India

Dalai Lama hopes China relations thaw

The Dalai Lama on Wednesday said he hoped for a breakthrough in relations with China this year and offered to meet with Chinese leaders.

“President Hu Jintao has personal knowledge about the situation and problems in Tibet and this can be a positive factor in resolving the Tibetan issue,” the Dalai Lama told more than 3,000 members of his Tibetan community on the 45th anniversary of his flight from China.

The Tibetan spiritual leader was apparently responding to a statement by China last week that it was “always open” to negotiations with the Dalai Lama, but that he must give up any notion of an independent Tibet.

The Dalai Lama fled China in March 1959, eight years after a failed revolt against Communist troops occupying Tibet. He has since lived in exile in Dharmsala in northern India, where he has been an active promoter of Tibetan independence.

Jerusalem

Israelis, Palestinians set date for summit

The Palestinian and Israeli prime ministers agreed in principle on a long-delayed summit, officials said Wednesday, a sign of diplomatic progress. But corrosive violence persisted, with Israeli forces killing six Palestinian militants in the West Bank.

Final summit details are to be worked out Sunday, but the summit meeting was tentatively set for next week, Israeli officials said on condition of anonymity.

In violence Wednesday, Israeli soldiers killed five members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, a militant group linked to Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement, in Jenin, Palestinians said. The five were in a car, which witnesses said was riddled with bullets.

At the nearby El Aroub refugee camp, soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian who was throwing a firebomb, the military and residents said. Doctors said the Palestinian was 15 years old.

London

Former Guantanamo detainees released

All four men who were arrested on their return to Britain from U.S. military detention at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, were released Wednesday without charge, police said.

A fifth man had not been arrested when the group arrived at Northolt Royal Air Force Base Tuesday, and he was freed within hours.

A Metropolitan Police statement announced Wednesday night that one of the arrested four had been released. Less than two hours later, a second statement said the remaining three were freed without charge as well.

The four had been arrested under an anti-terrorism law, but their lawyers and relatives insisted they were innocent and should have been freed.

Argentina

Government promises talks with creditors

Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna pledged Wednesday to embark soon on the first serious talks with private creditors that hold at least part of Argentina’s $100 billion in defaulted debt.

Lavagna’s pledge, contained in a new letter of intent signed here Wednesday with International Monetary Fund, came as global pressure mounted for Argentina to begin talks in earnest with creditors stung by the largest sovereign debt default in history.

Speaking at a Government House news conference, Lavagna said the first creditor groups would be advised no later than April 16 who would be the negotiator for the Argentine government — and talks would begin thereafter.

Although Argentina’s economy began growing again last year after a half decade slump, unsettled questions about the unpaid debt continued to tarnish the country’s credibility and keep its access to credit markets largely off limits.