======
◆On the cover
Western finance is under attack. Yet the banking system has done much better than it is given credit for



======
◆The world this week
Politics this week
Business this week
KAL's cartoon

======
◆Leaders
Banks
Barbarians at the vault
Lebanon
Keep it together
Georgia and Russia
Gather round the gorge
Disasters in China and Myanmar
No time to sit back
Zimbabwe's election
A huge risk that has to be taken
Travel and tourism
Asia, beware Benidorm

======
◆Letters
On food prices, China, Vietnam, the Hoosier state

======
◆Special Report
Lebanon
Iran's tool fights America's stooge

======
◆United States
John McCain
It won't be a walk in the woods
On the campaign trail
Primary colour
West Virginia
The phoney war continues
Urban crime
The mystery of violence
Gambling
Bringing Vegas to the east
George Bush and Texas
Meanwhile, back at the ranch
Lexington
Why not both?

======
◆The Americas
Drug violence in Mexico
Can the army out-gun the drug lords?
Colombia's paramilitaries
Free trade in thugs
The Amazon
Marina marches off
Panama
The poor relation
Chile
Not so shiny

======
◆Asia
China's earthquake
Days of disaster
Myanmar's cyclone
The regime is satisfied
Indian bombs
Blood in the Pink City
Pakistan
The coalition collapses
Australia
The lucky prime minister
Sri Lanka
The war dividend
Correction: Vietnam

======
◆Middle East & Africa
Sudan and Chad
A bloody tit-for-tat
Kenya
Looking more closely at the killings
Zimbabwe
The opposition goes for broke
Israel and America
Leaders united in the doldrums

======
◆Europe
The euro-area economy
Too good to last
France's cost of living
Purchasing-power disparity
Russia's government
New jobs, old faces
Pipelines from Russia
Dead souls
The Spanish opposition
Alone at the top
Serbia's election
Balkan end-game?
Charlemagne
Balkan exceptionalism

======
◆Britain
Gordon Brown's woes
A flimsy fightback
Belize Bank
A $10m mystery

======
◆International
The UN and humanitarian intervention
To protect sovereignty, or to protect lives?
The value of keeping order
A dismal calculus
Climate change
A moment of truth

======
◆Business
Paradise lost
Ruptured credit
Professionally gloomy
Black mark
Make them pay
Tightrope artists
Cycle clips
Spanish steps
Paradise regained?
The next crisis
Sources and acknowledgments
Offer to readers
Business

======
◆Special Report
Pharmaceuticals
Quagmire to goldmine?
Hewlett-Packard
Now services
Private equity
All Clear?
The art market
Signs of weakness
Supply-chain management
Shrink rapped
Book clubs
The final chapter?
Aviation
Flying the flag
Face value
Return to Rio

======
◆Finance & Economics
Travel and tourism
A new itinerary

======
◆Science & Technology
Finance in Asia
Pots and kettles
Buttonwood
Crude threat
Insurance
Another problem parent
The battle for deposits
Your bank needs you
European banks
Austria 1, Germany 0
Microfinance
Poor people, rich returns
Mining
Sterling silver
Economics focus
Malthus, the false prophet

======
◆Books & Arts
The environment
Dead water
Malaria
Resisting arrest
Animal behaviour
Cheetahs of the deep
Mobile-phone microscopes
Doctor on call
LED street lights
No smoke or mirrors

======
◆Obituary
Global warming
A lot of hot air
Abu Ghraib
Tortured truth
Britain and Europe
At loggerheads
Secrets of leadership
Smartly does it
Jewellery on show
Baubles and bling
Barbara Walters
Working girl

======
◆Economic and Financial Indicators
Mildred Loving
Correction: Albert Hofmann