It's funny to me how such major world leaders simply won't talk to one another, like petulant children. 

China says 19 have been killed since the protests began more than two weeks ago, while Tibetan exiles put the number at 140.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese authorities have launched mass arrests of Tibetans in Lhasa for interrogation about the fiercest anti-Chinese uprising for decades, a Beijing-based source told Reuters on Wednesday.

President George W. Bush urged Chinese President Hu Jintao by phone to open dialogue with the exiled Dalai Lama. Hu said China would not talk to the man it accuses of fomenting deadly riots and trying to sabotage the Beijing Olympics.

Source: news.yahoo.com

The province of Qinghai, hundreds of kilometers (miles) from Lhasa, was the latest area to see unrest. Ethnic Tibetans staged a sit-down protest after police stopped them from marching, said the Beijing-based source who had spoken to residents.

"They (police) were beating up monks, which will only infuriate ordinary people," the source said of the protest on Tuesday in Qinghai's Xinghai county.

A resident confirmed the demonstration, saying paramilitaries had dispersed the 200 to 300 protesters after half an hour, armed security forces had filled the area and that workers had been kept inside their offices.

Source: news.yahoo.com

The Beijing-based source said authorities were now rounding up Tibetans in Lhasa in the wake of the unrest.

"It's very harsh. They are taking in and questioning anyone who saw the protests," the source said. "The prisons are full. Detainees are being held at prisons in counties outside Lhasa."

The Dalai Lama has lived in exile in India since fleeing Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule. He denies masterminding the latest demonstrations.

Source: news.yahoo.com