Activist Flees Arrest

Baton-wielding police beat demonstrators showing their support for students blocked from marching into Myanmar's largest city on today, arresting eight and forcing many to flee, activists and witnesses said.

The Russian punk band Pussy Riot says two activists who were being sought by police have left the country. Five members of the feminist group took part in a provocative performance inside Moscow's main cathedral in February to protest Vladimir Putin's rule and his cozy relationship with the Russian Orthodox Church.

Chen Guangcheng, the blind Chinese activist who triggered a diplomatic dispute between China and the United States, said he is confident that Beijing will hold up its end of a tentative deal to let him study overseas. Under still-evolving arrangements announced on Friday by Washington and Beijing, Mr Chen may be able to leave to study in the United...

The United States is ready to help Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng if he has changed his decision to leave US protection and wants to leave into exile, a senior US official said on Thursday.

Activist Chen Guangcheng told Agence France Presse (AFP) on Thursday that he did not feel safe in China despite assurances made under a deal to remove him from the US embassy, pleading for American help to take him abroad.

A blind legal activist fled house arrest in his rural China village and made it to a secret location in Beijing on Friday, setting off a frantic police search for him and those who helped him, activists said.

Baton-wielding police beat demonstrators showing their support for students blocked from marching into Myanmar's largest city on today, arresting eight and forcing many to flee, activists and witnesses said.

The Russian punk band Pussy Riot says two activists who were being sought by police have left the country. Five members of the feminist group took part in a provocative performance inside Moscow's main cathedral in February to protest Vladimir Putin's rule and his cozy relationship with the Russian Orthodox Church.

Chen Guangcheng, the blind Chinese activist who triggered a diplomatic dispute between China and the United States, said he is confident that Beijing will hold up its end of a tentative deal to let him study overseas. Under still-evolving arrangements announced on Friday by Washington and Beijing, Mr Chen may be able to leave to study in the United...

The United States is ready to help Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng if he has changed his decision to leave US protection and wants to leave into exile, a senior US official said on Thursday.

Activist Chen Guangcheng told Agence France Presse (AFP) on Thursday that he did not feel safe in China despite assurances made under a deal to remove him from the US embassy, pleading for American help to take him abroad.

A blind legal activist fled house arrest in his rural China village and made it to a secret location in Beijing on Friday, setting off a frantic police search for him and those who helped him, activists said.