MIAMI (Reuters) – An American Christian preacher who caused an international uproar last year by threatening to burn the Koran has put himself back in the spotlight after incinerating Islam's holy book -- again with deadly consequences.

Thousands of protesters in northern Afghanistan, enraged over news that the Florida pastor Terry Jones had overseen a torching of the Koran, stormed a United Nations compound on Friday, killing at least seven U.N. staff.

Jones, a 58-year-old fundamentalist pastor and the head of a small fringe church in Gainesville, Florida, drew worldwide condemnation in September over his plans to burn the Koran on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Several people were killed in protests then in Afghanistan and elsewhere in the Muslim world.

Jones eventually canceled that event under intense pressure from the U.S. government, the Pope, and other global leaders.

But he has remained an outspoken critic of Islam, and says parts of the Koran can lead to violence and terrorism.

On March 20, he presided over what he called an "International Judge the Koran Day" in which he supervised the burning of the book in front of some 50 people.

Video posted on the website of his Dove World Outreach Center church showed a kerosene-soaked book going up in bright flames in a metal fire pit similar to those often found in backyards and patios, but located inside the church.

"We believe parts of the Koran, if taken literally, do lead to violence and terrorist activities, do promote racism or prejudice against minorities, against Christians, against women," he said shortly after the Koran burning.

"The terrorist jihad people use the Koran," he said.

Some Muslim leaders, including Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, have denounced the burning and video.

Gainesville Mayor Craig Lowe condemned the Koran burning and the Afghan violence it had caused.

"It's important that the world and nation know that this particular individual and these actions are not representative of our community," Lowe said in a statement, quoted by the Gainesville Sun newspaper.

FEW FOLLOWERS

Jones is a former hotel manager whose non-denominational church only has a few dozen members.

The church website offers for sale a book written by the pastor entitled "Islam is of the Devil", and also T-shirts, baseball caps and mugs emblazoned with the same sentence.

"Our United States government and our President must take a close, realistic look at the radical element Islam. Islam is not a religion of peace. It is time that we call these people to accountability," he said on Friday in a statement reacting to the events in Afghanistan.

But he told the BBC he in no way felt responsible for the killings of the U.N. employees there.

Those who know Jones say he demands strict obedience and unpaid labor from his tiny flock and sells used furniture out of his Gainesville sanctuary.

He was once ejected from a church in Germany by his own followers. His daughter said last year she believed he had lost his mind in his fanatical crusade against Islam.

Over the years, Jones has demonized homosexuals and increasingly targeted Islam, preaching that Muslims were trying to take over the United States and impose Sharia law.

Children in his Florida congregation were sent to school wearing T-shirts that proclaimed "Islam is of the Devil," until school officials banned the shirts.

Jones has said he is planning an April 22 protest outside an Islamic center in Dearborn, Michigan, home to a large Muslim population.

"Dearborn is sort of the Mecca of America," he said.

(Additional reporting by Jane Sutton; Editing by Pascal Fletcher)

PHOENIX (Reuters) – A Southwest Airlines plane with a gaping hole in fuselage made an emergency landing at a military base in Arizona on Friday after a sudden drop in cabin pressure, airline officials said.

Southwest Flight 812 from Phoenix to Sacramento, with 118 passengers on board, landed safely at the Yuma Marine Corps Air Station with a hole in the top of the aircraft, a Southwest spokeswoman said in a statement.

There were no passenger injuries reported, the statement said. The airline said one flight attendant was slightly injured.

The Boeing 737 landed at 4:07 p.m. local time after declaring an emergency, said Ian Gregor, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman.

"We do not know the cause of the decompression," Gregor said.

Passengers described the harrowing scene to the CBS television affiliate in Sacramento, detailing the damage to the plane.

"They had just taken drink orders when I heard a huge sound and oxygen masks came down and we started making a rapid descent. They said we'd be making an emergency landing," a woman identified as Cindy told the station.

"There was a hole in the fuselage about three feet long. You could see the insulation and the wiring. You could see a tear the length of one of the ceiling panels."

Another passenger tweeted that she was "happy to be alive."

"Still feel sick. 6 foot hole in the skin of the plane five rows behind me. Unbelievable," Shawna MalviniRedden wrote. She said she texted her husband while in the air, saying "I love you."

Southwest airlines said an aircraft with maintenance crew, ground crew and customer service agents onboard, was sent to Yuma.

(Reporting by David Schwartz; Editing by Greg McCune)

DENVER (Reuters) – A 16-year-old boy from rural Colorado was arrested on Friday for the shotgun killings of his great-grandparents, a crime that stunned residents of the small farming and ranching community where the couple lived for decades.

The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office said in a news release that the unidentified boy was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder for the slayings of Laura Clagett, 82, and her husband Charles, 80, at their Hugo, Colorado home.

The boy made his first court appearance in Lincoln County Court on Friday to hear the possible charges he faces and to be advised of his rights, Casimir Spencer, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office, told Reuters.

Spencer said prosecutors will not formally file charges until their investigation is complete.

The probe began Wednesday when the Colorado State Patrol was summoned to the scene of a rollover accident outside Hugo and found the 16-year-old trapped in an overturned pickup truck.

