Mnet :: NEWSWEEK INTERNATIONAL EDITIONS: Highlights and Exclusives,

COVER: Travel 2006: The 7 Most Endangered Wonders of the World (All editions). In this special double issue devoted to travel, Newsweek International takes a look at seven awe-inspiring global destinations on the verge of extinction. From Luxor, Egypt, which bears the Luxor temple complex on the west bank of the Nile, to the Coral Triangle, which extends from the waters of eastern Indonesia to Papua New Guinea, some of the world's most precious treasures are being threatened by both man and nature.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060402/NYSU004 )

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12115727/site/newsweek/

Vanishing Acts. Thanks to rising incomes and falling airfares, last year a record 806 million tourists hit the road. But those hordes -- combined with forces ranging from climate change to civil war, industrial toxins to runaway development-are laying siege to some of the world's most treasured and irreplaceable sites, reports Special Correspondent Mac Margolis.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12113285/site/newsweek/

The Curse of Approval. Officially, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) bestows the honor of World Heritage destinations on places that exemplify an area's ancestry, with the purpose of ensuring they are preserved. Unofficially, the designation is a kind of fairy dust that often turns little-known cultural gems into overnight tourist sensations. But there is growing concern that World Heritage designation may in the end do more harm than good, reports Special Correspondent Barbie Nadeau.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12113213/site/newsweek/

Guests Welcome. Peter Mayle, author of "A Year in Provence" and "Confessions of a French Baker" and a longtime visitor in Provence, defends the much-maligned reputation of tourists: "If it weren't for the money that tourism brings, many of the châteaux and gardens open to the public would become derelict; monuments would be left to crumble; many restaurants could never survive on local custom alone; it wouldn't be worth putting on concerts or village fetes. Rural life would be poorer," writes Mayle.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12113214/site/newsweek/

Damage Control. Tourism may be the true salvation of humankind's cultural heritage, reports Special Correspondent Alex Kerr. Internationalization has, in practice, been a process of everyone's coming to live and act the same: Beijing, for example, destroyed its old city because it was considered unmodern. But tourists want something old and something different -- and they'll pay for it. The effect can be seen across the globe, rescuing traditional cities and cultures from the brink of extinction.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12113286/site/newsweek/

Giving Back. As travelers grow both wealthier and more socially and environmentally aware, they are increasingly concerned with ensuring that their good times have a good impact, reports Special Correspondent Alexandra E. Seno. They are doing everything from sponsoring local families, to donating school supplies, to supporting conservation groups with cash.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12113770/site/newsweek/

Artificial Treasures. Never mind getting back to nature. Tourists are increasingly able to defy it, thanks to a new crop of man-made, self-contained destinations that cater to every whim. From skiing to surfing, mountain- climbing to moon-walking, visitors can sample new hobbies and environments without being bound by anything as mundane as gravity, oxygen, rain showers or even daylight, reports Special Correspondent Tara Pepper.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12115329/site/newsweek/

Seen on the Streets. Though many are reluctant to call attention to the fact, the recent Paris marches over the controversial Premier Contrat d'Embauche have been disrupted by the same people who rioted in November among the banlieues. Gangs of school dropouts from the ghettoes ringing the city, often African or Arab, joined the demonstrations to fight the police as well as other youngsters whom they see as "white" bourgeois, writes Olivier Roy, author of "Globalized Islam" and a researcher at the National Center for Scientific Research in Paris. Thus, while most protesters were marching against one perceived injustice -- an unpopular government labor law -- others were fighting against the broader social system from which they feel excluded. One thing they have in common: both sets of French youth feel cheated.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12113766/site/newsweek/

Reversal of Fortune. This summer's G8 summit-which will be hosted in St. Petersburg, Russia-is fast shaping up as the biggest rethink of Russia's relationship with the West since the collapse of the Soviet Union, reports Special Correspondent Owen Matthews. Rather than the recognition that Vladimir Putin craves, there is talk of diluting Russia's G8 membership with the revival of the old G7.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12114349/site/newsweek/

Pocketbook Policing. Washington officials believe a campaign of targeted sanctions is proving very effective in an American offensive against North Korea and its nuclear-weapons program, reports Tokyo Bureau Chief Christian Caryl. Numerous U.S. government agencies, including the FBI, Treasury, State Department and CIA, have been working for three years to curtail Pyongyang's vast network of black-market activities-from the sale of missile technology to heroin trafficking to the manufacture of fake cigarettes and bogus Viagra -- and to cut off the financial conduits by which the proceeds are laundered.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12114822/site/newsweek/

The Box is King. With roughly 20 million containers moving around the world today, carrying as much as 95 percent of goods coming into America, containers have become the essential baggage compartment of modern life, reports Tokyo Bureau Chief Christian Caryl. Economist (and former Newsweek writer) Marc Levinson, author of "The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the Economy Bigger," argues that this simple innovation "made globalization possible."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12112804/site/newsweek/

WORLD VIEW: To Become an American. Many Americans have become enamored of the European approach to immigration-perhaps without realizing it. But across Europe one sees disaffected, alienated immigrants, ripe for radicalism, writes Newsweek International Editor Fareed Zakaria. One puzzle about post 9/11 America is that it has not had a subsequent terror attack, while there have been dozens in Europe. My own explanation is that American immigrant communities, even Arab and Muslim ones, are not very radicalized, Zakaria writes. Compared with every other country in the world, America does immigration superbly. Do we really want to junk that for the French approach?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12114153/site/newsweek/

THE LAST WORD: Wadah Khanfar, director-general of Al-Jazeera. Khanfar, the new head of the controversial Arab television network Al-Jazeera, talks about his ambitious plan to launch a 24/7 English-language channel at the end of May, the station's reputation and its future. "We are not a propaganda tool for anyone," says Khanfar. "George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld complain about us, but we've broadcast more than 5,000 hours of Bush's speeches, live, translated into Arabic; we have not aired more than five hours of bin Laden's. So, no, we're not bin Laden's mouthpiece."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12113769/site/newsweek/ SOURCE Newsweek

Posted to: