Still no family visit for China's Nobel winner

BEIJING (AP) -- A rights group says the wife of China's imprisoned Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiaobo was able to leave house arrest for a family meal last week.

It was the first known time that Liu Xia was allowed to leave her house since mid-October.

Friday's report by the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy cites Liu Xia's brother as saying she was able to eat with her elderly parents.

Liu Tong told the rights group that the family has not been given permission to visit Liu Xiaobo in prison, though he is supposed to be allowed one family visit per month.

China has blocked visits to Liu Xiaobo since shortly after he was awarded the peace prize in October - deeply angering Beijing, which considers him a dissident.