The Dalai Lama offered Thursday to meet with Chinese leaders, including President Hu Jintao, but said he would not travel to Beijing unless there was a “real concrete development” in relations between the government and Tibet. Chinese officials said they would talk with the Dalai Lama on the condition that he “stopped separatist activities” and recognized Tibet and Taiwan as parts of China. The Dalai Lama has repeatedly offered to meet with Chinese leaders and has long maintained he is not seeking independence for Tibet but wants dialogue aimed at giving Tibetans autonomy under Chinese rule.
Iraq’s prime minister said Thursday that his country must rise above violence and assert itself in international and cultural forums if it is to achieve normalcy as the war enters its sixth year. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki promised to strengthen Iraq’s participation in international organizations in comments made at the opening of a cultural festival south of Baghdad. “Iraq cannot be anything but strong, unified and active in the surrounding region. It will not be isolated,” the Shiite leader said in a speech broadcast on state television. “As Iraq has triumphed over terrorism, it will triumph in the international arena.”
A rise in jobless claims and a drop in a key forecasting gauge provided the latest evidence that the U.S. economy is faltering and might be slipping into recession. The Conference Board, a business-backed research group, said Thursday that its index of leading economic indicators fell in February for the fifth consecutive month. The index, which is designed to forecast where the nation’s economy is headed in the next three to six months, dipped 0.3 percent to 135.0 in February after slumping 0.4 percent the month before. In Washington, meanwhile, the Labor Department said applications for unemployment benefits totaled 378,000 last week. That was an increase of 22,000 from the previous week and the highest level in nearly two months.
Vice President Dick Cheney on Thursday called the U.S. commitment to Afghanistan “firm and unshakable” and said members of NATO need to step up their commitment to help it continue to rebound from years of tyranny and war. Problems in Afghanistan will be a key topic at the NATO summit early next month in Romania. NATO’s force is about 43,000-strong, but commanders seek more combat troops for areas in southern Afghanistan where Taliban and al-Qaida fighters are the most active. “America will ask our NATO allies for an even stronger commitment for the future,” Cheney said, standing alongside Afghan President Hamid Karzai at his heavily guarded presidential palace.
