Newsweek articles from May 2005

Newsweek archives from May 2005

Separate, Not Equal at All; Most orthodoxies have found a way to make women both apart and less, by turning them into near occasions of sin or angels in the house.(Column)
May 2, 2005... Byline: Anna Quindlen Here is where we begin: with Easter, the holiest day of the Christian calendar, with the visit by Mary Magdalene to the tomb in which Jesus is laid after the crucifixion. The body is gone, and she runs to find the...

Dine Now, Sign Later; Pushing 'Presell Tours,' publishers are picking up the check for first dates between authors and booksellers.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Malcolm Jones Sitting in the Denver Airport one morning in January, waiting for a plane to take him to Los Angeles, Jim Fergus could have passed for a traveling salesman, right down to the carry-on and the frazzled look of a man...

A War Without Winners; Angry former Morgan Stanley execs are battling to oust CEO Phil Purcell. The fight carries a big cost.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Charles Gasparino In January, hundreds of friends and colleagues of Richard Fisher gathered to remember the former Morgan Stanley CEO who helped bring together Morgan and Dean Witter in their historic 1997 merger. Fisher, who died...

Trading Spaces, Version 2.O; The Big Board cuts a deal to launch it into the electronic age.(New York Stock Exchange )
May 2, 2005... Byline: Allan Sloan Think of the New York Stock Exchange and you summon up dramatic images of rescue workers ringing the opening bell when trading resumed after 9/11, and wonderful promotional stunts like Spider-Man, a webcaster before his...

A Rival Bid for the Big Board?(co-founder of Home Depot, Kenneth Langone, organizes possible bid to acquire New York Stock Exchange)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Byline: Charles Gasparino The New York Stock Exchange's future could still take a surprising turn. NEWSWEEK has learned that a number of Wall Street firms may soon make their own bids to buy the Big Board in a deal they believe will be...

Conventional Wisdom; Chili Reception Edition.(humorous comment on current events)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... As "Papa Ratzi" becomes Holy Father, the world can focus on figuring out what's up with that fast-food finger. CW Benedict + Old CW: "God's Rottweiler" is out of the Middle Ages. New: "Humble vineyard worker" will...

Mail Call.(Letter to the Editor)
May 2, 2005... The World Bids Farewell to the Pope Most readers responding to our April 18 cover story on the pope's funeral and his legacy commented on the commemorative photos. "I am not a Christian, but I was deeply touched by the image of the pope...

A Fever's Deadly Path; The worst outbreak of Marburg fever isn't reined in yet.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Jill Jordan Sieder and Arian Campo-Flores The woman lay dead last week in a small mud hut in rural Angola, a trickle of crusted blood snaking from her nostril. Nearby was a syringe she had used in a last hopeless attempt to cure...

In Search of the Real New Iraq; Jaafari is determined not to enflame the Sunnis. 'Ours will be a civilized and modern agenda that accommodates all Iraqis,' he told me.(Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari )
May 2, 2005... Byline: Fareed Zakaria (Write the author at comments@fareedzakaria.com.) Most Americans know that Iraq will soon have its first elected government and that that's a big deal. But in the Middle East, this is seen as a historic and...

Just a Little Longer; On the verge of power for the first time in centuries, Iraq's Shiites are holding fire, betting that patience will pay off.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Rod Nordland (With Owen Matthews in Baghdad and Hassan Al-Jarrah in Najaf) Hussein Hashimi has a CD-ROM full of pictures of the dead. For the last two months, the young Shiite says, Sunni extremists rampaged through his hometown of...

Recapturing a Killer Flu Virus.(Meridian Bioscience accidentally distributes strain of Asian flu worldwide)
May 2, 2005... Byline: Jill Jordan Sieder and Arian Campo-Flores It was an error with potentially devastating consequences. Last September, Meridian Bioscience, a medical company, began sending out more than 3,700 virus-test kits to labs throughout the...

The Editor's Desk.(Editorial)
May 2, 2005... Byline: Mark Whitaker Just who is the man now known as Benedict XVI? And what will his elevation to pope mean for America's 67 million Roman Catholics? In our cover story this week, Christopher Dickey and Melinda Henneberger trace Joseph...

