US Vice President Dick Cheney closed his Asia tour with a speech to American troops stationed in Seoul, telling a cheering audience their enthusiastic reception was a highlight of the weeklong trip.
"Together ... we will destroy the remnants of violent, oppressive regimes -- and together, we will win this essential victory in the war on terror," Cheney said yesterday in an address to several thousand loudly cheering and chanting troops.
"That made the whole trip worthwhile," Cheney said of his reception by the servicemen and women stationed at the Yongsan Army Garrison in Seoul.
"Living on the border between freedom and tyranny, the people of Korea understand the urgency of our cause in Iraq, Afghanistan and throughout the Middle East," said Cheney.
After addressing the troops, Cheney boarded his jetliner for the long flight home to Washington.
At an earlier luncheon with South Korean leaders, Cheney saluted South Korea as "a nation that shares our values and shares part of our history."
"And again we are standing together," he said, calling South Korea "a valued and vital part of our coalition."
South Korea has troops in both Afghanistan and Iraq and the vice president said the US applauds "your brave decision to support the cause of freedom."
Cheney visited as South Koreans voted in parliamentary elections that produced a victory for impeached President Roh Moo Hyun.
Cheney said the election showed "democracy is strong in the Republic of Korea."
During an earlier leg of his trip, Cheney said in a foreign policy speech in China that letting North Korea's weapons program go unchecked could spark a new arms race in the region and create a weapons bazaar for terrorists.
That speech was carried by China's state television without deletions or blackouts, which US officials took as an encouraging sign of change.
Cheney praised China for setting up six-way talks to persuade North Korea to dismantle its nuclear program, but he prodded Chinese leaders to be more aggressive in bringing pressure to bear on Pyongyang.
"We'll do our level best to achieve this objective through diplomatic means, and through negotiations," Cheney said. "But it is important that we make progress in this area."
The negotiations involve the US, China, Russia, Japan and the two Koreas.
He suggested that North Korea represented a double threat -- it could stock its own nuclear arsenal and sell weapons to the highest bidder, including al-Qaeda and other terror organizations.
Cheney said recent information gleaned from a top former Pakistani nuclear scientist provided compelling evidence that Pyongyang has an active atomic weapons program.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
RSS