NEWSWEEK INTERNATIONAL EDITIONS: Highlights and Exclusives,

Feb. 27, 2006 Issue

COVER: Stuck in Place (Atlantic edition). For all the myths of
equality that Europe tells itself, the Continent is by and large a
woeful place for a woman who aspires to lead, reports European
Economics Correspondent Rana Foroohar. According to a paper published
by the International Labor Organization this past June, American women
account for 45 percent of their country's high-level decision makers,
including legislators. By comparison, U.K. women hold 33 percent,
Swedish women hold 29 percent, German women hold 27 percent and
Italian women hold a pathetic 18 percent. These sad statistics say as
much about Europe's labor markets, lingering welfare-state policies
and corporate leadership as they do about its attitudes toward women.
Foroohar examines how Europe is squandering its female talent.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11435567/site/newsweek/

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060219/NYSU004 )

Trying to Do It All. In Europe, men are embracing fatherhood with the
round-the-clock involvement their partners have always dreamed of,
reports Special Correspondent Tara Pepper. But all these devoted dads
may have a harder times with the same issues women have faced for
decades: how to balance work and family.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11435568/site/newsweek/

COVER: Cheney's Secret World (Latin America edition). In human terms,
it is perfectly understandable why Vice President Dick Cheney was in
no mood to talk to reporters for several days after accidentally
shooting another man, 78-year-old Texas lawyer Harry Whittington,
while hunting. It is a little odd, however, that on that night,
according to a senior White House official who refused to be
identified, Cheney did not speak to either Bush or the White House
staff or his own press people. The incident once again draws attention
to the unusual, if not unique, nature of Cheney's power. He remains
the most powerful VP in history, and one of the most secretive and
mysterious public officials to ever hold such high office. There is no
doubt that Cheney has become less amiable and less willing to seek
common ground than he was as a younger politician. Assistant Managing
Editor Evan Thomas examines Cheney's handling of the accident and the
causes behind his peculiarly guarded nature.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11436396/site/newsweek/

COVER: Beijing VS. Bloggers (Asia edition). Millions of Chinese who
have taken to blogging in the last couple of years are challenging the
growing international concern that Beijing is winning the war to
control what its citizens read, write and think, reports Special
Correspondent Sarah Schafer. Frustrated by years of repression, egged
on by Internet companies eager to recruit users, and put at ease by
the simple technology, these ordinary citizens are speaking out as
fast as they can type. True, a few high-profile blogs have been shut
down by the government, and most others do not challenge the regime
directly. But if a rambunctious online world is revolutionizing the
way information is generated and exchanged in the West, it's having an
even greater impact on China, where culture and the commissars have
long stifled individual voices.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11437105/site/newsweek/

Censorship Inc. China has proven that censorship pays: it has
developed a successful model for how government and business can
collaborate to censor a nation's Internet activities, write Rebecca
MacKinnon, a fellow at Harvard Law School, and John Palfrey, clinical
professor of law and executive director of the university's Berkman
Center for Internet & Society. Techniques and software for Internet
control, developed in China, are now being applied in other countries
like Vietnam and Iran.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11437139/site/newsweek/

Putting on the Squeeze. Senior Editor Michael Hirsh and Jerusalem
Bureau Chief Kevin Peraino report that from Gaza to Baghdad, if you
want to know what the Bush administration's grand democracy project in
the Mideast is going to look like for years to come, one need look no
further than the feeding frenzy at border crossings between Israel and
Gaza. Forget brotherhood and peace; making things work is now more
about power diplomacy. The weapon of choice: dollars (or shekels).

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11435211/site/newsweek/

The Death-Squad Wars. Special Correspondent Michael Hastings reports
on the hunt to stop the death squads operating in Iraq. Some squads
are killing Shiites; others are executing Sunnis. Almost unnoticed
amid the country's chaos, the dirty war is beginning to rival the
insurgency in its deadliness and in its damage to national stability,
Hastings reports.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11436439/site/newsweek/

Past as Prologue. In the wake of Hamas' election win in Palestine and
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's defiance over his country's
uranium- enrichment program, Europe is edging ever closer to the
tougher stance taken by the U.S. Meanwhile, a newly confident Russia
has stepped into Europe's shoes as middleman between East and West,
reaching out to the Middle East's untouchables-and making it clear
that Moscow won't be taking orders from anyone, reports Special
Correspondent Owen Matthews.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11436739/site/newsweek/

Now for 'Project Gordon'. Although Britain's next general election
probably won't be called until 2009, the Labour party is feeling the
heat as Blair's authority weakens. And David Cameron, the charismatic
fresh face of the opposition Conservatives, is on the rise-a young,
progressive, Blairite 39-year-old who could make Labour's candidate
Gordon Brown, 55 this week, look like yesterday's man, reports London
Bureau Chief Stryker McGuire.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11436256/site/newsweek/

Selling to the Neighbors. After a century-long estrangement, some Arab
economies are rediscovering a lucrative asset: each other. As a
result, commerce within the Middle East, the most sluggish among the
world's trading blocs, is showing signs of a healthy revival, reports
Special Correspondent Stephen Glain.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11436739/site/newsweek/

Lost In Translation. For hard-core fans who love world cinema, 2005
was a terrific year, full of stunning work from Germany, France, Hong
Kong, Kurdistan and Italy. Commercially, however, it was the worst of
times, report Film Critic David Ansen and Assistant Editor Ramin
Setoodeh. Compounding matters, the Academy has mediocre taste. The
countries most nominated, such as France and Italy, are the ones
who've figured out that the nominating committee favors foreign films
that aren't too foreign.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11434548/site/newsweek/

WORLD VIEW: Nixon to China; Bush to India. Newsweek International
Editor Fareed Zakaria writes that the Bush administration's proposed
nuclear agreement with India might sound like an esoteric issue for
policy wonks, but it is a big deal. "The benefits for the United
States-and much of the world- are real. This agreement would bring a
rising power into the global tent, making it not an outsider but a
stakeholder, and giving it an incentive to help create and shape
international norms and rules."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11436430/site/newsweek/

THE LAST WORD: Mohammed al-Asaadi, editor-in-chief of the Yemen
Observer. When al-Asaadi decided to reprint the Danish cartoons
depicting the Prophet Muhammad as a terrorist-albeit with a large X
censoring them and an article denouncing them-he was arrested and
charged with insulting the Prophet. "The article was accompanied by an
editorial, saying that the cartoons were terrible, but we should
accept the apologies of the newspaper that published them and move on
... " he says from a prison cell. "That's what really angered the
[government] hard-liners."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11414568/site/newsweek/ SOURCE Newsweek