L.A.'s Armenian Idols; Meet System of a Down, hard rock's unlikely poster boys.(Biography)
May 2, 2005... Byline: Lorraine Ali The biggest coup in rock since Nirvana crept past Poison on the charts more than a decade ago is probably the mainstream success of System of a Down. Their name is weird; their lead vocalist, Serj Tankian, sings like...

The Heavyweight; He's an Oscar-winning director, but gets flak for being a softie. With 'Cinderella Man,' it's time to rethink Ron Howard.(Interview)
May 2, 2005... Byline: Devin Gordon Many directors have said it's a pleasure working with the famously mercurial Russell Crowe. Ron Howard is not one of them. "Directing Russell is like shooting on a tropical island," he says. "The weather is going to...

One Polite Smoker Takes On the Zealots; I know my habit is an unhealthy one. But if I'm obeying the rules, it's none of your business.(Column)
May 2, 2005... Byline: Judy Law (Law lives on Vashon Island, Wash.) In the '50s, my mother started smoking at the recommendation of her doctor. Cigarettes, he told her, would calm her nerves and cure constipation. My father picked up the habit in World...

The Right's Fight; He's not one to take trouble lying down. Inside Tom DeLay's defense strategy--and what it means for Team Bush.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Howard Fineman and Michael Isikoff (With Holly Bailey and Richard Wolffe Graphic by Andrew Romano) La Colline ("the hill") is the perfect place to hold a fund-raising dinner for a Republican congressman: it's two blocks from the...

Bolton's British Problem; Fresh complaints of bullying dog an embattled nominee.(John Bolton, nominee as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations)
May 2, 2005... Byline: Michael Hirsh (With Mark Hosenball, John Barry and Richard Wolffe in Washington) Colin Powell plainly didn't like what he was hearing. At a meeting in London in November 2003, his counterpart, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw,...

The New Face of Witness Protection; A changing demographic strains a storied program.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Daren Briscoe Brenda Paz's life was in danger. When the 17-year-old was arrested by Virginia police in June 2002, she unexpectedly started telling them vivid tales about life as a member of the violent Mara Salvatrucha street gang,...

Why We Need DeLay to Stay; The midterms should be a referendum on DeLay's America. Stay on the right fringe or move to the center? Let the people decide.(Representative Tom DeLay)(Column)
May 2, 2005... Byline: Jonathan Alter A couple of years ago, Tom DeLay was chomping on a cigar at a Washington restaurant with some lobbyists. The manager went over to tell him he couldn't smoke because the restaurant was located on property leased from...

Fund-Raising: Take It to the (West) Bank; Money meant for the inner city went to fight the intifada. What donors to Jack Abramoff's charity didn't know.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Michael Isikoff (With Dan Ephron in Jerusalem) The pitch from superlobbyist Jack Abramoff was hard to resist: a good way to get access on Capitol Hill, he told his clients a few years ago, was to contribute to a worthy charity he...

Newsmakers.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Nicki Gostin, Ramin Setoodeh,Sean Smith Q&A: Ray Romano After nine years, "everybody Loves Raymond" is going off the air. The final episode will show on May 16. Ray took time to speak to NEWSWEEK's Nicki Gostin. Have you...

Perspectives.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Quotation sources from top to bottom, left to right: CNN.com, Associated Press, Fox News, CNN.com, New York Times, Associated Press, German Television via AFP, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Associated Press "I was not part of...

Exclusive: He's an Indicted Fugitive. But Is He a Terrorist?
May 2, 2005... Byline: Steve Tuttle Unemployed and financially strained, Chris Hajaig lives in suburban Essex, England. He says he spends his days reading the paper and being a stay-at-home dad. He missed a PTA meeting last week, not because he was too...

Spying: Giving Out U.S. Names.(National Security Agency's release of names of Americans on "intercept" list)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Byline: Mark Hosenball The National Security Agency is not supposed to target Americans; when a U.S. citizen's name comes up in an NSA "intercept," the agency routinely minimizes dissemination of the info by masking the name before it...

Washington: The Czar's Real Estate.(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Byline: Mark Hosenball The popular parlor game in D.C.: guessing where Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte will set up permanent shop. For the moment, the newly confirmed intel czar has been given temporary quarters in the...

Steroids: Now It's the NFL's Turn to Answer Questions.(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Byline: Mark Hosenball A congressional steroids investigation is now targeting football. The House government reform committee, which heard testimony from baseball stars in March, has summoned representatives of both pro and high-school...

Ecstasy: A Possible New Role for A Banned Club Drug.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Eve Conant Imagine a homey hospital suite: skylights flood the room with sunlight; violins play softly from a CD player. A terminally ill cancer patient rests in a soft bed, but she is having trouble confronting the fears that come...

Statistics: Magic Number?(professional baseball statistics)
May 2, 2005... Byline: Mark Starr Baseball's first superstar, Cap Anson, reputedly said he wanted his tombstone to read HERE LIES A .300 HITTER--even though he had a .333 career batting average. Almost from baseball's inception, a .300 average has...

Scholarships: Holding Less Sway.(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Byline: Daniel McGinn For students admitted to several colleges, the clock is ticking: most schools require a deposit by May 1. Choosing can be tough enough--and these decisions are becoming trickier as schools offer more merit...

Surveys: Mother Matters.(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Byline: Elise Soukup (Sources, top to bottom: That's Life! Magazine, Parenting Magazine, Mother And Baby Magazine (2), Monster, Karen Neuburger) Stay-at-home moms, if compensated for all the hours they work, would net $131,471 a year, says...

The Global Savings Glut; The common view that our low savings rate and big budget deficit cause our trade imbalances is mostly wrong. They are only loosely connected.(Column)
May 2, 2005... Byline: Robert J. Samuelson We are all taught that saving is good--indeed, Americans are often chided for spending too much and saving too little. But what if the problem of today's global economy is that people elsewhere, in Europe, Asia...

Snap Judgment: Books.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 2, 2005... Byline: Mark Starr, Lorraine Ali, Malcolm M. Jones All Those Mornings at the Post By Shirley Povich Povich spent three quarters of a century chronicling sports for The Washington Post (whose parent company also owns NEWSWEEK). This...

The Vision of Benedict XVI; A divided church waits for Benedict to take his place in history.(Pope Benedict XVI)(Cover Story)
May 2, 2005... Byline: Christopher Dickey and Melinda Henneberger (With Stefan Theil in Traunstein, Edward Pentin and Robert Blair Kaiser in Rome, Julie Scelfo in New York, Eric Pape in Paris and Joseph Contreras in Mexico City) For most of the last 24...

Perspective: The Real Benedict; Far from a 'Rottweiler,' the new pope is a Mozart man, a listener with a keen mind and a good heart.(Pope Benedict XVI)(Cover Story)(Column)
May 2, 2005... Byline: George Weigel (Weigel is senior fellow of Washington's Ethics and Public Policy Center and the author, most recently, of 'The Cube and the Cathedral: Europe, America, and Politics Without God.') Judging from the hysteria in some...

Tiger's Out This Week. No Bull. Both Apple and Microsoft seem to know what's needed for the next step in desktop computing.(the rival software companies produce upgraded operating systems)
May 2, 2005... Byline: Steven Levy It's Steve Jobs's plan to make this the Week of the Tiger. But Bill Gates and his minions at Microsoft are crying bull--specifically, a Longhorn steer. Despite the zoological bent, this dust-up is not about animals, but...

BlogWatch.(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... A weekly mainstream-media snapshot of what's hot (and what's not) in the world of weblogs. For full links go to NEWSWEEK.COM. Not only are the Phoenix Suns the NBA's best team, their little-used forward Paul Shirley is nba.com 's best...