The boy was transported to a Denver hospital 105 miles away with moderate injuries.

When Lincoln County deputies went to the home of the truck's registered owners to inform them of the accident, they discovered the elderly couple shot dead in their bedroom.

Lincoln County Coroner Jennifer Nestor told Reuters on Friday that the pair both died from close-range shotgun blasts, and may have been dead for three days before their bodies were found.

Investigators said they had no other suspects in the slaying, and deputies took the boy into custody after he was released from the hospital on Friday.

The Clagetts were longtime fixtures in Hugo, a town of 770 on the eastern Colorado plains.

(Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Greg McCune)

MADISON, Wisconsin (Reuters) – Wisconsin suspended enforcement of a new law reducing public sector union powers on Thursday after a judge ruled it had not taken effect, while Ohio enacted a similar measure curbing collective bargaining by state employees.

The Wisconsin announcement brought a new twist to political wrangling over the state's budget that has sparked massive pro-union demonstrations and made the state the epicenter of a national debate over similar proposals in several U.S. states.

It also could force Wisconsin to alter budget plans for the current fiscal year and the two-year period that starts July 1, said Mordecai Lee, a University of Wisconsin governmental affairs professor and former state lawmaker.

"Every day the judge's TRO stays in effect, it's going to screw up their accounting," Lee said.

Wisconsin had begun preparations to increase healthcare and pension contributions made by unionized state workers and halt automatic union dues deductions under the law approved by the Republican-led legislature and signed into law by Republican Governor Scott Walker.

The bill passed the state Assembly after non-appropriation parts were removed, allowing Republican senators under the legislature's rules to approve it without the Democrats who had left Wisconsin to avoid a vote.

Tensions continued after Walker signed the bill, with Democrats pressing a legal challenge to the way it was passed and state officials pushing ahead with its implementation.

Dane County Circuit Court Judge Maryann Sumi enjoined publication of the law by the secretary of state in mid March and reinforced that on Thursday in a two-page court order.

"Based on the briefs of counsel, the uncontroverted testimony, and the evidence received" the act "has not been published ... and is therefore not in effect," Sumi wrote.

Administration Department Secretary Mike Huebsch said he would suspend implementation of the law, though the department believed the bill has been legally published and is law.

OHIO LAW, PROTESTS

Similar legislation limiting collective bargaining and proposing other measures to curb unions or restrict benefits has been advanced in Tennessee and Michigan this year.

In Ohio, Republican Governor John Kasich signed on Thursday a controversial bill that curbs collective bargaining and bans strikes by about 360,000 public workers, one day after it received final approval from the legislature in Columbus.

"(The bill) gives local governments and schools powerful tools to reduce their costs so they can refocus resources on key priorities-like public safety and classroom instruction," Kasich said in a statement.

While massive protests in Wisconsin grabbed most attention this year, Ohio is more important to the union movement, with twice the number of public sector union members.

The new law requires public employees such as firefighters, police officers and teachers to pay at least 15 percent of their health insurance premiums, and would get rid of automatic pay increases and replace them with merit or performance pay.

Ohio Democrats want to overturn the law in a referendum, banking on intense public opposition to the measure. Under Ohio law, the law does not take effect for 90 days.

Several other states are considering similar legislation and the issue is likely to be a factor in the 2012 elections.

In New Hampshire, the latest state where legislators are trying to limit public sector union collective bargaining, thousands of protesters rallied outside the state capitol in Concord on Thursday to oppose budget bills they say curb the rights for state workers.

Aside from spending cuts, a companion bill to the House budget which passed on Wednesday included an amendment that would put salaries and benefits of public workers at the discretion of their employer if a contract expires without resolution.

The move was proposed as a way to trim state employee wage costs by $50 million.

(Reporting by Jeff Mayers, David Bailey, James B. Kelleher; additional reporting by Jim Lekrone in Columbus and Lauren Keiper in Boston; Editing by Jerry Norton and Anthony Boadle)

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) – Governor John Kasich signed on Thursday a bill that curbs collective bargaining rights and bans strikes affecting about 360,000 public workers, making Ohio the most populous state to pass anti-union legislation this year.

Republican Kasich signed the controversial measure at a ceremony in Columbus one day after it received final approval from the legislature.

"(The bill) gives local governments and schools powerful tools to reduce their costs so they can refocus resources on key priorities like public safety and classroom instruction," Kasich said in a statement.

While massive protests in Wisconsin earlier this year grabbed national attention, Ohio is far more important to the union movement. It has the nation's sixth largest number of public sector union members, which is twice as many as Wisconsin.

Wisconsin passed a law similar to Ohio earlier this year but a judge temporarily blocked its implementation and Wisconsin Republicans on Thursday said they would suspend enforcing the law while they fight the legal challenge.

Several other states are considering anti-union legislation and the issue is likely to be a factor in the 2012 elections. Lawmakers in New Hampshire and Oklahoma on Thursday approved proposals that critics said would hurt public sector unions.

The wave of anti-union measures in the states may be the biggest challenge to the power of the union movement in the United States since then President Ronald Reagan fired striking air traffic controllers nearly 30 years ago.

