ROME - Biofuels will not solve the world's energy problem, the chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell said on Sunday, amid growing criticism of their environmental and social benefits. The remarks follow protests in Brazil and Europe against fuels derived from food crops. Food shortages and rising costs have set off rioting and protests in countries including Haiti, Cameroon, Niger and Indonesia.

Pasta-loving Italians observed a one-day

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>> On April 16, the Anti-vivisection League, an animal rights group in Italy, asked Pope Benedict to stop wearing fur as a sign of respect for the "sacredness of all living species'. The Pope

The resistance to transgenic crops is growing in Italy. Of the 1,209 municipalities in the country's northern Piedmont region, 248 recently declared themselves free from genetically modified

Reflecting upon the fifth ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization at Cancun, a Down To Earth editorial see: "How not to lose all", October 1

The entire gamut of activities that threaten ecosystems in the mountain regions dominated discussions at the meeting of the scientific advisory body to the Convention on Biological Diversity: from habitat fragmentation, poaching and wildlife trade in the

a trend towards smaller households is threatening biodiversity around the world, a new study finds. Both in deve

from Tuscany to the tip of Sicily, Italy is in the grip of its worst drought in decades. It has wiped out crops, killed livestock and changed the lives of thousands of people. Experts say that

Rightwing parties provide an illusion of certainty: the one thing that many Europeans reeling under new pressures are hungrily groping for

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