WASHINGTON -- Soldier suicides this year could surpass the record rate of last year, Army officials said yesterday, urging military leaders at all levels to redouble prevention efforts for a force strained by two wars.

As of the end of August, there were 62 confirmed suicides among active duty soldiers and Guard and Reserve troops called to active duty, officials said. Another 31 deaths appear to be suicides but are still being investigated.

If all are confirmed, that means that the number for 2008 could eclipse the 115 of last year -- and the rate per 100,000 could surpass that of the civilian population, Col. Eddie Stephens, deputy director of human resources policy, said at a Pentagon news conference.

To try to stem the continually growing number of suicides, the Army already has been increasing the number of staff psychiatrists and other mental health staff as well as chaplains and bolstering programs both at home and at the battlefronts.

Officials also are about to issue a new interactive video for troops and will be adding a new program on resilience to basic training starting in January, said Brig. Gen. Rhonda L. Cornum, an assistant Army surgeon general.

NEW YORK -- An American-educated Pakistani woman who's been labeled an al-Qaida supporter refused to appear in federal court yesterday to answer charges that she tried to kill U.S. soldiers and FBI agents after they detained her this summer in Afghanistan.

Aafia Siddiqui had been expected to plead not guilty to attempted murder and assault charges contained in an indictment unsealed earlier this week. Prosecutors say that when taken into custody, she was carrying handwritten notes referring to a "mass casualty attack" and listing the Empire State Building and other New York landmarks.

U.S. District Judge Richard Berman put off the arraignment to give Ms. Siddiqui's lawyers time to either persuade her to come to court or arrange for her to enter a plea from jail using a closed-circuit camera. He also asked the defense to propose a plan to evaluate her competency to stand trial.

NEW YORK -- The owner of Coney Island's Astroland said yesterday she is calling it quits and the historic amusement park will close for good on Sunday.

Carol Albert, whose family has owned the Brooklyn amusement park for almost a half century, said she gave up on negotiating a two-year lease with Thor Equities after the developer missed the deadline to reply.

Thor spokesman Stefan Friedman said the company is "extremely disappointed that Carol Albert has decided to give up on the future of Coney Island when her current lease isn't even up for a number of months."

The park was under threat of closing a year ago, but Thor -- which owns the land under the park -- and Astroland agreed to a one-year lease extension.

WASHINGTON -- Construction on the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial is closer to commencing after a panel overseeing architecture in the nation's capital approved final building plans yesterday.

The 8-2 vote by the National Capital Planning Commission is one of the last steps in a lengthy approval process for the $120 million project.

However, the panel rejected a National Park Service recommendation for security bollards that would help block a truck bomb from reaching the site.

The memorial will be located on the Tidal Basin between the Jefferson and Lincoln memorials, surrounded by cherry trees. It will be the first memorial honoring a black leader on the National Mall and the first major tribute to King outside Atlanta, where he was born in 1929.

About $100 million has been raised for the effort, and the group must raise an additional $20 million to complete the project.

CHICAGO -- The state senator who led a school boycott to protest underfunded Chicago schools cut it short after two days and said yesterday he will be talking to Gov. Rod Blagojevich soon to discuss solutions.

Sen. James Meeks said the governor's office has suggested Monday or Tuesday as possible dates for a meeting.

Mr. Meeks had announced late Wednesday that his boycott, which began Tuesday, was being ended because Mr. Blagojevich said he wouldn't meet while it was still in effect. It was to have lasted through Friday.

Mr. Meeks said he could not yet estimate how many students participated in the boycott's second day, but he said the number was in the hundreds. While the number was only a fraction of the district's 400,000 students, Mr. Meeks said it was successful in publicizing the funding problem.