Energy bill to boost clean energy production

The bill is expected to outline long-term contracts to encourage investment in nuclear and renewable energy.

These could include provisions for energy firms to return money if energy prices rise above agreed levels.

Critics say the measures will result in higher energy bills for consumers.
Green groups also say the bill will not reduce the UK's reliance on gas.
They say that more clarity is needed over the government's long-term policy, particularly how it will achieve stringent C02 reduction targets.

The bill should provide more details of the coalition's plans for nuclear power generation, which are unclear following the decision of two German power companies to pull out of building plants in the UK.
Dirty plants The long-term contracts, precise details of which are unlikely to be outlined in the bill, aim to reassure prospective investors in nuclear and offshore wind farms, which need huge up-front expenditure.
But they have proved unpopular with some energy suppliers, which say basing them on the difference between the actual market price and a preset, guaranteed price, is overly complex.

Other industry bodies have also expressed concerns about the so-called contracts for difference.

"Investment decisions for both developers and manufacturers need to be made a long time in advance and it's key that they get reassurance and understanding of how the market will allow generators of all sizes to produce and sell power," said Renewable UK's director of policy Dr Gordon Edge.

The government will also introduce an Emissions Performance Standard, designed to prevent the construction of new, dirty coal plants.

Only coal plants with carbon capture and storage will, in effect, be allowed, although this technology is unproven on a large scale. Read More

Marks and Spencer in first profit fall in three years

Pre-tax profits for the year to the end of March were £658m, down 16% from the previous year's £781m.
Like-for-like sales in the UK, which measure sales in stores open for more than a year, were up 0.3% on last year.

The company said it was scaling back its three-year sales targets set in November 2010 and would be cutting investment in UK stores by £200m

Sales growth was planned to be between £1.5bn and £2.5bn by November 2013 but the target is now for growth of between £1.1bn and £1.7bn.

Marks and Spencer's chief executive, Marc Bolland, said doing business in the UK had got a lot harder since the target was set: "The UK trading environment has changed quite a bit in 18 months.

"It is not as great as it used to be when we expected higher GDP [gross domestic product] growth."
Marks and Spencer has 730 stores in the UK from which it makes the majority of sales and profits.Read More

Asbo replacement orders to be announced by government

The plans are expected to include a new "community trigger", which would force the police, councils and other agencies to act after several complaints.
The government says the new measures will be simpler and more flexible than current powers for tackling problems.

Labour said the measures were a "weaker rebrand" of powers to tackle the issue.
The proposals mark the most far-reaching reforms of measures to deal with anti-social behaviour since the introduction of Asbos (anti-social behaviour orders) in the late 1990s.
Home Secretary Theresa May told BBC Breakfast that Asbos were "too bureaucratic" and took too long to put into place.

She said the government wanted to reduce the number of different orders from 19 to six and make them "more flexible, easier, quicker to put into place".
"We're going to look at enabling the community or individuals... to say to the police or local authority 'excuse me, you've got to do something'," she said.

"For most people, if they report something once, then they want something done about it - but it's about getting the balance right."

Mrs May said too many people's lives were being blighted by anti-social behaviour.
"The government will actually do its bit to help by... making things much more flexible, much easier, much quicker to put into place so the police and local authorities will have the tools that they need to respond to what is going wrong at their local level."

End to Asbos The Home Office first signalled an end to Asbos at the start of last year.
It believes the orders are seen by some youths as a badge of honour and it has pointed out that more than half are breached at least once.

Among the proposals to be published in a government White Paper later are establishing criminal behaviour orders, which would be used to prevent convicted criminals from engaging in particular activities or going to certain places.

Vicki Helyar-Cardwell Director, Criminal Justice Alliance

"I had graffiti all over the front of my house calling me a scumbag," said Mary Armstrong, chairwoman of the Irk Valley Residents' Association. 

"I had nine cars trashed - four of them had to be written off."
Since then, the residents have started schemes to improve the area which have helped to build community pride.

And while Asbos were vital in stopping problems like violence and vandalism, often that took time.
Mary Armstrong believes the new measures need to stop people from causing trouble a lot more quickly.
"If you have got somebody causing anti-social behaviour and they think nobody is going to do anything about that, then that is fuel for them," she Read More

Prosecutor Launches New Strauss-Kahn Rape Probe

A French prosecutor on Monday opened a preliminary investigation into allegations of rape in a Washington hotel by former IMF chief and one-time French presidential hopeful Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

The move by the prosecutor in Lille in northern France followed a request by investigating judges earlier this month to broaden a suspected prostitution probe to examine the claims of rape in December 2010.
The prosecutor's office said in a statement that they are looking into the allegation that Strauss-Kahn may have been involved in a rape during a sex party in the hotel while he was head of the International Monetary Fund.

The married Strauss-Kahn, 63, says whatever happened was consensual, and he has denied doing anything violent. The prominent economist, once a top contender for France's presidency, has seen his career and reputation crumble since he was accused of sexual assault in a New York hotel a year ago.

Strauss-Kahn is already a target in the Lille prostitution probe, which has mushroomed over the past year into a nationwide scandal. He is facing preliminary charges of alleged aggravated pimping, based on accusations by other people questioned in the investigation.

He denies those charges. He has acknowledged being involved in "libertine" activity, while saying that he was unaware of anyone being paid for sex.

French daily Liberation reported this month that two Belgian prostitutes questioned in the Lille probe described Strauss-Kahn as using violence during sex at the W Hotel in Washington and forcing a sexual act on her despite her protests.

