International Border

On their way to a new life, tens of thousands of Mexican migrants pass through the place that they call Liberty. The neighborhood known as Colonia Libertad rises like a teeming, swollen island of life from the sun-baked earth of the border.

From both sides, the stretch of the Rio Grande that paints the border between southeast Texas and northern Mexico doesn't look that wide. To those trying to make it to the United States, either in search of opportunity or to sell illegal goods, it's a hop worth attempting, even if it takes multiple times to achieve success. To those trying to keep those crossers at bay, it's barely an obstacle at all, not even wide enough to obscure the activities of those on the other side. The docuseries "Border Wars" (National Geographic, 8 p.m. Wednesdays)

A San Diego developer who hopes to open a pedestrian bridge connecting Tijuana to his shopping mall on the U.S. side of the international border has agreed to build a commercial center on the Mexican side. Sam Marasco's LandGrant Development company agreed to build the Mexican project after Tijuana city officials balked at approving his bridge proposal, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported Wednesday.

The air is already laced with diesel fumes as the conductor shouts, "All aboard!" The engineer sounds the whistle, and the locomotive lurches forward. Squeals of delight emanate from the passenger cars. This train ride is a first for many of the children. The adults share their excitement because they are setting off on a unique international adventure.

An unidentified man in his 20s was killed by a car as he attempted to cross Interstate 5 early Sunday morning, authorities said. The pedestrian was hit as he crossed the northbound lane of the highway, just south of Diarymart Road at 1:05 a.m., said Deputy Coroner Ken Bell. The area where the accident occured has been the scene of many similar incidents. Most of the victims have been illegal migrants attempting to make their way north from the international border.

I am deeply concerned about the expansion of the checkpoints at the borders of San Diego County and Orange County and San Diego County and Riverside County, which should not be there in the first place. They inconvenience thousands of drivers each day and caused directly or indirectly close to 90 fatalities and even more accidents in the last 10 years. The cost to us does not warrant this situation any longer. The benefits of capturing illegal [immigrants] and drugs will not change much since most arrests are based on anonymous tips anyway.

Allied diplomats crossed into West Berlin today in defiance of a new East German demand that they had to show passports--a demand that could be construed as recognition of the frontier as an international border. The U.S., British and French diplomats presented only their identity cards issued by the East Germans and crossed into West Berlin without incident, sources said.

Army troops began pulling back from Pakistan's border with India on Monday, almost a week after the military took over Pakistan's government and four months after a bitter border dispute threatened to erupt into full-fledged war. Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who overthrew the democratically elected government of Nawaz Sharif, said the redeployment was a peaceful gesture toward India. But India responded coolly, saying the move had no military significance.

Four lanes of Interstate 5 near the International Border will be reopened and a 10-foot fence built along the median to prevent illegal immigrants from crossing the freeway, authorities said Friday. The plan was announced as government officials decided to halt a six-week experiment, designed to prevent pedestrian deaths at the busy border crossing, by closing half of the eight freeway lanes.

Without discussion, the San Diego City Council on Monday passed a resolution urging the federal government to close the Virginia Street border crossing and consolidate all commercial traffic at an expanded Otay Mesa border crossing. The move is supported by San Ysidro community groups concerned about traffic, noise, safety and pollution caused by southbound truck traffic, but is opposed by businesses near the Virginia Street crossing, according to a report from the city's Intergovernmental Relations Department.

Once upon a time, when rail travelers crossed the Polish-German frontier, their passports and belongings were scrutinized by stern Polish and German border police. Even in the 1990s, it felt like a movie from the 1930s. These days, the Polish police are gone for good, and the Germans are taking a long coffee break. During a recent westbound trip, two German border policemen got on the train at the frontier. They headed straight for the first-class coach and sat down. One read a newspaper; the other plunged into a romantic novel.

The title "Farsites: Urban Crisis and Domestic Symptoms in Recent Contemporary Art" sounds as if it belongs atop a government study or a doctoral dissertation -- not outside the entrances to a two-part exhibition of international art. But you don't need to be an expert to see that most of the works installed for this show at the San Diego Museum of Art and the Centro Cultural Tijuana are made from materials plucked straight from the street, often right from the dumpster.

When author and journalist Tom Miller moved to a town on the frontier between the United States and Mexico in the late 1960s, he resolved to master Spanish. "I wandered into a bookstore and asked for something to get me started," he recalls in the preface to "Writing on the Edge," an anthology of what he calls "borderland literature." "The clerk handed me 'How to Speak Spanish With Your Servant.'

A San Diego developer who hopes to open a pedestrian bridge connecting Tijuana to his shopping mall on the U.S. side of the international border has agreed to build a commercial center on the Mexican side. Sam Marasco's LandGrant Development company agreed to build the Mexican project after Tijuana city officials balked at approving his bridge proposal, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported Wednesday.

With so many baseball uniforms turning into a standard mix of gray and blue it's getting tougher to tell teams apart. And when Shawn Green and Carlos Delgado stand next to each other, you could dress one in a hockey sweater and they'd still look like teammates. There they were, next to the batting cage at Dodger Stadium. The rest of the Dodgers were practicing, all the other Blue Jays were stretching down the first-base line.

The music pours out of the speaker, a lush string section playing a unison melody rich with Middle Eastern overtones. Then, suddenly, a woman's voice eases through the background--sensuous and throaty, her sound somehow managing to mix qualities of Edith Piaf, Billie Holiday and Marilyn Monroe. Even more remarkably, she is singing the song that was a hit for both Holiday and Fanny Brice--"My Man"--and singing it in ululating Arabic fashion. How's that for a world music experience?

A Los Angeles lawyer who was carrying about $173,000 in gold coins, cash and travelers' checks at the Canadian border has been charged with making false statements to the U.S. Customs Service. Andrew Aames was stopped by Customs agents at the international border in Minnesota after they became suspicious when he told them that he didn't have anything to declare and that he was not carrying more than $10,000. The agents found 250 gold South African Krugerrands worth about $111,000, $4,750 in U.S.

When author and journalist Tom Miller moved to a town on the frontier between the United States and Mexico in the late 1960s, he resolved to master Spanish. "I wandered into a bookstore and asked for something to get me started," he recalls in the preface to "Writing on the Edge," an anthology of what he calls "borderland literature." "The clerk handed me 'How to Speak Spanish With Your Servant.'

The soldiers appeared on the road out of nowhere and began shooting. The oncoming minibus swerved left, then right. The driver stopped and ran for his life. Theodora Chizabulyo, 16, was seated next to her aunt, Noreen Kwala, who pushed her and two school friends to the floor. The woman then crept on top of them. "Don't cry," whispered Kwala. "Keep quiet and pretend to be dead." Theodora felt the sting of hot lead in her back. She held her breath. The men grabbed everything.

There was plenty of grousing and even more waiting Wednesday as motorists lined up at the border on the first day of a new program requiring car owners headed into the Mexican interior to provide a vehicle deposit of $400 to $800. Although the controversial deposit instituted by the Mexican federal government does not apply to Baja California, some Southern Californians pass through Tijuana on their way to other parts of Mexico.