By Douglas Holtz-Eakin
The young drop coverage to avoid higher premiums
Independent voices from the TWT Communities

Dozens of Americans have been placed on a "Guantanamo list" barring them from entering Russia, in the latest phase of Moscow's retaliation against a U.S. law that imposes sanctions against Russians suspected of human rights abuses.

On Dec. 28, the Russian parliament and President Vladimir Putin implemented an across-the-board ban on Americans adopting Russian orphans.
A Russian free-trade and human rights bill cleared Congress and headed for President Obama's signature Thursday, opening new export opportunities for American businesses but antagonizing relations with Russia over its treatment of dissidents.
The Taliban released a video Wednesday that they say shows the heads of 17 Pakistani soldiers captured in a cross-border raid from Afghanistan this week and beheaded.

Police on Tuesday detained at least two dozen people protesting outside the Russian parliament as it debated a controversial bill that would raise fines 150-fold for people taking part in unsanctioned rallies.
The dispute between the U.S. ambassador to Russia and the Russian Foreign Ministry is no laughing matter, but it is becoming the butt of jokes in Moscow.

Russia must preserve its pre-eminence in space, President Dmitry Medvedev declared Tuesday on the 50th anniversary of the first human spaceflight by cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.

Russia risks losing its edge in space by relying exclusively on Soviet-era achievements and doing little to design new spacecraft, a Russian cosmonaut warned Monday as the nation marked the 50th anniversary of the first human spaceflight by Yuri Gagarin.

Russia's lower house of parliament gave preliminary approval Friday to a U.S.-Russian arms treaty, but decided to delay the final vote until next month.
Drunken politicians. Smiling warlords. Twirling gypsies. Thousands of U.S. dollars littered on the dance floor. The bridegroom's father with a gold-plated automatic pistol tucked in his pants. A classic Rolls-Royce Silver Phantom.

President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday welcomed the U.S. Senate's decision to ratify a landmark U.S.-Russian nuclear arms control treaty, but Russian legislators said they need to study a resolution accompanying the document before following suit.

Russia has broadened the authority of the Federal Security Service, the KGB's main successor agency, giving it Soviet-style repressive powers in a move critics say could be used to stifle protests and intimidate government opponents.

What Russia needs