Blind activist Chen Guangcheng said today the Chinese government has promised him it will investigate abuses he and his family suffered at the hands of local authorities.

The US and China have forged the outlines of a deal to end a diplomatic stand-off over legal activist Chen Guangcheng, with Beijing saying he can apply to go abroad for study and Washington saying he has been offered an American fellowship.

Blind activist Chen Guangcheng can apply to study abroad, China’s Foreign Ministry said today.

Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng now wants to leave China with his family, the US said today.

US officials have said they are still trying to help a blind Chinese activist who says he fears for his family's safety, and denied he was pressured to leave the American Embassy to resettle inside China.

Chinese played cat and mouse with the censors on the popular Twitter-like microblog service Weibo to express support for escaped blind dissident lawyer Chen Guangcheng, while China maintained its silence on what has happened to him.

A blind legal activist who fled house arrest in rural China is under the protection of American officials and top-level talks are taking place between the countries about his fate, a human rights group said today.

Campaign groups want Western leaders to consider human rights when trading with China, writes Caroline O’Doherty

Hundreds of Chinese have flooded US President Barack Obama’s Google+ page, apparently taking advantage of a glitch in China’s censorship system to post about human rights and green cards.

Christian Bale should feel embarrassed for trying to visit an activist while he was in the country to promote a film which China has submitted for an Oscar, a Chinese government spokesman said today.

Oscar winner Christian Bale has clashed with guards in China while trying to visit a blind activist living under house arrest.

A British minister said he had pressured China to improve its human rights record, telling officials a failure to do so could affect their staging of next year’s Olympic Games.