Citing leaked transcripts of witness testimony to Belgian police, also involved in the probe, Liberation cited one of the prostitutes as saying that Strauss-Kahn "used force, he held down my hands, he pulled my hair, he hurt me." The woman is quoted as testifying that another man held her hands down while Strauss-Kahn assaulted her.

Neither of the prostitutes has filed legal complaints, but French rules allow for an investigation even without a formal complaint.

Police are handling the preliminary investigation that could end with all suspicions of rape being dropped or lead to an eventual charge.

A statement signed by Strauss-Kahn's three lawyers insisted the probe would show that their client "never committed violent acts nor had any relation whatsoever without the consent of his partners."
The attorneys claimed this new investigation is part of a bid, including by the media, to demolish Strauss-Kahn. Read More

SpaceX Will Try 1st Private Cargo Run Again Tues.

Private rocket maker SpaceX aimed for a Tuesday liftoff after fixing the engine problem that caused a launch abort over the weekend, stalling the world's first commercial space station supply flight.
Forecasters put the odds of good weather at 80 percent for the test flight. Launch time was 3:44 a.m. with a split-second window.

The California-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp., better known as SpaceX, is the first private business to attempt to launch a vessel to the International Space Station. The Dragon capsule atop the Falcon 9 rocket is filled with 1,000 pounds of food and other provisions.

All nine of the Falcon's engines ignited during the first launch attempt Saturday. But with just a half-second remaining before liftoff, on-board computers shut everything down because of high pressure in the combustion chamber of engine No. 5.

The problem was traced to a faulty valve. Engineers put in a new valve and declared the rocket ready to fly.

SpaceX is run by billionaire Elon Musk, the co-founder of PayPal. His company is in the lead of the NASA-sponsored competition to hand over space station cargo runs — and eventually astronaut ferry trips — to private business.

Musk said his Dragon capsules could be carrying astronauts to orbit in about four years. Until a private spacecraft is ready to fly, NASA astronauts will continue to ride Russian rockets to the space station.
The switch from government to commercial spaceflights is the cornerstone of President Barack Obama's exploration plan. The administration wants NASA spending its limited resources on missions beyond low-Earth orbit.

If launched Tuesday, the Dragon will reach the space station Thursday and undergo a series of practice maneuvers from more than a mile out. Then on Friday, the capsule will fly within reach of the station's 58-foot robot arm, which will snare it and berth it to the orbiting lab. Read More

France's Hollande Steals Show in World Stage Debut

In his debut in international summitry, Francois Hollande has made a splash — and held his ground on some sharply defined positions.

France's new leader grabbed attention at both the weekend's Group of Eight summit in Camp David and at the NATO summit in Chicago ending Monday, parlaying his mandate from voters in a May 6 election and showing he has his finger on the pulse of the public back home.
An informal European Union summit on Wednesday will cap his whirlwind first week as French president.

Hollande first sped to Berlin to meet Germany's chancellor, he then painstakingly formed a Socialist-led French Cabinet. He jetted to Washington, where he mused about his cheeseburger fetish in an Oval Office get-to-know with President Barack Obama that helped replace memories of Hollande's America-friendly predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy.

Hollande held firm on his two trenchant positions at the summits: His call for pro-growth measures to juice up Europe's lagging economy overshadowed the G-8 meeting, and his promise to break with NATO by pulling French troops out of Afghanistan ahead of other alliance members weighed heavily on the summit in Chicago.

"There was no embarrassing moment for him, despite the fact that he came right out of the election," said Dominique Moisi, a political analyst with the French Institute of International Relations, IFRI. "The difficulty starts when he comes home ... but we all know there won't be any miracles."
So far, it's mostly been style over substance. Hollande offered few details about how he would put his plans into practice.

The Socialist French president fills a seat that was occupied by Sarkozy, who was often dubbed "Sarko the American" and whose support for a hard line in Iran and NATO's intervention in Libya drew plaudits from U.S. leaders — including Obama. But at home, Sarkozy's brash, in-your-face demeanor in part led to his fall from grace at the ballot box.

So far, Hollande has ushered in a more inclusive style as French president, and the charm offensive has borne fruit. The timing of the summits also played in his favor: Obama, whose re-election hopes hinge in large part on the American economy's prospects, echoed Hollande's call for pro-growth policies at Camp David on Friday and Saturday. That gave Hollande some momentum going into the NATO summit, where some allies frowned on his early-pullout promises both privately and publicly.

Post-electoral honeymoons don't last forever. Much of the questioning that Hollande faced by his trailing press corps centered on his persona,Read More

THE RACE: Obama and Romney Fight Over Budget Goals

The presidential race is shaping up as a battle between Republican calls for more government austerity and Democratic appeals for more spending to promote jobs and growth with tax hikes on high-income earners. It mirrors a fight raging in Europe.

Presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney has embraced a House-passed Republican budget blueprint outlining deep government spending cuts, particularly in social programs. He also advocates lower tax rates while promising increases in Pentagon spending — meaning the rest of the government would have to shrink even more.

Eight leaders from wealthy democracies opened the door to more government spending to ease Europe's debt crisis at a weekend meeting at Camp David, Md. It was a backlash to widely unpopular austerity measures pushed principally by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

President Barack Obama welcomed the move, citing "an emerging consensus that more must be done to promote growth and job creation right now." That's in line with Obama's contention that tough austerity measures should await a stronger economy.

But there's clearly no such consensus in American politics.
Romney fed the austerity debate as he campaigned last week in front of a whirring national-debt clock. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., both declared Sunday that when Congress is asked to raise the nation's borrowing cap after the election, they'll insist on spending cuts to offset the increase.
That raised the prospect of another knock-down battle like the one last August that led to the first-ever downgrade of America's credit rating. Read More