General Motors Corp is taking another stake in a company focused on developing ethanol from sources other than corn, the automaker said on Thursday. Mascoma Corp is testing its process for converting biological wastes -- plant matter, grasses, wood chips and other non-grain sources -- to fuel. It expects to start producing ethanol later this year at a demonstration plant in New York state.

Canada's plan to ensure that gasoline contains 5 percent ethanol by 2010 won support in the House of Commons on Thursday despite increasing concern about the impact of biofuels on world food supplies. The legislation, which also calls for diesel to contain 2 percent renewable fuels by 2012, passed a critical vote in the House, where the Conservative government has a minority of seats, with the support of opposition members from the Liberal and Bloc Quebecois parties.

XUAN CANH, Vietnam: Truong Thi Nha stands just 4

Indonesia's biofuel sector is not a major force destroying tropical forests or squeezing out land used for food production, a senior industry official told Reuters on Wednesday. The grain and oilseed-based biofuel sector has come under attack from green groups for accelerating the destruction of forests, while some analysts blame it for contributing to soaring world food prices by diverting crops that could be used for food.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon began talks yesterday with key development agencies on how to tackle the crisis provoked by soaring food and fuel prices. "This is an exciting time for the United Nations, but it is also a time when we are challenged to exert our best efforts to rise to the expectations that the world is placing on us," Ban said ahead of meetings in the Swiss capital. The UN was to hammer out a battle plan of emergency measures at the two-day conference in Berne, while exploring other longer-term measures to solve the global food crisis.

Leading figures from the United Nations met in Switzerland on Monday to chart a solution to dramatic food price increases that have caused hunger, riots and hoarding in poor countries around the world. Vietnam acted to quell panic over rice supplies on Monday, banning speculation in the market after a "chaotic" buying binge in the Southeast Asian nation highlighted growing global fears about food security.