Free Republic

President Joe Biden “stressed the importance” of supporting Ukraine during a meeting Wednesday with Chilean President Gabriel Boric, who is in Washington to attend a series of economic engagements and to expand Chile’s trade ties to America. The meeting between Biden and Boric in the White House marked the 200th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. During remarks to journalists prior to their closed-door meeting, Boric described the objective of his visit of helping “strengthen our relationships” and noted the great benefits Chile has received from a 20-year-old free trade agreement with America.

Leftist Congressman Gabriel Boric, 35, will become the youngest president in Chile’s history after winning a comfortable victory in the South American nation’s most polarized election since its return to democracy more than 30 years ago. With virtually all of the vote counted, the millennial progressive who burst into prominence a decade ago as a shaggy-haired student protest leader had garnered almost 56% of the ballots. That compared with about 44% for his opponent, José Antonio Kast, 55, a far-right career politician and admirer of Chile’s former military dictatorship. *** the results represented the latest triumph for the left in...

Making a crucial deliveryPlane loaded with supplies to help in Japanese crisis By Janene Scully/Associate Editor Posted: Thursday, March 17, 2011 11:10 pm For some Vandenberg Air Force Base airmen, Thursday’s mission was like any other — beyond the fact they were helping to transport a critical chemical officials hope will avert a full-fledged nuclear meltdown in Japan. Military crews loaded four pallets of boric acid bound for Japan on a C-17 Globemaster plane at Vandenberg on Thursday, a mission that originated less than 24 hours earlier and sounds like something out of an action movie. “I’m glad that Vandenberg...