CNN announced this morning that Fareed Zakaria has joined CNN as the host of a new weekly international news program…

Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International and one of the world’s leading journalists and commentators on international affairs, has joined CNN as the host of a weekly international news program that will air both on CNN/U.S. and on CNN International around the world, it was announced today by Jon Klein, president of CNN/U.S.

With Americans growing increasingly aware that their most pressing concerns – including prevention of terrorism attacks, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the security of jobs and retirement nest eggs, the safety of their families’ food and toys and the health of the environment – are intertwined with events around the globe, Zakaria will draw upon his vast experience and extensive Rolodex to bring thought leaders and world leaders together to make sense of it all on a global stage.

In addition to anchoring the new weekend program, Zakaria will contribute analysis to other CNN programs across CNN Worldwide. He is based in New York.

“Fareed is the best in the world at boiling down – without dumbing down – complex issues,” Klein said. “His weekly global get-together on CNN will be invaluable to viewers who are beginning to realize that, for their own personal and financial security, they urgently need to know what’s really going on in their world.”

“CNN’s global reach is such a powerful tool for understanding a world that is growing ever more interconnected,” Zakaria said. “For one hour a week we’ll shrink the planet down to a digestible size and get to know the most important people and ideas from everywhere that are affecting our viewers’ lives.”

Zakaria will continue in his role as editor of Newsweek International, overseeing all of Newsweek’s editions abroad, as well as writing his regular column on foreign affairs in the magazine.

Zakaria has served as an analyst for ABC News, a roundtable member of This Week with George Stephanopoulos and host of Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria on PBS. Before joining Newsweek, he was managing editor of Foreign Affairs, a leading journal of international politics and economics. Zakaria is the author of, most recently, The Future of Freedom, an international bestseller published in 2003 and now being translated into 20 languages. He has a new book forthcoming in May 2008. He’s won numerous awards and been named to various lists, most recently the Prospect/Foreign Policy list of the world’s 100 most important intellectuals. He serves on the board of Yale University, the Council of Foreign Relations and a number of other not-for-profit organizations.

Zakaria earned a bachelor’s degree from Yale University and a doctorate in political science from Harvard University.