Ohio Democrats want to overturn the new law through a referendum on the November ballot. Under Ohio law, the measure does not take effect for 90 days. If opponents are able to secure the approximately 231,000 signatures needed to place a referendum on the ballot during the 90 days, the law will be on hold until the election in November.

Public opposition to the bill was intense and the Democrats' chances of getting a referendum are "very good" but it's hard to say how it will do in November, said Ohio State University political science professor Paul Beck.

"If the vote were held right now, the bill would be overturned," said Beck. "The real question is will the intensity survive between now and November."

The bill requires public employees such as firefighters, police officers and teachers to pay at least 15 percent of their health insurance premiums, and would get rid of automatic pay increases and replace them with merit or performance pay.

Employees would not be required to pay dues to a union if they refuse union membership, and public employers would not be allowed to automatically withdraw payroll funds for deposit into a union political action committee.

One of the biggest problems for unions has been a change that does away with binding arbitration in contract disputes, letting the legislative body choose their own offer if negotiations fall apart. Opponents say this effectively ends collective bargaining, because the employer always is able to come out on top.

Republican State Sen. Bill Seitz, who voted against the bill, called this a "heads I win, tails you lose" proposition.

Public employees can still bargain on issues related to wages and certain working conditions, but not health care, sick time or pension benefits.

A group that will likely be known as "We are Ohio" is already forming to gather petitions against the bill, and is planning a referendum rally on April 9 in Columbus to encourage people to be volunteer as signature gatherers, said Anthony Caldwell, spokesman for the Ohio SEIU.

"As soon as physically and legally possible we'll have those petitions out in every one of the 88 counties," Caldwell said.

"Working families across Ohio will make sure we gather as many signatures as possible to make sure we get this on the ballot," Caldwell said.

Republicans plan a campaign against the referendum, "to debunk the myths, the half-truths, and the lies the fat cat labor bosses have been spewing in Ohio, Wisconsin and other states," said Kevin DeWine, chairman of the state Republican party.

"There will be a full-throated defense of (the bill) and our leaders who helped fight for its passage," DeWine said.

DeWine said people have made false claims that salaries will be cut in half and pensions will be gone.

Beck said one problem Republicans face is that if there is a referendum, the law will be frozen, so no one will be able to tell if it does any good. On the other hand, voters will be feeling the effect of Kasich's budget cuts in schools and other agencies.

"I think we'll see the bad news before there's good news," Beck said.

(Writing by Mary Wisniewski; Additional reporting by Jo Ingles; Editing by Greg McCune)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. traffic deaths dropped by 3 percent to a record annual low of 32,788 for 2010 even as motorists drove more in an improving economy, projected government figures showed on Friday.

Fatalities have dropped 25 percent over the past five years, which transportation officials and highway safety advocates partly attribute to increased seat belt use, better vehicle safety, and stronger regulations on teen driving.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said too many people are still killed in preventable crashes.

"We will continue doing everything possible to make cars safer, increase seat belt use, put a stop to drunk driving and distracted driving," LaHood said.

The fatality rate of 1.09 per 100 million miles traveled for 2010 also reflects a steadily declining trend since the middle of the last decade.

Total vehicle miles traveled last year increased by 20 million miles, or 0.7 percent compared to 2009, an indication of a strengthening economy.

Figures released on Friday represent totals submitted by the states to the U.S. Transportation Department for the first nine months of the year.

The agency projects totals for the final quarter, a calculation that is usually an accurate predictor of the full year figure.

A regional breakdown showed the greatest drop in fatalities occurred in Washington state, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska, where they fell by 12 percent.

Arizona, California and Hawaii had the next steepest decline, nearly 11 percent.

(Reporting by John Crawley)

ALBANY, New York (Reuters) – The New York state legislature on Thursday passed a $132.5 billion spending plan, closing a $10 billion deficit with no new taxes or debt and instead relying on harsh cuts to education and healthcare.

Having been passed by both the Republican-led state Senate and the Democratic-controlled state Assembly, the budget will now be sent to Governor Andrew Cuomo to sign. It is the first budget since 2006 to be passed by the April 1 deadline.

"Tonight the legislature not only passed an on-time budget, but a historic and transformational budget," Cuomo said.

The budget, which cuts total spending by 2 percent, also calls for the layoff of 9,800 state employees unless public employee unions concede $450 million in savings in pay and benefits.

The budget is an early victory for Cuomo, who persuaded the legislature to back almost all of his plan by threatening a government shutdown in the event of an impasse.

New York has one of the country's biggest budgets and the state is one of the top issuers of municipal bonds in the nation. These factors all intensify scrutiny of its budgets in the $2.9 trillion municipal bond market.

Many other states also are grappling with huge deficits -- a legacy of the 2008 financial crisis. But some of them, including California and Connecticut, are mulling significant tax increases. Illinois in January blazed the tax raise trail, enacting a 67 percent increase in state personal income taxes.

New York's fiscal 2012 budget cuts more than $1.2 billion from state aid to local school districts and reduces spending on the state's Medicaid program by $2.8 billion.

