Pacific Island of Tinian awaits the Marines

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The Pacific Island of Tinian has played an outsized role in US military history. Now, as a US territory, it’s about to take on a new role – as the site of shooting ranges, when some 8,000 US Marines and their dependents move from Okinawa to Guam by 2014. Many Guamanians aren’t wild about the US military expansion, but Tinian welcomes it. The World’s Mary Kay Magistad visited the island. (Photo: Mary Kay Magistad) Download MP3

• Photo gallery
• Guam people ponder their identity
• Mary Kay’s journal from the Island of Yap

Guam people ponder their identity

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Thousands of people recently demanded that US forces be moved off the Japanese island of Okinawa, something Washington is loathe to do. But there are plans to move some Okinawa Marines to Guam. Guam is a US territory, but as Mary Kay Magistad reports, plans for the military build-up there have ignited soul-searching about just how American people there feel. Download MP3 (Photo: Mary Kay Magistad)

• View pictures and read Mary Kay’s story
• On The World: Guam loves Spam
• Mary Kay’s stories from the Island of Yap

Guam loves Spam

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The US Pacific Island territory of Guam is notable not just for its US military bases, which are soon to be expanded. Guam is also the world’s leading consumer per capita, of Spam. The World’s Mary Kay Magistad reports about the Guamanian craze for processed meat. Download MP3 (Photo: Mary Kay Magistad).

• Official Spam website
• Guampedia: Spam Fried Rice

Guam awaits the Marines

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The population of Guam is expected to increase by 50 % in the next four years. That’s because the U.S. military plans to redeploy thousands of Marines and their families from the Japanese island of Okinawa. The move could bring an economic boom to the Pacific island but it threatens to strain Guam’s infrastructure as Akiko Fujita reports. Download MP3 (Photo: Johan Burati)

• BBC profile of Guam