Bangkok  - Thailand's convicted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra has lost his diplomatic "red" passport after failing to appeal an abuse of power sentence, media reports said Tuesday.

Thaksin's diplomatic passport was revoked by the Foreign Ministry Friday as Thailand was under a caretaker government.

The Foreign Ministry said the decision was made after Thaksin failed to appeal an October 21 verdict of the Supreme Court that sentenced him to two years in jail for abuse of power when he was prime minister in 2003.

Tokyo  - Stocks in Tokyo fell in Tuesday morning trading after a drop in US industrial production and overnight declines on Wall Street.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average dropped 56.5 points, or 0.65 per cent, to 8,608.16.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues also was down 11.86 points, or 1.4 per cent, at 835.07.

Investors were also cautious, traders said, as they await the results of a US Federal Reserve meeting later Tuesday. The central bank was expected to further slash interest rates.

Puerto Viejo de Carapiqui, Costa Rica  - A world leader in ecotourism, Costa Rica is a country that promotes nature conservation instead of the ruthless exploitation of natural resources, and wildlife-watching instead of competitive drinking at the side of hotel pools.

The Central American nation is considered a role model in this respect, and its many natural treasures - including crater lakes, smoking and dormant volcanoes, Pacific and Caribbean beaches, and rain forests with howler monkeys, toucans and sloths - attract more and more tourists every year.

Myawaddy, Myanmar  - Go to those places where poor countries meet rich and you will find hope. The poor towns may be unpolished, but there is a nervous energy and relentless hope. These towns have plans.

Yet, there's nothing like this in Myawaddy, Myanmar, the poor town opposite Mae Sot, Thailand.

The towns lie across the Moei River, a sluggish brown border snaking between two of the most disparate countries in Asia. On the one side lies Thailand characterized by prosperity, modernity and openness. Then there is Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, a notoriously corrupt, hermetic and violent country.

Antananarivo, Madagascar - As delegates from 45 countries met in Nairobi to discuss a coordinated front against Somali piracy, the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar further south was preparing for the opening of a museum that documents the history of piracy on the high-seas under the skull and crossbones flag.

A Swiss national has founded the Pirates' Museum in Antananarivo, capital of Madagascar, the world's fourth-largest island and a favourite former ambush point for ships travelling between Africa and Asia.

The museum explores more than 300 years of the swashbuckling history of piracy, focusing on the Indian Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.

Nairobi  - For a long time, Rosemary Agutu idolized US actor Robert Redford, who played the character of Denys Finch Hatton in the movie Out of Africa.

Agutu is a museum guide at the Karen Blixen Museum and Redford can no longer compete with her latest idol.

"Barack Obama, of course. His election victory has given us a big lift," says the 26-year-old. Agutu now hopes that the tourist industry in her country will benefit from the "Obama effect."

Nowhere else in the world does US president-elect Obama have so many relatives as Kenya - his father's birthplace.

Rosemary knows almost all of them. "After all, I was born in Kogelo where Obama's grandmother Sarah lives," she says.