Rice makes pledge on Southeast Asian terror fight

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today vowed to help fight terrorism in Southeast Asia, warning that Islamic militants blamed for a series of suicide bombings threatened to turn the vibrant region into “a ring of fire.”

Rice, wrapping up a trip to cement political ties with Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, faced a series of small protests outside the heavily fortified US mission over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.