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Thailand's beach resort communities have been recovering slowly since the devastating tsunami struck a year ago. Hotels have been rebuilt and tourists have returned. Residents of the resort towns will commemorate the anniversary, but after that, many want to look forward rather than back.

The Pentagon has ordered a review of a security database built after the Sept. 11 attacks to help protect military bases and personnel. But reports have emerged that the database includes information about anti-war activists and people opposed to military recruiting.

What happens when you put a handful of Mentos candy into a bottle of diet soda? As many fans of Web video have found out, the results are pretty explosive. And there is actually a scientific explanation.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld should ignore all the calls for his resignation, says commentator Dan Goure. A former colleague of Rumsfeld's, Goure says he knows the secretary's faults. But he believes Rumsfeld is the person who can win the war in Iraq. Goure works at the Lexington Institute.

The most popular branch of the Smithsonian will be closing after Labor Day to undergo a planned two-year renovation. The American History Museum wants to update the building's infrastructure and create a better display for the Star Spangled Banner. A painstaking 8-year conservation project on the flag was completed Wednesday.

Federal recommendations say that new buildings in New Orleans and surrounding parishes need to be built at least three feet off the ground. The recommendation also covers buildings being rebuilt after substantial damage from Hurricane Katrina.

Edwin Cardenas brought his family to America from Peru in 1985 and started work cleaning the Washington National Cathedral in 1990. Now he's the preservation technician, removing decades worth of grime from the building's limestone and marble interior, working with solvents and even a toothbrush.

Farai Chideya talks with Mathapelo Ngaka and Barbara Jackson, South African artists who run the company Monkeybiz. Their venture sells traditional beadwork to raise money for AIDS awareness and prevention projects.

How are U.S. citizens reacting to the sudden rise in immigrants' numbers and aspirations? Some are enraged about broken borders and the rule of law. But many simply accept the phenomenon -- and quite a few are positive about it.

In their new book Rousseau's Dog, authors David Edmonds and John Eidinow describe a bitter, public dispute between philosopher giants Jean-Jacques Rousseau and David Hume.

Death is no big deal for a clam. So says poet Dean Young. We hear his cooking-inspired poem "Resignation Letter." Young teaches poetry at the Iowa Writers Workshop, his most recent book of poetry is called Elegy On Toy Piano.

Journalist Neil MacFarquhar is a veteran Middle East foreign correspondent and was Cairo bureau chief for The New York Times. Next, he will cover Islam in North America for the Times. His new novel The Sand Cafe is set in Saudi Arabia and examines the day-to-day reporting life of foreign correspondents in the Middle East during the Gulf War.