State coffers would also have to meet cost overruns on nuclear waste disposal, they argue. Dorte Fouquet of the German legal firm BBH, who drew up the complaint, said that EU energy policy was based on having an open market with a level playing field. “The commission has repeatedly underlined that distortion of the market is to a large extent caused by subsidies to the incumbents in the energy sector,” she said. “This complaint aims to shed some light on the recent shift in the energy policy of the United Kingdom where strong signals point to yet another set of subsidies to the nuclear power plant operators.”Last year, a committee of UK MPs also said that the government was subsidising nuclear power, despite promises that it would not.It sees the construction of about eight new reactors within a decade as essential for meeting climate change and energy security goals.

Although most of the complaint concerns the UK, some of its ingredients would apply to other EU nations as well, especially the capping of nuclear liability. Estimates prepared for Energy Fair suggest that if operators had to buy insurance at the market rate, that would add at least 14 euro cents (12p) to the price of one kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity – and potentially 20 times that figure.

With electricity in the UK retailing around 12p/kWh, that would mean at least a doubling of the price. Campaigners have repeatedly said down the years that all nuclear programmes are in fact underwritten by the state whether they are government-owned or private, because the clean-up costs from major accidents are enormous and the companies involved are considered “too big to fail”.

Current UK proposals call for the operator to be liable for the first £1bn of cost from any accident. This is about a seven-fold increase on previous levels, but still a long way below the costs of a disaster such as the one that befell the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan last year. That has left the plant’s owners, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), facing a bill of multiple billions of dollars and reliant on state support – and perhaps eventual state ownership – to survive. From a uniquely UK perspective, Fair Energy is focussing on elements of the Electricity Market Reform package that the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) released last year. “The introduction of a carbon price floor is likely to result in huge windfall handouts of around £50m a year to existing nuclear generators,” said Caroline Lucas MP, leader of the UK Green Party.

“Despite persistent denials by ministers, it’s clear that this is a subsidy by another name, which makes a mockery of the Coalition pledge not to gift public money to this already established industry.” A Decc spokesman said the government’s policy of no subsidies for nuclear, established in 2010, still stood. “We are confident that our proposals to reform the electricity market to incentivise all low carbon generation are entirely consistent with that policy of no subsidy,” he said. The European Commission could take up to 18 months to consider the complaint. A finding in Fair Energy’s favour could potentially derail the UK’s nuclear expansion plans – and those of other countries.

Earlier, authorities had said 16 people were missing. But an Italian Coast Guard official, Marco Brusco, said late Monday that 25 passengers and four crew members were unaccounted for three days after the disaster. He didn’t explain the jump, but indicated 10 of the missing are Germans. Two Americans are also among the missing.

At least three families of Italian passengers have said that despite their loved ones’ being listed among those safely evacuated, they hadn’t heard from them.

There still is “a glimmer of hope” that there could be survivors on parts of the vast Costa Concordia that not have been searched by rescuers, Brusco said. A search of the above-water portion of the ship last yielded a survivor, a crewman who had broken his leg, on Sunday.
Waters that had remained calm for the first three days of the rescue turned choppy Monday, shifting the wreckage of the Costa Concordia and temporarily suspending divers’ searches for survivors. A search for bodies was suspended overnight. Italy’s environmental minister raised the alarm about a potential environmental catastrophe if any of the 500,000 gallons (2,300 tons) of fuel begins to leak into the waters off Giglio, which are popular with scuba divers and form part of the protected Tuscan archipelago.
“At the moment there haven’t been any fuel leaks, but we have to intervene quickly to avoid an environmental disaster,” Corrado Clini told RAI state radio.

Even before the accident there had been mounting calls from environmentalists to restrict passage of large ships in the area.
The ship’s operator, Costa Crociere SpA, has enlisted Smit of Rotterdam, Netherlands, one of the world’s biggest salvagers, to handle the removal of the 1,000-foot (290-meter) cruise liner. A study could come as early as Tuesday on how to extract the fuel safely.
Smit has a long track record of dealing with wrecks and leaks, including refloating grounded bulk carriers and securing drilling platforms in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. A spokesman for Smit did not immediately return calls seeking comment on the Concordia salvage.

The Italian cruise operator said Capt. Francesco Schettino intentionally strayed from the ship’s authorized course into waters too close to a perilous reef, causing it to crash late Friday off the tiny island of Giglio and capsize.The navigational version of a “fly by” was apparently made as a favor to the chief waiter who is from Giglio and whose parents live on the island, local media reported.

A judge on Tuesday is to decide whether Schettino should remain jailed.”We are struck by the unscrupulousness of the reckless maneuver that the commander of the Costa Concordia made near the island of Giglio,” prosecutor Francesco Verusio told reporters. “It was inexcusable.”The head of the U.N. agency on maritime safety said lessons must be learned from the Concordia disaster 100 years after the Titanic rammed into an iceberg, leading to the first international convention on sea safety.

