TOM FRIEDMAN WAS UNAVAILABLE FOR COMMENT: Prominent Chinese blogger charged as crackdown deepens. “Chinese police have arrested prominent writer Ran Yunfei for challenging the ruling Communist Party, people close to the blogger said on Monday, the latest in a string of arrests in a deepening crackdown on dissent. . . . The arrest was confirmed by another person close to Ran, who asked not to be named out of fear of retribution for speaking to foreign reporters.”