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

US and Japan close to ending dispute over military base

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A dispute between the US and Japan over a controversial military base may soon be resolved. It’s a US air base on Okinawa, Japan’s southern island. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton addressed the issue during her visit to Japan today. Akiko Fujita reports from Tokyo.

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