Free Republic

BEIJING - China sent additional troops into restive areas and made more arrests in the Tibetan capital Lhasa in an effort to suppress anti-government protests even as the Dalai Lama offered face-to-face negotiations with Chinese leaders. Government officials acknowledged for the first time that protests against Chinese rule of Tibet have spread to Tibetan communities in other provinces after sweeping through Lhasa last week. It is one of the broadest challenges to Chinese rule in years. Hundreds of paramilitary police aboard at least 80 trucks traveled along the main road winding through the mountains into southeastern Tibet. Others set up...

Pakistani militants gain ground in restive areas By Isambard Wilkinson in Tank Last Updated: 1:52am BST 08/10/2007 Pakistani militants with links to al-Qa'eda and the Taliban have extended their territory beyond their stronghold in the lawless tribal areas while the political elite are squabbling over governing the country. Supporters of Gen Musharraf celebrate his election win Fighters have overrun security outposts, established "parallel" local governments and recruited suicide bombers from secular schools in areas nominally under government control in the North West Frontier Province. Western diplomats maintain that a six-month-long political crisis, sparked by President Pervez Musharraf's struggle to extend...

SACRAMENTO — Republican activists disenchanted with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Thursday that they will try to strip the governor of the party's endorsement unless he fires his new chief of staff, Democrat Susan P. Kennedy. Restive Republicans said they would rally conservatives behind a resolution, to be offered at the state GOP convention in San Jose next month, that may give Schwarzenegger an ultimatum: Dump Kennedy by March 15 or the party will withdraw its backing of his reelection bid. --snip-- "We've gotten to the point where we've just had it with the guy," said Michael Schroeder, an attorney from...