“We should seriously consider the lessons to be learned and, if necessary, re-examine the regulations on the safety of large passenger ships in the light of the findings of the casualty investigation,” said Koji Sekimizu, secretary-general of the International Maritime Organization.

Miami-based Carnival Corp., which owns Costa, estimated that preliminary losses from having the Concordia out of operation for at least through 2012 would be between $85 million and $95 million, though it said there would be other costs as well. The company’s share price slumped more than 16 percent Monday.

Two of the missing are Americans, identified by their family as Jerry Heil, 69, and his wife Barbara, 70, from White Bear Lake, Minnesota.
Costa Crociere chairman and CEO Pier Luigi Foschi said the company would provide Schettino with legal assistance, but he disassociated Costa from his behavior, saying it broke all rules and regulations.
“Capt. Schettino took an initiative of his own will which is contrary to our written rules of conduct,” Foschi said in his first public comments since the grounding.

At a news conference in Genoa, the company’s home base, Foschi said that Costa ships have their routes programmed, and alarms go off when they deviate. Those alarms are disabled if the ship’s course is manually altered, he said.

“This route was put in correctly upon departure from Civitavecchia,” Foschi said, referring to the port outside Rome. “The fact that it left from this course is due solely to a maneuver by the commander that was unapproved, unauthorized and unknown to Costa.”

Foschi said only once before had the company approved a “fly by” of this sort off Giglio — last year on the night of Aug. 9-10. In that case, the port and company had approved it.

Residents, however, said such displays have occurred several times in the past, though always in the summer when the island is full of tourists.

Foschi didn’t respond directly to prosecutors’ and passengers’ accusations that Schettino abandoned ship before all passengers had been evacuated, but he suggested his conduct wasn’t as bad in the hours of the evacuation as has been portrayed. He didn’t elaborate.
The Italian coast guard says Schettino defied their entreaties for him to return to his ship as the chaotic evacuation of the 4,200 people aboard was in full progress. After the ship’s tilt put many life rafts out of service, helicopters had to pluck to safety dozens of people remaining aboard, hours after Schettino was seen leaving the vessel.

The captain has insisted in an interview before his jailing that he stayed with the vessel to the end.
Foschi defended the conduct of the crew, while acknowledging that passengers had described a chaotic evacuation where crew members consistently downplayed the seriousness of the situation as the ship lurched to the side.
“All our crew members behaved like heroes. All of them,” he said.
He noted that 4,200 people managed to evacuate a lilting ship at night within two hours. In addition, the ship’s evacuation procedures had been reviewed last November by an outside firm and port authorities and no faults were found, he said.
Once on land, the survivors complained that Costa was stingy with assistance.
Blake Miller, on board to celebrate his partner’s 50th birthday, said Costa representatives rebuffed his efforts to get some reimbursement so he could buy a change of clothing.
“The Costa representative at our hotel told me, ‘you might want to get a lawyer when you get back to the States,’” to pursue reimbursement, Miller told The Associated Press from his hotel in Rome Sunday night, where he was staying at his own expense.
Only passengers who had paid for special insurance to cover lost belongings would receive compensation to buy replacements, he said they were told.
Costa Crociere didn’t immediately respond to a phone message or an emailed request for a response.
Miller, from Austin, Texas, said survivors were taken to a hotel near Rome’s airport and told Costa would pay for one night’s stay and their plane fare home only “if we pack up and leave the country” on Sunday morning.
Miller, who is director of business travel for Intercontinental hotels, said Costa representatives spoke to passengers about potential refunds or free cruise vouchers. But besides what he paid for the cruise, he said he paid several hundred more euros (dollars) for excursions during port calls and drinks on board.
Foschi, the Costa CEO, said he was certain “we’ll be able to find a material solution that will make them happy.”
Class action suits are a rare novelty in Italy, but Italian consumer advocacy organization Codacons said more than 70 passengers had indicated that they wanted to join a class-action approach to winning compensation from Costa.
“Our aim is to make every passenger obtain an indemnity of at least euro10,000 (more than $12,500) for the material damage suffered and for moral damage, such as the terror suffered, ruined vacations and the grave risks that they ran,” said Codacons president Carlo Rienzi.

The importation of “articles of second-hand undergarments of any type, form or description, whether purchased, donated or procured in any other manner”, is now forbidden, according to statutory instrument 150 of 2011.

This is one lost freedom not being blamed on President Robert Mugabe. Instead, the measure is apparently the brainchild of finance minister Tendai Biti of the rival Movement for Democratic Change. Biti was shocked to discover many Zimbabweans bought used underwear from flea markets or stalls.

“I am told we are now even importing women’s underwear in this country,” he was quoted saying recently. “How does that happen? If you are a husband and you see your wife buying underwear from the flea market, you would have failed.”

The minister added: “If I was your in-law, I would take my daughter and urge you to first put your house in order if you still want her back.”