A Flap Over Foie Gras; Chefs--and diners--love the fatty duck liver, but animal-rights activists are crying fowl at the birds' treatment.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Jerry Adler and Tara Weingarten It was a delicacy among the Romans, and later the Jews, a substitute for the pig that helped their Christian neighbors survive the Middle Ages. To French food writer Charles Gerard, foie gras--the...

The New Bling Rings; For some, a one-carat diamond just won't do.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Anna Kuchment Jon Cronin's girlfriend would nearly cry each time she watched the ad where the guy slips his wife a giant rock on a trip to Venice. So when the Boston-based real-estate developer decided to propose four months ago,...

Strawberry Fields, Back in Bloom; Twenty-eight songs. Nine actors. One white piano--and one extraordinary life. An exclusive look at the new musical 'Lennon,' as it finds its voice in San Francisco.(Interview)
May 2, 2005... Byline: Marc Peyser It's a little-known fact--and, frankly, a little hard to imagine--but back in 1979, John Lennon and Yoko Ono started writing a Broadway musical. It was an oddly frivolous genre for the "angry" Beatle and a woman who...

Does Your Vacation Need A Lift?(summer vacationing at ski resorts)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Byline: Brad Tuttle You don't need snow to have fun at a ski resort. Throughout summer, spots like Vail (vailsummer.net ), Aspen (aspensnowmass.com ) and Whistler Blackcomb (whistlerblackcomb.com ) open their condos, hotel rooms,...

You Can Take Your Hotel With You.(recreational vehicle travel)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Byline: Brad Tuttle (Tuttle is a senior editor at Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel.) Riding in RVs isn't just for retirees and winners of "The Price Is Right." For families on the road, nothing's more convenient than taking your lodging with...

Don't Rock The Private Sailboat.(chartering sailboats and crew)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Byline: Brad Tuttle The real pleasure of boating is zipping around to hidden beaches and tiny islands that most tourists never get to see. But try doing that aboard a giant cruise ship. For around the same price--about $200 per person per...

Green Acres Is The Place To Be.(farmers open bed and breakfasts and provide tours of their farms)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Byline: Brad Tuttle Farmers are discovering a revenue source more reliable than crops: tourists. While guests may come to glimpse the simple life, they often end up staying in plush accommodations. At Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, the Inn...

KID STUFF.(products for children)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... 1. Pocket Mod Razor Charge up this electric scooter and watch your kids race away. But don't forgot the helmet: this European model travels at speeds of up to 15 miles per hour ($229; Toys "R" Us). 2. Scene It? Mattel You can play...

Gadgets And Gear.(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... 1. Stylus 500 Underwater Camera Olympus Paired with its $180 case, this camera shoots at depths of up to 130 feet, making it ideal for snorkelers, surfers and swimmers ($400; olympusamerica.com). 2. Eclipse 8099 Compass Brunton The gift...

Travel: Accessories.(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... 1. Mobile Foodie Survival Kit Flight 001 This portable spice cabinet packs enough flavor (including wasabi, basil and curry) to turn your RV kitchenette into a restaurant ($30; flight001.com). 2. Laptop Tote Timbuk2 The waterproof bottom...

Take This Deal and... Ken Langone has his own big plans for the Big Board.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Charles Gasparino Ken Langone had more than a passing interest in the news that flashed across the TV screen in his Manhattan office a couple of weeks ago--that the New York Stock Exchange was planning to become a public company by...

Conventional Wisdom; Prime Time Edition.
May 9, 2005... War in Iraq: Progress. Give up private Social Security accounts? No way. Lower gas prices: Pass my energy plan. That's entertainment. CW Bush = Attempts to kick-start Social Security with Robin Hood act, but Dems ...

The Clean and the Dirty.(recycle your old cell phone)(Brief Article)
May 9, 2005... Byline: Linda Stern Here's a useful thing to do with an old cell phone: throw it in the garden. British researchers are developing a biodegradable cell-phone casing embedded with a flower seed. Use the phone until you're done (in the...

Corporate Spim Is No LOL Matter.(laugh out loud)(Brief Article)
May 9, 2005... Byline: Linda Stern Spim is coming of age--and that's not a good thing. These annoying ads are the instant-messaging version of spam, and they chimed in a remarkable 1.2 billion times last year. The average IM user can expect to be...

