Spirit trap: The Mekong

(March 21, 1995) Before sunrise the men have collected the night’s catch from the large lee traps scaffolded over the rushing water. Women sit gutting and chopping the silver-white fish, to get them ready for smoking. ‘Not a great catch, but good enough,’ says one man, placing his fish on the scales. ‘Last season, one of these traps caught over a ton of fish in just one night.

How to Kill World Bank

(December 9, 1994) When the World Bank celebrated its golden anniversary in Madrid in early October, it promised a new and revitalized "vision" to alleviate Third World poverty. But the bank’s critics-from left-wing development agencies and radical environmentalists to right-wing think tanks-don’t trust that vision.