The budget sets an annual cap of $15 billion on Medicaid spending and ties future spending increases to a national index. Similarly, future education spending will be linked to personal income growth.

"Difficult and painful decisions had to be made to address the fiscal reality facing our state," said Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

The list of legislative plans Cuomo beat back included a tax on New Yorkers who earn more than $1 million per year, which was sought by Silver and other Assembly Democrats. That proposal was meant to replace a surcharge on singles who earn more than $200,000 and couples who earn more than $300,000, which will expire on December 31.

Republican Dean Skelos, the Senate majority leader, tried to ensure that prisons were closed in both Democratic and Republican districts but the final plan lets Cuomo make the choices without legislative approval. With that exception, Skelos and Cuomo were largely in lockstep throughout budget negotiations.

"You can't tax your way into prosperity, you can't tax your way out of economic problems," Skelos said. "We have sent a message to the business community that we want you to stay here, grow here, invest here and create jobs here."

The budget merges a number of state agencies and cuts agency budgets by 10 percent, nearly across the board.

It also puts Wall Street, the state's economic engine, under a new regulator. Cuomo merged the state's banking and insurance departments into a new Department of Financial Services, which will gain oversight of new financial products.

(Editing by Joan Gralla and Mohammad Zargham)

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) – Ohio's legislature on Wednesday passed a Republican measure to curb the collective bargaining rights of about 350,000 state employees, and Governor John Kasich said he will sign it into law.

Its passage marks another success for Republicans who are pursuing measures in several states to limit the rights of public-sector unions. Unions are a key constituency of the Democratic Party.

The bill, which also bans strikes by unions for public employees, was approved in the Ohio Senate late on Wednesday following its passage in the state House of Representatives earlier in the day.

Kasich, a Republican, did not indicate when he would sign the bill but he is expected to do so by Friday. When the bill is enacted, Ohio would become the most populous U.S. state this year to impose sweeping collective bargaining curbs on public sector unions.

Kasich said the bill will put taxpayers and public employees on a more equal footing regarding pay and benefits.

Similar measures have spurred protests in Wisconsin, Tennessee, Michigan and other states.

Ohio Democrats hope to put the new law on the ballot for a referendum vote in November in an effort to overturn it.

"The wheels are in motion" for a referendum battle, said State Senator Joe Schiavoni, a Democrat. "They're trying to take away these union members' rights."

"I'm hopeful and I feel confident that at the end of the day the referendum will overturn the law," he said.

During the debate, some Republicans said changes from an earlier version of the bill, including a modification that allowed police and firefighters to bargain collectively for safety equipment, improved it.

"The bill we have on the floor today has some blemishes but addresses major problems in the collective bargaining process," said State Representative Michael Henne, a Republican.

The amended bill removed jail time as a possible penalty for workers who strike. But it is in some ways tougher on unions -- it prevents nonunion employees affected by contracts from paying fees to unions and makes it easier to decertify a union.

Democrats decried such measures as proof the bill is a politically motivated attack dressed up as a budget measure.

The Wisconsin and Idaho legislatures have passed laws that limit collective bargaining rights for state union workers. Tennessee is reviewing legislation that would limit collective bargaining rights for teachers.

While Wisconsin has gained more national attention, Ohio is far more important to unions. It has the sixth largest number of public sector union members among all the 50 states, twice the number of Wisconsin. With many auto and steel and manufacturing plants, Ohio is also a union bellwether.

(Reporting by Jo Ingles and Mary Wisniewski; Writing by Mary Wisniewski; Editing by Will Dunham)

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) – A former manager at one of California's two nuclear power stations sued the facility's operators on Wednesday, claiming he was fired in retaliation for reporting safety concerns at the plant.

The suit against Southern California Edison, principal owner of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, comes a year after the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission rebuked the company for what the government called a "chilling effect" on the airing of safety concerns by employees.

In a March 2010 letter cited in the lawsuit and provided to reporters by lawyers for the plaintiff, Paul Diaz, 35, the NRC ordered Edison to address a workplace climate in which workers feared retribution for reporting safety issues.

According to the lawsuit, the NRC inquiry and letter were prompted by anonymous calls and e-mails from plant "insiders" raising concerns about "shortcuts on testing new generators, unreported safety violations, falsifying records and promoting a culture of cover-up."

The lawsuit also cited problems with chronic fatigue among workers caused by lengthy shifts and heavy overtime demands.

Edison spokesman Gil Alexander said in a written statement that the company had not yet been served with a copy of the lawsuit and does not comment on pending litigation.

"However, we can say that, by policy, SCE considers retaliation against employees who raise safety concerns a termination offense," the statement said.

Diaz filed suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court Wednesday, seeking unspecified damages. The complaint names Southern California Edison and his former supervisor.

The San Onofre plant sits on the Pacific coast near the border of San Diego and Orange counties, about 60 miles southeast of Los Angeles. The two reactors there went into commercial operation in the 1980s.

The state's only other nuclear power plant in operation is the Diablo Canyon facility, owned by Pacific Gas and Electric Company, near San Luis Obispo on the central California coast.