No-Wait Check-Ins.(check-in-kiosks for hotel rooms can be found at airports)(Brief Article)
May 9, 2005... Byline: Linda Stern It's a shame to waste a minute in Honolulu, so that may be why Hilton Hotels chose that city's airport to demo its new off-site check-in kiosk. Arriving fliers can use it to get their magnetic keys, so when they get to...

DATA POINTS.(Brief Article)
May 9, 2005... Byline: U.S. COMMERCE DEPARTMENT, TRAVEL INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA, NATIONAL RETAIL FEDERATION, U.S. CENSUS 1,258% Increase in the number of knit shirts imported from China this year as a result of the lifting of trade quotas. ...

Blue in a China Shop; Steve Ward is still Mr. ThinkPad--just not with IBM.
May 9, 2005... Late last year came the shocking news that IBM will be selling its PC business (including the acclaimed ThinkPad notebook franchise) to Lenovo, the leading IT company in China. Though IBM will retain only a 13.4 percent stake in the new...

Quick Read.(reviews)(Book Review)
May 9, 2005... Byline: Jennifer Barrett, Brad Stone Why Business People Speak Like Idiots: A Bullfighter's Guide by Brian Fugere, Chelsea Hardaway and Jon Warshawsky Anyone who's read a corporate report knows how boring business jargon can be....

Not Just Peanuts; Minor-league baseball is more than quaint stadiums and dancing umpires. It's now a $500 million industry with nearly 40 million fans and 176 teams.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Alan Schwarz (Schwarz is the senior writer of Baseball America magazine.) Opening night was doomed. A few years ago, rain was pelting down on the Boston suburb of Brockton, leaving fans of the Brockton Rox soggy and despondent. But...

In Search of Privacy; For wealthy travelers, luxury is a given. But in an age of mass travel, what they crave is privacy, no matter the cost. Might we interest you in your own hotel?
May 9, 2005... Byline: William Underhill The artwork on the walls is original, and the butler is on call. There's a choice of pools, a recording studio and a chauffeur-driven Jaguar at the ready. But those are not the reasons the discerning traveler...

Jets for VIPs Only; Forget business class. Skip first class. This is high class. The newest status symbol in Asia: your own private way to fly.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Alexandra A. Seno Hong Kong's wealthy ladies-who-lunch like their LV (Louis Vuitton) luggage and CD (Christian Dior) handbags. But for those in the know, the hottest travel accessory is the PJ--private jet. Francis Cheng, a...

Fantastic Voyages; Flying around the world, playing golf with Jack Nicklaus, cruising the Antarctic--nothing's too good if you can pay.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Scott Johnson Want to rent an island for your honeymoon? How about flying around the world on your own jet, stopping only for the best meals along the way? Or perhaps a three-day stay at a hotel where a round of golf with Jack...

Stay Connected; Convergence is everywhere. Here's a look at some of the latest gadgets and accessories that pack a lot, so you don't have to.(Brief Article)
May 9, 2005... Byline: Sandy Lawrence Edry SAMSUNG SC-D6550 COMPACT DUOCAM No need to lug a digital camera and a camcorder with this palm-size hybrid, featuring a 2.5-inch LCD swivel screen and a 10x optical zoom, for high-quality video and up to...

Corporate Last Licks; Can Dreyer's, the largest U.S. ice-cream maker, figure out how to market its newfangled low-fat product?
May 9, 2005... Byline: Ramin Setoodeh (With Jennifer Ordonez in Bakersfield, Calif.) On a sunny spring day in southern California, a handful of factory workers are scurrying around in heavy black winter parkas. At the Dreyer's ice cream plant in...

New Tool: The Old Telephone; Many small businesses don't need a Web site, but want to be in ads on search engines. Pay-per-call gets them online. Want their services? Make a call.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Brad Stone The e-commerce revolution doesn't have much to offer Norman Hersch. The owner of a six-employee San Francisco liquidation firm, Hersch buys damaged goods from importers or insurance companies--say, bottles of wine with...

