China in Africa: Young Workers,
Deadly Mines
Children in Congo risk their lives digging cobalt and copper ore with their bare hands for Chinese companies. (Sept 2008)

Busting the Chip Cartel
U.S. antitrust prosecutors sent 15 executives from four companies to jail for price fixing of memory chips. There was a rub: The collusion failed. (June 2008)

The Subprime in the Schoolhouse
The mortgage contagion has hit state-run investment pools that handle $200 billion in funds for schools and cities. Taxpayers are in the dark. (Jan 2008)

Ethanol's Deadly Brew
Thousands of Brazilian sugar cane workers are injured and scores die each year in the rush to produce a fuel that Presidents Bush and Lula celebrate as a path to energy independence. (Nov 2007)

Unsafe Havens
U.S. money market funds have invested $11 billion in subprime debt, much of it managed by Bear Stearns. (Oct 2007)

The Insurance Hoax
Property insurers use secret tactics to cheat customers out of payments—as profits break records. McKinsey's advice to Allstate: Use "boxing gloves" instead of "good hands." (Sept 2007)

The Ratings Charade
Subprime mortgages have swept into the booming collateralized debt obligation market, often in CDOs awarded the highest grades by Standard & Poor's, Moody's and Fitch. (Jul 2007)

The Secret World of Modern Slavery
Steel used to build cars and appliances in the U.S. starts with forced labor in Brazil. (Dec 2006)

Playing the Odds
Doctors disagree on how to treat the more than 230,000 men who will learn they have prostate cancer this year in the U.S. (Sept 2006)

Why Obama Won't Bash
Wall Street
The new president has an opportunity to craft the most sweeping overhaul of financial regulation in generations.

Doubling Down
Barclays CEO John Varley spurns his own government's offer in favor of a Middle Eastern sheikh.

Royal Mess
Fred Goodwin led $140 billion of banking acquisitions in his quest to make RBS into a global contender. His successor may have to dismantle the failed empire.

Le Caméléon
French President Nicolas Sarkozy cut taxes and reveled in the company of billionaires before the financial crisis. Now he's embracing intervention and protectionism -- again.

Prince of Pakistan
Mian Mohammad Mansha, the nation's richest man, isn't letting terrorism and a slumping economy stand between him and his Nishat Group's burgeoning financial, textile and cement empire.

AARP's stealth fees
The seniors' association says its 40 million members can save money buying insurance it endorses. What the group doesn't disclose is that the royalties it gets from carriers often mean higher rates.