Diaz was first hired at San Onofre in 1999 as a security officer and later promoted into management, his lawsuit says. He left San Onofre in 2008 to work for a northern California company, then was recruited back to the plant in 2010.

His return preceded the NRC letter by a few months, his attorney, Maria Severin, told Reuters.

"Some employees came to him with issues they were afraid to bring up because they feared retaliation," Severin said. "So he brought them up. They (his supervisors) told him: don't be a superhero."

Diaz, then manager of business and accounting and project service, was fired in October 2010, his complaint states. The ostensible reason for his dismissal was poor performance, but the lawsuit does not give specifics.

(Editing by Steve Gorman and Peter Bohan)

PHOENIX (Reuters) – Arizona Governor Jan Brewer on Tuesday signed into law a controversial bill that makes the state the first in the nation to outlaw abortions performed on the basis of the race or gender of the fetus.

The move comes as anti-abortion groups across the nation try to seize on gains made by political conservatives during the November elections, seeking enactment of new state laws to further restrict abortions.

Under the new Arizona statute, doctors and other medical professionals would face felony charges if they could be shown to have performed abortions for the purposes of helping parents select their offspring on the basis of gender or race.

The women having such abortions would not be penalized.

State legislators have said no such law exists anywhere else in the nation.

Backers of the measure said the ban is needed to put an end to sex- and race-related discrimination that exists in Arizona and throughout the nation. They insist the issue is about bias rather than any broader stance on abortion.

"Governor Brewer believes society has a responsibility to protect its most vulnerable -- the unborn -- and this legislation is consistent with her strong pro-life track record," a spokesman said.

But opponents have maintained that while such abortions may be happening in other countries like China, no clear evidence can found of it occurring in Arizona.

Planned Parenthood Federation of America also said the measure may erode a woman's rights, fearing that doctors for the first time would feel compelled to ask their patients the reasons for seeking an abortion.

A Planned Parenthood official in Arizona condemned the governor's action in a statement to Reuters.

"This law creates a highly unusual requirement that women state publicly their reason for choosing to terminate a pregnancy -- a private decision they already made with their physician, partner and family," said Bryan Howard, the group's chief executive.

The law contains no explicit provision requiring doctors to ask their patients their reasons for seeking an abortion, nor for patients to disclose such reasons. But opponents of the measure feel passage of the new law might make them feel more inclined to do so.

The law would take effect 90 days following the end of the current legislative session.

(Editing by Steve Gorman and Peter Bohan)

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) – A former U.S. Border Patrol agent was sentenced to a prison term of 30 years to life on Tuesday for a bloody hatchet attack on a sleeping couple he mistook for his estranged wife and her boyfriend.

Gamalier Reyes Rivera, 34, was found guilty by a San Diego County jury last month of premeditated attempted murder, aggravated mayhem, assault with a deadly weapon and burglary stemming from the July 2009 attack.

The jury acquitted him of a charge of torture.

Rivera was arrested shortly after the predawn assault, which left one of his victims, Chris Anguiano, blind and suffering from brain damage.

"He tried to cut my head off," Anguiano told local television station NBC San Diego. "I thought I was dying."

Anguiano was struck by eight hatchet blows in all. His girlfriend, Samantha Shaffer, who was sleeping beside Anguiano when the attack began, suffered deep cuts to her legs and lost the tip of one of her big toes.

Rivera's intended victims -- his estranged spouse, Erika Von der Heyde, and her boyfriend, Jesus Vinas -- were asleep in another bedroom of the suburban Escondido house and awoke to the sound of screams.

Deputy District Attorney George Loyd said it was clear that Rivera, armed with two hatchets, meant to kill both Vinas and his wife because he had first attacked the man he encountered when he crept into the wrong bedroom.

The assailant fled when confronted by Vinas after the attack on the wrong couple.

Rivera, a former Border Patrol agent who joined the force in 2003, testified that he went to the home intending only to frighten his wife, whom he married in 2002, divorced in 2005 and remarried in 2007.

The couple, who had a daughter together, filed for divorce again in 2009 and were living apart and dating other people when the attack took place.

Loyd said the assault was foreshadowed by a "to-do list" that Rivera made in 2005 detailing how to kill his wife and get away with it.

Before he was sentenced, Rivera told the victims he was extremely remorseful for his actions, saying, "I wish I could make amends for everything that happened." To Anguiano, he added, "I can't imagine what you've been going through."

In his own statement at the sentencing, Anguiano told Rivera, "May God be with you ... that's all you have left. You're nothing but a number."

(Additional reporting by Marty Graham)

(Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Peter Bohan)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States fell one spot to third place in clean-energy investment last year as the lack of a national energy policy hurt purchases in wind and solar power and other technologies, a report said on Tuesday.

China came in first and Germany second, according to the report "Who's Winning the Clean Energy Race" by the Pew Charitable Trusts, an independent, nonprofit group.

In the previous year the United States had fallen from the top spot to second place, behind China.

A comprehensive energy bill died in the Senate last July. Washington also has failed to pass national mandates for utilities to produce minimum amounts of clean power that environmentalists and some analysts say would boost confidence for alternative energy companies to invest in the country.