Meet Me for 'Lunchatation'; Bo Dietl has a knack for networking, and it's helped this former New York cop launch a multimedia career.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Jonathan Darman Rao's, the legendary east Harlem Italian eatery, is more than a hundred blocks above Wall Street. But with a clientele that includes some of corporate America's leading lights, big business is never far away....

Not Another PowerPoint Presentation! In the age of BlackBerrys and cell phones, the traditional business meeting may be just another relic.
May 9, 2005... Byline: T. Trent Gegax The suits and power skirts sitting around the conference table may just as well have been on lunch break. One guy kept stepping away to answer an inconsolable cell phone. A couple of others were frozen in prayerlike...

Capital Ideas; Closed-end funds are hot, but cast a cool eye on their promises.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Jane Bryant Quinn Looking for a big, fat income stock? Brokers are touting closed-end mutual funds at yields of 8 percent or more. "I'm a skeptic," says Tom Herzfeld, whose eponymous Miami investment firm manages $100 million...

Mini-Me Laptop.(Nokia 9300 cell phone)(Brief Article)
May 9, 2005... Byline: Sandy Lawrence Edry If all that matters to you in a smart phone is size, the Nokia 9300 might not be for you, even though it's smaller than its bricklike predecessors. But by and large the newest in the company's Communicator...

No Place Left to Hide; Weren't new media supposed to give us more control over advertising? Try taking a cab or riding an elevator these days. Intrusions into everyday life know no boundaries.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Brad Stone Corey Gottlieb was having a lousy day. the ceo of New York City's Targeted Media Partners was in San Francisco last month to install 200 flat-panel TV screens--worth about $3,000 each--into the local Luxor cab fleet. But...

Imelda Must-Haves.(Roger Vivier shoes reborn)
May 9, 2005... Byline: Erin Zaleski During his 60-year career, the designs of the late shoe maestro Roger Vivier adorned the pieds of some of the world's most prominent women--Queen Elizabeth II, Catherine Deneuve and Ava Gardner among them. This was...

Mail Call; Keeping Your Family Fit, Active and Happy.(Letter to the Editor)
May 9, 2005... Readers of all ages reacted strongly to our April 25 issue focusing on families and health. Many expressed a desire for open communication. One 17-year-old insisted that "teens hold some responsibility and should give parents straight answers,...

Aspects of Europe's Mind; Putin wants to be president of a super-power, but Russia's GDP is not much bigger than the economic product of Los Angeles County.(gross domestic product)
May 9, 2005... Byline: George F. Will The greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century. --Russian President Vladimir Putin on the collapse of the Soviet Union Ultra-liberalism is the new communism of our age. --French President Jacques...

Does the Future Belong to China? A new power is emerging in the East. How America should handle unprecedented new challenges, threats--and opportunities.(Cover Story)
May 9, 2005... ***** CORRECTION: NEWSWEEK incorrectly reported the number of Wal-Mart's suppliers. The company has over 68,000 suppliers in the U.S. alone. Less than 6 percent of the $137.5 billion Wal-Mart spent last year with suppliers went to China....

Business: A Jack Welch Of Communists; Haier's CEO aims to create a global brand, even if he has to break a few things to do it.(Company Profile)(Cover Story)
May 9, 2005... Byline: Sarah Schafer Humiliation was a company tradition. Each day at the Chinese appliance maker Haier, workers lined up on the factory floor before the start of their shift. The supervisor called out the name of the employee who had...

The Sexes: Gumshoes and 'Mistress-Killers'; Chinese women who want a divorce--and a fair settlement--are seeking a little help.(Cover Story)
May 9, 2005... Byline: Jonathan Ansfield (With Melinda Liu and Grace Liu in Beijing) Ten days after He Yuxiu hired the Sherlock Holmes agency, the firm called with bittersweet news: investigators had found what she was looking for. Get to the guesthouse...

