The U.S. patent system has generated growing debate over whether it helps foster innovation or stifles it through unnecessary protections, as this Backgrounder explains.

Nationalism in China, surging amid protests over Beijing’s rule in Tibet, increasingly fills the role Maoism played before China embraced capitalism.

As he weighs options on Iraq, President Bush will consider not only the Iraq Study Group report but also pending in-house reports from the National Security Council and the Pentagon.