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

AFGHANISTAN: Karzai and Warlords Mount Massive Vote Fraud Scheme
Analysis by Gareth Porter*
WASHINGTON (IPS) – Afghanistan’s presidential election has long been viewed by U.S. officials as a key to conferring legitimacy on the Afghan government, but Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his powerful warlord allies have planned to commit large-scale electoral fraud that could have the opposite effect.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48142

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TRADE: France Conned EU?s Controversial Subsidies Scheme
By Hilaire Avril
PARIS (IPS) – The European Commission is demanding that the French government pays back 500 million euros spent on aid to French farmers. The scheme is in breach of European competition law as it financed competition with France?s neighbours by providing vegetable and fruit producers with hefty subsidies for more than a decade.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48169

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POLITICS-BURMA: Pro-democracy Camp to U.S. Senator: What Success?
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK (IPS) ? A rare visit by a United States senator to Burma
? billed as ?successful? in some quarters ? is winning little applause
from sectors critical of the military regime that rules the country.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48132

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DEVELOPMENT: Political Power Dictates Transboundary Waters
By Thalif Deen
STOCKHOLM (IPS) – A longstanding quote attributed, rightly or wrongly, to the legendary author and humourist Mark Twain has been reverberating in the conference rooms of the Swedish capital: “Whisky is for drinking, water is for fighting over.”
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48160

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BALKANS: Back to Arms, if not War
By Vesna Peric Zimonjic
BELGRADE (IPS) – The arms industry in Serbia is seeing record growth amidst the economic slum that has hit other industries.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48120

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RIGHTS-ARGENTINA: Delayed Justice for Dictatorship Crimes
By Marcela Valente
BUENOS AIRES (IPS) – Trials for human rights crimes committed by the 1976-1983 dictatorship in Argentina, reopened four years ago after amnesty laws were struck down, are moving at such a slow pace that so far only 50 people have been convicted. At this rate it is estimated proceedings will continue for another 15 years.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48138

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EUROPE: Small Farmers Lost in Transition
By Claudia Ciobanu
BUCHAREST (IPS) – “Our country would have gone through the economic crisis much smoother had we invested more in agriculture over the past 20 years, and had we not wasted so many resources on consumption,” Romanian President Traian Basescu declared Aug. 7. That remark has drawn attention to serious questions whether countries like Romania are wasting their potential for agriculture.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48121

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POLITICS-INDONESIA: After July Bombings, Life Goes On (Almost)
By Indira Husin
JAKARTA (IPS) ? Dian Sabri likes to do a little test on the
security guards whenever she goes to malls, hotels or office buildings.
If she dresses up and acts busy, or if she brings along her toddler, she
can avoid being frisked, said the freelance writer.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48180

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RIGHTS-GUATEMALA: One Arrest in Gender-Killing Epidemic
By Danilo Valladares
GUATEMALA CITY (IPS) – “Femicide,” or gender-based murder, has reached epidemic proportions in Guatemala. But at least for Rosmery González – one of the more than 700 Guatemalan victims of this crime in 2008 – justice is finally being done with the arrest of her alleged killer earlier this month.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48126

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MALAWI: High-Risk Sex Among Those Who “Do Not Exist”
By Christi van der Westhuizen
CAPE TOWN (IPS) – A study on men having sex with men (MSM) in Malawi shows that, as elsewhere in the developing world, this vulnerable group is at greater risk of contracting HIV and AIDS than the general population. Moreover, their risk status is exacerbated as governments fail to target them for health services or information to stem HIV transmission.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48130

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