Film: Invasion of the Hot Movie Stars; Chinese cinema has brought new fun, glamour, humor and sex appeal to Hollywood.(Cover Story)
May 9, 2005... Byline: Sean Smith (With Melinda Liu in Beijing and Alexandra A. Seno in Hong Kong) Just a few months ago, 26-year-old actress Ziyi Zhang found herself on a panel at the Telluride Film Festival, seated beside Joan Allen, Ellen Barkin,...

Car Culture: 'We Want to Push the Limits'; These Chinese road warriors seek fun, thrills and freedom. They end their journey on a melting glacier.(Cover Story)
May 9, 2005... Byline: Craig Simons Yuan Jun likes to have his foot on the gas. Wearing rose-colored glasses and a tan aviator vest, he rests one hand on the steering wheel of his Toyota Land Cruiser and holds a CB radio mike in the other. The passing...

Prayers From the Shadows; The faithful have been coming out of hiding in China, but they still must tread carefully. The Party reigns supreme, and alone.(Brief Article)(Cover Story)
May 9, 2005... Byline: Photographs by Paolo Pellegrin For much of China's recent history, religion has been a covert activity. It was only when the government began market reforms a quarter-century ago that the faithful were encouraged to emerge, ever so...

Games and Grievances; When officials dreamed up catchphrases like 'the people's Olympics,' who knew the public would take the words seriously?(activists use 2008 Olympics to demand change)(Cover Story)
May 9, 2005... Byline: Melinda Liu Wang Qishan may have imagined that he had foreseen every possible pitfall for the 2008 Olympics--but that was before the World Snooker Tournament came to town. As Beijing's mayor, he was shocked and embarrassed for his...

Education: The Future Doesn't Speak French; Aware of the challenges ahead, American students are rushing to learn Chinese.(Cover Story)
May 9, 2005... Byline: William Lee Adams At Dulles High School in Sugar Land, Texas, the roster for Advanced Chinese V begins with Jason Chao and ends with Kathy Zhang. In between comes an unexpected name: Elizabeth Hoffman. Hoffman, now a 12th grader,...

The Editor's Desk.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Mark Whitaker Beijing was an isolated and dilapidated city when Melinda Liu opened NEWSWEEK's first bureau there in 1980. In those days, she was housed in dreary foreigners' barracks, and had to elude police surveillance to...

Mom Always Made Room for One More; She knew what desperation felt like, and never missed the chance to open her home to others.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Bobbi Zehner (Zehner lives in Madison, Wisc.) Looking back to our house on Magnolia Avenue, it seems like someone was always living in our guest room. First, there was Leona, my parents' friend who'd fled an abusive relationship....

A White House Adrift; Gas prices, Social Security, Tom DeLay. What else can go wrong for Bush?
May 9, 2005... Byline: Holly Bailey and Richard Wolffe (With Tamara Lipper) George Voinovich is not your typical Bush loyalist. A self-styled deficit hawk, the former Cleveland mayor and Ohio governor is so frugal that he once fished a penny out of a...

The Problem With Putin; Bush's Moscow visit will be a trip to Fortress Russia.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Richard Wolffe and Eve Conant She was supposed to be smoothing the way for President George W. Bush's trip to Moscow, a celebration of Hitler's defeat 60 years ago this week. But instead of rekindling the spirit of wartime allies,...

Newsmakers.(chef Mario Batali)(Interview)
May 9, 2005... Byline: Nicki GOstin, Jeff Giles Mario Batali Chef Mario Batali, with six New York restaurants, a permanent gig on the Food Network and a new cookbook, "Molto Italiano," his fourth, somehow managed a word with NEWSWEEK's Nicki Gostin....

Perspectives.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Quotation sources from top to bottom, left to right: New York Times, Boston Globe, Indianapolis Star, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Reuters, Clovis (N.M.) News Journal, New York Times ...

Bolton: Now, the Guessing Game.(nomination of John Bolton)
May 9, 2005... Byline: Mark Hosenball Senate Dems, still trying to quash the U.N. nomination of John Bolton, are investigating more allegations that Bolton sought to intimidate career officials who disagreed with his hard-line views. The latest hot leads...