U.S. investment in clean energy totaled $34 billion last year, the report said. That was up 51 percent from the previous year but below the $54.4 billion invested by China and the $41.2 billion invested by Germany.

China and Germany have minimum clean-energy targets that helped them move ahead, Pew said.

"There had been a theory out there that China was rising so fast in clean energy because of its low labor costs," Jennifer Granholm, a former Michigan governor and adviser to Pew, said in an interview. "This is not about labor costs, this is about policy."

Germany has had a long history of using feed-in tariffs to spur solar power and other alternative energy. Last year the prospect of reductions in the tariffs, under which renewable-power generators are paid a premium price for the electricity they produce, helped spur dramatic growth in solar, especially in small-scale rooftop projects.

Overall investments in clean energy, excluding research and development funding, in the Group of 20 major economies rose 33 percent last year to $198 billion amid recovery from recession, the report said.

The United States did show some bright spots. It led the world in energy efficiency with $3.3 billion in investment.

It still led the world in venture capital and private equity investments in clean energy, which globally counted for $8.1 billion, up 27 percent from the year before.

Granholm said increasingly China and other countries developed and distributed ideas generated by the U.S. venture capital system. Alternative-energy firms prefer setting up manufacturing and distribution plants in countries that have national incentives.

About 30 U.S. states have passed their own so-called renewable portfolio standards, which set mandates for minimum amounts of power from alternatives. But often they are surrounded by states that lack the mandates, which discourages investment, Granholm said.

The report can be found here: www.pewenvironment.org/ .

(Editing by Dale Hudson)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A group of U.S. Army soldiers accused of killing unarmed Afghan civilians in cold blood did not act clandestinely as the Pentagon has implied but in plain view of their combat unit, Rolling Stone magazine reported on Monday.

The magazine said a review of Army investigative files showed the civilian killings were common knowledge among the soldiers' unit of the 5th Stryker Brigade, contrary to the impression left by the Army's criminal case that they were operating without the awareness of their commanders.

The article said questions were raised about the unit's behavior within days of the first killing in January 2010, but the issue was dropped after the soldiers were interviewed again about the incident and told consistent stories.

"It was cut and dry to us at the time," the magazine quoted Lieutenant Colonel David Abrahams, the battalion's second in command, as saying.

The article appeared with a pair of photos previously published by the German magazine Der Spiegel showing two soldiers charged in the January killing posed separately with the bloodied corpse of their young Afghan victim, whose head they are holding up by the hair.

One of those soldiers, Army Specialist Jeremy Morlock, 23, was sentenced last week to 24 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to three counts of premeditated murder and apologized in court, saying, "I lost my moral compass."

Rolling Stone published several additional gruesome photos of unidentified casualties but said it was not known whether the bodies shown were of civilians or Taliban fighters, or whether they were killed by members of the same Army unit.

The magazine also posted online a video clip showing U.S. soldiers on foot patrol gunning down two Afghan men they encountered riding a motorbike, although it was unclear whether the two men were armed as the troops claim in the footage.

A second video, titled "Death Zone," consists of thermal imaging surveillance footage, set to rock music, of a nighttime air strike on two Afghan men suspected of planting an improvised explosive device.

ARMY APOLOGIZES

The Army issued a statement apologizing for the distress cause by publication of the latest images, calling them "disturbing and in striking contrast to the standards and values of the United States Army."

"Accountability remains the Army's paramount concern in these alleged crimes," the statement said, adding the matter was being pursued in court.

Morlock was the first of five soldiers charged with murder last year in connection with three random killings of Afghan villagers allegedly staged to look like combat casualties.

The case represents the most serious prosecution of alleged U.S. military atrocities during 10 years of war in Afghanistan. Seven other members of the unit were charged with lesser crimes during the investigation, which grew out of a probe into rampant hashish use by some American soldiers.

Civilian attorneys for Morlock and other defendants have suggested the Stryker Brigade suffered from a breakdown in leadership and that commanders bore some responsibility for the misbehavior of their troops. Only enlisted men have thus far been charged in the criminal probe.

(Writing and reporting by David Alexander; Editing by Steve Gorman and Peter Bohan)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Wal-Mart Stores Inc will argue on Tuesday that the U.S. Supreme Court should halt the largest class-action sex-discrimination lawsuit in history by female employees who seek billions of dollars.

The female employees will counter that their lawsuit should be allowed to go to trial against the world's largest retailer for allegedly paying women less and giving them fewer promotions than men at 3,400 U.S. stores since late 1998.

At issue in the Supreme Court showdown is whether the small group of women who began the lawsuit 10 years ago can represent a huge nationwide class of current and former employees that could total millions of women.

The Supreme Court's ruling, expected by late June, could change the legal landscape for workplace and other class-action lawsuits, affecting many other cases, including a similar one against Costco Wholesale Corp.

Wal-Mart's attorney, Theodore Boutrous, who will argue the case, said female employees in different jobs and in different stores do not have enough in common to be in a single class-action lawsuit.

