Here are some of IPS’s most-read stories of the past week — and stories you shouldn’t go without reading:

POLITICS: Cleared of Terrorism, Canadian Stranded in Khartoum
By Paul Weinberg
TORONTO (IPS) – The murky post-9/11 sharing of information between western security and intelligence agencies and Sudan’s notorious human rights-abusing regime appear to be at the heart of a year-long marooning of Canadian citizen Abousfian Abdelrazik at his country’s embassy in Khartoum.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46387

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MIDEAST: Lost in the Buffer Zone
By Eva Bartlett*
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza (IPS) – “They’re always shooting at us. Every day they shoot at us,” says Alaa Samour (19), pulling aside his shirt to show a scar on his shoulder. Samour said he was shot on Dec. 28 last year by Israeli soldiers positioned along the border fence near New Abassan village, east of Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46409

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AFRICA: Arbitration Mechanism Demanded to End Scourge of Debt
By Stanley Kwenda
HARARE (IPS) – International debt campaigners are calling for the establishment of a debt arbitration mechanism to respond to the difficulties that many countries of the South are increasingly facing as they attempt to service debt arrears to international lenders.
ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46384

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MEXICO: Indigenous Woman on the Offensive
By Diego Cevallos
MEXICO CITY (IPS) – Two years ago, Eufrosina Cruz was kept from running for mayor of her home village by the “traditions and customs” of her indigenous community in southern Mexico, just because she is a woman.
ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46355

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EUROPE: Made in Israeli Settlements, But Never Mind
By David Cronin
BRUSSELS (IPS) – European Union officials are seeking evidence to support claims that fruit and vegetables from Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories are being exported under false pretence.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46391

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BRAZIL: Walling Off the Slums or ‘Eco-Barrier’?
By Fabiana Frayssinet
RIO DE JANEIRO (IPS) – While the government of the state of Rio de Janeiro insists that a wall being built around a poor neighbourhood is designed to protect what remains of Brazil?s Atlantic rainforest from further encroachment by the slum, human rights groups say it is designed to further separate the rich and poor.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46390

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ECONOMY: Despite Its Clout, China Feels Vulnerable to Shocks
By Antoaneta Bezlova
BEIJING (IPS) – Despite an impressive show of its increased economic and political stature at the just-finished G20 summit in London, China remains plagued by doubts about the sustainability of its economic miracle.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46375

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CLIMATE CHANGE: Farming Could Be Friend or Foe
By Stephen Leahy
UXBRIDGE, Canada (IPS) – Don’t forget about agriculture in the upcoming global negotiations to combat climate change, experts warn. Not only is farming most at risk in an increasingly variable and tempestuous climate, it is also a major emitter of greenhouse gases.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46374

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SOUTH AFRICA: Nurses Should Be Backbone of ARV Treatment
By Kristin Palitza
DURBAN (IPS) – Effectively scaling up South Africans’ access to antiretroviral (ARV) treatment will require decentralisation of health services from hospitals to clinics and allowing nurses to manage and eventually to initiate ARV treatment and care.
ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46370

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CHILE: Therapeutic Abortion – Hot Election Issue
By Daniela Estrada
SANTIAGO (IPS) – The debate on the decriminalisation of therapeutic abortion has been revived ahead of the December presidential elections in Chile, one of the few countries in the world where abortion is illegal even under extreme circumstances, such as risk to the mother?s life or a severely deformed foetus.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46373

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CAMBODIA: Khmer Rouge Trials May Expose US, China
Analysis by Marwaan Macan-Markar
PHNOM PENH (IPS) – Limits placed on a United Nations-backed war crimes tribunal in prosecuting surviving leaders of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime may not prevent revelations about international actors linked to Cambodia’s dark period.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46317

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DON'T MISS IPS EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE OF THE LONDON G20 SUMMIT.

The G20 – comprising some of the world?s major economies, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank ? met last week to discuss coordinated actions to revive the global economy, stimulate growth and employment, and reform the financial sector. They pledged trillions of dollars to stem the global slump. Will they succeed? Were the voices of the most vulnerable, developing and poor countries heard? What does the civil society say about it? IPS reports.
www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/G20/index.asp

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