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

U.S.: Secret Bailouts for Giant Failing Banks of the Future?
By Adrianne Appel
BOSTON (IPS) – Big banks will not be forced to downsize and the public will be the last to know when they fail, a controversial bill unveiled by U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Congressman Barney Frank proposes.
ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49079

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POLITICS: U.S. in Pakistan’s Mind: Nothing But Aversion
Analysis by Muhammad Idrees Ahmad*
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (IPS) – To the west of Peshawar on the Jamrud Road that leads to the historic Khyber Pass sits the Karkhano Market, a series of shopping plazas whose usual offering of contraband is now supplemented by standard issue U.S. military equipment, including combat fatigues, night vision goggles, body armour and army knives.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=4906

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ECONOMY-AFRICA: Pros and Cons to Huge Chinese Investment in DRC
By Stephanie Nieuwoudt
CAPE TOWN (IPS) – Concerns abound about a nine billion dollar Chinese investment in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, especially around environmental consequences and transparency. And, on the Chinese side, investors complain not only about the lack of security in the DRC but about their own government not providing enough support.
ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49031

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MIDEAST: Harvesting in Death Zone, With a Song
By Eva Bartlett
BEIT HANOUN, Gaza (IPS) – On a quiet October morning, Fida Zaneen, 19, sings a traditional love song as she pulls olives from trees in Beit Hanoun’s border region during the annual olive harvest.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49071

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BRAZIL: Drugs, Guns, Gangs and Police ? a Violent Mix in the ‘Favelas’
By Fabiana Frayssinet
RIO DE JANEIRO (IPS) – Janaína*, who lives in Jacarezinho, one of the most violent “favelas” or shantytowns in this Brazilian city, describes the control that the “movement” ? the local drug mafia ? exercises over the neighbourhood and local residents.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49080

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ENVIRONMENT: Rethinking Jobs for a Sustainable Economy
By Matthew Cardinale*
ATLANTA, Georgia (IPS/IFEJ) – The possibility of environmental catastrophe has led many leaders, scholars and average citizens to reconsider an economy based on constant growth. It is becoming clear that people, especially in the United States, will need to consume less in the way of natural resources to avoid planetary peril.
ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49096

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ZAMBIA: Fishing in Troubled Waters
By Zarina Geloo*
LUSAKA (IPS/IFEJ) – In two decades of fishing on the Zambezi, Darius Wamulume has never seen anything like this. With deep ulcerations and tissue decay, the fish he has caught recently is too unsightly to sell and too suspect to eat.
ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48987

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JAPAN: Death from Overwork Persists Amid Economic Crunch
By Catherine Makino
TOKYO (IPS) – One morning nine months ago, Kenji Hamada’s colleagues were surprised to find him in their Tokyo office slumped over his desk. They thought he was sleeping, but when he did not wake up after two hours, they realised he was dead.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49047

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EL SALVADOR: Clandestine Graves Are Back
By Edgardo Ayala
SAN SALVADOR (IPS) – Spatula in hand, forensic scientist Israel Ticas carefully excavates a decomposed human foot protruding from a shallow grave in rough terrain in the mountains of Las Crucitas, close to Ciudad Arce in the west-central Salvadoran province of La Libertad.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49055

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RIGHTS: Before the Olympics in Brazil
By Danielle Batist
SWANSEA, U.K. (IPS) – Athletes competing for Olympic gold speak to the imagination of most of us. Homeless people playing an international football tournament may be a less familiar sight. Brazilians in Rio de Janeiro will get a chance to see both.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49051

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