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)