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Week of
January 26, 2012 | | MONEY Can Christine Lagarde stop the next global financial meltdown? In a Newsweek exclusive, the new head of the International Monetary Fund tells Christopher Dickey that there is still time to avert a second financial implosion in Europe and America—but not much. And although the IMF says it can fend off another crisis, the cost will be high. “We had better make sure that we have the buffers and we have the defenses, and that we have built reserves, so that we can resist,” says Lagarde. TOUGH LAWS Across America, parents are fighting to weaken powerful laws that they say harm their children. The laws in question are the nation’s sex-offender laws, designed to protect children. The problem, these parents argue, is that the laws are putting teenage boys behind bars—and putting them on public sex-offender registries—for having sex with their underage high-school girlfriends. It’s a complex issue, reports Abigail Pesta. Prosecutors say kids should respect the law. Parents say the punishment doesn’t fit the crime, and that teens are being treated the same as violent predators. Further complicating matters, the law differs from state to state. Pesta’s story zooms in on one young Romeo named Ken Thornsberry, who went to prison for six years in Michigan after getting arrested for teenage sex with his girlfriend. His mothe HERO In a poignant moment, Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords resigned from the House of Representatives this week, as her colleagues marked her departure with emotional speeches and well wishes. Giffords, who was severely injured in the shooting in Tucson last January that killed six people, is leaving her seat to focus on her recovery. The House minority leader, fellow Democrat Nancy Pelosi, called Giffords the “brightest star” in Congress, one who had “brought the word ‘dignity’ to new heights by her courage.” As a final tribute, the House unanimously passed a bill championed by Giffords that deals with smuggling on the Mexican border. To support efforts to encourage women’s leadership around the world, visit the Vital Voices Global Partnership. TABOOS A young woman named Golshifteh Farahani has gone from being Iran’s most popular actress to living in exile in Paris. Farahani’s participation in a French magazine photo shoot, where she is seen nude but with her hands covering her breasts, has sparked controversy across her community and country. While some praise the actress for her bravery in a society that expects its women to cover up, extremists have heavily protested the photograph. Farahani’s parents have even denied that the photograph of their daughter is real, hoping to avoid controversy. Whether Farahani’s act will inspire more openness in Iran remains to be seen. For now, she will wait out the storm in Paris. SCANDAL Newt Gingrich’s second wife, Marianne, dropped a bombshell in a recent ABC interview when she said that the former House speaker had asked her for an open marriage. Now her lawyer, Victoria Toensing, weighs in on the controversy on The Daily Beast, claiming the revelation shows that in Newt’s world, rules are to be followed only by the rest of us, not by him. Toensing adds that his infidelities don’t necessarily disqualify him for the presidency, but that she thinks his duplicity does. | | 
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