A Reporter Escapes the Taliban, Monks Escape China

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Updated (June 21, 2009)

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Other events in today's news:

"Times Reporter Escapes Taliban After 7 Months"
The New York Times (June 20, 2009)

"David Rohde, a New York Times reporter who was kidnapped by the Taliban, escaped Friday night and made his way to freedom after more than seven months of captivity in the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"Mr. Rohde, along with a local reporter, Tahir Ludin, and their driver, Asadullah Mangal, was abducted outside Kabul, Afghanistan, on Nov. 10 while he was researching a book.

"Mr. Rohde was part of The Times's reporting team that won a Pulitzer Prize this spring for coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan last year...."

"Tibetan Monks Tell Tale of Escape From China "
The New York Times (June 20, 2009)

"DHARAMSALA, India — Lobsang Gyatso and his fellow Tibetan monks had been biding their time, walking around the main square of the monastery nestled in the barren hills of northwestern China. Now the moment had arrived.

"As a group of 20 foreign and Chinese journalists climbed out of minivans, Lobsang and the other monks unfurled banners they had wrapped inside the folds of their crimson robes and held aloft the banned flag of Tibet.

" 'We have no human rights now,' one monk told reporters in Chinese...."

Leaving is One Thing - Escaping is Another

Quite a few people leave countries, or depart after an association with an organization. I think it says something about a country or organization, when people can reasonably be said to have "escaped."

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A tip of the hat to markstoneman, on Twitter, for the heads-up on these articles.

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Update (June 21, 2009)

" New York Times reporter escapes Taliban"

"A New York Times reporter who was held by the Taliban for seven months has escaped, the newspaper reported Saturday.

"David Rohde told his wife, Kristen Mulvihill, that he and a local reporter, Tahir Ludin, climbed over the wall of a compound late Friday where they were being held in the North Waziristan region of Pakistan.

"Pakistani military spokesman Gen. Athar Abbas told CNN that the Pakistani military was involved in freeing Rohde. Additional details were not immediately available.

"U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a statement expressing her relief about Rohde's 'return to freedom.'..." (CNN)

There's more detail in the article.