INTERNATIONAL EDITIONS: HIGHLIGHTS AND EXCLUSIVES, SEPTEMBER 29, 2008 ISSUE

COVER: It's Not As Bad As You Think (All overseas editions). Zachary Karabell, president of RiverTwice Research and senior adviser to Business for Social Responsibility, writes that the meltdown of Wall Street and the resulting government intervention are real and will reshape the industry. "But it's much less apparent what the ramifications are beyond the financial industry. The link between Main Street and Wall Street has always been mysterious." There have been Wall Street crises that barely touched the broader economy and there have been Main Street downturns that marginally hurt Wall Street. "Many people say that today's crisis on Wall Street will have dire effects on the 'real' economy, but for now, at least, those assertions are just that. The U.S. economy, at least as measured by GDP, has shown surprising growth through the first six months of the year, up 3.3 percent in the second quarter alone ...On Main Street, there may not be much to celebrate, but it's a far cry from what's happening on Wall Street."

http://www.newsweek.com/id/160159

Why the World Will Avoid Armageddon. Newsweek asked six economic leaders and experts to share their thoughts on the financial crisis: 

* Heizo Takenaka, Keio University professor and former Japanese minister of economic and fiscal policy, shares his views on why America won't experience its own "lost decade."

* Angela Knight, chair of the British Bankers Association, on how U.K. banks and regulators are rallying to make the system stronger in the wake of chaos.

* Holger Schmieding, chief European economist for the Bank of America, on why the Continent won't feel too much pain.

* Barton Biggs, Wall Street strategist, on why he believes the end of the chaos is in sight and stocks will bounce back sooner than expected.

* Haruhiko Kuroda, president of the Asian Development Bank, explains why fallen U.S. investment banks aren't his region's problem.

* Don Hanna, head of emerging markets, Citigroup Global Markets, on why he believes that the fundamentals haven't changed for the developing world.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/160028?tid=relatedcl

Who Cares Where Spain Is? Newsweek Contributor and president of the Council on Foreign Relations Richard N. Haass writes that the Sept. 26 presidential debate offers an important chance to gain insight into the candidates' views. "But it is just that: a chance. Asking the candidates what they are likely to do about a specific situation all but ensures the chance will be lost," he writes. What we should really be interested in "is the candidates' respective philosophies of foreign policy-their thinking about this country's objectives in the world and how the United States should go about translating them into reality."

http://www.newsweek.com/id/160067

Sarko Tackles the Bear. Special Correspondent Tracy McNicoll reports that although French President Nicolas Sarkozy was able to talk Russia into dismantling its checkpoints deep within Georgian

territory ahead of the deadline, there is still a lot more to be done. For Sarkozy, it was also something of a

personal victory, which is now putting to rest his image as a lightweight head of state, prone to flashy policy that seemed designed deliberately, even primarily, to stand out.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/160031

The New Indian. Special Correspondent Jeremy Kahn reports that when it comes to Islamic extremism, New Delhi has always blamed foreign influence-usually Pakistan's. Now that may be changing. On Sept. 13, the Indian Mujahideen (IM): a terrorist group unheard of before November 2007, claimed responsibility for a bomb that ripped through a popular marketplace in New Delhi and four other explosions that hit crowded markets, killing 24 and wounding more than 100. Many Indians now fear their country is developing its own homegrown Islamic terror problem-and that jihadists are finding more and more recruits among the nation's 140 million Muslims.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/160035

The Battle of Bolivia. Special Correspondent Mac Margolis reports that when Evo Morales became president of Bolivia in January 2006, many people in Latin America held their breath. Half the nation feared what would come if Morales made good on his promise to re-engineer the impoverished Andean nation into a socialist utopia. The other half feared what would happen if he failed. Two and a half years on, even the darkest predictions are looking optimistic-and not just for Bolivia.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/160038

GIVING GLOBALLY: If You Want to Free Your Country, First Liberate Its Land. Newsweek International Editor Fareed Zakaria writes that one simple path to democracy in foreign countries is to hold elections. "This has an obvious appeal. It legitimizes the political system, broadens participation and provides a simple answer to the question, 'Who should rule?' Holding elections is a defining feature of any liberal democracy," Zakaria writes. "But it should not be the first step in building a democracy."  The solution is land reform, an orderly redistribution of assets-most often to the farmers who have worked on the land for generations ...In the end, it is what will actually make democracy take root in foreign soil."

http://www.newsweek.com/id/160070

      The Way to Save Millions of Lives is to Prevent Smoking. New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg writes that there is a deadly epidemic that kills more people than all AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined: tobacco use. "Tobacco has become the world's leading cause of death. How many deaths are we talking about? Picture a college basketball arena filled to capacity. Roughly that many people-14,000-die every single day from smoking tobacco. If we do nothing, tobacco may kill one billion people by the end of this century."

http://www.newsweek.com/id/160072

WORLD VIEW: The One-State Solution. Sari Nusseibeh, president of Al-Quds University, writes that Palestinians are losing faith in the two-state solution. "On a recent trip to Ramallah, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, when reminded that Palestinians have already shown willingness to concede 78 percent of what they consider their rightful territory to Israel, reportedly shot back, 'Forget the 78 percent. What is being negotiated now is the remaining 22 percent.' The message was clear: Palestinians must be ready to give up more land," Nusseibeh writes.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/160030

THE LAST WORD: Francis Fukuyama, Japanese-American Historian and author of "The End of History." Fukuyama tells Newsweek that despite the rise of Russian authoritarianism, China's economic growth and the failure of neoconservative ideals in Iraq, the premise behind his book still holds up. "The problem with the popular understanding of the thesis was that history was just meant as things happening, when in fact the hypothesis dealt more with the evolution of human societies, the direction they were moving in and the likely final destination in terms of forms of government."

http://www.newsweek.com/id/160040

    # # #