A newborn baby girl became wedged inside the pipe of a university toilet after her student mother gave birth and then fled the scene.

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.

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 state news agency today said a chemical explosion in eastern China killed 18 people and injured 10 others.

A fire on a kindergarten bus in eastern China has killed 12 children and injured at least five others.