Beijing - Three men set themselves on fire in a car Wednesday on one of

Beijing - China on Tuesday protested a French court's decision to allow the sale of two bronze statues looted from China from the collection of late fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry repeated its demands for a return of the bronzes ahead of Wednesday's auction. The Qing Dynasty statues, showing the head of a rat and a rabbit, had been taken when the palace was looted during the Second Opium War in 1860.

The two pieces are estimated to be worth 10 to 12 million dollars.

Beijing - Water service resumed Monday after more than 1 million people in the eastern Chinese city of Yancheng went without tap water for three days when a river was polluted with a toxic chemical.

The owner and manager of the Biaoxin Chemical Co were arrested after an unknown amount of carbolic acid was released into the Mangshe River, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The three water-treatment plants for the city of 1.5 million people were functioning normally for the most part but pressure in the waterlines could only be raised slowly, a city government spokesman said by telephone.

Beijing - At least 70 people in southern China have been sickened after eating pig organs tainted with a banned food additive, a newspaper reported Monday.

Three people remained in hospital in Guangzhou after consuming the organs containing the banned substance clenbuterol, which is used to build muscle and is also banned in sport, the China Daily said, citing local health officials.

The patients complained of stomach pains and diarrhoea after eating organs bought at local markets since Thursday.

The organs originated from pigs raised on farms in Hunan province.

Beijing  - A gas explosion killed at least seven miners and trapped 109 others underground at a coal mine in the northern Chinese province of Shanxi on Sunday, the government said.

The blast ripped through the mine belonging to the Shanxi Jiaomei coal group in Gujiao city at 2 am as 436 miners were working underground, the State Administration of Work Safety reported on its website.

The safety administration said 320 miners escaped after the blast, seven were confirmed dead and the remaining 109 trapped underground.