kidnapped by an unknown group in Sudan, state media said on Monday.

Beijing - Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on Monday toured a "special economic zone" in the southern island province of Hainan as he began a six-day visit to China.

Members of the 70-strong Vietnamese business delegation travelling with Nguyen wanted to learn from China's experience in developing its special economic zones, the official Xinhua news agency reported from Hainan.

China developed the economic zones from the 1980s as insulated coastal areas designed to attract foreign capital and pilot the opening of the economy.

Nguyen visited Hainan's Yangpu economic zone on Monday and will attend a Sino-Vietnamese economic cooperation forum on Tuesday, the agency said.

London, Oct. 20 : Emerging economic powerhouses India and China will be most reluctant support the wider global economy during its downturn phase, as Deutsche Bank survey has warned.

The warning comes as world leaders have agreed to hold a “Bretton Woods (type) meeting for the 21st century” in New York to assess the global economy’s health.

The Deutsche Bank also warned that major industrialised economies will suffer the worst slump since the 1930s, and added that Britain will be more vulnerable than the United States.

Beijing - China's two stock market indices climbed sharply on Monday as analysts said they expected the government to introduce more measures to stimulate the economy.

The key Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks shares traded in local and foreign currencies, gained 43.35 points, or 2.25 per cent. to close at 1,971.01 points.

The smaller Shenzhen Component Index also climbed by 3.14 percent, or 15.86 points, ending the day's trading at 520.38 points

Beijing - China on Monday reported a 9-per-cent growth in its estimated gross domestic product for July to September, maintaining fast but marginally slower expansion despite global financial woes.

Estimated GDP growth was down from 10.6 per cent in the first quarter and 10.1 per cent in the second quarter of this year, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

Bureau spokesman Li Xiaochao said the global financial crisis and economic recession had begun to have a "negative impact" on China.