Joseph Sellers, an attorney for the women, will argue the decision by a judge and a U.S. appeals court to certify the class was based on extensive evidence, and should be upheld.

Betty Dukes, a Wal-Mart employee in Pittsburg, California, for whom the case has been named, planned to attend oral arguments, a spokeswoman for the plaintiffs said.

"Without a class action, I wouldn't be able to do anything about the discrimination. Wal-Mart is just too big. A class action gives us a fair shot. That is all we ask for," Dukes said.

Women's groups plan to rally outside the court to show their support for the female employees. They said a Wal-Mart victory could signal a significant retreat for women's rights in the workplace.

Businesses said a Wal-Mart defeat could make every large corporation vulnerable to sweeping allegations of employment bias and would water down class-action requirements.

Large class-action lawsuits make it easier for big groups of plaintiffs to sue corporations and they have led to huge payouts by tobacco, oil and food companies.

Companies have sought to limit such lawsuits to individual or small groups of plaintiffs. The Supreme Court, with a conservative majority, has often agreed, dating back to 1997.

Legal experts and financial analysts said even if Wal-Mart loses in the Supreme Court and at trial, the retailer with more than $400 billion in sales and $16 billion in net income last year has enough cash to make a big payout.

The Supreme Court case is Wal-Mart Stores Inc v. Betty Dukes, No. 10-277.

(Editing by Christopher Wilson)

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Severe thunderstorms storms that raked the Southeast with scattered tornadoes, large hail and high winds on Saturday reemerged across the region on Sunday after an overnight lull, meteorologists said.

The storms on Sunday pelted parts of Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina with hail stones, some as large as tennis balls, but no serious damage was immediately reported.

"The storms abated overnight but with the heat of the day Sunday, they reignited and are very strong, and some are severe across Alabama and Georgia," said Jack Hales, lead forecaster for the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma. "Storms will continue through the afternoon."

Hail stones on Saturday measured as large as softballs in Georgia, and on Sunday there were reports of hail the size of tennis balls in South Carolina.

The storms, known to have caused only minor wind damage so far, were expected to begin subsiding after dark on Sunday as temperatures dip and the air mass becomes more stable, Hales said.

The world's largest hail on record, measured at 8 inches in diameter, fell in Vivian, South Dakota, on July 23, 2010.

Separate storms currently developing over southern Arkansas may also produce hail, Hales said.

To the north, forecasts were calling for "significant snowfall" in part of the Ohio and Great Lakes regions, he said, adding, "It will certainly be cold enough."

(Reporting by Eric Johnson; Editing by Steve Gorman)

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Police in northern California are investigating the origins of a bomb that was concealed inside a newspaper and exploded when a man picked it up off his driveway on Sunday morning.

The man, who was not identified, was taken by ambulance to a hospital with unspecified injuries he suffered in the blast, according to a statement posted online by police in the town of Vacaville, about midway between San Francisco and Sacramento.

The man's injuries were described as "non-fatal," but the blast touched off a security scare that lasted several hours.

Police said they ordered the evacuation of 40 to 50 nearby homes as a precaution as investigators were called in from the Travis Air Force Base bomb squad, the FBI, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the California Highway Patrol.

Teams with bomb-sniffing dogs and bomb-detection equipment searched the immediate vicinity for more explosives, but none were found, police said. Calls from residents elsewhere in the city worried about suspicious packages also turned up nothing.

Most residents were allowed to return to their homes by 4 p.m. local time, about five hours after the bomb exploded.

Police said the bomb appeared for now to be an isolated incident, but it remained unclear whether the man injured was singled out for the attack or was a random victim.

(Reporting by Gabrielle Saveri in San Francisco; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Peter Bohan)

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) – Two men were killed and eight of their relatives were hurt when the family's rented sailboat capsized in San Diego Bay on Sunday evening, harbor police said.

The 25-foot sailboat tipped over in the chilly waters between Shelter Island and Harbor Island, just south of the city's airport, at about 5 p.m. local time.

"The call came in at 5:12 p.m., and the harbor police arrived within five minutes," said Marguerite Elicone, spokeswoman for the Port of San Diego, which operates its own police department.

She said patrol officers on the scene found other boaters pulling victims from the water and performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation "to try to save people."

Two men in their 50s or 60s perished, and the surviving eight family members, two of them children, were taken to area hospitals, Elicone told Reuters. The victims' names were being withheld until next of kin could be notified.

The two children were released from the hospital about three hours after the accident, but one woman remained in an intensive care unit for treatment of hypothermia, Elicone said.

The cause of the accident was under investigation, a U.S. Coat Guard spokesman said. Harbor police divers were trying to bring the partly submerged sailboat out of the bay, Elicone said.

(Reporting by Marty Graham; Editing by Steve Gorman and Peter Bohan)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Cold weather, snow, and severe storms were expected over the weekend in several parts of the country, weather forecasters said on Saturday.

A band of snow and cold rain is expected to sweep from Omaha, Nebraska to the District of Columbia, according to AccuWeather.com.

"While the storm will not bring excessive snowfall, it will put down as much as 6 inches of snow along part of this path," AccuWeather.com senior metrologist Alex Sosnowski said. "Most areas within the west-east band will get 1 to 3 inches of snow."

