Legislators from five states have unveiled model legislation with complicated provisions but a simple and pernicious premise: that children born in this country aren’t citizens if their parents are illegal immigrants.That assertion, however, is no match for more than 100 years of Supreme Court precedent holding that anyone born in the United States is an American citizen. If the states enact laws

Anyone who thinks smoking isn’t government’s business should consider one number: 3.5 million. That’s how many people in the second-biggest economy will die each year from tobacco use by 2030, according to a report by prominent Chinese health experts and economists. More than lives will go up in smoke. So will productivity, public money and growth. China immediately should raise cigarette prices,

Can a nation spend its way to prosperity? We don’t have to guess. The experience of two countries over the last year ― Germany and the United States ― provides an answer.Prior to last summer’s summit of the G20 group of nations, German Chancellor Angela Merkel spurned President Obama’s call to boost spending. For Merkel, control of government debt was the “urgently necessary” priority. Ultimately,

China’s President Hu Jintao will make a historic trip to Washington this week, appearing alongside President Obama on a stage likely to be dominated by two issues: righting the vast U.S.-China trade deficit and avoiding a catastrophic war on the Korean Peninsula. Both subjects matter. Both are manageable, if we work together.But lurking in the wings is an issue of even greater long-term importance

The time is ripe for Japan and South Korea to enhance the quality of their security cooperation, without confining it to the field of defence exchanges.Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa and his South Korean counterpart Kim Kwan-jin agreed in their meeting on Jan. 10 in Seoul that the two countries would work more closely, given a series of military provocations by North Korea and other destabilisi

When President Obama performed his “Comeback Kid” act late last year, pushing through Congress a number of important bills, observers marveled at the sudden transformation. The president had morphed from the hapless, listless victim of the midterm shellacking and surprised everyone by becoming a new deft, cunning politician.But watching the Obama who came before the cameras on the day of the Tucso

The next 12 months will be a critical period for the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as the top leadership prepares to step down and hand over the reins next year.It will be no less critical for Vice-President Xi Jinping, named last year to head a new generation of CCP leaders who will take center stage at the 18th national party congress.No political succession takes place without intense po

It’s a bad sign for civility when you can’t have a civil conversation about it. In the days since a deranged assassin gunned down Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and 19 other innocents ― six of whom are now dead ― President Barack Obama, Speaker John Boehner and pundits from across the political spectrum have issued calls to raise the discourse and practice mutual respect. Even Fox News President

Wednesday was a solemn and sorrowful day for everyone in Haiti and for all those who lost friends and loved ones on Jan. 12, 2010. The unsparing earthquake that struck one year ago killed 300,000 people, an unfathomable toll in a country so small.The 7.0-magnitude shock represents one of the greatest catastrophes of modern times. One year later, a debate rages over Haiti’s future, but today it is

Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ plan to reduce the Pentagon budget over the next five years is appropriate, overdue and even brave. The politics and emotions will be intense.For a federal budget awash in red ink, no government role is above review, and cutting. The Pentagon has avoided scrutiny for a decade, with soaring growth in the budget taxpayers nominally know about, and two expensive wars e

Nine percent of Americans think Japan is the world’s top economic power, and that raises an obvious question: Huh?If we knew exactly who that current-events-challenged minority was, we could make a bundle sending them e-mails on how to redeem unclaimed fortunes in Nigerian banks. Thankfully, most Americans got it right in a Jan. 5-9 survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. I