On Tuesday, when President Obama traveled to El Paso, Texas, to again make the case for immigration reform, he talked about the tragedy of a policy that denies children the chance to earn a college education because of the way that their parents entered the country. But in many ways, we've already failed our fastest growing ethnic group, Hispanics Americans, long before they reach college and regardless of whether they were born here or not. Hispanics now ...

Unlike his rival Jared Fogle, whose message of wellness has helped Subway overtake the Golden Arches as the largest restaurant chain in the world, Ronald McDonald doesn't look Unlike his rival Jared Fogle, whose message of wellness has helped Subway overtake the Golden Arches as the largest restaurant chain in the world, Ronald McDonald doesn't look like the picture of health these days. When a report recently surfaced that the 48-year-old clown was being retired, Ronald haters everywhere felt ...

A lot of little misses at Davies Hall may yet make a hit Building a large concert hall is one of the grand gambles a city can make. The latest to try its luck is San Francisco, which opened Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall last week. Mostly the bet looks sound. Until now any big performing arts group—the local symphony, opera and ballet—had to use the War Memorial Opera House. They all played foreshortened seasons and, except for the San ...

As police investigate the motive behind the latest suicide bombing in Indonesia, the country is once again facing the specter of another wave of attacks by extremists. While recent bombings have targeted individuals rather than large groups, the trend has some analysts worried that the current threat could be harder to stamp out. "This is part of a pattern of do-it-yourself jihad," explains Sidney Jones, a terrorism expert at the International Crisis Group. "It falls under the ...

The violence that has claimed at least 156 lives in the western Chinese region of Xinjiang this week is rooted in long-standing grievances among China's Uighur minority. The Turkic-speaking Muslim Uighurs were traditionally the dominant ethnic group in the region whose Mandarin name, Xinjiang, means simply "New Frontier" — perhaps a reflection of the fact that the region was only brought under Beijing's control in its entirety during the 19th century rein of the Qing dynasty. And ...

The success of energy drinks like Red Bull, Monster and Rockstar have proven that consumers are constantly thirsting for a boost. But will they ever want to come back down and reach for a nonalcoholic drink that will help them chill out? According to the recent sales figures from Innovative Beverage Group, a Houston-based drink distributor and maker of a "relaxation beverage" called Drank, there's strong demand for the anti–Red Bull too. The company's revenues, though small, were up 198% in 2008, ...

Royal Dutch Shell said on Thursday that a total of 5,000 staff would be leaving the Anglo-Dutch oil and gas group as part of a restructuring begun earlier this year.

The human rights group Amnesty International is calling on Nigeria to arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir if he attends an African Union Summit there on Thursday.

Parents may have fond memories of Maurice Sendak's classic children's book, "Where the Wild Things Are." But if their social-networking postings are any indication, some are not pleased with the movie. "It was joyless. There were maybe 15 minutes of the hour and a half that my kids were into it," said James Griffioen of Detroit, Michigan. His 4-year-old daughter asked, "Why is this movie so sad" in the middle of their family's matinee viewing, while his son, a 20-month-old ...

Raj Rajaratnam, the New York-based billionaire and hedge fund manager charged in an alleged insider trading scheme on Friday, was funding the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which is considered a terrorist group by the US, the Sri Lankan government claimed on Sunday. Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, spokesman for the Sri Lankan defence ministry, told the Financial Times that the government had been monitoring Mr Rajaratnam for several years. "[Sri Lanka-born] Raj Rajaratnam was involved in several schemes funding the LTTE. ...