By Douglas Holtz-Eakin
The young drop coverage to avoid higher premiums

Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio has called on the Thai government to ban all ivory trade in the country as part of a global campaign to tackle the illegal wildlife crimes.

Citing a string of ethical lapses by senior military officers, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has asked the Joint Chiefs of Staff to review ethics training and to brainstorm on ways to steer officers away from trouble.

Long a fighter against oppression inside Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi has used her first foreign trip in 24 years to fight for her countrymen suffering abroad — millions of economic migrants unable to work at home but vulnerable to exploitation elsewhere.

A wounded Iranian fleeing an unintended explosion at a house threw a grenade at Bangkok police that instead blew off one of his legs in a series of blasts Tuesday that Israel's defense minister called an "attempted terrorist attack" by Iran. The violence came a day after Israel blamed Tehran for targeting its diplomats with bombs in India and Georgia.

Water fowl, monitor lizards and stray dogs have replaced the throngs of tourists at one of Thailand's greatest historical sites. Record flooding has turned Ayutthaya's ancient temples into islands, and a giant statue of the reclining Buddha appears to float miraculously on the lapping water.

International arms dealer Viktor Bout, the so-called "Merchant of Death," was convicted Wednesday in federal court in New York in a multimillion-dollar conspiracy to finance a fleet of aircraft to arm bloody conflicts and support rogue regimes worldwide.

The Thai government expressed confidence Sunday that Bangkok will escape Thailand's worst flooding in decades, as the capital's elaborate barriers held strong and floodwaters began receding from submerged plains to the north.

A Catholic preparatory school in northern Thailand has apologized for allowing its students to march in Nazi uniforms and carry flags bearing swastikas during a "fancy-dress sports day" parade late last month.
Thailand's self-exiled former prime minister is planning to visit tsunami survivors this week as part of a charm offensive to restore his international reputation.
Thailand's former, self-exiled prime minister is planning to visit tsunami survivors this week as part of a charm offensive to restore his international reputation.

One year after troops crushed a nine-week insurrection, the Thai government and pro-democracy activists remain polarized, with each demanding prison sentences for the other's leaders while preparing for a nationwide election.

Cambodia called for U.N. peacekeepers to help end the fighting along its tense border with Thailand, where artillery fire echoed for a fourth day Monday near an 11th-century temple classified as a World Heritage Site.

International arms dealer Viktor Bout, the so-called "Merchant of Death," was extradited Tuesday by Thailand to the United States to stand trial on an indictment unsealed in New York accusing him of conspiracy to finance a fleet of aircraft to arm bloody conflicts and support rogue regimes worldwide.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is trying to repair damaged relations with the Kremlin after Moscow's foreign minister condemned the Thai government's decision to extradite Russian weapons dealer Viktor Bout from Bangkok to New York.

To prevent another urban insurrection, dozens of surveillance cameras will monitor the streets where 90 people, mostly civilians, died and 1,400 were injured when the military battled Red Shirt protesters in April and May.