US President George W. Bush, kicking off a two-day bus tour of the battleground states of Michigan and Ohio, said on Monday his leadership had made the US safer and put the country on the road to economic recovery.
On his first campaign swing of the year, Bush launched a series of attacks on Democratic challenger John Kerry without using his name, calling him "a big spender," criticizing his votes against weapons systems and warning that everyday Americans would pay the price for his promises.
"He's going to raise taxes on the American people," Bush said of Kerry, who has promised to repeal tax cuts for Americans who earn more than US$200,000 a year but institute some additional targeted tax cuts for the middle class.
PHOTO: AFP
Bush, who listed a series of tax increases Kerry had supported, also chided the Massachusetts senator for saying in a recent interview that he did not own a sport utility vehicle but his "family" did.
"My opponent has been there long enough to develop the Washington language -- Washingtonitis," Bush told a rally in Kalamazoo on the first day of the bus tour, which was dubbed "Yes, America Can."
He said Kerry had claimed in an earlier interview in Michigan, a major car-producing state, that he owned an SUV.
"The president must speak clearly and mean what he says," Bush, whose campaign ads have tried to paint Kerry as a liberal waffler, told a roaring crowd at an outdoor amphitheater in Sterling Heights outside Detroit.
Bush, who had confined his campaigning to TV ads, fundraisers and one campaign rally in Florida, rolled across southern Michigan on Monday in an eight-bus caravan.
Bush's three-room bus, outfitted with a kitchen, four TV screens and captain's chairs, was trailed by a spare bus, a Secret Service bus, a staff bus and four press buses. Local residents lined the highways to wave, but several hundred protesters greeted him outside the arena in Kalamazoo.
With intensified fighting in Iraq moving the issue to the forefront, Bush renewed his defense of his decision to invade and remove former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein from power, telling the Michigan crowd, "I looked at the intelligence on Iraq and I saw a threat."
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
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
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
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