BANGKOK, Thailand – Street vendors along a major intersection in downtown Bangkok are familiar with Sgt. Nitat Saisa-ard. Not only is he a good-natured traffic cop who enjoys iced cold fruit juices, but his chubby figure is hard to miss.

The 45-year-old sergeant weighs almost 300 pounds, more than half of which he gained over the past two decades since he graduated from police academy.

“I know I’m fat,” said Nitat. “It’s hard for me to move around, dodging the cars, but I don’t feel like working out after a long day at work. I’m just so exhausted and I want to go to bed.”

VIDEO: Thai traffic cops told to hit gym

He’s going to have to change. And that’s an order. 

Nitat is among 340 overweight traffic police officers in Bangkok told to shed at least 10 pounds and get into shape in three months.

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MEDELLÍN, Colombia – The 18 hippos are the biggest attraction at the ‘Hacienda Napoles’ amusement park, 99 miles from this Andean city.

Their home was created by Pablo Escobar during his reign as Colombia’s most notorious drug lord.

He build the luxurious ranch with 20 man-made lakes, six pools, an airport, a hydroelectric power plant and a zoo filled with zebras, hippopotamus and other exotic animals. 

Nowadays, the once highly secured hacienda is visited by 50,000 tourists annually, underlining the change in the city and province that was once ground zero for a bloody war between powerful cocaine magnates and the state. 

Hugo Angulo / NBC News

Children play in the fountains of a Medellin park.

Almost two decades later, business is thriving and most Medellinenses remember almost daily explosions as nightmares from the past. 

The former textile capital of South America is again making clothes for companies such as Diesel, Naf Naf, Levis, Tommy Hilfinger and DKNY.   The growing transportation system is another source of pride for many in Medellin, the only Colombian city with a metro and an aerial cable car network that connects downtown to its hilly suburbs.

And the United States is committed to helping Colombia continue to achieve greater security across the country. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently announced the new “Defense Cooperation Agreement,” reached on Aug. 14 and expected to be signed in a few weeks. It is aimed at helping strengthen security and tackling the illegal drug trade. 

(Some South American nations fear that the U.S. is using the agreement as a way to create military bases in Colombia – a charge Clinton was quick to deny. Still a group of Latin American leaders will meet this Friday, Aug. 28 to discuss the Washington – Bogotá agreement.)

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KABUL – When I saw the headlines today that both President Hamid Karzai and his rival Abdullah Abdullah are claiming victory in the Afghanistan election, I was somewhat surprised. I thought that this could be an issue of major concern because you don’t want to have a situation here like we had in Iran where there is a disputed election and both sides are claiming victory as the results are still coming in.

So I wanted to make sure what exactly the candidates were saying.

I went over to Abdullah’s house – he is the former foreign minister and main challenger in the race against the incumbent Karzai. 

We spoke in English, and he speaks very good English, but I think some of the situation here has to do with language.

VIDEO: Afghanistan presidential election results trickle in

I asked him, “Do you think you’ve won the election?”

And he said, “Yes.”

I asked him, “Are you claiming victory?”

He said, “No, the results are still coming in.”

So I said, “Well then, what do you mean exactly? You think you’ve won, but the results are still coming in?”

He said, “Yes, exactly.

“But you’re not claiming victory?” I asked.

He said, “No.”

So there is a big, big difference. I asked him to explain to me what he thinks the situation is now.

Abdullah said, “Indications are now that I’m in the lead and that I have won the elections outright and there will be no need for a run-off; but the final results are not in. But those are the indications we have at this point.” 

So, I called Karzai’s people because he is also quoted as saying he’s won and it’s over.

But his people said, “No, no, no.  We are confident that we’ve won, but the results aren’t all in yet. But we think it will go our way.”

So basically, you have both sides saying, “We think we’ve won” – but not quite claiming victory.

Now it’s a fine line. Could this escalate and tomorrow both sides harden their positions?

Yes, that could happen. We could be headed down a dangerous path here. But both sides at this stage are trying to not delegitimize the process and not put themselves onto a confrontational path. 

Both sides are saying they’re confident and their own internal polling and fact-finding shows that they have won, but it’s not settled yet. They think they will have a much clearer idea by the end of the weekend.

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BEIJING – For most of August, it’s been hard to imagine China leading the charge down a low-carbon path. 

On my Blackberry, headlines about how the country is seeking to ramp up development of alternative energies such as wind and solar power and rolling out electric vehicles have been competing all summer with relentless Tweets from BeijingAir telling us the obvious:  That air quality in the Chinese capital is “unhealthy” or “hazardous.” 

(BeijingAir is a Twitter feed published by the U.S. embassy in Beijing, which monitors the air in the central downtown area, on an hourly basis, using U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards.)  

Adrienne Mong / NBC News

BeijingAir publishes hourly tweets on the capital’s air quality.

Last weekend’s weather was so foul (BeijingAir: “very unhealthy”) that I stayed indoors, engrossed in reading a political thriller that pits the U.S. against China over climate change.

“Ultimatum,” a novel that came out earlier this year, is set in the year 2032, when a newly elected American president discovers that the effects of global warming will be far more catastrophic than anyone realized. 

With huge swathes of America’s coastline – as well as those of every other continent – destined to go under water, forcibly relocating hundreds of millions of people, the U.S. realizes any viable solution requires a coordinated effort with the world’s biggest emitter, China. And so begins a secret, high-stakes diplomatic game of cat and mouse…

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Japan has some of the world’s toughest recycling laws. It also has the most rapidly aging population, who are leading the way to create a zero-waste community. NBC’s Ian Williams reports.

VIDEO: Japanese elderly turn town into zero-waste community …(read more)