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

DON’T MISS IPS SPECIAL COVERAGE OF LAST WEEK?S PITTSBURGH G20 SUMMIT – THE WORLD IS WATCHING:
www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/g20/index.asp

ECONOMY: ‘Put Africa on the G20 Agenda in Pittsburgh’
By Stephanie Nieuwoudt
CAPE TOWN (IPS) – With South Africa being the only African country with a seat on the Group of 20 (G20), while serving as co-chair of the working group on reforming the International Monetary Fund, it has “a moral obligation towards the continent to call for more responsible management of the global financial system”.
ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48573

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G20: Rising Above the G8
Analysis by Sanjay Suri
PITTSBURGH (IPS) – Something that was perhaps only half-expected has happened in Pittsburgh: the G20 has moved on from being an event to becoming an institution.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48597

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SOUTH AMERICA-AFRICA: Coming Together to Fight Poverty
By Humberto Márquez
PORLAMAR, Venezuela (IPS) – A declaration that puts an accent on the positions of the developing South and expresses a renewed commitment to cooperation in the fight against poverty and for development was signed by the leaders who met over the weekend in the second South America-Africa summit, on the Venezuelan island of Margarita.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48615

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MIDEAST: Jerusalem Palestinians Defining Their Own Future
By Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler
EAST JERUSALEM (IPS) – Almost a year ago a barely noticed event took place in Sawarha, a Palestinian neighbourhood in the Israeli-occupied part of the city.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48593

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POLITICS: Libyan Leader Thrashes All and Sundry in U.N. Debut
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – Libyan leader Muammar el-Qaddafi, in his maiden visit to the United Nations Wednesday, made a highly predictable speech – long on rhetoric and short on substance.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48568

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PAKISTAN: ?Empty Stomachs? Could Spark More Riots, Experts Warn
By Zofeen Ebrahim
KARACHI (IPS) – For a bag of flour, they risked life and limb.
ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48557

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MIDEAST: Widows and Children Begin to Beg
By Eva Bartlett
GAZA CITY (IPS) – There are few parks and green spaces in Gaza, and those that exist are crowded with people hungry for nature. Day and night, people of all ages flock to the Joondi, or the park of the Unknown Soldier, in central Gaza City.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48516

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KENYA: Slum Upgrade Is Land Grab – Nubians
By George Kebaso
NAIROBI (IPS) – Her neighbours moved away one week ago, but Fatuma Abou sits against the tin door of her Kibera shack with a hijab over her head, chin on her knees and a defiant expression on her face when she looks up.
ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48601

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RIGHTS-MALAYSIA: Win Some, Lose Some for Beleaguered Penan Tribe
By Baradan Kuppusamy
KUALA LUMPUR (IPS) – In wealthy Malaysia that employs over four
million Asians to service its high- rolling lifestyle, a tiny indigenous
tribe is fighting for its survival against state inaction and
bureaucratic apathy, as well as marauding giant multinationals and
timber loggers.
ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48521

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LATIN AMERICA: Strides and Setbacks for Domestic and Rural Workers
By Daniela Estrada*
SANTIAGO (IPS) – In the last few years, several Latin American countries have attempted to improve labour conditions for rural workers and domestics, whose labour rights have long been ignored. But the new laws, even those with limited scope, are not always enforced.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48613

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IPS wants to redress a huge imbalance that exists today: Only about 22 percent of the voices you hear and read in the news are women?s. You can change your perspective – Read the new IPS Gender Wire.
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DON’T MISS IPS EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE OF WOMEN IN THE NEWS.

Elections, health, education, armed conflicts, corruption, laws, trade, climate change, the global financial and food crises, and natural disasters – IPS covers these frontline issues asking an often forgotten question: What does it mean for women and girls?
www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/women/index.asp

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