US/Canada Border Increasingly Militarized

WINNIPEG - Famed for prowling the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq, a remote-control Predator aircraft took flight over the wheat fields of South Dakota yesterday, the first in a network of surveillance drones that could soon patrol the American border with Canada from Maine to Washington state.

While security-conscious politicians applauded the start of Predator flight operations along the largely unmonitored northern border, some border experts regard it as a mere public-relations exercise.

US Searches for Alternative to Kyrgyz Base

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration scrambled Wednesday to come up with an alternative to a crucial United States air base in Central Asia, used to supply the growing military operation in Afghanistan, after the president of Kyrgyzstan ordered the American base in his country closed.

Protests as US Warship Docks in Nagasaki

TOKYO - A US warship docked Thursday in Nagasaki to the protests of residents and a boycott by local leaders who said the visit was in poor taste in a city obliterated by a US atomic bomb.

The USS Blue Ridge, which is stationed in Yokosuka near Tokyo, sailed to Nagasaki with a stated goal of promoting friendship between Japan and the United States.

Hundreds of residents including atomic bomb survivors chanted, "We are opposed to the port call!" as the 19,600-ton vessel arrived in the southwestern city.

North Korea Set to Test Long-Range Missile as Tension Rises in Region

BEIJING - North Korea may be preparing to test-launch its longest-range ballistic missile, a South Korean official said today, just days after Kim Jong-il's regime warned the peninsula was on the brink of war.

Pyongyang last week scrapped its peace accord and other deals with Seoul. Analysts warned that the move increased the risk of a military clash, but suggested the primary motive was to raise pressure on its neighbour and grab the attention of the new administration in the US.

Cuba Renews Demands That the US Hand Over Guantanamo

HAVANA - For more than a century, the United States has controlled the Guantanamo naval base in eastern Cuba for a measly $4,085 in lease fees per year. Cuba has long refused to cash the checks.

Now, with President Barack Obama ordering the prison for terrorism suspects at the base closed within a year, Cuba is renewing demands that the U.S. hand over the entire base.

Officials: Army Suicides at 3-Decade High

WASHINGTON - Suicides among Army troops soared again last year and are at a nearly three-decade high, senior defense officials told The Associated Press on Thursday.

At least 128 soldiers killed themselves in 2008, said two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the data has not been formally released.

The final count likely will be considerably higher because more than a dozen other suspicious deaths are still being investigated and could also turn out to be self-inflicted.