News stories by Silvia Giannelli

AUGUSTA, Syracuse, Italy, May 11 (IPS) - Not even a month has passed since over 700 hundred migrants lost their lives in their attempt to reaching the shores of Italy and the media spotlights have already faded on the island of Sicily, Italy's southern region and main gateway to Europe.

ROME, Nov 30 (IPS) - "It's like putting explosive, gasoline and matches all in one shed. These are things that should be stored in separated places."

LUCCA, Italy, Oct 30 (IPS) - "If  they go ahead and dig those wells, all my work will be destroyed, all my life, everything," says Franca Tognarelli, looking at the hills and vineyards around her house in Certaldo, Val d'Elsa, in the heart of Tuscany.

GRABICE, Poland / PROSCHIM, Germany, Aug 26 (IPS) - "People have gathered here to tell their politicians that the way in which we used energy and our environment in the 19^th and 20^th centuries is now over," says Radek Gawlik, one of Poland's most experienced environmental activists. "The time for burning coal has passed and the sooner we understand this, the better it is for us."

LUCCA, Italy, Aug 01 (IPS) - His journey started four years ago in Conakry, Guinea. Now that Mamoudou* has finally reached Italy, he hopes this will be his final stop.

ROME, Jul 23 (IPS) - "It was midnight and I was sleeping; I woke up to the noise of the police breaking down the entrance door of the school," says Italian journalist Lorenzo Guadagnucci. "They came in running and screaming. The bashing was immediate, with no chance of mediation."