The storm is expected to reach Illinois by Saturday evening and Virginia overnight.

The Weather Channel described the weekend weather as being a clash between winter and spring.

Heavy rain and thunderstorms are likely all day Saturday and throughout the night in much of the South, the Weather Channel's Tim Ballisty said.

The Tennessee River Valley will see the heaviest rain while high winds and large hail will rip through Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia.

The National Weather service has issued flood alerts in those areas.

In the West, heavy snow will continue in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, adding between two and four feet to the one to four feet already on the ground, according to accuweather.com, presenting an avalanche risk.

Heavy rain will pound closer to the Pacific coast from central California to Southern Washington, amounting to between one and three inches.

Combined with what has been heavy rain for March, the rain will likely trigger flash flooding, mudslides and debris flows.

(Reporting by Wendell Marsh; Editing by Jerry Norton)

MADISON, Wis (Reuters) – Opponents of a bill stripping Wisconsin public employees of most of their collective bargaining rights rallied at the state Capitol on Saturday, the day after a state agency published the measure despite an order barring such a move.

Republican supporters of the measure said the action by the state's Legislative Reference Bureau (LRB), which published the bill electronically on Friday, was legal and meant the controversial anti-union measure was now in effect.

But Democrats insisted the temporary restraining order (TRO) on publication issued last week by a judge remained in effect and rendered Friday's publication by the LRB moot.

The move injected fresh controversy into the debate here over the measure, which would overturn a 52-year-old state policy encouraging public-sector unionism and sparked massive demonstrations in Madison, the state capital, for weeks.

Lester Pines, an attorney who represents unionized teachers in Madison, told the Wisconsin State Journal newspaper the LRB's action, which appeared to contravene both the court order and specific written instructions from the Secretary of State, would "unleash a tsunami of litigation."

Peter Barca, the top Democrat in the state Assembly, said he had consulted with attorneys at the Wisconsin Legislative Council (WLC), a separate nonpartisan legislative agency, and had been assured the measure would not be deemed legally published without further action by Wisconsin's secretary of state.

Legal publication of the legislation is required for it to go into effect.

Barca distributed a memo to the media from Scott Grosz, a staff attorney with the WLC, supporting that interpretation.

"While certain statutory obligations regarding publication of Act 10 have been satisfied by the LRB," Grosz wrote in the memo, "the statutory obligation that relates to the effective date of Act 10 has not yet been satisfied by the Secretary of State, and at this time the Secretary's actions remain subject to the temporary restraining order issued in Dane County Circuit Court."

Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne, who filed the complaint that generated the restraining order, agreed. He said the judge issuing the order had been clear it was designed to "preserve the status quo" -- not to enjoin a particular individual.

But Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, disagreed.

In an interview with Reuters on Saturday, Fitzgerald reiterated his view that the LRB's action did not violate the TRO because the bureau was not specifically mentioned in the order.

"The LRB clearly had authority to do what it did yesterday -- not only the authority but the obligation," Fitzgerald said. "And it's my understanding that, as of this morning, it's the law."

Mary Bell, the president of the Wisconsin education Association Council, a teachers union whose members are among those affected by the law, called the Friday move "another sign that the governor and legislature are in a desperate power grab to take away the voice of teachers, support staff, nurses, home health care workers and other public employees."

The court appeal was based on an argument that the state's open meeting laws had been violated when the bill was passed. rather than a challenge to its contents, meaning even if the appeal were ultimately upheld the Republican-dominated state legislature is likely to simply pass the measure again.

But so long as it is not in legal effect, public employee unions can try to use existing bargaining powers to negotiate better contracts before their rights are curbed.

Republican Governor Scott Walker had strongly pushed the legislation, saying it was part of a package needed to combat the state's budget deficit.

Union and Democratic critics said that argument was a smoke screen for busting state workers' unions. The issue attracted hundreds of thousands to demonstrations against the measure.

Democratic state senators fled the state in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to block a vote on the measure, and the battle over the bill has become a symbol for other states where unions are trying to preserve bargaining powers as Republican-led legislatures seek to curb them.

(Writing by James Kelleher; Editing by Jerry Norton)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Police shot dead a driver on a congested Bronx expressway on Saturday, after he crashed into several vehicles and tried to run down officers as they approached his car, authorities said.

Police said they tried to pull over Orlando Santos, 28, around midnight as he drove down the notoriously congested Major Deegan Expressway that passes through the Bronx, because one of his headlights was out.

Santos sped off, striking several cars before crashing. As officers approached on foot, he then drove his Ford Expedition "forward and reverse in a deliberate attempt" to hit them, twice refusing orders to get out of the car, the New York Police Department said.

Police fired shots, the suspect moved his car again, hitting several other vehicles and again drove at officers, two of whom had to dive over a barrier to avoid being hit. Other officers then shot and killed him.

Some 10 vehicles were damaged in the melee, and four people were treated in hospital for injuries.

The northbound expressway remained closed throughout the morning, only reopening around midday.

(Reporting by Chris Michaud; editing by Tim Gaynor)