Borders

The latest advertising campaign in Mexico from Swedish vodka maker Absolut seemed to push all the right buttons south of the U.S. border, but it ruffled a few feathers in El Norte. As word of the campaign spread across the border, primarily via the Internet, some in the United States began giving the campaign a much more hostile reception.

Michael Chertoff was in the driver's seat of a white Chevrolet Tahoe, under the glare of high-powered lights ringing Border Patrol headquarters. It was 10 p.m., 15 hours into the Homeland Security secretary's workday. An agent sitting beside him tapped a glowing computer screen. A map expanded. Drawing on an arsenal of radar, sensors and cameras, it displayed a spray of red dots -- suspected border crossers.

Fred Garza has been patrolling a piece of the Rio Grande for 16 years, usually riding solo on horseback, sometimes venturing to areas where his radio and cellphone have limited range. But Garza isn't looking for drug smugglers, human traffickers or illegal immigrants. He's looking for stray livestock that might be carrying a tick with a deadly disease into the United States. "If it doesn't have hooves, it's not our concern," Garza said. Garza is a veteran of the 61-member U.S.

In the glow of a full moon, a U.S. military convoy inched toward a strategic road in Sadr City. The goal: to add to a wall being built to carve out a haven in the Shiite Muslim militia stronghold. But the mission ended before it began. Machine gun fire blasted out from the third floor of a building along the route. A Bradley fighting vehicle fired back, sending a thunderous roar through the neighborhood of middle-class homes and businesses. Then, the lead tank hit a roadside bomb.

Gunshots ring out and sirens shriek, mixing with the ragged breath of muddy, panting humans. Suddenly, the full moon sweeping the ground like a searchlight reveals a disturbing scene: a group of illegal immigrants being handcuffed and led away by U.S. Border Patrol agents. But the U.S. border is about 400 miles from this rugged municipal park in Hidalgo state, a three-hour drive north of Mexico City.

The president of Afghanistan threatened Sunday to send troops into Pakistan if Taliban fighters holed up there continue to cross the border and attack his country. "Afghanistan has the right of self-defense," President Hamid Karzai told journalists at his presidential palace here. He specifically threatened to target Baitullah Mahsud, the self-declared commander of Pakistan's Taliban movement, who has boasted of sending fighters into Afghanistan.

The government's plan to build a 670-mile fence along the U.S.-Mexico border took another step forward Monday when the Supreme Court turned away a legal challenge from environmentalists. The court's action clears the way for U.S. officials to press ahead with the project with little worry that judges will be able to stop it.

A Cambodian general said he had little hope that upcoming talks between his government and Thailand would resolve a tense border dispute that has seen hundreds of troops face off around an ancient temple. Cambodian Brig. Gen. Chea Keo said Thai troops had deployed an artillery piece about half a mile northeast of Preah Vihear temple, the latest escalation before Monday's meeting aimed at averting a military confrontation. He based his pessimism on a recent counterclaim by Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej that the area around a Buddhist pagoda near the temple belongs to Thailand.

Meeting a key Pentagon demand, Pakistan's military is planning to move a major unit of its regular army into the tribal areas on its western border, a largely lawless area used as a haven by Al Qaeda and Afghan insurgents, Pakistani commanders have told U.S. military officials. The army unit would supplement the country's Frontier Corps, an ill-trained force frequently routed by insurgents, a senior U.S. military officer said.

Thailand said it was ready to respond militarily if attacked by Cambodia after its smaller neighbor issued an ultimatum for Thai troops to pull back from disputed border territory. Thailand moved more troops to a nearby area, but strictly as a defensive measure, a senior Thai army officer said. The troops on both sides remained about 100 yards apart, said Gen. Viboonsak Neepan, a Thai army commander for the region. Despite increasingly heated rhetoric, fighting did not break out, although the two countries disagreed on who backed down.