Border advocacy group says $6 billion, 5,000 inspectors needed to bolster land port security

Texas group warns of weaknesses at land ports

Opposition leader: Venezuela government letting Colombian rebels operate freely along border

Chavez foe: Venezuela a refuge for Colombia rebels

Venezuela sends 15,000 troops to Colombia border as tensions between the two counties increase

Venezuela sends 15,000 troops to Colombia border

Feds say seizures of guns, cash increase sharply at Mexican border

Feds: Gun, cash seizures up at Mexican border

Venezuela says 10 slayings could be Colombian conflict spilling across border

Venezuela ups border security after 10 slayings

Review of Homeland Security’s stimulus spending doesn’t settle questions on border projects

WASHINGTON — A watchdog’s review of stimulus spending by the Department of Homeland Security doesn’t resolve the controversy about how the Obama administration allocated the money for border projects.

Watchdog signs off on DHS plan for stimulus spending; political influence not reviewed

WASHINGTON — An internal watchdog found the Homeland Security Department generally came up with a good plan for spending economic stimulus money on border projects. Agency officials told the inspector general not to go further and review anything beyond its spending plan, including the decision-making process which has been criticized as secretive and susceptible to political meddling.

UN extends Haiti peacekeeping mission for a year saying security remains fragile

UNITED NATIONS — The Security Council voted unanimously Tuesday to extend the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti for a year, saying the situation in the impoverished Caribbean nation still constitutes a threat to international peace and security despite recent progress.

Government drops amendment requiring 300 more miles of pedestrian fencing along Texas border

BROWNSVILLE, Texas — Members of Congress have stripped a provision requiring 300 more miles of tall fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border from a Department of Homeland Security appropriation bill, saying the funds needed to build the barrier would be better spent on alternative security measures.

A border runs through it: On US-Canada boundary, street barriers signal post-9/11 chill

DERBY LINE, Vt. — For decades, the towns of Derby Line, Vt., and Stanstead, Quebec, have functioned as one community.

Critics: Perry sending elite Texas Rangers to border to handle burglaries, not drug violence

McALLEN, Texas — Rancher Mike Landry recently came upon a group of unarmed men dressed in camouflage burglarizing his guest house and stealing a truck from his 11,000 acres in Terrell County, rugged country bordering the Rio Grande in West Texas.

Obama administration names its border czar to be Customs and Border Protection commissioner

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama announced Tuesday he intends to nominate his Southwest border czar to be commissioner of Customs and Border Protection.

Obama administration to name its border czar to be Customs and Border Protection commissioner

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration plans to nominate its Southwest border czar to be commissioner of Customs and Border Protection.

54 asylum seekers rescued from stranded boat off northern Australia

ADELAIDE, Australia — Australian border protection officials rescued 54 asylum seekers on Sunday from a boat stranded in northern waters, the home affairs minister said.

Report: Southwest border fence still delayed and will cost $6.5B to maintain over 20 years

WASHINGTON — It will cost taxpayers $6.5 billion over the next 20 years to maintain the fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a government audit.

Napolitano: U.S., Mexico see successes in their fight to stem flow of illegal drugs, cash

LAS CRUCES, N.M. — The U.S. and Mexico are making headway in the ongoing struggle to curb the flow of illegal drugs, cash and weapons across the border, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Wednesday.

Napolitano says US, Mexico making headway in curbing the flow of illegal drugs and cash

LAS CRUCES, N.M. — U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says the U.S. and Mexico are making headway in curbing the flow of illegal drugs and cash across their shared border.

Napolitano halts stimulus projects amid Democratic criticism of ‘terrible waste’ of money

WASHINGTON — Facing criticism for her handling of federal stimulus money, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Wednesday that she would not start any new border construction projects while the department reviewed how projects were selected.

Senate Dem: Homeland Security treating stimulus as ‘bottomless pit;’ Wants projects stopped

WASHINGTON — A senior Democratic senator urged the Obama administration to suspend hundreds of millions of dollars in repairs to the nation’s border stations Wednesday, saying Homeland Security officials were treating the economic stimulus plan like a “bottomless pit” of taxpayer money.

Analysis: Al-Maliki’s quarrel with Syria over Baghdad bombings backfires on Iraqi premier

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s prime minister is feeling a backlash over a bitter fight he picked with Syria, which he accuses of harboring Saddam Hussein loyalists suspected in deadly bombings in Baghdad. Critics say he just wants to divert attention from his own government’s security failures.

Gov. Rick Perry says Texas Ranger teams headed for Texas-Mexico border

HOUSTON — Special teams of Texas Rangers will be deployed to the Texas-Mexico border to deal with increasing violence because the federal government has failed to address growing problems there, Gov. Rick Perry said Thursday. “It is an expansive effort with the Rangers playing a more high-profile role than they’ve ever played before,” Perry said of the Department of Public Safety’s elite investigative unit.

Gov. Perry says Texas Ranger teams headed for Texas-Mexico border

HOUSTON — Special teams of Texas Rangers will be deployed to the Texas-Mexico border to deal with increasing violence because the federal government has failed to address growing problems there, Gov. Rick Perry said Thursday.

Pakistani army kills 45 Taliban in Swat battles; border reopens after NATO convoy bombed

ISLAMABAD — Pakistani soldiers killed at least 45 Taliban militants in scattered gunbattles across the northwestern Swat Valley after a suicide bombing on a police station killed 17 cadets, the army said Monday.

Pakistani army kills 30 Taliban in Swat battles; border reopens after NATO convoy bombed

ISLAMABAD — Pakistani soldiers killed at least 30 Taliban militants in overnight gunbattles across the northwestern Swat Valley after a suicide bombing on a police station killed 17 cadets, the military said Monday.

Suicide blast kills 16 Pakistani police cadets as Taliban strike back; NATO fuel convoy bombed

ISLAMABAD — Bombings targeted a Pakistani police station and set a NATO fuel convoy ablaze Sunday, killing 16 cadets in the northwest’s Swat Valley and threatening the supply line to international forces in Afghanistan in a separate attack near the border.

Pakistani police: Tankers carrying NATO fuel in flames after explosion near Afghan border

CHAMAN, Pakistan — An explosion ripped through a line of trucks ferrying fuel to NATO troops in Afghanistan, setting several oil tankers ablaze Sunday at a backed-up Pakistani border crossing, police said.

Al-Qaida claims attack that injured Saudi royal, says bomber arrived on prince’s plane

CAIRO — Al-Qaida claimed responsibility Sunday for a suicide attack that injured a Saudi prince and said the bomber — a wanted militant who had fled to Yemen — arrived on a royal jet after convincing the ruling family he wanted to surrender.