Zimbabwe has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world, estimated at more than 90%. Poverty has driven many to buy secondhand underwear from markets which are supplied with used stock or donations from the west.

The ban was introduced in a government shakeup which became effective on 30 December, NewsDay said. It has reportedly triggered protests from traders who say it will push them out of business.

But there are hopes the change will help protect Zimbabwe’s struggling domestic textiles industry. Local media also suggested that it would improve public hygiene and self-esteem.

In an editorial, NewsDay argued: “One of the best laws that our country has put in place in recent years is the total ban on the importation of secondhand underwear.

“Wearing used underwear is most dehumanising and no government worth its salt should allow its citizens to be abused to this extent. It is a fact that our flea markets receive bales of clothing, some of which is exclusively used underwear, some of which is soiled. What nation have we become that knowingly subjects its people to humiliation and disease? It is inconceivable for a country to open its borders for the importation of used underwear – to allow our women to wear undergarments that other women in other countries have used and discarded.”

Under the new legislation the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority will charge 40% duty and 15% VAT on all underwear imports and apply a US$3 levy on every kilogram of underwear entering the country.

Zimbabwe is not the first African country to enforce legislation to outlaw the sale of used underwear. Ghana’s government officially banned the practice in 1994 but started enforcing the law last year following concerns about a health hazard.

The latest evidence of China’s promotion of renewable energy has been welcomed by climate activists, but they warn that the benefits are being wiped out by the surge in coal consumption.

After burning an extra 95m tonnes last year, China will soon account for half the coal burned on the planet.

This has alarmed state planners concerned about the impact of air pollution and climate change, but their efforts to cap the nation’s energy consumption are said to have run into resistance from local governments who fear restrictions on economic growth.

At a key policymaking meeting in Beijing this week, Liu Tienan – the director of the National Energy Administration – called for energy use to be kept below 4.1bn tonnes of coal equivalent per year by 2015.

If the proposal is accepted, this would be the first time China has set such a ceiling. Until now, Beijing has only set goals for energy and carbon intensity, which are relative to economic growth and so fluctuate according to GDP figures.

But the proposed figure remains the subject of fierce discussion as it was based on an assumption that China’s economy will grow at 7.5% per annum up until 2015, by which time the government is supposed to bring down energy intensity (units of energy per unit of GDP) by 16%.

However, provincial governments are projecting a combined economic growth rate of more than 9%, which means they will face a fuel shortfall unless the energy target are raised or they fail to reach their goals.

The negotiations are held behind closed doors and are likely to last several more months, but it is believed that the provinces are arguing for a higher target of between 4.25 and 5 bn tonnes.

As well as being distant from the current reality of a slowing economy – the forecast for the first six months of this year is for no more than 7.5% growth – this prospect horrifies environmentalists.

“If it goes up to 5bn tonnes, it would be a disaster; China would effectively be promoting high-energy, high-carbon growth,” said Li Yan of Greenpeace.

If accepted, an energy cap would immediately become one of the most important industrial targets in the world because it would largely determine how large a mountain of coal China burns and, as a result, how much CO2 it emits.

Depending on how it was structured, such a target could also help or hinder the development of the renewable energy industry.

China continued to make rapid progress in this field last year, according to figures published on the website of the National Energy Administration.

They show a rise of 47GW in wind power generating capacity, and the completion of an extra 12.6 gigawatts of hydropower, with almost twice that amount also likely to come on line this year. The UK has 75GW of energy capacity, of all types.

The most spectacular growth, however, was in photovoltaic power generation, which rose threefold to 3GW, the administration noted.

Yet coal continues to account for close to 70% of the nation’s power supply. The government is trying to bring this proportion down below 65%, but it is not making progress fast enough.

Yang Fuqiang of the US-headquartered NGO National Resources Defence Council, said Chinese energy consumption rose almost threefold from 2000 to reach 3.2bn tonnes of coal equivalent in 2010. On current trends it will rise to almost 5bn tonnes by 2020.

“We must do something about this,” said Yang, a former government official. China uses too much coal. It’s the source of carbon emissions and pollution.”

Yang wants the government to change its proposed energy cap into a coal cap, which would allow provincial authorities to grow faster if they used more renewable energy or gas.

The debate is expected to continued for several more months with targets for the provinces unlikely to be released before the summer.

The striking black-and-yellow snake measures 60 cm (2.1 ft) and has horn-like scales above its eyes.

The newly discovered snake, named Matilda’s horned viper, has been described in the journal Zootaxa.

The exact location of the new species is being kept a secret, because it could be of interest to the illegal pet trade.

Campaign group the Wildlife Conservation Society said the snake’s habitat, estimated at only a several square km, is already severely degraded from logging and charcoal manufacture.

The authors of the study in Zootaxa expect the viper will be classified as a critically endangered species.

They have already established a small captive breeding colony