BEIJING, China - Olympic baseball, 16, passed away here on Saturday. Alongside its cousin, softball, it is the first Olympic sport to be discontinued since polo in the 1930s -- an inglorious distinction for America's traditional pastime, and another piece of evidence that the sport is failing to keep up...

SULAIMANI, IRAQ - I'm sitting in on a lecture at the public university in Sulaimani, one of the calmer cities in Iraqi Kurdistan, half an hour's drive from the Iran-Iraq border. This is an English literature class. The students are discussing Orwell's Animal Farm. Specifically, Napoleon, the "head pig" in...

DETROIT -- A place defined by its industry, its no-nonsense productivity, Detroit just doesn't look good in glitter. But glitter is what you get at the Detroit Auto Show--or, more officially, the North American International Auto Show--which opened to the public this weekend at the massive COBO Center exhibition hall....