US extends National Guard stay on Mexico border

A National Guardsman watches over the US border
© AFP/Getty Images/File John Moore

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The 1,200 National Guard soldiers deployed to the US border with Mexico last year will remain on their jobs until late September, a US official said Friday.

The administration has now "extended the temporary deployment of National Guard personnel...

through September 30, 2011," Department of Homeland Security spokesman Matthew Chandler told AFP.

The extension keeps the soldiers three months beyond their original withdrawal date.

US lawmakers urge terrorist label for Mexican cartels

A broken windshield
© AFP/File

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Key US lawmakers urged Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a letter released Friday to support labeling Mexican drug cartels as terrorist groups and craft a strategy to help Mexico defeat them.

"The Mexican drug cartels present a dangerous threat to the national security of the United States," said the group, led by House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King, a Republican.

"It is clear violent actions taken by the Mexican drug cartels have evolved and are acts of terrorism. These cartels should be classified as terrorist organizations," they wrote.