Reuters

Rising production of biofuels from crops might complicate U.N. goals of ending hunger in developing countries, where 850 million people do not have enough to eat, a senior U.N. official said on Wednesday. y Alister Doyle

If you thought the sight of the great American jazz city New Orleans flooded to the eaves -- its people trapped in attics or on rooftops -- was the nightmare hurricane scenario, think again. By Jim Loney

Surging demand for irrigation to produce food and biofuels is likely to aggravate scarcities of water but the world's supply is not running out, an international report said on Monday. By Alister Doyle

With signs that the world is warming, even Inuit peoples of the far north are ordering air conditioning. By Alister Doyle

Colorado electricity cooperative is urging other power groups to support global warming skeptics and has donated US$100,000 to a climatologist who has labeled some of his colleagues "alarmists." By Timothy Gardner

Drought has caused Italian farmers losses of some 500 million euros (US$637 million) so far this year, hitting rice and maize producers in the north particularly hard, the main industry body said on Thursday.

In a sharp rebuke of President George W. Bush's tactics in the war on terrorism, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday struck down as unlawful the military tribunal system set up to try Guantanamo prisoners. By James Vicini

Most U.S. employers are planning to further scale back health benefits offered to retirees, as companies struggle with the upward march in the cost of medical care and weigh increased contributions from the government's Medicare program, a survey found. By Kim Dixon

For-profit nursing homes and hospitals on average provide an inferior quality of care compared with their nonprofit peers, according to an extensive review of studies published on Tuesday. By Kim Dixon

Energy firms are stepping up projects to bury greenhouse gases but storage will not be a silver bullet to stop global warming, an International Energy Agency (IEA) expert said on Monday. By Alister Doyle

The world must lay to rest a "myth" that protecting the environment harms economic growth, the new head of the U.N. Environment Programme said on Thursday. By Alister Doyle

The United States on Tuesday reasserted its right to develop weapons for use in outer space to protect its military and commercial satellites and ruled out any global negotiations on a new treaty to limit them. By Stephanie Nebehay

U.S. spending in Iraq and Afghanistan helped push up global 2005 military expenditure by 3.5 percent to $1.12 trillion, a research body said on Monday. By Gareth Porter

Ethical codes endorsed by the American Medical Association, including a declaration by the World Medical Association, state that if a doctor considers a hunger striker "capable of forming an unimpaired and rational judgment concerning the consequences of such voluntary refusal of nourishment, he or

India said on Tuesday that poor nations had to give priority to ending poverty rather than fighting global warming at 189-nation U.N. climate talks criticized by environmentalists as a rambling talk shop. By Alister Doyle

American International Group Inc. this week became the first major US insurer to adopt a policy on climate change, saying it would develop projects to keep greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere.

Countries including Canada were expressing interest in a US-led six-nation scheme to combat global warming set up after Washington rejected the UN's Kyoto Protocol, a US official said.

Hungary - A large region of central Hungary is turning into desert as a result of irrational communist planning and climate change, threatening the livelihood of 300,000 people, an expert advising government said. By Andras Gergely

Three major hurricanes will strike the United States this year, with the storm-battered Gulf Coast most at risk in June and July, forecaster AccuWeather predicted Monday.

The worst flooding in 70 years in Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire forced thousands of people from their homes on Monday after the heaviest rainfall in a decade. By Jason Szep

Canada defended its leadership of U.N. talks on fighting global warming on Monday, despite admitting it will not meet its own Kyoto Protocol goals. By Alister Doyle

The United States on Monday denied it had discussed with the European Commission plans to curb greenhouse gas emissions after the Kyoto Protocol runs out on 2012.

A heatwave has killed at least 50 people in Pakistan since the start of May, prompting authorities to warn people to stay out of the midday sun as temperatures cross 50 Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) in the shade. By Kamran Haider

Disease spread by global warming could kill an extra 185 million people in sub-Saharan Africa by the end of the century and turn millions more into refugees unless rich nations take action now, a report said on Monday. By Jeremy Lovell

Climate scientists identified a likely new victim of global warming on Wednesday: The vast looping system of air currents that fuels Pacific trade winds and climate from South America to Indonesia.

For a brief time in October, the pressure inside 185-mph (298 kph) Hurricane Wilma dropped to an astonishing low, making it the most intense hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic and Caribbean. By Jim Loney

Two start-up companies and New Mexico plan a US$1.6 billion solar power farm that would be 30 times the size of the world's biggest one now, with enough power for 240,000 homes.

China's northern province of Hebei is suffering its worst drought in 55 years with hundreds of thousands of people lacking drinking water, a newspaper and a government Web site said on Saturday.

Even in one of the remotest, coldest and most inhospitable parts of Canada's High Arctic, you cannot escape the signs of global warming. By David Ljunggren

Three films in two years about Rwanda's genocide have shocked Western audiences with the scale and savagery of the slaughter, but many survivors in the tiny central African nation are unimpressed. By Arthur Asiimwe