Borders

With drug-related violence growing along the Mexico border, the U.S. is willing to consider deploying troops to the Southwest -- but only as a last resort -- a Department of Homeland Security official told members of Congress on Thursday. Help might come from the National Guard or even the Army if the deadly threat from Mexico's powerful cartels gets so bad that Homeland Security officials cannot secure border towns, Roger Rufe, the department's director of operations, told a House subcommittee.

In recent days, U.S. security officials have been urged, vehemently at times, to close the border with Mexico. Cruise lines have canceled stops along that country's coast. France asked the European Union to halt flights there. And one European health official even suggested that travel to the United States be avoided. But here's the problem with such attempts to stop, or slow, the spread of the new H1N1 flu strain: Viruses don't grasp the concept of borders.

The "Do Not Cross" line here between North and South Korea has a prosaic feel to it: a concrete speed bump. The almost imperceptible hump, sitting between two blue buildings that straddle the 38th parallel, would look at home on a suburban street. Likewise, the swath of grass and concrete of the Joint Security Area resembles a college campus -- uncommonly quiet and devoid of students -- more than a hyper-guarded demilitarized zone. But hyper-guarded it is.

President Obama will ask Congress for $27 billion for border and transportation security in the next budget year, fulfilling a promise to the Mexican government to battle the southbound flow of illegal weapons and setting the stage for immigration reform by first addressing enforcement, administration officials said Tuesday. The spending, an 8% increase over this year's, will enable the administration to hire more agents and enhance security at air- and seaports.

Unarmed Kurdish rebels in combat dress marched into Turkey from northern Iraq on Monday in a show of support for peace with the Turkish government. The eight rebels, along with 26 other Kurds, were immediately detained by Turkish paramilitary police after crossing the border gate at Habur. They were moved to a military battalion's headquarters for questioning by prosecutors, the state-run Anatolian news agency reported. Earlier, Kurds in northern Iraq celebrated with music and drums as the group left from a refugee camp, the news agency reported.

A man lay on the road, his body twisted. He was so still amid the flying rocks, rising smoke, rubber bullets, screaming women and youths waving machetes that you could walk right by him. His name was Dishon Omondi. There was a scarlet pillow of blood under his head. In Kenya's deadly postelection violence, a terrible spasm that pitted tribe against tribe, he had ambled unknowingly across an invisible border: a Luo man in Kikuyu territory.

Leaders in a small Texas border city said Wednesday that they felt blindsided after learning that a judge had ordered public land turned over temporarily to the federal government as it works on a fence along the border with Mexico. U.S. District Judge Alia Moses Ludlum ordered Eagle Pass to surrender 233 acres of city-owned land. The Justice Department had sued for access to the land Monday. Ludlum's ruling came the same day, before the city could muster a challenge.

Israel on Friday closed border crossings into the Gaza Strip, including passages for shipments of humanitarian goods, as a response to persistent rocket attacks by Gaza-based Palestinian militants. Officials did not specify how long the closure would last, but are expected to review the decision early next week. The move comes amid growing tensions over the cross-border rocket barrages, which have drawn pledges of stepped-up action from Israeli leaders, who have been unable to quell the attacks.

A U.S. Border Patrol agent pursuing suspected drug smugglers along the California-Mexico border was struck and killed Saturday by one of the fleeing vehicles, agency officials said. The agent was trying to stop two vehicles that had illegally entered the U.S. from Mexico when he was hit, said agent Jeremy Schappell, a spokesman for the Border Patrol's Yuma sector. He said the incident occurred about 9:30 a.m.

The off-road enthusiasts were revving their dune buggies and all-terrain vehicles Saturday morning when a brown Hummer suddenly cut into the campground. The man at the wheel, a suspected drug smuggler, was heading to Mexico, fast. U.S. Border Patrol Agent Luis Aguilar, the only person in the way, threw a spike strip in front of the car. The Hummer sped up. "It looked like the man swerved and hit the agent intentionally," said one witness.